John P. Reganold
Addressing the Sustainability of Agriculture
Because there has been growing apprehension about the long-term health of conventional agriculture, many farmers and consumers are looking at alternative systems, such as organic, integrated, and biodynamic, to make agriculture more sustainable. Dr. John P. Reganold’s farming systems research measures the effects of alternative and conventional farming on sustainability indicators: soil health, crop quality, financial performance, environmental quality, and energy efficiency. He has successfully conducted his sustainability research on about 100 farms in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California, British Columbia, Australia, and New Zealand.
Dr. Reganold has assembled multidisciplinary teams, representing soil science, horticulture, agronomy, food science, economics, integrated pest management, plant pathology, environmental engineering, ecosystem analysis, and statistics, to pool their skills in assessing the sustainability of different farming systems. Using his on-farm methodology, Reganold’s teams have been able to answer the following question: Can alternative systems be as or more sustainable than their conventional counterparts? His research has shown that organic, biodynamic, and integrated farming systems are not only more sustainable, but that their practices can mitigate some of the hazardous effects of conventional agriculture on the environment.
Reganold’s research contributions in farming systems research have been novel, pioneering, and creative. His work has laid a strong foundation for sustainable agriculture research, as measured by the number of times his peers have cited his publications. Literally hundreds of newspapers, many science magazines, and numerous radio and TV stations have featured articles or reports about his research. Dr. Reganold's on-farm studies have created some of the largest published data sets on alternative and conventional agricultural systems. Such large data sets have had a significant impact on U.S. public policy and farm bills, creating major policy incentives to reduce the use of chemicals in the production of the nation's food.
Related Pages:
Contact Information
Dr. John P. Reganold, Ph.D.
Regents Professor of Soil Science
Department of Crop and Soil Sciences
Washington State University
PO Box 646420
257 Johnson Hall
Pullman WA 99164-6420
Telephone: 509-335-8856
Fax: 509-335-8674
E-mail: reganold@wsu.edu
Dr. John P. Reganold’s career was shaped by his interest in environmental soil science. He earned his B.A. (1971) in German and M.S. (1974) in Soil Science at the University of California at Berkeley and a Ph.D. (1980) in Soil Science at University of California at Davis. He worked for two years as a soil scientist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's. Natural Resource Conservation Service and for three years as an environmental engineer with Utah International, Inc., a mining company. He joined Washington State University in 1983 and is currently Regents Professor of Soil Science. He has become one of the premier scientists in the world in sustainable agricultural research, as evidenced by his publications in Science, Nature, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Scientific American, and other land-use and soil science journals. Dr. Reganold is co-author of three editions of a textbook titled Natural Resource Conservation: Toward a Sustainable Future and co-editor of the book, Organic Agriculture: A Global Perspective.
Heading using the h3tag
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.