Newswise — Plant science professor Sharon Clay breaks ground literally every growing season when she begins a new set of studies of how weeds interfere with crop growth, reduce yield, and compete for nutrients, water and sunlight.
This year she has broken ground in a different way — as the first woman ever chosen as president-elect of the American Society of Agronomy. Her term as president-elect begins in January 2012. She will then serve as president in 2013.
The South Dakota State University professor was elected by Society members for the position in balloting earlier this year. Clay is also the first SDSU professor elected to the post. “It was a true honor to even be selected as a candidate for this position, knowing the people who have served in this position. It is a privilege and responsibility to serve in this role.”
South Dakota State University Plant Science Department Head Sue Blodgett said it speaks well of the quality of the faculty at SDSU for Clay to be chosen to lead the organization.
“Sharon is a highly regarded faculty member at SDSU and it is no surprise that she has been selected to lead the Society by her peers,” Blodgett said.
The American Society of Agronomy, now 103 years old, works closely with two sister organizations, the Crop Science Society of America and the Soil Science Society of America. All three are based in Madison, Wis.
Based on her service to the society, including her work as associate editor for Agronomy Journal and heading up several ASA committees, Clay was selected as a Fellow of the American Society of Agronomy in 2009, the highest professional recognition given by the society. She said that ASA serves as a hub through which scientists can collaborate and exchange ideas in one of the most practical of research areas — how to grow more and better crops for food, fiber, and other uses. Along with soil science, agronomy helps lay the foundation for food production that supports everything else, Clay said.
“You need to have soil, excellent varieties, and correct agronomic practices to get a good crop,” Clay said. “We use a wide array of information from biology, chemistry, entomology, plant pathology, soil science, and other disciplines and distill it into best management practices for growers.”
The work of agronomists is crucial today as people of the 21st century face key issues worldwide, Clay said.
The challenges include a growing worldwide population that is expected to reach about 9 billion by 2050, according to some estimates. Other issues include higher prices for inputs such as nitrogen, depletion of phosphorus supplies used to make fertilizer, soil erosion by wind and water, loss of farmland to urban development, and depletion of groundwater aquifers such as the Ogallala Aquifer that lies beneath the Great Plains.
Meanwhile, agricultural scientists are concerned about agriculture’s role as a contributing factor to environmental problems. Clay said one example is the hypoxia problem in the Gulf of Mexico — the “dead zones” caused by too many nutrients in the water from sources such as agricultural fertilizer. The result is algae blooms that in turn deplete the oxygen levels in the water as algae die and decay.
Such issues present difficult management problems for producers of the future, Clay said. The good news for students studying agronomy, Clay said — including about 190 undergraduate students at SDSU — is that the demand will be greater than ever for a new generation of ag professionals and producers with the training to meet a new generation of challenges. ASA has been a leader in ag professional development and continuing education. ASA has the “Certified Professional Agronomist” and “Certified Crop Advisor” programs that offer certification and continuing education for consultants to keep them up-to-date in agronomic information.
In addition, the American Society of Agronomy has just changed its structure from 12 rigid divisions to using social media models to self-organize so that a total of 46 professional “communities” within the organization have already formed as of March 2011, Clay said. That suggests that agronomy professionals are talking to each other on very specific issues, which may spur research and solutions for vexing problems.
Clay earned her bachelor’s degree in horticulture from the University of Wisconsin, her master’s in plant science from the University of Idaho, and her Ph.D. in agronomy from the University of Minnesota.
Clay has written over 100 refereed journal articles, edited and written two books, and has written 10 book chapters.
Her research has included an award-winning study of how velvetleaf in proximity corn makes additional demands on specific genes that help it compete. She and her co-authors of that 2007 journal article won an award for making the outstanding contribution to the journal Weed Science that year.
Her other research topics include precision agriculture, remote sensing, biological weed control, pesticides in the environment, pesticide residue studies on minor crops, and weed physiology and biology.
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