Crop residue is a key for sustaining maximum food production and for conservation of our biosphere

Excerpt

The Soil and Water Conservation Society (SWCS) has an extensive and productive history as a professional society, serving the science of soil and water conservation since 1944 and providing a forum where the current knowledge and latest advances in conservation can be discussed and ideas can be exchanged (SWCS 2010; Knipling 2007; Lancaster 2007; Delgado et al. 2002; Mausbach and Dedrick 2004; Knight 2005). The SWCS is a society with thousands of members from a variety of professions and academic fields who work to conserve our natural and agricultural resources (SWCS 2010). This society is constantly striving to provide a forum where conservation practitioners, scientists, and the general public can get together and present the most recent topics in conservation (SWCS 2010).

I have had the privilege of being a member of SWCS for many years. This year, I was selected by the Soil and Water Conservation Society as the recipient of the 2010 Hugh Hammond Bennett Award and was invited to give a speech at the 2010 Award Ceremony of the Soil and Water Conservation Society and to write a manuscript. This article is based on the speech delivered at that ceremony. It is an honor to receive an…