First Annual Meeting Photo Contest Winners

1st place, ASA: “Hawaiian Taro Fields.” Taro (kalo) is an ancient, sacred native Hawaiian crop and an important food staple grown in the tropics. In Hawaii, taro is primarily used for making poi, a starch paste, from its corm. Poi is low fat, nutritious, hypoallergenic, and easily digestible. It is considered a “modern” superfood. Photo by Mario Gallo. 1st place, CSSA: “Crimson Clover and Almond.” Plant science for a better world is represented by this photo of an inter-row cover crop trial. In order to manage weeds, provide organic matter, ix nitrogen, and provide other perennial cropping system beneits, cover crop research is one way that plant science creates a better world. Photo by Luke Milliron. 1st place, SSSA: “Back to Life.” Disturbance is a ubiquitous ecological phenomenon that shufles resources and resets the successional clock. Without soil’s ability to give life back to nature, the ecological resurrection would never happen. The picture conveys a concrete message that soils not only sustain life but also reincarnate it. Photo by Sanatan Das Gupta.