The document discusses the background and career of an emeritus professor of plant pathology at Purdue University with a PhD from Michigan State University in plant pathology. Over his 51 year career he has held various roles related to agriculture including as a plant pathologist, international agriculture consultant, and agricultural bioterrorism consultant.

1. Emeritus Professor of Plant
Pathology at Purdue University
Ph.D., Michigan State University,
Plant Pathology

2.  How long have you been a research scientist and
if applicable what are some other agriculture
related jobs you have held in your career?
 Fifty one years. Plant Pathologist, International
agriculture consultant on cultural and biological
disease control (new lands development and
cultivation), civil defense response to nuclear
attack, agricultural bioterrorism consultant,
biological warfare specialist (COLONEL
(Retired) US Army).

3.  Did you grow up on a farm?
 Grew up on dairy, grain, cotton, and citrus
farms. College was stimulated by a Union
Pacific Railroad scholarship ($50.00 = two
semesters tuition to supplement my digging
graves for room and board). The need for a
job-additional income for books, etc. landed
me in the Plant Pathology department at the
University of Idaho and my desire for
graduate school and research was fostered
from the interactions there.

4.  Do you feel like you spend enough time on farms
observing real problems (and interacting with
farmers) to do research that is well grounded in
practicality?
 Definitely worked at problem solving. My first
question as an undergraduate research project was
to understand how crop sequence/rotation affected
soilborne diseases (this question carried me through
the next 50 years of research in one form or another-
nutrient availability, form of nitrogen, microbial
ecology, biological control, nutrient-disease
glyphosate interactions, etc.).

5.  What are the professional responsibilities of
your current job?
I am now retired (Sept. 2006) from Purdue,
but very active consulting in the US,
involved in international projects on four
continents, and still have about 400 research
field plots developing basipetally
translocated micronutrients (and Ca, Mg)
for disease control as well as to improve
crop quality and storability (potatoes, etc.).

6.  Areyou optimistic about the capacity for
world agriculture to produce enough
food/fiber/fuel in upcoming decades
while reducing environmental impacts?
 Noproblem if the politicians will keep
out of it!!!!

7.  How serious are the current environmental impacts of
agriculture in the US?
 The glyphosate non-target effects are very serious from a
nutritional standpoint and the intensity is growing. This will
have to be addressed soon and alternative approaches for
weed control to minimize this toxic (biologically) chemicals
impact will need to be developed. Although environmental
stewardship is always appropriate, we also need to
recognize the tremendous progress that has been made in
the last few decades. A strong economy and growing
population have permitted us to do many things not
otherwise possible because of the ability to spread the
burden of some environmental programs across more
people to pick up the tab.

8.  How has soil fertility research (e.g., funding,
objectives, technology) changed during your career?
 Dramatically! The virtual loss of the land grant
formula funding has channeled most of the resource
money into political mandates rather than having the
problem solving research done on a dispersed basis
by numerous researchers who could address the
unique aspects of their environment and share a
broad spectrum of ideas. New tools and techniques
are especially powerful (XANES, XRD, etc. in my area
of nutrient-disease interactions).

9.  What current research related to soil
fertility (other than your own) do you
think is most interesting or most
promising?
 Micronutrient efficiency, over-all nutrient
efficiency approaches, genetic
improvement of nutritional quality (Fe, Zn,
protein, Cu, etc.).

10.  Doyou think current environmental
regulations have an adequate scientific
base?
 No! Especially nitrate in water!

11.  How did you become interested in glyphosate effects
on micronutrient nutrition?
 Observing the continual increase in soilborne
diseases (take-all, Corynespora root rot, potato scab,
Fusarium diseases) that we had established a strong
relationship with for certain micronutrients and the
change in environmental criteria that we used to
consider "cardinal" conditions for disease severity
(head scab). Glyphosate is a strong metal chelator
and biocide in the soil from root exudates. Residual
effects on micronutrient availability, uptake and
translocation are now becoming well documented.

13.  On what percentage of RR soybean
acreage do you think it would be cost
effective apply additional
micronutrients?
 About 30 % of the current acreage;
in five years it will be about 55 %. Also
for corn with an increasing acreage
of RR corn needing more K also.

14.  Are there any good general rules about when
additional micronutrient management is likely to
be cost effective for RR soybeans?

 Soybeans, unlike corn, has a fairly wide window
(20 days) for micronutrient remediation after
glyphosate without irreversible yield loss, but
overall requirement for most RR crops is from 10
to 50% higher because of compromised nutrient
efficiency by the presence of the glyphosate-
resistant gene. The glyphosate impact is in
addition to this.

15.  How much evaluation of agrichemical effects on crop
health and nutrition is currently done prior to
product release?
 It is pretty good in some areas (residual chemical,
TDN, protein) and missing in others (micronutrient
content, etc.). RR crops are deregulated without any
significant evaluation of overall impact of the
glyphosate WITH the RR gene so environmental
biocidal (Mn reducing organisms, nodulation, N-
fixation, natural biological disease control organisms,
pathogens, etc.) and micronutrient quality effects
have been ignored.

16.  Doyou think any other herbicides or
crop protection chemicals in major use
today have significant side effects on
crop nutrition and/or health?
 Sure, butthere aren't any other chemicals
in the history of agriculture that have
been as abused!

17.  Doyou think nutrient management has a
significant role to play in combating
soybean rust?
 Yes as part of the over-all management. We
generally discounted the benefits of the Mn,
Zn, or Cu in fungicides as micronutrients
because we focused on disease control and
thought primarily of the pathogen without
full consideration of impact of those
chemicals on plant resistance.