Giovani Preza-Fontes, Ph.D.

Dr. Giovani Preza-Fontes explores ways to advance the productivity and environmental performance of major field crops, including corn and soybean. He uses field-applied research and empirical data to identify best management practices to increase nutrient use efficiency and grain yield while minimizing the environmental footprint of food production systems.
More information: 
Preza-Fontes is a researcher passionate about conquering what he believes is the biggest challenge in agriculture today: the ability to produce enough food while conserving our soils and natural resources. As an agronomist, he is interested in enhancing nutrient efficiency within crops and finding ways to optimize no-till cropping systems by incorporating cover crops and extended crop rotation, including winter wheat, grain sorghum, and double-crop and full-season soybeans. In accordance with his interests, Preza-Fontes has worked on a project at the University of Illinois' Dudley Smith Farm to see how much farmers could lower tile drainage nitrate losses with nitrogen fertilizer application timing and cover crops, preventing the loss of corn yield. His published research includes studies on crop response to nitrogen after cover crops, the development of technological tools to monitor and manage soil nitrogen, corn yield responses at different vegetative stages of growth, and more. Preza-Fontes received his B.S. at the Federal University of Mato Grosso, contributing to sugarcane production research alongside his studies. He then attended Kansas State University for his M.S., moving to get his Ph.D. at the University of Illinois. Preza-Fontes worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Purdue University before starting as an assistant professor at the University of Illinois.
Affiliations: 
Dr. Preza-Fontes is an assistant professor in the Department of Crop Sciences in the College of Agricultural, Consumer Environmental Sciences (ACES) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He is also a Field Crops Extension Agronomist and University of Illinois alum.