National fertilizer organizations donate $250,000 to OSU for agriculture research
Monday, July 7, 2008
Endowed professorship to focus on education, research of soil and food crop nutrition
View Full List of Endowed Faculty Chair Announcements
The professorship will explore the linkages between fertilizer use and food nutritional
quality. The organizations’ vision for the professorship is to advance understanding
of how crop nutrients can be managed to optimize the nutritional content of food while
also supporting the high yields essential for a sufficient and affordable food supply.
“The response from our alumni and friends has exceeded our wildest expectations,”
said OSU President Burns Hargis. “Inspired by Boone Pickens’ astounding generosity,
donors answered the call to make a lasting difference and open a new and exciting
chapter at OSU. We sincerely appreciate what the Nutrients for Life Foundation, The
Fertilizer Institute and International Plant Nutrition Institute are doing for OSU
academics and research.”
In order to take full advantage of the state’s dollar-for-dollar match, and make the
most significant impact on OSU academics, the three organizations made the gift prior
to the July 1 change in the state’s endowed chair matching program.
The sponsoring organizations’ interests center on research that advances the contribution
of appropriate fertilizer management to the nutritional value of food.
“Presently, the global food crisis is top of people’s minds and appropriate application
of fertilizer is key to the solution,” said Ford B. West, President of The Fertilizer
Institute. “Not only is fertilizer responsible for 40 to 60 percent of food production,
but we hope to show through research at OSU its importance on food nutrition as well.”
The gift will create the Nutrients for Life Foundation Professor of Soil and Food
Nutrition located within the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources.
The cross-disciplinary position will work closely with the college’s plant and soil
sciences department and the Robert M. Kerr Food & Agricultural Products Center.
“It is our hope that the Nutrients for Life Foundation Professor of Soil and Food
Crop Nutrition will encourage the expansion of an untapped and important area in academic
research,” said Harriet E. Wegmeyer, Executive Director of the Nutrients for Life
Foundation. “If, as predicted, a correlation between fertilizer and healthier foods
is established, imagine the impact. An increasingly health-conscious public will
finally regard fertilizers for what they truly are...nutritious—for both plants and,
in turn, people.”
“The quality of the food we eat is directly related to the fertility of the soil
where the crop was grown. The nutrients in food crops all originate from the soil,
but soils do not have an unlimited supply of nutrients and may not supply plant nutrients
in the proper balance … hence the need for fertilizer nutrients,” said Terry Roberts,
President of the International Plant Nutrition Institute. “It would be difficult,
if not impossible, to manage food crop nutrition without understanding how to manage
the fertility of agricultural soils.”
Jean Van Delinder, chair of the OSU Faculty Council, said, “OSU is poised for growth
and further prominence but to realize its full potential we must continue to attract
and retain top scholars and researchers. These chairs highlight the important role
that scholarship and teaching play at Oklahoma State University, and they are made
possible through the generous support of donors who value excellence in scholarship
and want to help OSU continue to nurture a strong faculty.”
Endowed professorships and chairs are academic designations which provide support
for faculty salary, graduate assistantships, equipment and research needs, as well
as other support. These endowed faculty positions allow a university to attract and
retain the best and the brightest academic minds in the world.