Leonel Deleon (right) and Travis Ahrens, both studying GIS technology at Del Mar College, search for aphids in a field of sorghum and plot them on a handheld GIS device.[/caption]

Leonel Deleon may have found his calling in the fields of cotton, sorghum and corn growing in the sunbaked soil of the Texas Coastal Bend.

Last spring, the Del Mar College student was part of a team using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology to measure the populations of pests like the verde plant bug and cotton fleahopper and produce data that helps farmers maximize their crop yield.

“It’s important because it affects people’s livelihoods,” said Deleon, 24, whose internship with Texas A&M AgriLife Research came courtesy of a grant from the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA). “After Del Mar I may apply for a job with Agrilife just to see what it’s like to do GIS on a full-time basis. This has changed my direction in life.”

GIS technology incorporates computer programs and data such as Global Positioning System coordinates to create maps used to analyze and assess real-world problems. The maps can be viewed electronically or on paper.

Perfect training ground

In South Texas, GIS is nearly synonymous with agriculture. As a result, local farmland around Corpus Christi, where the college is located, is a perfect training ground for Del Mar GIS students who receive internships through grants from the USDA. By the end of this summer, about 40 internships will have been made possible by $352,000 in USDA grants over the past four years, said Jonda Halcomb, PhD, dean of Del Mar’s division of arts and sciences.

Besides agriculture, GIS technology is increasingly useful in business, marketing, marine science, urban development and other fields, Halcomb said. “With GIS, you’re not limited to any one area. I want students to be prepared for other fields where they can add GIS to their expertise.”

Ground truthing

In a process called ground truthing, Deleon and his colleagues went into farmfields looking for insect nymphs on plants and plotting their locations on handheld GIS devices, he said. Then, using a software program called ArcMap, they put the data on a map that indicates the number of insects in the sampling area.

“We show this data to our clients, the farmers,” Deleon said. “They can determine how much pesticide to use and where to use it. It’s interesting to hear them talk about the insects and how destructive they are.”

The data is especially valuable to sorghum farmers. Recently, Coastal Bend sorghum fields became the epicenter of a multi-state infestation of aphids, a pest that sucks the sap from the stems and leaves of the plant, said Mike Brewer, field crop entomologist with Texas A&M AgriLife Research.

Student learning

While Del Mar’s GIS students are contributing to farmers’ productivity, the real focus of the internships is student learning, Brewer said.

“I get enthusiastic students because they’re applying their classroom instruction to a real-world problem. They’ve all been willing to get their shoes dirty, and that’s part of the selection process. It’s fair to say we work them pretty hard, but they enjoy it.”

AgriLife has hosted four interns from Del Mar over the last three years, Brewer said. The combination of working outdoors and in an office, as well as with a team and alone, is what Alby Cartwright enjoyed the most during her internship at AgriLife. She’s completed four GIS internships, the most recent with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, where she researched and compiled South Texas precipitation data. With her internship experience, a handful of GIS certifications and an associate’s degree from Del Mar, Cartwright plans to pursue a career in GIS after she completes her bachelor’s degree.

“Before the internships, I wouldn’t have been able to tell you what I wanted to do in my life,” she said. “They defined what I’m looking for.”

‘Local sons and daughters’

That type of feedback is a source of pride for her GIS instructor at Del Mar, John J. Nelson. It’s also one of the reasons he and Halcomb are willing to put the leg-work into grant applications. “These are local sons and daughters making a difference here in this area,” Nelson said. “You can really sense a feeling of acomplishment and drive from their experiences.”

GIS and technologies associated with it are evolving rapidly in South Texas’ agriculture industry. This year, AgriLife may begin using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to remotely scan farmfields for signs of damage from insect pests, Brewer said. Once those areas are identified, a person can go out for a closer inspection. The integration of agriculture, GIS and UAVs is in its infancy, Brewer said, and Del Mar students starting internships at AgriLife this summer will be part of it.

For Halcomb and Nelson, that underscores the need for a continuing flow of grants that help Del Mar’s GIS students stay on the cutting edge of technology, especially as it applies to agriculture. “You write 10 grant applications and you’re lucky if you get two,” Nelson said. “But we do it because without grants, we wouldn’t be able to offer those internship opportunties.”