York Lecturer Series

After earning a B.S. degree (Agriculture) in 1953, Plucknett served in the Army (Artillery) from 1953-55 in Korea and Hawaii. Returning from the service in 1955, he earned an M.S. (Agronomy) in 1957 from the University of Nebraska and then moved to Hawaii to work in the sugar industry. He earned his Ph.D. (Tropical Soil Science) at the University of Hawaii in 1961. He then served on the University of Hawaii faculty for 25 years, becoming Professor of Agronomy and Soil Science in 1970. His first assignment after graduate school was to establish a new research station on the island of Kauai and find new uses for marginal lands abandoned from sugar and pineapple production. He administered that station for a decade, bringing it to a position of research excellence in the high rainfall tropics.

During his long career at the University of Hawaii, Plucknett earned an international reputation for research in tropical agriculture. His efforts in tropical soil management were important in developing practices for several tropical crops. Noteworthy were his efforts, on a research team, to overcome production restraints caused by phosphorus deficiency in tropical soils and in the use of soluble silicates as both a soil amendment and a nutrient source of silicon in grasses to boost crop production on marginal lands. The sugarcane industry in Hawaii benefited greatly from this work.

Plucknett's research in weed science began at the University of Nebraska and continued in Hawaii, allowing him to become internationally known for his research and writing in that field, particularly his co-authorship of two major books on the world weed problem, The World's Worst Weeds and A Geographical Atlas of World Weeds. In 1969, he played a key role in co-founding the Asian-Pacific Weed Science Society, now the world's largest regional weed science society.

In Hawaii, Plucknett became interested in management of taro and other tropical root crops and was a founder and longtime officer (President from 1976-1983) of the International Society for Tropical Root Crops. He also developed practical methods for establishing and managing tropical pastures under the threat of severe weed invasion and declining soil fertility. His research in land management and development led him into farming systems research, a field for which he helped develop a conceptual framework for conducting research (see Dillon, Plucknett and Vallaeys, 1978, Farming Systems Research at the International Agricultural Research Centers, FAO, Rome).

In 1965, the Ford Foundation sent him to Egypt to help establish research stations for lands that would receive irrigation water made possible by the Aswan Dam. In the 1970s, he worked with the South Pacific Commission to improve cattle raising and pastures under coconuts, and in managing tropical root crops.

In 1973, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) asked him to become its Chief of Soil and Water Management in Washington. In that capacity he led in developing collaborative research programs in soil management, biological nitrogen fixation, irrigation and water management. In 1978, he was asked to become Chief of Agriculture and Rural Development in the Asia Bureau of USAID, overseeing projects in the largest and most populated region with which the agency dealt. During that period he initiated studies of the impact of USAID efforts in supporting development projects in irrigation and national agricultural research in Asia and the Pacific islands.

While at USAID, Plucknett became more involved in a longtime interest - the world food problem. In 1980, the World Food Bank appointed him as Senior Scientific Advisor to the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), where he quickly gained even wider recognition as an author and expert in world food matters. For the next 13 years, he played an active role in CGIAR and the work of the international agricultural research centers. He retired from the World Food Bank in 1993.

As a prolific writer, Plucknett is author or editor of 20 books and more than 200 publications in tropical agriculture and agricultural development. His major books include: Genebanks and the World's Food (Princeton); Tropical Forests and Their Crops (Cornell); The World's Worst Weeds (Hawaii); A Geographical Index of World Weeds (John Wiley); Managing Pastures and Cattle Under Coconuts (Westview); and The United States and World Poverty (Seven Locks). He also is the author of a book of poetry, The Roof Only Leaked When It Rained (Prairie Star), which draws heavily on stories of DeWitt, Nebraska and the surrounding area.

Today, Plucknett is President and Principal Scientist of Agricultural Research and Development International, a research and consulting firm in Annandale, Virginia. He remains active as an advisor and expert in agricultural research and international agricultural development.