ACU professor completes corn research in Honduras

In late July, Dr. Kent Gallaher, associate professor of agricultural and environmental sciences at Abilene Christian University, traveled to southern Honduras to complete a five-month agricultural experiment.

For three years, Gallaher has been doing research on more than 30 different types of high-yield, open-pollinated corn for Mission Lazarus, an organization that provides medical care, early childhood development and education and agricultural assistance to the poor and marginalized people of Southern Honduras. Gallaher's research focuses on helping subsistence farmers who live on a yearly income of less than $600.

During the third week of July, Gallaher and his father, Dr. Raymond Gallaher, professor emeritus of agronomy at the University of Florida, traveled to Honduras to harvest research plots planted at Mission Lazarus. This concluded an experiment set up during in March 2007 by Dr. Kent Gallaher and Dr. Foy Mills, professor and chair of the Department of Agriculture and Environmental Science at ACU.

Dr. Raymond Gallaher developed the different varieties of field corn from seed stock he brought to the United States from Central America in the 1970s. He donated the seed for the current project, and will be working with his son to yield data on the experiments.

Dr. Kent Gallaher's goal for this research project is to identify "a high yielding variety of open pollinated corn that can boost food production and possibly income for poverty-stricken families in the mountains that surround Choluteca, Honduras."

These "poverty-stricken families," so lacking in technological capabilities that many are using sticks rather than any sort of tool to plant their corn, cannot be given seeds that require very fertile soil and careful use of pesticides.

"Open pollinated is the key," said Gallaher. "Most agricultural research in Latin America caters to the wealthy land owners and is centered on expensive hybrid seed varieties out of reach for poor subsistence farmers. We seek to provide these people with improved varieties that are open pollinated, which means they can save seed back each year for planting the next year while maintaining food quality and yield potential."

Helping Gallaher this summer to complete this research is ACU senior Dylan Wann. Wann, an environmental science major, is currently working as an agricultural intern with the mission all summer. He has served as the onsite coordinator for the research and will present the preliminary findings at the 109th meeting at the Southern Association of Agricultural Scientists this winter.

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