Profile

Curriculum Vita (pdf)

Education

B.S. Biophysical Environmental Studies, 1991, Northland College, Ashland, WI
M.S. Soil Microbiology and Biochemistry, 1994, Iowa State University, Ames, IA
Ph.D. Soil Science, 1997, Washington State University

Research

Most of my projects are collaborative with other researchers and inspiring growers. We focus on biologically improving crop and soil health, and sustainable use of agricultural by-products.

Organic and Alternative Agriculture

• Organic production: nutrient supply, carbon footprint, soil biology
• Biodynamic farming and preparations
• Organic registered herbicides

Compost and Compost Teas

• Composting unusual byproducts such as livestock carcasses and mint distillery waste
• Compost teas for nutrient supply and soil health
• Composting-based funerals (Natural Organic Reduction)

Other Methods and Technologies to Improve Production Sustainability

• Mob grazing
• Food grade winter peas

Recent Publications (last 6 years)

Batcheler, M., Smith, M. M., Swanson, M. E., Ostrom, M., & Carpenter-Boggs, L. 2024. Assessing silvopasture management as a strategy to reduce fuel loads and mitigate wildfire risk. Scientific Reports, 14(1), 5954.

Wieme, R., & Carpenter-Boggs, L. 2024. Perceived Benefits and Barriers to Livestock Mortality Composting. The Journal of Extension, 61(4), 19.

Batcheler, M., Ostrom, M., Carpenter-Boggs, L., Swanson, M. E., Shults, P., & Brausieck, C. 2024. Design and application of silvopasture in Washington state. Agroforestry Systems, 98(2), 523-534.

Amin, M. N., Islam, M. M., Coyne, C. J., Carpenter-Boggs, L., & McGee, R. J. 2024. Spectral indices for characterizing lentil accessions in the dryland of Pacific Northwest. Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution, 71(1), 167-179.

Lockhart, S. R., Keller, C. K., Evans, R. D., Carpenter-Boggs, L. A., & Huggins, D. R. 2023. Soil CO2 in organic and no-till agroecosystems. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 349, 108442.

Sangjan, W., Carpenter-Boggs, L., Hudson, T.D. and Sankaran, S., 2022. Pasture productivity assessment under mob grazing and fertility management using satellite and uas imagery. Drones, 6(9), p.232.

Alam, M.Z., Hoque, M.A. and Carpenter-Boggs, L., 2022. Mycorrhizal fungi, biochar, and selenium increase biomass of Vigna radiata and reduce arsenic uptake. Toxicological & Environmental Chemistry, 104(1), pp.84-102.

Blubaugh, C.K., L. Carpenter-Boggs, J.P. Reganold, W.E. Snyder. 2021. Herbivore-herbivore interactions complicate links between soil fertility and pest resistance. Basic and Applied Ecology 52, 57-67.

Buajaila, F., J.S. Cowan, D. Inglis, L. Carpenter-Boggs, C. Miles. 2021. Tomato Growth, Yield and Quality Response to Mixed Chemical-Organic Fertilizers and Grafting Treatments in High Tunnel Environment. Canadian Journal of Plant Science.

Kellogg, J.A., J.P. Reganold, K.M. Murphy, L.A. Carpenter-Boggs. 2021. A Plant-Fungus Bioassay Supports the Classification of Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) as Inconsistently Mycorrhizal. Microbial Ecology. 1-10.

Alam, M. Z., M.A. Hoque, G.J. Ahammed, and L. Carpenter-Boggs. 2020. Effects of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, biochar, selenium, silica gel, and sulfur on arsenic uptake and biomass growth in Pisum sativum L. Emerging Contaminants. 6: 312-322.

McFarland, C., S. Shiwakoti, L. Carpenter‐Boggs, K. Schroeder, T. Brown, and D.R. Huggins. 2020. Evaluating buffer methods for determining lime requirement on acidified agricultural soils of the Palouse. Soil Science Society of America Journal.

Wieme, R., J.P. Reganold, D.W. Crowder, K.M. Murphy, and L. Carpenter-Boggs. 2020. Productivity and soil quality of organic forage, quinoa, and grain cropping systems in the dryland Pacific Northwest, USA. Agriculture, Ecosystems, and Environment. 293:106838.

Wieme, R., J.P. Reganold, D.W. Crowder, K.M. Murphy, and L. Carpenter-Boggs. 2020. Agronomic and economic performance of organic forage, quinoa, and grain crop rotations in the Palouse region of the Pacific Northwest, USA. Agricultural Systems. 177:102709.

Wachter, J.M., K.M. Painter, L. Carpenter-Boggs, D.R. Huggins, and J.P. Reganold. 2019. Productivity, economic performance, and soil quality of conventional, mixed, and organic dryland farming systems in eastern Washington State. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 286, p.106665.

Adewale, C., J.P. Reganold, S. Higgins, D. Evans, L. Carpenter-Boggs. 2019. Agricultural Carbon Footprint Is Farm Specific: Case Study of Two Organic Farms. Journal of Cleaner Production. 229:795-805.

Alam, M.Z., R. McGee, M.A. Hoque, G.J. Ahammed, L. Carpenter-Boggs. 2019. Effect of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi, Selenium and Biochar on Photosynthetic Pigments and Antioxidant Enzyme Activity Under Arsenic Stress in Mung Bean (Vigna radiata). Frontiers in Physiology. DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2019.00193

Alam, M.Z., M.A. Hoque, G.J. Ahammed, and L. Carpenter-Boggs. 2019. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi reduce arsenic uptake and improve plant growth in Lens culinaris. PloS one, 14:e0211441.

Smith, K., L. Carpenter-Boggs, D. McMoran, M. Ostrom. 2019. Connecting New Farmers to Place, Agroecology and Community through a Bilingual Organic Farm Incubator. 9:1-14. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development.

Related page:

Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources

News Articles

Lynne Carpenter-Boggs named new chair of Department of Crop and Soil Sciences

Government officials build massive chicken ‘slow cooker’ in southeast Washington

Lynne Carpenter-Boggs composted her first hog back in 1998, in Minnesota.

“It was fairly ambitious,” she says. “It [composting animals] was fairly new at that time. So, composting is decomposition, microbial decomposition of organic materials, and you can use just about any organic material.”

Since her first hog, the Washington State University soil scientist, based in Pullman, has become one of the top experts in the nation for how to compost large amounts of domestic animals in outbreak or disaster situations. And this year, she’s traveled across the U.S. to ply that trade in the wake of the worst highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreak the U.S. has remembered.

‘I’ve always wanted to be a tree’: Human composting starts to catch on

No need for an urn or a casket: California will soon offer a new option to be laid to rest — in a steel vessel, surrounded by wood chips and destined to become compost that could fertilize new life.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom this month signed a bill that requires state regulators to create a program allowing “natural organic reduction” by 2027. It will become the fifth state to pass legislation permitting what providers often call “human composting”

WCU contingent works on latest phase of Urban Death Project

Several Western Carolina University students and a faculty member spent a recent bitterly cold weekend in the gray winter woods on campus, working on a project that may provide society with an alternative to traditional burial and cremation.

Cheryl Johnston, director of WCU’s Forensic Osteology Research Station, and the students are collaborating with Katrina Spade, founder and director of the Urban Death Project, in determining the most efficient way of composting humans after death. The goal of Spade’s project is to come up with a more natural way of handling the bodies of the deceased while simultaneously providing rich compost for the Earth.