Agricultural Research Service
50th Anniversary

E-mail

• USDA-ARS Soil Scientist
• President Soil Science Society of America
• Adjunct Professor University of Nebraska
• 1999 Onassis International Prize for the Environment
• Co-founder REAP
• President Soil Science Society of America, 2001/02
• Senior Soil Scientist US Dept. of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service
• Adjunct Professor of Agronomy, University of Nebraska
• 2002, USDA Secretaries Honor Award for Maintaining and Enhancing the Nation's Natural Resources and Environment
• 2000, Co-founder with Janet T. Doran of the "Renewing Earth and People" Foundation
• 1999 Onassis International Prize for the Environment
• 1999 USDA-ARS Technology Transfer Award
• Ph.D., 1975, Soil Microbiology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
• MS 1969, Soil Chemistry, VPI, Blacksburg, VA
• BS 1967, Agronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD

Professional Accomplishments in Brief

• Developed ecological approaches and tools for sustainable agricultural systems that enhance economic crop production, soil conservation, and environmental quality.
• Demonstrated the potential for biological management in sustainable systems to better synchronize available soil nutrient levels with crop plant needs and reduce N losses to the atmosphere and surface waters. 
• Led and collaborated with USDA-NRCS in developing soil quality indicators, methods handbooks (>10,000 distributed), and a commercial test kit (>550 marketed) for assessing the sustainability of agricultural management systems at over 100 locations across the USA and in over 26 countries abroad.
• Provided leadership for international projects in Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Greece, India, Moldova, and Poland on Soil Quality and microbial enhancement of the efficiency and sustainability of agricultural production systems. 
• Author/Co-author of over 200 technical scientific publications including 3 books, 2 technical/popular videos/DVD's, 32 book chapters, and over 150 presentations.

Vision

A 21st century agriculture that will sustain earth and its people by assuring a gricultural productivity and environmental stability.  As the primary source of food and fiber and a major interface with the environment, soil is the reservoir on which most life on earth depends.  To sustain the quality of life for future generations, we must identify land management practices which balance needs for food and fiber with the conservation of natural and environmental resources.  We must "put our science to work" to provide workable and economic alternatives that land managers can embrace to sustain both themselves and the soils and environments on which we all depend. Agri-culture can provide adequate food and fiber for all people and a solution to environmental degradation.