LEXINGTON, Ky. – He’s been a soil researcher since 1987, studying soil water and solute transport processes at different spatial scales. He’s been beneficial to farmers with his study of transport process in well-drained silt-loam soils. He’s given several decades to the study of soil properties, studying such things as biomass during the growing season based on crop sensor observations in combination with stochastic models, soil management on transport properties.  

Last month, Ole Wendroth, professor at the University of Kentucky Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture’s Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, was honored with this year’s Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) Don and Betty Kirkham Soil Physics Award.

The award recognizes significant contributions to soil physics, particularly in innovative research, education and dedication to practical agricultural applications.

“Receiving this award is a tremendous honor,” Wendroth said. “My journey, from teaching soil physics at the graduate level to conducting research directly impacting farmers, has been incredibly rewarding. This recognition stresses the importance of our work and the collaborative spirit between academia and the agricultural community.”

After completing his doctorate. research at the University of Goettingen, Germany, in 1990 (he worked in the Department of Agronomy and Plant Breeding at the school), Wendroth helped simplify the evaporation method for quantifying soil hydraulic conductivity and soil structural characteristics, now a globally used technique.

From 1990-1991, he worked at the Department of Land, Air and Water Resources at University of California-Davis. There he explored soil spatial variability using geostatistical and time series analyses. His focus on spatial process in agro-environmental system has led to significant advancements in understanding and managing crop yield variability and nitrogen fertilizer application.

“These statistical methods and the derived spatial soil property and crop yield patterns have become fundamental in assessing soil health,” Wendroth said. “Understanding soil variability is crucial for sustainable agriculture.”

Wendroth’s approach to teaching and research is grounded in real-world applications, evident in his work on Hillview Farm, owned by Trevor Gilkey, of Princeton, Ky.) in 2020. Wendroth’s field experiments, which arrange treatments in cyclic patterns, have improved the applicability of treatment experiments in heterogeneous soils.

In the study, the science-farmer partnership of Wendroth and Gilkey collected soil samples, identified soil fertility trends, created an intensive soil mapping system and developed what Wendroth believes was a variable irrigation prescription for the field. In this project, Wendroth was able to control the flow of water at each sprinkler.

“As scientists, we need to develop a sense for spatial variability out in the landscape, which is what farmers have to deal with all the time,” Wendroth said. “If we know that water is not taken up by the soil at the same rate at different parts of the field, then we have to do something about it. We believe variable technology can work for us.

“We need to expose ourselves to what farmers see every day. I aim to help farmers with my work. I appreciate the experimental work done by colleagues and our graduate students. It’s about finding basic things and applying them in meaningful ways to help more farmers.”

Rebecca McCulley, chair of the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, said it is scientist-farmer partnerships like Wendroth and Gilkey that have help advance agricultural science and improve farming practices.

“To be able to take concepts that we develop in the lab and actually bring them into the field helps us to understand what pieces of our science we have right and what pieces are still a longways from being right,” she said. “These partnerships are critical to be able to make sure we are spending time on the research side that is going to be translatable to people in the field doing the work.”

Wendroth was a research scientist at the Center of Agricultural Landscape and Land Use Research in Muencheberg, Germany, from 1992-2004. He was an associate professor at UK’s Department of Plant and Soil Sciences from 2004-2012. Since 2012, has served as a professor in UK’s Department of Plant and Soil Sciences.

Wendroth is former associate editor and technical editor for four journals published by the Tri-Societies and is the current chief editor of a top-ranked soil science journal, Soil & Tillage Research. Wendroth is also past president of the SSSA.

His research, particularly in understanding the spatial variability of farmers’ fields and the application of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for data collection, represents a major advancement in agricultural practices.

“I’m proud and thankful to serve the University of Kentucky, my department and the broader scientific community in these roles,” Wendroth said. “Every day in the field is an opportunity to learn and apply new insights.”