The Fall 2017 issue of Texas Tech's Department of Agricultural Education and Communications award-winning magazine, The Agriculturist, is off the press and online. The 58-page, student-led magazine's cover story, Old Legacy, New Farmer by Audrie Furgeson, focuses on 21-year-old Layton Schur's lifelong passion for agriculture and how it had led him back to the family farming business.

Other features include a story on the addition of five women faculty members to the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics since 2015; RN Hopper's ground-breaking use of no-till conservation practices and other sustainable agriculture practices near Petersburg; a look at the West Texas Garden project; how sorghum became one of the top food trends of 2017; the Department of Animal and Food Sciences' true agricultural roots as a traditional livestock-focused program; and a profile of Steve Fraze, the current interim dean for the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources.

This year's editorial leadership team was directed by Blair McCowen, editor; Adrian Smith, associate editor; Abbie Burnett, digital content editor; and Victoria Osbourn, advertising manager. Each semester, students enroll in 'ACOM 4310: Development of Agricultural Publications,' to produce the magazine from start to finish. The course, which was led by instructor Lindsay Kennedy, serves as a capstone where students can utilize the skills they fostered through their undergraduate coursework.

CONTACT: Scott Burris, Interim Chairman, Department of Agricultural Education and Communications, Texas Tech University at (806) 834-8689 or scott.burris@ttu.edu

0714NM17 / Editor's Note: For an online version of the Fall 2017 issue of The Agriculturist, click here