Our vision.
The Department of Crop and Soil Sciences at Washington State University serves the Land Grant tradition by offering nationally competitive undergraduate and graduate education programs, conducting fundamental and applied plant and soil research, and extending the science of our disciplines to serve the public. Read more.
Congrats to WSU Weed Olympians!
WSU 2011 Weeds Team
L-R Jared Bell, Misha Manuchehri, Alan Raeder,
Nevin Lawrence
Congratulations to the WSU team of Jared Bell (MPS doctoral candidate), Alan Raeder and Misha Manuchehri (Crop Science master’s students), and Nevin Lawrence (Crop Science doctoral student) who placed first in the Western Region division of the first annual Weed Olympics held in Knoxville, TN, on July 27, 2011. Additionally, Jared Bell was 3rd place individual graduate student in the Western Region. All four are advised by WSU weed scientist, Dr. Ian Burke.
Other participating universities in the western region included Kansas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico.
The Weed Olympics is an unusual event, and can be quite challenging. The individuals are required to identify weeds, unknown herbicides, complete sprayer calibration problems, and participate in a role playing exercise that required the student to solve a grower problem.
Weeds and weed problems in Tennessee look a little different than those in Washington, but the team rose to the challenge working hard over the last few weeks to prepare.
Universities in the Western Society of Weed Science have never historically participated in the other regional contests, and the society does not have a contest of its own. The event was unprecedented in the history of the Weed Science Society of America. Read more about this historic event here.
Nitrogen, water use efficiency in farming studied
$4.6M climate research grant
A collaborative Washington State University study of how nitrogen and water availability vary within Palouse wheat fields will ultimately help farmers better manage nitrogen fertilizer application on their croplands and reduce one of Earth’s top four greenhouse gases, nitrous oxide. Read more.
WSU Soil Scientist Leads Expert Panel’s Call for ‘Transforming U.S. Agriculture’
Changes in markets, policies and science needed for more sustainable farming
A group of leading scientists, economists and farmers is calling for a broad shift in federal policies to speed the development of farm practices that are more economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable. Read more.
Graduate Students ‘NSPIRED’ by Nitrogen Policy Research
WSU graduate student Christopher Gambino is measuring emissions of ammonia, a form of nitrogen released through cow excrement that causes an all-too-familiar smell when driving past a feedlot... Gambino is just one of several students who has been accepted into WSU’s competitive IGERT-NSPIRE (Nitrogen Systems: Policy-oriented Integrated Research and Education) program, a prestigious doctoral fellowship that prepares students through rigorous coursework and research to communicate science to policymakers and the public. Read more.
WSU Plant Scientist Part of Global Efforts to Fight Deadly UG99 Wheat Rust
Washington State University spring wheat breeder Michael Pumphrey is a team leader in a $40 million, global effort to combat UG99, an evolving wheat pathogen that poses a dangerous threat to global food security, especially those in developing countries. Read more.
WSU Plant Pathologist James Cook Wins Prestigious Wolf Prize
James Cook, former dean of the Washington State University College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences and emeritus professor of plant pathology and crop and soil sciences, will be awarded the Wolf Prize for Agriculture. The Wolf Prizes, awarded annually by the Israel-based Wolf Foundation, are given in agriculture, chemistry, mathematics, medicine, physics and the arts, in order to promote science and the arts for the benefit of humankind. Read more.
UI, WSU, OSU
Climate change, production of grain focus of $20M grant
Helping one of the largest wheat producing regions in the world mitigate and successfully adapt to climate change is the focus of research that scientists from the Washington State University, University of Idaho and Oregon State University. Read more.
News Archive
Oilseed Production Case Studies
A new online publication featuring the first set in a series of case studies of Washington state growers who have produced oilseed crops for a number of years is now available online. The five growers profiled in the first set farm in the high rainfall, eastern WA area, and oilseed crops include spring canola, winter rape and mustard. More case studies are in the works to cover the other major production zones of WA, so keep checking back to our website (www.css.wsu.edu/biofuels) for updated information.
Running on camelina
Pressing seed to meet pressing energy needs
Farmer Steve Camp is squeezing a lot out of the camelina he grew last summer: highly nutritious livestock feed, oil that can be used for cooking and, perhaps most important, biodiesel that provides energy independence and a step toward on-farm sustainability... Working with WSU scientists Scot Hulbert and Bill Pan, he continues to refine his cropping practices and looks forward to the variety advances that plant science can bring. Read more and see video.
WSU and Organic Agriculture
Pioneering Farms of the Future, a must read.
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