Inaugural professorship awarded to Marharjan
Bijesh Maharjan, associate professor in agronomy and horticulture and extension specialist at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Panhandle Research, Extension, and Education Center in Scottsbluff, has been named the Ray and Jolene Ward Professor of Soil Health Science, effective April 1, 2026.
This newly established professorship in the UNL Department of Agronomy and Horticulture honors the Wards for their longstanding contributions to Nebraska agriculture. Ray and Jolene Ward founded Ward Laboratories, Inc. in 1983 on the core principle of providing high-quality analytical results to help customers make informed decisions about their operations. What began in a three-bay garage in Kearney, Neb., has grown into a state-of-the-art facility staffed by a team of highly qualified agricultural professionals.
Ward’s impact extends beyond laboratory data. He has been a tireless advocate for sustainable soil management, promoting practices that enhance soil health, conserve resources, and improve long-term productivity. His numerous honors — including recognition from the Soil Science Society of America, the Nebraska Farm Bureau Silver Eagle Award, and induction into the Nebraska Hall of Agricultural Achievement — reflect his enduring commitment to science-based service and leadership in soil health and fertility.
Maharjan, the inaugural recipient of the professorship, has focused his efforts on soil health and on offering the concepts of the Soil Health Gap and the Soil Health Cycle, which are instrumental to the development of Soil Health Science.
Maharjan proposed the concept of Soil Health Gap in the Journal of Global Ecology and Conservation in 2020. It is now widely accepted and practiced as a framework for comparing cropland soil health with a native reference site. Another framework by Maharjan and team is the Cropland Reference Ecological Unit, which defines a uniform landmass unit based on soil and weather for proper site comparisons. This site comparison process has allowed Nebraska to quantify the “Soil Health Gap” and to prioritize conservation practices that are most effective at regenerating soil function under local conditions. The “Soil Health Cycle (SHC)”, published by Maharjan and his team in Agrosystems, Geosciences & Environment, compiles and integrates the human dimension, management practices, soil health indicators, and ecosystem service outcomes into an iterative cycle of soil health improvement.
Maharjan’s Extension efforts in soil health have led to the establishment of the Nebraska Soil Health School. The school brings together Natural Resources Conservation Service experts, university scientists, and producer-leaders in hands-on events across Nebraska. Participants consistently emphasize the value of his coordination and the quality of learning opportunities, which combine demonstrations of cover crops, tillage practices, water infiltration, and soil biology with evidence-based discussions on economics and environmental stewardship. The school from 2023-24 has been held at seven locations, reaching 600 stakeholders.
In February 2025, the school evolved into an on-demand event to deliver a soil health educational program tailored to the current soil health needs of hosting producers. The first example of such a school was in response to a request from Kristen Efurd, director at Regenerative Agriculture, and Jennifer Carr, Pitman Family Farms in California, to deliver a two-day soil health school for invited Nebraska farmers from Brunswick, who supplied corn to Pitman Farms.
Maharjan has also been addressing soil health in challenging situations in the Panhandle. He was instrumental in incorporating locally available industrial byproduct, coal char from Western Sugar, into the NRCS Soil Carbon Amendment Environmental Quality Incentives Program, thereby restoring lost soil health in the region.
In 2025, Maharjan initiated a demonstration project in collaboration with NRCS to determine how dryland farmers can incorporate cover crops to enhance soil health. Another significant work by Maharjan is promoting the adoption of NRCS Conservation Practice Standard 590 (Nutrient Management) for sugar beet by validating reduced nitrogen fertilizer strategies that improve sugar beet yield and quality while reducing environmental implications.
The Ray and Jolene Ward Professor of Soil Health Science professorship recognizes an accomplished scientist who translates their research into practice through outreach, engagement, and extension activities that make a difference in agricultural practice.
Maharjan will be honored at a UNL reception later this year.
