Media contact:
Misti Preston
Phone: (573) 751-8596
Misti.Preston@mda.mo.gov

For Immediate Release: July 16, 2007

Grundler Will Lead the Agriculture Department’s Plant Industries Division

(JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.) – The Missouri Department of Agriculture (MDA) has announced Judy Grundler as the new Plant Industries Division Director. Judy has worked in the Plant Industries Division since 1995.

“Judy has taken many initiatives to move the division forward since she began with the department 12 years ago,” said Katie Smith, director of MDA. “Her extensive professional background and education will lead the department in advancing new ideas and carrying on the traditions of the department.”

Judy is a graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia with a bachelor’s degree in animal science and a master’s in entomology. She was employed by the University for 14 years with experience in field crop entomology research and teaching graduate and undergraduate laboratory sections in Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and introductory entomology.

When Judy joined the department, she originally was an IPM Coordinator working with special projects in integrated pest management such as cooperative biological control programs. Since then, Judy has established and managed the regulatory implementation of the Boll Weevil Eradication Program and managed over $3 million worth of grants including IPM in Schools, the Livestock Assistance Grant Program, Hypoxia Education and Stewardship Program, IPM in Greenhouses and IPM Centers.

Judy is currently on the Administrative Council with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education and represents MDA on the Drought Assessment Committee as well as the NRCS Technical Committee.

For more information regarding the Plant Industries Division, visit www.mda.mo.gov.

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