Expertise
David joined Washington State University originally as Project Manager for the Northwest Dryland Cereal/Legume Cropping Systems Project in 1989, one of the first USDA Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) Projects in the West. In 1992, the CSANR was being developed internally within the College of Agriculture and Home Economics. David was offered the position of Statewide Coordinator for the Center, assumed that position in early 1993, and relocated in Wenatchee to be more centrally located to both intensive agriculture and urban/consumer constituencies. He has worked on many educational and research projects, including: introduction of polyacrylamide (PAM) for soil erosion control in furrow irrigated fields; formation of The Food Alliance and development of the stewardship program; on-farm research of biosolids and compost and the Compost Connection newsletter; orchard floor management; soil quality/health; biochar; and tracking organic trends for Washington State. He spends a significant portion of his time in support of the expanding organic farming sector in the state. He co-authored the WSU Organic Cropping Research special grant from USDA, and the BIOAg (Biologically Intensive and Organic Agriculture) program funded by the WA Legislature. He was co-author and co-PI of the multi-million dollar Climate Friendly Farming project, a 5-year effort looking at how agriculture can help ameliorate greenhouse gas emissions. He has been an invited speaker at dozens of meetings locally, nationally, and internationally. He was elected chair of the Intl. Society of Horticultural Science Organic Fruit Work Group and hosted an international symposium in Leavenworth, WA, in June 2012. David retired from WSU in September 2018 and continues to work on several topics as Professor Emeritus.
Prior to joining WSU, David managed an organic farm for seven years, worked in forest management, and spent a year in southern Africa with an agricultural development project. He served as on-farm research director for the Land Stewardship Project in Minnesota, where he wrote Reshaping the Bottom Line, an early sustainable ag book for farmers. He has been invited to Russia, Argentina, Chile, Taiwan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Ghana, Italy, and Canada to conduct training in sustainable agriculture and organic farming.
