DAFVM Spotlight Employee: Garrett Oswalt
Garrett Oswalt
Extension Associate II
Time in position: Six years
Time at MSU: Six years
Every year, row crop farmers across the state depend on variety trials conducted by Mississippi State University to make crucial decisions about variety/hybrid selection and crop management. Through his work as an Extension Associate in the Plant and Soil Sciences Department at MSU, Garrett Oswalt supports Mississippi’s second-largest commodity -- soybeans.
“I get to meet new farmers every year, develop closer relationships with the same farmers from the previous year, and get to know them and their story and how to better help them -- it's just the best," Oswalt said.
Oswalt’s responsibilities include garnering relationships with farmers, planting strip trials on their plots, and collecting data from the beginning to the end of harvest. From the data collected, Oswalt and his team create a program for the soybean demonstration program and disseminate information to producers throughout the year.
“The work we do helps farmers decide what seeds to use based on our trial results,” Oswalt said.
With a $1.56 billion value of production, soybeans are Mississippi’s second-largest commodity with 2.15 million acres of soybeans harvested from more than 3,000 farms in 2023.
Beyond his grandfather’s backyard garden, Oswalt was not introduced to agriculture until a man at his church offered him a summer job at the age of 18. After a few more years of working with row crops, a friend directed him to the Extension Associate position at MSU, and the rest is history.
“It is an amazing feeling to know that the work that I put in and presented to people has paid off,” Oswalt said.
Oswalt is working towards his master's degree knowing it will help support him in his role at MSU, and he said he could not do it all without the support of his coworkers and family.
Oswalt and his wife, Bailey, have a two-year-old daughter, Vada Jo, and a five-month-old son, Raylan. In his free time, Oswalt enjoys, hunting, fishing, and playing in his country band “The Garrett Oswalt Band.”
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