Leadership in Agriculture: Case Studies for a New Generation

In a world facing chronic and increasing shortages in food crops and natural resources, visionary leadership in agriculture becomes more and more critical for building and maintaining a sustainable future. It is of paramount importance that the dynamic and challenging evolution in agriculture over the last century and a half be met today with imaginative leadership in virtually all aspects of activities and organizations involved.

Leadership in Agriculture: Case Studies for a New Generation focuses on key characteristics and elements of leadership. Using case studies from research, industry, education, administration, and extension services, the authors present real-world circumstances ranging from natural disasters to major restructuring that demanded problem solving, new initiatives, consensus, and organizational commitment. Drawing on their own experiences and covering topics as diverse as closing facilities, mounting a national research initiative, reinventing a major corporation, and dealing with invasive termites, the studies contain examples of both good and bad outcomes and tie back to the stated leadership principles and qualities.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Preface vii

Acknowledgments xiii

Leadership in the Agricultural Environment 1

Character: The Bedrock of Leaders and Leadership 13

Case Studies--How Leadership Can Make a Difference 37

1. Facing Down Nature: How a Regional Lab Survived Hurricane Katrina (Addressing Physical Crises) 38

2. Exerting Ag Leadership in Distributed Geographic Locations (Coordinating Dispersed Units within One Organization) 49

3. Closing and Relocating Facilities and Terminating Programs (Leadership Challenges with Organizational Restructuring) 59

4. National Research Initiative: Creating a Shared Leadership Vision (Bringing about a New Solution) 73

5. Battling Formosan Subterranean Termites (Forging a New Approach) 81

6. Gathering of the Agricultural Clan (Bringing Leaders Together without Central Authority) 90

7. Monsanto: How One Company Saw the Future and Transformed to Seize It (Leadership’s Role in a Significant Change) 96

8. Enhancing Leadership in the State Agricultural Experiment Stations (Cultivating New Leadership) 123

9. Development of the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST) (Enhancing a Better Understanding of Agricultural Science and Technology) 133

Lessons Learned from Case Studies 145

Making Leadership Work for You 152

Appendixes: How Does the Scientific Agricultural System Work? 161

Appendix A. The Land-Grant System: A Key to America’s Dream? How Does It Function? 161

Appendix B. The USDA’s Agricultural Research Service: Focus on National and International Issues 165

Appendix C. The Industrial Approach to Research: Diverse Foci Linked to Industrial Economic Effects 167

Notes 171

Bibliography 173

About the Authors 177

Index 179

JOHN PATRICK JORDAN is the former administrator of the USDA Cooperative State Research Service in Washington, DC. He previously headed the Colorado Experiment Station and the Colorado Cooperative Extension Service and also directed the USDA Agricultural Research Service Southern Regional Research Center in New Orleans.

GALE A. BUCHANAN is the former dean of the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and former director of the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station. A past chair of the Board on Agriculture Assembly of the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges, he also served as the USDA Undersecretary for Research, Education and Economics.

NEVILLE CLARKE served as an associate dean and professor in the Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine and as director of the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station. He is the founding director of the Texas A&M Institute for Countermeasures against Agricultural Bioterrorism and currently works as a special assistant for program development for the Texas A&M University System.

KELLY C. JORDAN, a retired Army officer, is a professor who served on the faculties of five institutions, including the US Military Academy at West Point and the University of Notre Dame. A former Commandant of Cadets at Culver Military Academy, he is currently the Vice President of Student Affairs and Dean of Students at Holy Cross College.