PEORIA, Ill. – Distinguished crop scientist and University of Illinois Professor Emeritus Emerson Nafziger was honored by the Illinois Fertilizer and Chemical Association (IFCA) with a surprise award during the organization’s annual convention at the Peoria Civic Center.

Nafziger, who specializes in weed management in corn and soybeans, was recognized Jan. 21 for 30 years of offering consultation to IFCA retailers, farmers and certified crop advisers on topics such as nitrogen rate guidelines and on-farm corn nitrogen rate trials, nitrogen and hybrid interactions or variety testing.

“Rather than retire from working, Emerson has continued to help IFCA. For the past 20 years that I’ve worked with Emerson, I felt like I was his student. I was constantly learning from Emerson during field projects about how to engage with farmers better, and it’s been very important to me to be his student,” said Dan Schaefer, director of nutrient stewardship for IFCA. Schaefer, along with John Pike, southern Illinois coordinator for the Nutrient Research Education Council, and IFCA executive director, Kevin “KJ” Johnson, presented a surprised Nafziger with a commemorative plaque and proclamation.

Nafziger, 74, was raised on a farm in Ohio, and has degrees in agronomy from Ohio State University, Purdue University and the U of I. He spent his career as the Extension agronomist and professor at the U of I, where he worked on crop management, rotations, tillage, and nitrogen management. Nafziger has remained active in research and outreach since his retirement in 2017, as was evident by his presence at the IFCA Convention on a near-zero- degree January afternoon in Peoria.

“My first job in the fertilizer business was in Piatt County in 1990, and I listened to Emerson talk a number of times when I worked with Extension and when Emerson was my boss at the Dixon Springs Research Station. I have really enjoyed the time I’ve spent and the things I’ve learned in my interactions with him,” said Pike, a former research agronomist for the U of I and owner of Pike Ag, LLC, an agronomic consulting service. “I thank Emerson for all of his help and support through all these years.”

In a recent soybean checkoff-funded Soybean Research & Information Network interview, Nafziger was asked why he decided to pursue a career that includes soybean research.

“I worked on soybean physiology for my master’s degree and worked to introduce soybean as a crop in Bangladesh for several years back in the 1970s. It’s a nutritionally miraculous crop, and one that presents great management questions as yields continue to rise,” he said.

Asked to name his most impactful soybean research studies, Nafziger responded: “We’ve looked at all aspects of production including row spacing, seeding rate, nitrogen fertilizer and foliar fungicides, all in trying to answer the question of whether or not we can predict when spending money for ‘optional’ management practices will pay, particularly with current varieties. Our rotation x tillage research has shown that tillage may increase soybean yields slightly, but often not enough to pay for the tillage operation.”

Nafziger credited the checkoff for providing a lot of the funding required to conduct his studies and field trials over the past three decades. The retired crop scientist said there are still a number of critical soybean-related studies underway he’ll be watching closely.

“Farmers are bombarded with products like microbial inoculants that have not been shown to consistently increase yields. These often do not address known deficiencies or crop needs, and most do not produce visible evidence of activity. Research cannot rule out that such products work at least sometimes, but it would be helpful to have performance data to guide decisions,” he said. 

The 2025 IFCA Convention was Jan. 21-23. Events included the IFCA annual meeting, CCA sessions, guest speakers, an industry trade show and PAC raffle.