A message from Carl Rosen to the SWAC community:
It is with sincere sadness and a heavy heart to report the news that our colleague, Professor Emeritus John Moncrief passed away on Friday due to pancreatic cancer.
John joined the department in 1981 as an Extension Specialist and Assistant Professor following his PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He was hired to develop an extension and research program for soil and water conservation. Early on, he worked with the NRCS to establish on-farm residue management cropping system evaluation and demonstration sites for the major agricultural soils in Minnesota. His extension program largely focused on problems of erosion and soil compaction.
In addition to his work on soil conservation, John concentrated his efforts in later years towards evaluating the impacts of farming practices on environmental quality. He evaluated farming systems on a landscape scale, studied manure management in the karst region of southeast Minnesota, and established extensive research on nitrogen management in the outwash soils of central Minnesota. He was also instrumental in developing the Minnesota Phosphorus Index.
He retired in 2012 after 31 years with the department. After he retired, he was a frequent and generous donor to the U of M Soil Judging Team, for which the department is deeply grateful. John always had the attitude of getting the job done first and then asking for forgiveness later. He was a collaborator and friend to many and will be sorely missed.
You can read his obituary and learn more about his funeral arrangements here.