Diversification in agricultural enterprises definitely keeps Whit Weems on the move in his role as Texas AgriLife Extension Service agent in Comanche County.
When he is not assisting producers with everything from dairies to beef cattle operations, pecans to peanuts and watermelons to watersheds, he is leading research projects and production trials to increase production options for local farmers.
"There are several commodities that I work with and that really makes it enjoyable," Whit says. "I’ve really enjoyed the diversification in this county, working with the producers. And I strongly believe in the grassroots program that Extension offers in building programs from the ground up."
Having grown up just across the county line in Dublin, Whit says coming to Comanche County was like coming home for him. He finished school with a master’s degree in agricultural education before first joining the Extension in Falls County, where he helped local youth with 4-H projects. He later moved over to Hamilton County, where he worked as the county agent before the job opening became available in Comanche County.
Today, he spends his days working with local producers on a variety of projects, as well as working on his doctorate’s degree in education which he expects to finish next spring.
Whit also serves on the Comanche County Farm Bureau board, as well as leading many of the county’s youth ag education programs in dual capacities as local county agent and Farm Bureau leader.
"One of the quotes that’s dear to my heart and something I believe you can probably build an Extension career on is: ‘What a man hears he may doubt, what a man sees, he may still doubt, but what a man does himself he may never doubt,’ " Whit says. "That is what the result demonstrations and applied research is built upon.
"It gives us an opportunity to actually take new technologies and projects out into the field and actually be managed by a producer in real life situations," he adds. "It comes down to that grassroots approach, working with the local producers and the local people to develop ideas and address needs and issues directly on a local level."
