Ph.D., University of Minnesota
International agriculture
Professor Thurston received his advanced degrees from the University of Minnesota. He was a plant pathologist and member of an interdisciplinary team of Rockefeller Foundation scientists during 1954-1956 and 1958-1967 in Bogotá, Colombia. He directed the Plant Pathology Program of ICA (Instituto Colombiano Agropecuario) and from 1965-1967 was director of Plant Sciences for ICA. In 1967 he became a Professor of Plant Pathology and International Agriculture at Cornell.
Although I retired at the end of 1996, I continue to teach three courses. My major efforts in the past have been in Cornell's program in International Agriculture. Many students come to study at Cornell from tropical developing countries, but some also come from the US, Canada, and Europe to prepare for careers in international agriculture. Appropriate training for these students to work effectively overseas in tropical developing countries has been a major objective of my program. Cornell's program in International Agriculture has over 60 courses on international agriculture.
I continue to teach the course Plant Diseases in Tropical Agriculture. Cornell offers a two week field trip to the tropics of Latin America (most recently to Honduras) in connection with the course Agriculture in the Developing Nations, and I lead the course Agriculture in Tropical America; which is a prerequisite for trip. I also lead the course Traditional Agriculture in Developing Countries and give lectures in several other international agriculture courses. During the past year I served as a minor member for 15 graduate students and a major advisor for two. A number of students in my program have done thesis research in the tropics, especially on cassava diseases.
Recently, my major interest has been compiling and analyzing information on sustainable plant disease management practices of traditional farmers, most of which are cultural practices. Much of the literature describing traditional agricultural systems and practices was abstracted and reexamined with the objective of determining the practices, methods, and principles used by traditional farmers to control plant diseases. One result of this work was a book entitled Sustainable Practices for Plant Disease Management in Traditional Farming Systems. Likewise, an examination of the world literature concerning slash/mulch systems resulted in the book Slash/Mulch Systems: Sustainable Methods for Tropical Agriculture. And finally, a database with over 3,200 references on traditional agriculture and plant pathology has also been compiled.
Another major interest has been leading, and now participating in, an interdisciplinary working group on mulch-based agriculture funded by CIIFAD. Mulch-based agriculture includes agricultural systems in which green manures, cover crops, or agroforestry species contribute to a mulch or litter layer of vegetative biomass which is left on the soil or partially incorporated. Several low-input mulch-based agricultural systems, such as "frijol tapado" in Central America and the velvet bean/maize system which is now found in Central America, and parts of Asia and Africa, have shown promise in providing increased productivity and yield stability on both marginal and fertile soils. The group is working with farmers and NGOs as well as research institutions and universities.
Last Updated: July 1, 1997
http://ppathw3.cals.cornell.edu/mba_project/moist/Thurston_TA/default.html