One of the hallmarks of the Whitetail Institute is its commitment to providing customers with accurate information to help with deer management. A big reason the Whitetail Institute is so successful in meeting that need is the top-tier professionals on its staff who continually provide information to customers. When it comes to weed and herbicide sciences, Dr. Carroll Johnson is a highly qualified expert and our go-to guy.
Dr. Johnson’s professional qualifications are as good
as they get. Most recently during his 33-year career, he has been a research
agronomist (weed science) with the USDA Agricultural Research Service, and
conducts weed science and agronomic research, including organic production of
peanuts, cotton, biofuel crops and vegetable crops. Areas of Dr. Johnson’s
research include the ecology of weeds, integrated weed-management systems and
the use of alternate strategies to manage weeds in certified organic production
systems. Before accepting his position with the USDAARS, Dr. Johnson was an
extension agronomist with the University of Georgia for almost five years. He
has published 76 articles in scientific journals, 36 popular press articles and
11 extension service bulletins. He is a regular contributor to Whitetail News
and the author of the weed-control chapter in Quality Food Plots, published by
the Quality Deer Management Association. Dr. Johnson’s peers have recognized
his research accomplishments. His honors include the Award for Excellence in
Research from the American Peanut Research and Education Society in 2002;
Fellow, Southern Weed Science Society in 2009; the Land Stewardship Award from
Georgia Organics in 2012; Fellow, American Peanut Research and Education
Society in 2012; Outstanding Senior Research Scientist at the University of
Georgia-Tifton Campus in 2013; and Fellow, Weed Science Society of America in
2015. He graduated from Auburn University in 1979 and North Carolina State
University in 1981 and 1984. He resides in Tifton, Georgia, with June, his wife
of 26 years, and 22-year-old twin daughters, Anna and Sara, who recently
graduated from the University of Georgia. If Dr. Johnson’s name is already
familiar, it’s likely because you’ve read his highly informative professional
articles on agronomy and weed control in Whitetail News. His first article in
Whitetail News was published in 1998, but his involvement with Whitetail
Institute goes back much farther — about 20 years on a formal basis. During that
time, he has been invaluable to the Whitetail Institute in helping introduce
Slay and Arrest MAX, and in training Whitetail Institute staff to ensure the
information we provide customers about those products is accurate and complete.
He also serves as an able source of information on resolving complicated and
difficult weed problems our customers sometimes face. Informally, Dr. Johnson
has been part of the Whitetail Institute family since its beginning in 1988,
when his father, Dr. Wiley Johnson, was the Whitetail Institute’s first
director of forage research. I got to know Dr. Johnson in 2006, when I was
asked to write an article for Whitetail News about his father, who had died
that year. Like his father, Dr. Johnson is a rare combination of brilliant
scientist and gifted communicator, and his goal is to assist others by sharing
his vast knowledge. Even with all of Dr. Johnson’s accolades and talents, the
thing I value most about him is his friendship. We’ve hunted together through the
years, share many interests and have the same sort of wry sense of humor. But
most important to our friendship is the respect I have for his character. That,
I believe, is illuminated in the remarks Carroll included in his eulogy to his
father: “On Saturday morning, I spent a couple of hours cleaning up the yard at
Dad’s house in Auburn, and I needed a pair of work gloves. I had left mine at
home in Georgia, but I found a pair of Dad’s work gloves in his truck. Work
gloves are like a pair of boots — they need to be broken in to fit the user’s
hand. Dad’s work gloves fit me perfectly, and that made me realize that Dad had
been preparing my brother and me to wear his gloves in another way — so that we
would be ready to stand at the front of the family as its leaders. Dad set a very
high standard in an unassuming way, and my brother and I are now able to wear
our Dad’s gloves. “To all men with young children or grandchildren, I would
like to present my father as an example of a great father who spent a lot of time
with my brother and me, and our children. A great father spends time in all
sorts of ways with his kids, even when they are grown. A great father sets high
standards for his children and lives his life to the same high standards. That
way, his gloves can be worn by his children.” It’s not often I get the
opportunity to write an article about a good friend like Dr. Johnson. If I
haven’t done him sufficient service, his own words will make up for my
shortcomings.
