BOARD and/or FOUNDING MEMBERS
Thomas Hoegemeyer
Tom serves as the Chair of the Nebraska Soil Health Coalition. A native of Dodge County Nebraska, Tom was raised on a mixed livestock and seed farm near Hooper. He attended a one room country elementary school, and graduated from Scribner High School in 1966. He was an Ag Honors major at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, received a National Science. Foundation undergraduate research grant, was elected to Sigma Xi research honorary as an undergraduate, and graduated from UN-L in June, 1970. He was a graduate student in corn breeding and genetics at Iowa State University from March, 1971 to August, 1974, when he earned his Ph.D. degree. He also served in the Army Reserve from 1970 through 1976.
Tom started his career as a plant breeder at Hoegemeyer Hybrids, from 1974 to 1984, and served as research director and CEO from 1984 to 2004. The company grew from a small enterprise to one of the largest 25 corn seed companies in the US. They patented multiple parent seed lines and genetic systems, then sold the germplasm and breeding platform to Syngenta in 2004. Tom was a consultant and corn development scientist for Syngenta from 2005 through 2008. After retiring from Syngenta, he accepted a position as a Professor of Practice in the Agronomy and Horticulture Department at UN-L, from 2009 to 2015.
Over his career, he received the 1994 Private Breeder Award from the National Council of Commercial Plant Breeders and the Crop Science Society of America, served as the chair of the Nebraska Seed Trade Association and served as the chair of the Corn and Sorghum Division of the American Seed Trade Association (ASTA). He served on and chaired the ASTA committee on Germplasm Intellectual Property Rights from 1998 to 2006. He served two terms on the technical steering committee of the US Genetic Enhancement of Maize ( a consortium of all major seed companies, USDA and seven land grant universities) followed by six years as chairman of the steering committee.
He currently is retired (mostly) and resides in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Craig Derickson
Craig serves as the Secretary of the Nebraska Soil Health Coalition (NSHC) and retired as State Conservationist with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Nebraska. He previously served as the agency Deputy Chief for Conservation Programs in Washington DC and the State Conservationist in Pennsylvania from 2006 to 2009. Craig has experience in directing all phases of state and national natural resource programs and managing financial operations and program policies.
Craig served as National Program Manager of the Conservation Security Program (CSP), first introduced in the 2002 Farm Bill. He assisted USDA with administrative rule-making and publishing proposed CSP program regulations in the Federal Register for public comment. During his time in Pennsylvania he served as the lead NRCS State Conservationist, cooperating with the EPA and other state and federal partners to reduce sediments and excess nutrients reaching the Chesapeake Bay.
He is experienced in working with partners to develop strategies to conserve the soil, improve water quality, manage nutrients, restore wetlands, and protect and improve wildlife and pollinator habitat. He has made numerous presentations to groups interested in natural resource conservation and providing outreach to promote equitable participation in NRCS conservation programs. He served as co-chair of the NRCS National Civil Rights Advisory Committee from 2018 to 2020.
Craig has been a strong promoter of healthy soils, clean water, and prosperous rural communities throughout his career. Following the NRCS strategy, he believes that keeping our soil healthy and productive is critically important to address a growing world population and increased demands on food production. He advocates for widespread adoption of soil health principles and systems that include no-till, cover cropping, and diverse rotations to increase the soil’s organic matter and improve microbial activity. With these actions, farmers can sequester carbon, increase water infiltration, improve wildlife habitat and achieve better profits and often better yields.
Mike McDonald
Mike serves as the Treasurer of the Nebraska Soil Health Coalition. Co-Chair of the Nebraska Healthy Soils Task Force and No-till on the Plains Board member, producer, retired educator, 10 ½ years on the Nemaha Natural Resources District Board.
Paul Jasa
Paul Jasa, Extension Engineer with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, develops and conducts educational programs related to crop production that improve profitability, build soil health, and reduce risks to the environment. He received both his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Agricultural Engineering from the University of Nebraska and has been working with planting equipment and tillage system evaluation at the University since 1978. Across the years, he’s worked with soil and water conservation, residue management, crop rotations, and, more recently, cover crops and soil health.
With Paul's experiences gained from research and Extension activities, he has become one of the best sources of information in the Midwest on no-till planting equipment and system management to protect and build the soil. Paul admits, if there is a mistake to be made with no-till, he's either made it himself or has seen it done. More importantly, he has learned from those mistakes and shares that information in presentations that stress the systems approach and the long-term benefits of continuous no-till.
Bruce Johnson
Bruce Johnson is an emeritus professor of agriculture economics at University of Nebraska-Lincoln where his focus was teaching and applied research in resource and environmental economics. From nearly four decades of experience, he gained a deep appreciation for Nebraska’s rich land and water resources of the state. And likewise for the people who have made the agricultural sector the driving force of the state’s economy that it is today. As founder and director of the annual NE Farm Real Estate Market Developments series, he worked with producers, landowners, finance, and real estate professionals, as well as government agencies and policy makers.
His passion and optimism for Nebraska and its future continues in these rapidly- changing times, convinced that the ever-new challenges also bring new opportunities. Enhancing the health of our soils and moving towards a more regenerative agriculture, he believes, is one of those opportunities today that offers benefits—economic, environmental, and societal--for all Nebraskans today and for generations to come.
David Meyer
David grew up on a farm near Dodge Ne. He received his Ph.D. in plant breeding and genetics from the University of Nebraska. In his 40-year career with Corteva AgriSciences his roles included Global Plant Breeding, Advanced and Emerging Technology lead, and R&D strategy. During the last four years he was focused on Regenerative Agriculture, working within the R&D, Business and External/Public affairs functions.
He is currently retired and serving on advisory boards for various locally focused NGO’s including the Nebraska Soil Health Coalition and The Grain Place organic farm. More globally he is advising on programs focused on helping small holder farmers in Sub Sahara Africa reach their fill potential including USAID Crop improvement lab, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation projects and Empower Tanzania.
Ken Herz
Ken Herz graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1973 with a BS degree in Mechanized Systems Management. He returned to the Lawrence, Nebraska area to engage in agriculture production. He was a LEAD III Fellow and received the LEAD Alumni Outstanding Leader award. Herz received the Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben Good Neighbor Citation, and the Ike Friedman Community Leadership Award. Herz was a board member of the Nebraska Grain Sorghum Board from 2008-2012, serving as President for two years. Herz was a Nebraska Cattlemen Board member for nine years, serving as President in 2020. Herz is currently Chairman of National Cattlemen Beef Association Ag and Food Policy committee. Herz has also been a member of the Lawrence Fire Department, Lawrence Rescue Squad, Lawrence School Board, and Nuckolls County Extension Board.
Alan Moeller
Emeritus, Assistant Vice Chancellor at University of Nebraska. Alan provided leadership to all business, finance, and legislative affairs for UNL’s Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources. (posthumous)
Keith Berns
Keith Berns combines over 25 years of no-till farming with 10 years of teaching Agriculture and Computers. In addition to no-tilling 2,500 acres of irrigated and dryland corn, soybeans, rye, triticale, peas, sunflowers, and buckwheat in South Central Nebraska, he also co-owns and operates Green Cover, one of the major cover crop seed providers and educators in the United States. Through Green Cover, Keith has experimented with over 120 different cover crop types and hundreds of mixes planted into various situations and has learned a great deal about cover crop growth, nitrogen fixation, moisture usage, and grazing utilization of cover crops.
Keith was honored by the White House as a 2016 Champion of Change for Sustainable and Climate-Smart Agriculture. Keith also developed the SmartMix CalculatorTM one of the most widely used cover crop selection tools on the internet. Keith has a Masters Degree in Agricultural Education from the University of Nebraska and teaches on cover crops and soil health more than 30 times per year to various groups and audiences. Keith was appointed by Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts to serve on the Nebraska Healthy Soils Task Force and served as the chairman. He will be transitioning to the Advisory Board in 2024.
Ray Ward
Dr. Ward (Ray) founded Ward Laboratories in 1983. Ray received B.S. and M.S. Soil Science degrees from University of Nebraska – Lincoln in 1959 and 1961 and a Plant Science Ph.D degree from South Dakota State University in 1972.