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K-State Today

Division of Communications and Marketing
Kansas State University
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Manhattan, KS 66506
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October 30, 2023

International soil science leader to present Rice International Agronomy Lecture on Nov. 3

Submitted by Kathy Gehl

Mark Farrell

Renowned international soil scientist leader Mark Farrell will present the Chuck and Sue Rice International Agronomy Lecture at noon on Friday, Nov 3, in 1018 Throckmorton Plant Sciences Center on the K-State campus. Farrell will present "Perhaps, perhaps not: Building carbon in dryland systems." There will be a reception at 11:30 a.m. in Throckmorton's first-floor lobby. 

Farrell is a principal research scientist at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, or CSIRO, based at the Waite Campus in Adelaide, Australia. He now leads the biogeochemistry team within the Sustainability Programme of CSIRO's Agriculture and Food business unit. Farrell's primary research interests are the cycling of organic carbon and nitrogen through the soil-microbe-plant interface. Predominantly working in dryland cropping systems, Farrell also works in intensive irrigated cotton settings, as well as many other environments, which have included sub-Antarctic grasslands and boreal forests, tropical and arid biomes, temperate grasslands and pasture systems, and Pacific Islands.

This lecture will apply the systems lens detailed above to the mechanisms involved in soil organic carbon dynamics in Australian dryland systems. It will explore evidence of improved outcomes because of changed fertilizer, soil and crop management.

The Chuck and Sue Rice International Agronomy Lectureship was established to attract prominent scholars to interact with students and faculty on international aspects of agronomy, agriculture and the environment. Read more information about the Rice lectureship