Profile

I am a soil scientist first, and an agronomist second; an agronomist studies how to be more effective and efficient at growing plants for food and fiber (used in making clothes).

As a soil scientist I have studied the effects of natural and managed (agriculture) ecosystems on the soil, and the effects of the soil on the ecosystems.

I taught college students about many aspects of soil: fertility and plant nutrition, soil and water conservation, irrigation, profile description, formation and classification, as well as the interaction of soil and plants.

I have studied soils in much of the western United States, describing the soils and classifying them for their potential use in agriculture and in land reclamation.

Currently I am the education manager for the professional societies for agronomists and soil scientists. I develop, coordinate, and deliver continuing education materials for certified professionals in agronomy and soil science.

This fall I will return to being a professor at a university, teaching college students about soil again.

As a professor, I would teach a two or three different classes in the morning: including an introductory soils or statistics course, and an advanced soils course. Most afternoons I spent 2 to 4 hours with students in outdoor laboratories, seeing soils in natural ecosystems and in managed agricultural ecosystems, focusing on soil conservation and irrigation management systems. These photos show students describing soils, as well as having a little “dirty” fun.

As an environmental consultant, I did a lot of land classification related to water rights for various Native American tribes in places such as the Northwest New Mexico, Eastern Arizona, the Idaho Panhandle, and North Central Montana. For a typical field day, we would travel to these places and stay in hotels. The day would start at 7 a.m. when we would drive 30 minutes to an hour to a field location. We had a truck with a hydraulic probe and drill. We would take GPS readings to have a latitude/longitude for each soil sample. We collected soil samples to a depth of 1.8 to 2.5 meters, and separate them into 15-cm segments. We would describe the physical properties and sometimes collect samples that would be shipped to a laboratory to verify the chemical properties. We always took large maps with aerial imagery, and would draw lines on the maps to show where the soils were similar and where they changed to another soil. We ate lunch in the field because sometimes we were more than an hour from the nearest cafe. We would stop around 5 p.m. and drive back to the hotel, and have dinner. Then start all over again the next day. 

As an environmental consultant, we also had typical office days after we finished the field work. We would go back through all the data sheets we collected and the maps we drew. We would go through all the soil descriptions and verify them for accuracy. Then we would look at our reference materials to make sure all the interpretations we made in the field were correct. We would use that information and stereoscopes to check that the lines on our maps were in the right places. We would incorporate the laboratory test results, and adjust the field interpretations, if necessary. All this information would be input into a geographic information system to generate maps that would go into the reports we wrote to submit to the agency or client who contracted us to do the work.

As the education manager for the American Society of Agronomy and Soil Science Society of America, most of my time is spent in an office. I read magazines and articles that talk about issues farmers around the USA are facing in the balance of growing crops and protecting the environment. I spend a lot of time on the phone and sending emails to consulting agronomists and soil scientists, educators, extension specialists, and research scientists who can address these issues and provide good science and application to meet the continuing education requirements of the certified professionals supported by our Societies: Certified Crop Adviser, Certified Professional Agronomist, Certified Professional Soil Scientist. Once I find all the people, I moderate a webinar to deliver the information to the certified professionals all around the USA.

I would use it to boost the exposure of my Dr. Dirt webpage, YouTube channel, Facebook page, and Twitter account.

http://doctordirt.org/

www.youtube.com/drdirtsoilvideos

@DrD_SoilStuff

FB – Dr. Dirt: Why Everyone Should Love Soil