The United Sorghum Checkoff Program named Jourdan Bell its next director of agronomy on Oct. 1, the same day Brent Bean retired after a decade leading the checkoff's agronomy program. Bell arrives with more than $6.1 million in competitive research funding secured since 2014 and a research record built on water-limited sorghum systems in the Texas High Plains.

Bell comes from Texas A&M AgriLife Extension in Amarillo, where she has served as a professor and regional agronomist since 2015. Her programs cover grain and forage sorghum, cotton, corn and wheat, all with one common thread: maximizing producer profitability under limited irrigation.

What does the hire change for growers?

Practically, it means continuity. Bell worked as a student employee in Bean's Texas A&M AgriLife program, and the two have collaborated through much of their careers. Bean will stay on after retirement to assist with strategic agronomy initiatives and work directly with Bell during the transition.

Her credentials stack up in hard numbers:

• 38 peer-reviewed journal articles and three book chapters
• 65 technical reports
• $6.1 million-plus in competitive funding as principal or co-principal investigator
• Associate editor of the Agronomy Journal
• 2023 Texas A&M AgriLife Vice Chancellor's Award in Extension Education

Bell earned a bachelor's in agriculture and a master's in plant, soil and environmental science from West Texas A&M University, then completed a doctorate in soil science at Texas A&M University. She joined Texas A&M AgriLife in 2014.

Bean's legacy on the production side

Bean joined the Sorghum Checkoff in 2015 after careers with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension and private industry. His defining test came early: the sugarcane aphid outbreak that hit U.S. sorghum beginning in 2013. Working with university researchers, Extension specialists, crop protection companies and growers, he helped build the integrated management recommendations that gave producers tools against one of the crop's most damaging insect pests in recent decades.

He also led research and education on drought management, irrigation efficiency, nutrient management, hybrid selection and production practices, authoring hundreds of Extension publications and technical resources used nationwide.

"Brent has shaped modern sorghum production through decades of research, Extension and service to producers," said Tim Lust, CEO of the USCP and National Sorghum Producers. "Growers across the country have relied on his practical, science-based recommendations to improve their operations, and his leadership has helped the industry navigate some of its greatest production challenges."

Bean's own framing keeps the focus on producers. "Serving sorghum producers has been one of the greatest privileges of my career," he said. "I've known Jourdan for much of her career and have watched her become an exceptional agronomist. She has a strong commitment to research, Extension and helping producers succeed."

Why water-limited experience matters now

Lust tied the hire directly to production economics. "She understands the opportunities and challenges facing sorghum producers, and her experience working in water-limited production systems will help continue advancing research, education and innovation for the industry," he said.

That background lines up with where U.S. sorghum acres sit — predominantly Plains states where declining aquifer levels and drought pressure push growers toward the crop precisely because it performs where water runs short.

Bell takes the director's seat with the sugarcane aphid playbook, drought and irrigation research, and Bean's transition support already in hand. Her stated priority: "advance practical, science-based solutions that strengthen the competitiveness of U.S. sorghum."