Crop and Soil Science at a Glance

The Department of Crop and Soil Science is one of Oregon State University’s largest academic units. Faculty are housed in three on-campus buildings, at Eastern Oregon University (EOU), in thirteen counties and four experiment stations across Oregon. Professorial and professional faculty, classified staff, and graduate students conduct research, teaching, extension and service activities within Oregon, across the United States and around the world. Traditional students are taught on the OSU and EOU campuses and via distance education. Adult learners interact with faculty across the state and region with thousands annually involved in programs. CSS faculty are directly involved with crops that account for a third of Oregon’s $3.3 billion agricultural industry and work with soil and water conservation groups across the state. CSS faculty are official representatives to a third of the 60 commodity commissions or ag/natural resource organizations in Oregon with which the College of Agricultural Sciences interacts.

Faculty

On-campus and EOU professorial

- 26 [13 crops (1 retired); 11 soils (1 retired); 2 entomology]
- 12 professors, 9 associate professors, 5 assistant professors
- 24 on-campus, 2 EOU
- 7+ Fellows in professional societies

On-campus professional

- 8 instructors and/or senior research scientists (6 crops, 2 soils)
- 17 seed services (Seed Certification and Seed Lab)
- 28 faculty research assistants, research associates, post docs (19 crops, 7 soils, 2 entomology)
- 5 professional staff in human resources, accounting and computer support
- 2 Hyslop Farm and 2 Central Analytical Lab

Off-campus

- 9 professorial faculty at 4 experiment stations
- 15 extension faculty based in 13 counties providing service to 27 counties (1 additional position to be filled by mid-March; 1 retired on part time appointment)

Other

- @20 courtesy faculty and 12 affiliate faculty (USDA-ARS, EPA, FS, other universities in US and overseas; 32 emeritus faculty (6 active)

Classified Staff

– 11 in Crops and Soils Units, 24 in Seed Services

Student workers

– 20 annually, up to 60 additional during summer months

Students and Teaching

- 37 undergraduate majors at OSU and EOU
- 45 graduate students [22 crops (MS/PhD), 22 soils (EES/ MS/ PhD), 1 entomology]
- job placement rate at both levels is typically 100%
- innovative Environmental Soil Science MS program (ESS)
- faculty involved in two NSF funded teaching grants
- two new BAC core courses in last two years
- several distance ed class offerings

Extension activities

- 10 specialists support cereals, seed crops, potatoes, forages, weed management, soil fertility and management, soils mapping, and organic waste management
- specialists and county faculty support over 25 crops and a myriad of soil, surface water, ground water and air quality activities

Major Research Activities

plant breeding and genetics programs

o wheat breeding – new market class focus
o barley breeding – winter malt barley focus, National Barley Genome Project, Wolfe Barley Teaching Program
o cereal genetics - focus on cereal quality and disease resistance characterization
o potato breeding – traditional and niche market foci (PI retiring)
o oilseed breeding – meadowfoam, international Sunflower Genome Mapping Project, meadowfoam, cuphea (project without on-site leader at present)

soil microbiology

o NSF Microbial Observatory at the H.J. Andrews LTER
o NSF Biocomplexity project in Africa for >$1M
o participants in NSF interdisciplinary graduate training program
o fundamental studies on the composition and functioning of soil microbial communities, particularly role in carbon and nitrogen cycling in agricultural and forest soils
o research using state-of-the-art methods in molecular biology and stable isotope technology

weed management

o intensive herbicide evaluation and education programs
o nationally funded and recognized work on herbicide resistance and gene flow between cultivated crops and related weedy species
o invasive weed research and education programs

crop entomology

o research and extension programs in the management of insect pests in grass seed, grains, forages and mint though other insects are dealt with on a need basis
o research on the biology and ecology of new insect pests – cereal leaf beetle, crane flies
o integrated pest management strategies work often done in cooperation with off-campus faculty
o NSF funded GK-12 rural education program

Environmental applications of soil science

o deliniation of wetlands and functioning of wetland soils
o carbon flux from soils and soil carbon sequestration
o management of organics wastes and composting
o transport of solutes through surface and subsurface soils

seed science, technology and biology

o seed production and physiology programs
o basic seed biology work on germination and dormancy mechanisms
o nationally recognized seed testing program

cereal quality with emphasis on niche varieties for Asian markets

soil archeology – using knowledge of the principles of soil development to decipher history

crop management – detailed investigations on fertility and other management practice effects on cereal grains, grasses and other seed crops, potatoes, forages, oilseed crops

geographic information systems (GIS) for soils mapping, soil landscape analysis and forage crop adaptation

nationally recognized web development activities – http://cropandsoil.oregonstate.edu

International Activities

- faculty currently have cooperative projects with scientists in Africa, Mexico, the Middle East, South America, Europe, the former Soviet Union, China and several other Asian countries

Service Activities

- Seed Certification – one of the most diverse and largest acreage programs in the nation (>250,000 acres annually)
- OSU Seed Lab – one of the most diverse programs in the nation with testing on grasses, grains, tree seeds, vegetable seeds, flowers seeds and other crops
- Central Analytical Lab – soil, water and tissue testing in cooperation with research partners – a problem solving lab with regional recognition
- Stable Isotope Research Unit – provides stable isotope analysis to OSU and off-campus researchers throughout the U.S.
- CSS Farms – over 300 acres on three farms – Hyslop, Schmitt and East Farms – dedicated to research activities for several departments on campus as well as USDA-ARS and NRCS partners

Budgets

- more than $5 million annually from the Agricultural Experiment Station, Extension Service, University General Fund (teaching) and sales
- sales exceed $250K annually with most funds coming generated through Analytical Lab, Hyslop Farm and Foundation Seed
- grant funding is in excess of $2 million annually
- NSF, NRI and other national grant funding >$1 million annually

Endowments

- Kronstad Wheat Chair for wheat research – Jim Peterson current recipient
- Hyslop Chair for grass seed research and teaching – Mark Mellbye current holder
- Berger Chair for alternate crop breeding and genetics – Steve Knapp current holder
- Pugh Fund for grass seed research, teaching and extension support
- numerous student scholarship funds
- new endowment funds just established for Weed Management Research and Extension, Potato Research and Extension, Rural Science Education and Forage/Livestock Research and Extension (the latter jointly with Animal Science and Rangeland Resources)