Cotton Researcher Of The Year
Baton Rouge, LOUISIANA
Dr. Lori Duncan, Assistant Professor and Row Crop Sustainability Specialist, University of Tennessee has been named the 2023 Cotton Researcher of the Year at the 26th Annual National Conservation Systems Cotton & Rice Conference, Southern Precision Ag Conference, Southern Soybean & Corn Conference, and the Delta States Irrigation Conference.
Duncan earned a BS in Biosystems Engineering with a minor in Environmental Engineering, a MS in Biosystems Engineering and a Ph.D. in Biosystems Engineering from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Duncan has carried out research projects for Cotton Incorporated every year since 2013 to present. Her projects include; implementation of the Field Print Calculator, establishing cover crops, constructed wetlands, promoting sustainable cotton production in the U.S, and investigating soil compaction in Mid-South no-till cotton production.
Serving as the Agricultural Sustainability Specialist with the University of Tennessee, and as a faculty member in the university’s Biosystems Engineering and Soil Science Department, Duncan develops applied research and disseminates educational and outreach programs in sustainable cropping systems with a specific interest in utilization of technologies.
Duncan was introduced to cotton at a young age with both her parents working in a textile mill. She has made key contributions to the U.S. cotton industry by helping producers adopt the latest in precision and conservation techniques and telling their sustainability stories; something that brands and retailers are now demanding.
Duncan’s cover crop studies have demonstrated to our cotton farmers the roles these crops play in capturing more soil carbon, reducing erosion, and capturing more rainfall. She was one of the first, if not the first person that used the FieldPrint Calculator from Field to Market to demonstrate the impact precision farming practices could have on a whole suite of sustainability metrics. Impressed by her work, Duncan was asked to conduct webinar on her efforts with universities in other states so more research and field demonstrations could consider the environmental impacts of the their treatments; not only yield and input costs. Her approach has now been replicated by several at Texas A&M, University of Arkansas, N.C. State University, and the University of Georgia. Duncan’s effort has led to great opportunities to tell the sustainability story of modern agriculture to cotton’s customers including Walmart, Wrangler, and Target. Duncan was honored as Field to Market’s 2020 Trusted Adviser of the Year. ∆