Eric Prostko

2010 D.W. Brooks Award for Excellence in Extension

Department: Crop and Soil Sciences

Since 1999, Dr. Eric P. Prostko has worked as a professor and Cooperative Extension weed specialist in the University of Georgia's Department of Crop and Soil Sciences in Tifton. Eric is responsible for the statewide Extension weed science programs in field corn, peanut, soybean, sunflower, grain sorghum and canola.

As a former county Extension agent, Eric is strongly committed to the county delivery system. Since 2000, he has provided 54 in-service training programs for Georgia agents and has presented at 367 crop production meetings. Additionally, Eric was one of the first Extension specialists to formally develop an Internet-based training program for county agents. He has made more than 128 invited Extension presentations to allied agricultural industry groups such as BASF, Syngenta, Southern States, Valent, Georgia Crop Production Alliance, Southern Peanut Farmers Federation and the Mississippi Weed Science Society.

Eric is the author or co-author of 46 refereed journal articles, 133 scientific abstracts and 631 Extension publications. His bi-monthly column "From the Turn-Row," published in the Southern Farmer, is read by more than 24,000 subscribers.

Eric is a member of the American Society of Agronomy, Weed Science Society of America, American Peanut Research and Education Society, Southern Weed Science Society and the Georgia Association of County Agricultural Agents. He has received numerous awards including the Michael J. Bader Award of Excellence for Junior Scientist - Extension, the SWSS Outstanding Young Weed Scientist Award, the Dow AgroSciences Award for Excellence in Education and the GACA Senior Specialist Award.

Eric was born in Pennsylvania and grew up in New Jersey. While an undergraduate at Delaware Valley College, Eric worked as a farm supervisor. He received his master's from Rutgers University and spent 5 years working as a county agricultural agent in Burlington County, N.J., before pursuing his doctorate in weed science. He also worked as an extension agronomist in the Texas A&M University system.

Eric has been married for 23 years to Joann. They have three children.