Every soil has a story to tell. These stories integrate the history of how the soil came to be through its past and present management. Understanding the story is the key to decisions about how the soil can be used and whether there are limitations to overcome for a particular use – anything from agriculture to building sites and community planning to revegetation of construction sites to wastewater and storm water management to bioremediation to carbon sequestration, and the list goes on.

Clay Robinson is an experienced soil scientist, consultant, agronomist, researcher, communicator and educator. In a career spanning more than thirty years, he has worked in the public, nonprofit and private sectors. He has a BS in Agriculture, an MS in Agronomy and a PhD in Soil Science. He is a Certified Professional Soil Scientists (CPSS) and Certified Crop Adviser (CCA). Clay has lived and worked in the deserts of New Mexico, the semiarid shortgrass prairies of the Texas High Plains and the humid Midwest states of Iowa and Illinois. Through coaching collegiate soil judging teams and consulting, he has evaluated soils and cropping systems in more than twenty states and six countries on four continents.

He has experience with dryland, rainfed and irrigated agriculture management system, soil and water conservation and erosion control, irrigation scheduling and measuring irrigation efficency, short- and long-term tillage and cropping system effects on soil carbon loss or gain (sequestration), soil mapping and land classification, remediation and revegetation following construction projects, and vegetation surveys. His research includes studying the shifting precipitation patterns and temperature trends in the USA Great Plains, factors that affect evapotranspiration and crop water requirements.

Clay has talked to more than 20,000 K-12 students, hundreds of producers and Master Gardeners, as well as community groups and service organizations. If you would like someone to talk to your group about why soil is important or how to care for it, Clay would love the opportunity to share his knowledge, experience and quirky soil-based humor with you. There are few things he loves better than standing in a field or soil pit or garden, or taking people on a nature hike, to explore the stories of the soil and its interaction with its ecosystem.

Clay recently founded CRC Soil & Ecosystem Services LLC to help read the soil stories and provide help and recommendations for those struggling with soil problems. If you have an issue with your soil, wherever you are and whatever the context, Clay would like the opportunity to discuss your problems and possible solutions. If he is not able to help you, he will be glad to refer you to someone who can.

Direct all questions to cdrdirt@gmail.com.