Extension faculty in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences are leaders in several WSU Extension Program areas including:
Extension Personnel
Douglas Collins, ANR Program Unit
My extension programs and research focus on soil quality and vegetable and fruit production for small farms. My areas of interest are: managing and monitoring soil fertility on diverse organic vegetable farms; organic vegetable cropping systems, including reduced tillage; soil variability across landscapes; and biological indicators of soil quality. I am an active instructor in Ecological Soil Management for beginning and advanced producers. I conducts workshops at area conferences and for Cultivating Success™ classes.
Steve Fransen
Steve Fransen continues to work with perennial warm-season grasses as biofuel and forage utilization. A larger USDA funded study will be completed in 2016 involving intercropping switchgrass cultivars into stands of hybrid poplar at GreenWood Resources at Boardman, OR. We found higher land equivalent ratios (LER) through intercropping than growing trees or grass in monoculture. Recently winter canola is part of his research focus with several studies focused on dual-purpose, forage and seed, use of August planted winter canola under irrigation. So far we’ve found greater economic return when managing winter canola for dual-purpose even through grain yields were lower than monoculture grain production. These studies will continue through 2017.
Drew Lyon
My Extension and Research Program focuses on integrated weed management in dryland small grain production in eastern Washington. Research efforts are directed at the most troublesome weeds in each of the three rainfall zones of eastern Washington.
Isaac Madsen
My extension and research program focuses on oilseed production in Washington State. I can assist you with questions regarding oilseed production including stand establishment, winter survival, nutrient management and variety selection. Additionally, I am interested in alternative cropping practices such as oilseed-legume intercropping and dual purpose (grazing) winter canola.
William Pan
I conduct work at the interface between crops and soils at rhizosphere and cropping systems levels the Nutrient Cycling and Rhizosphere Ecology Analytics, Technology and Education (NCREATE) team. We digitally image root rhizospheres and we track nutrient use and cycling of crops in rotations to better inform nutrient management recommendations, which we extend to student and farming communities.
William Schillinger
My cropping systems research and extension program is mainly focused in low-precipitation (less than 12 inch annual) farming areas. Research interests include: best management practices to reduce wind erosion, increased cropping intensity, alternative crops, and water use efficiency in cropping systems.
Haiying Tao
I can assist you with questions related to nutrient management, fertilizer recommendations and applications, interpretation of soil and tissue testing, and residue management.
Facebook Pages
Archived Program Sites