Rick Cruse, professor in agronomy and director of the Iowa Water Center, is the recipient of the 2026 Outstanding Achievement in International Agriculture Award from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Iowa State University. His international impacts are far reaching. He was instrumental in bringing conservation agriculture to Uruguay in the 1980s. He did the same in western Russia and across Ukraine and Hungary in the 1990s. And his work in Eastern Europe led to his long-lasting research across all aspects of soil conservation in northeast China.
More than 20 years ago, Cruse accepted a request for a visiting scientist from the Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Harbin, China. Iowa soils and northeast China soils share a unique similarity, and this initial six-month visit fostered a lasting bond between the two programs. What began in 2003 is alive and well today and continues to expand. Cruse and his team have delivered presentations in 10 different countries addressing the impact of soil erosion on crop production and land degradation, the role of reducing tillage on soil properties and conditions impacting crop yields, cropping system impacts on soils, and the role of global change on future food security. He has also addressed the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization's Global Soil Erosion Symposium in Rome, attended by more than 500 delegates from more than 100 countries.
"While Rick has conducted incredible scientific inquiries in Uruguay, Eastern Europe and China, his real impact has been on their graduate degree programs and national scientific institutes," stated a colleague. "His impact is on people - the very people making crucial decisions today and into the future."