East Texas Forage Conference Puts Screwworms, Mealybugs and Ticks on the Aug. 14 Agenda

Ranchers across East Texas will get a full day of pest-focused education later this month, as Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service teams up with Legacy Ag Credit to host the East Texas Forage Conference on Aug. 14 in Hallsville.

The event runs 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Gold Hall, 101 Elm St., with a $20 registration fee payable at the door. Organizers are asking attendees to RSVP by Aug. 7 through the AgriLife Extension office in Gregg County at 903-236-8429. Lunch comes courtesy of Legacy Ag Credit.

The timing is not accidental. This summer has handed East Texas producers an unusual stack of pest problems at once — a New World screwworm outbreak working its way through the state, pasture mealybugs confirmed in dozens of counties, and the usual late-summer pressure from ticks and weeds. The conference agenda reads like a tour of that exact list.

Lee Dudley, AgriLife Extension agriculture and natural resources agent in Panola County, opens the pest sessions with the screwworm's life cycle and control — a topic that has gone from historical curiosity to urgent operational knowledge since the parasite reappeared in Texas in June. David Drake, an Extension integrated pest management specialist based in Commerce, follows with a session on mealybugs and how to control them, addressing an invasive pest that AgriLife entomologists say now threatens forage across a wide band of the state. Thomas Hairgrove, a veterinary specialist and professor in the Department of Animal Science, rounds out the pest block with emerging tick issues and best management practices.

The program is not all insects. Julie Howe, a soil chemistry professor and associate department head in Soil and Crop Sciences, will cover Texas conservation and sustainability initiatives, while livestock economist David Anderson delivers a cattle market forecast — a session likely to draw questions about tight cattle supplies and the screwworm-related border disruptions that have shaped prices all summer. Clint Perkins, an Extension agent in Smith County, closes with herbicide updates and a weed identification contest. Sara Mullens of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association will also speak on membership benefits.

For license holders, the day carries a practical incentive: attendees can earn four Texas Department of Agriculture continuing education units, including three in integrated pest management — the category most structural and agricultural applicators need to keep their credentials current.

The conference is aimed at ranchers, livestock producers, landowners and agricultural professionals, but the pest sessions are likely to pull from a wider audience this year, given how many East Texas counties have found themselves scouting for mealybug damage or watching the screwworm case map for the first time in their careers.