Nick Hurdle

Nick Hurdle

Nick Hurdle is a Ph. D. student at the University of Georgia (UGA) studying Crop and Soil Sciences with a focus on Weed Science from Collierville, Tennessee. He obtained his bachelor's degree at the University of Tennessee – Martin in Crop and Soil Sciences. He then came to UGA to pursue his master's in Crop and Soil Sciences with a focus in Weed Science. Hurdle came from a long line of family farming, but his family got out of the large-scale business while he was very young. His childhood experiences with home gardening are what piqued his interest in the agriculture industry.

While completing his bachelor's, he had the opportunity to intern with Corteva, Bunge North America, and WinField United, each of which contributed to his interest in pursuing graduate school. Hurdle's interest in UGA was sparked at the Agronomy Society of America meeting in Phoenix, Arizona in 2017. Here he was introduced to Dr. Miguel Cabrera, who placed him in contact with Dr. Timothy Grey, which he would later complete his master's and Ph.D. under. He chose to pursue graduate school because he knew that his goal of working in research, that would open more doors down the road for him.

Hurdle chose UGA because he was not familiar with the area and wanted to strengthen his knowledge of this region. The work he had completed previously, had been done in corn and soybeans, so he wanted to opportunity to educate himself on a new commodity. Being in a new region, that he had no experience with, he knew that it would build him into a better businessperson and further develop his portfolio. Hurdle explained that UGA – Tifton felt like where these opportunities were.

The primary project that Hurdle is working on, under Dr. Timothy Grey, is analyzing herbicide's effect on early season peanut growth under non-irrigated conditions. He worked on this project under irrigated conditions as part of his master's work, but there is no prior research done on non-irrigated conditions. Another project Hurdle is working on involves looking at different polymer treatments on peanut seeds to determine their effect on emergence and germination. These studies are being completed both in the field and on germination tables. From these projects, Hurdle has gained tremendous amounts of industry knowledge. A few of the key skills he will carry with him because of his research include proper data collection, how to conduct tests, and how to relay information to others in a professional setting.

Upon completion of his Ph. D., Hurdle hopes to go to work for industry cooperation. With his past internships, he fell in love with this line of work because of how the systems with within the industry work together, as well as the people.

Written by: Caraline M. Coombs