Virginia Tech Southern Piedmont Agricultural Research and Extension Center

06/03/2026

Congratulations to Shirin Parizad! She received her Ph.D. in Entomology (vector-born plant disease) from Virginia Tech's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Dr. Parizad also has a Ph.D. in plant pathology-virology from the University of Tehran, Iran.

Dr. Parizad's dissertation is titled "Invasive Aphids, Reservoir Hosts, and Endophyte-Mediated Plant-Vector Interactions in Barley Yellow Dwarf Virus Pathosystems: Revisiting Disease Management".

She is pictured here with her advisors; Dr. Thomas Kuhar, Dr. Arash Rashed(chair), Dr. Scott Salom, Dr. Scotty Yang, and Dr. Sanford Eigenbrode (on screen, joined from the University of Idaho).

05/22/2026

Please join us in welcoming this amazing group. They are here as grad students, summer interns, and extra summer farm help.
{L to R, front} Tori Lavelle (agronomy), Claire Ruscello (plant pathology), Lareyna Perez (plant pathology), Aoran Diao (Grad student-plant pathology), Awasar Ghimire (Grad student-Ag Economics), {back row} Jeremiah Daniels (entomology), Timothy Foster (to***co agronomy), Caleb Kline (agronomy), Ben Hite (agronomy). There are a few more that were working in the field off site or set to begin next week and unavailable for the photo. They are John Chung, Rayah Edelson, Parker Hite, A***n Srivastava, and Nia Stewart.

05/21/2026

Southern Piedmont Entomology presenting the USDA-NIFA project on barley yellow dwarf virus at the Small Grain Field Day at the Eastern Virginia AREC, Warsaw, Va.

05/08/2026

🎉 We are incredibly proud of our very own PJ Shepherd, selected as one of just 20 nominees for the 2026 President’s Award for Excellence! With more than 13,000 Virginia Tech employees university-wide, this is a truly outstanding honor.
This award recognizes staff for exceptional contributions and consistently excellent performance. Congratulations, PJ!! 🧡🦃

Pictured below presenting the award to PJ is Dr. Carol Wilkinson, Agronomist and former SPAREC Director, and Dr. Arash Rashed, SPAREC Director and Professor of Entomology.

05/01/2026

VT SPAREC sincerely thanks Altria for this support, which will strengthen our teaching, research, and the collective work of our students and stakeholders.

Click on the link to view the Press Release.

05/01/2026

The to***co plants are officially going in the ground at the VT Southern Piedmont AREC, marking the start of another exciting growing season. From careful prep to precise planting, the work is underway—and we’re looking forward to the research, growth, and progress ahead.

Stay tuned as these fields come to life this season! 🌿✨

04/29/2026

This is our 18th year of hosting Agriculture Awareness Days events for 3rd graders since the program's inception in 2009! Students from Nottoway, Lunenburg, and Prince Edward counties and home school students experienced 15 different learning stations, engaging in hands-on activities like paper making, vermicomposting, working with simple machines, and milking dairy cows. This successful event was made possible by the invaluable support of volunteers, staff, and community partners including: Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station, Virginia Farm Bureau Federation, Virginia Department of Military Affairs, Fort Pickett, Virginia Cooperative Extension, Nottoway FFA Chapter, Virginia Department of Forestry, Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources, Piedmont Soil & Water Conservation District, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Agrium, Brickland Hatchery, Rocky Hill Farm LLC, The Dairy Alliance, Smurfit Westrock, Richlands Dairy & Creamery, Triple R Dairy, and Colonial Farm Credit. Thank you!

04/25/2026

Be on the lookout…

Heads up, Virginia: Spotted Lanternflies are officially emerging.🚨 Following the first confirmed hatch this week, we’re expecting many more to appear over the next 1-2 weeks. While they might look small now, these invasive insects are a major nuisance for our local trees and plants.
Your 3-step action plan:
🔹1. LOOK: Check tree trunks, vehicles, and outdoor gear for newly hatched nymphs.
🔹2. STOMP: It’s the most effective way to manage them.
🔹3. SCRAPE: If you find any remaining egg masses, scrape them into a bag with rubbing alcohol, or scrape them onto the ground and crush them completely

04/24/2026

We had a fantastic time hosting 5th grade students for Agriculture Awareness Day programs! They enjoyed learning the math and science of baking bread thanks to King Arthur Baking Company's Bake for Good program. Additional presentations and hands-on activity stations (including strawberry DNA, animal cells, Oobleck, and apple/earth) were made possible by collaborations with the , Virginia Department of Military Affairs, Department of Defense Starbase-Blackstone, Crown Orchard, Triple R Dairy, Nottoway FFA Chapter, Society of St. Andrew - Virginia, and Farm Credit.

Thank you to everyone who made our annual event possible again this year!

04/16/2026

Today, we’re remembering and honoring the lives of the 32 Hokies who were tragically taken from their loved ones and the Virginia Tech community on April 16, 2007.

On this 2026 Day of Remembrance, we’re honoring the incredible potential each of them carried and the lasting impact they continue to have on our world. 🧡