John Lory, extension associate professor of plant sciences, received the J.W. Burch State Specialist Agriculture and Natural Resources Extension Award at CAFNR’s 2019 Celebration of Excellence awards ceremony, held Thursday, April 11.

Lory has a commercial agriculture extension/research appointment in environmental nutrient management. His objective is to promote the efficient use of nutrients from manure and other sources for crop production in a manner that protects water and other natural resources of the state. His extension and applied research program is focused on four areas: management of edge-of-field nutrient losses in runoff from manure and fertilizer; developing nutrient management tools and software; evaluating the cost and feasibility of nutrient management changes on animal feeding operations; and phosphorus and nitrogen fertilizer recommendations.

“In short, John’s work represents the best that Extension has to offer – application of university research to solve problems facing the citizens of our state and our country,” said Peter Scharf, professor, plant sciences. “John was also a pioneer in moving manure management plans into the computer age. The plan was presented to the farmer visually on a map of the farm, rather than buried in pages of text, making it much easier for the farmer to understand and carry out the plan. The software that John developed performed many of the tedious tasks (such as finding and importing digital soils maps) that presented a barrier to plan development. These accomplishments helped farmers manage manure in a way that was more beneficial to crops and less harmful to water bodies.”