Congratulations to our 2020 photo contest winners!

February 15, 2021

Judges reviewed over 150 entries among the five categories. Our thanks to Ward Lundgren and his team at The Camera Company, Madison, WI, for serving as judges for our contest.

Since 2014, we’ve asked for submissions to illustrate each Society’s tag line. We have two additional categories, “Tools at Work” and “People at Work,” for a total of five categories.

Why are photos important for science? They are great communication tools to tell your science story. Good photos can make a difference by:

Making research feel more exciting
Creating interest in our sciences
Starting discussions and making more connections
Increasing the public’s knowledge
Changing opinions of others

Photos also go beyond public outreach. Another audience for your photography is funding sources. Many scientists are finding that their grants are better accepted with photos, and many funding bodies are now requiring them. Becoming a better overall communicator—in this case, by using photography—can help the future of all your research projects.

Photos make an impact! Look through these photos and their winning descriptions. We think you’ll agree! We hope to see your best photos submitted for the 2021 contest.

ASA | Agronomy Feeds the World

First Place | Jemila Chellappa

Agronomic arena of seed-soil: Bondage of life

Soil exposes life by concealing organic matter and sustaining sown seed. Seed becomes prominent by portraying the soil's entity. “A life from life.”

Second Place | Jashanjeet Kaur Dhaliwal

Frozen food

Corn stalks ready to be grazed by cattle in deep and snowy winters of South Dakota. Grazing of crop residues after grain harvest as part of an integrated crop–livestock system could benefit farmers by reducing the need to purchase outside livestock feed and by improving soil health through manure addition.

Third Place | Jaclyn Fiola

Harvesting line

Four harvesters race to harvest a soybean crop before forecasted rain. Many soybeans are grown in the sandy soils and warm climate on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and shipped all over the world!

CSSA | Plant Science for a Better World

First Place | Karansher Sandhu

Wheat breeding selection plots

Whitman County in Washington State is the nation’s leading wheat-producing county with 95% of the crop exported to Southeast Asia. This figure shows the breeder’s selection plots at Washington State University. Breeders monitor their plots throughout the growth stages for releasing high-yielding, disease-resistant, and better quality varieties.

Second Place | Udayakumar Sekaran

Dew bridge on spider’s web

Spiders act as predators in agricultural pest management and as water conservation tools for agricultural land. Understanding the fiber structure and mechanism of water absorption can help us to develop new materials that can also be able to capture water from the air. This is a new arena of research for upcoming plant scientists.

Third Place | Sayantan Sarkar

Blooming onion

Onion flowers come out in clusters, and one plant usually has only one of these flowering structures. This is also known as “bolting.” Though the flowers look beautiful, early flowering is a sign of stress response by the onion plant. This flowering was caused due to heat and low-moisture stress.

SSSA | Soils Sustain Life

First Place | Lorene Lynn

Climate change interrupted my work

Permafrost soils are sometimes underlain by massive ice, as shown in this photo where the ground is collapsing due to warming. Despite having frozen soil just feet below the surface, arctic vegetation thrives.

Second Place | Vitor Favoretto

The emergence of soil health

Soil balance is crucial for setting the success of a crop. Soybean plants emerging after corn is pretty to the eyes. This also depicts benefits to the soil, through crop rotation, which is one step in the right direction to preserve the health of the soil.

Third Place | Meyer Bohn

Bioturbation nation

Earthworms are magnificent ecosystem engineers. They are soil aerators, nutrient recyclers, and habitat builders. They have profound effects on the biogeochemical soil environment in which they live and maintain. Pedologists describe the environment depicted in the macropore (right) as the “drilosphere,” an area reconstructed by earthworm burrows, casts, and secretions.

ASA, CSSA, and SSSA | People at Work

First Place | Beverly Alvarez Torres

Three generations, one passion

Three generations of soil scientists during a field day in the Lajas Valley, Puerto Rico, the island’s first agricultural reserve. During that day, soil pedons were collected in Vertisols with the objective of characterizing transects that cross the valley to describe parameters related to saline and/or sodium conditions.

Second Place | Manjot Kaur Rekhi

Microbial fuel cell: Future of agriculture

A microbial fuel cell (MFC) uses soil microorganisms to generate electricity. This sustainable bioenergy tool may also detect changes in nutrient availability. A research associate is connecting soil-based MFCs to a datalogger to record the voltage produced, trying to capture changes in signal at different levels of soil nitrogen.

Third Place | Manoj Chhetri

Safety first

You can’t get tired of wearing the personal protective equipment (PPE) even though you spray pesticides every week. Read the label, wear your PPE, and protect yourself every time you handle, mix, and spray pesticides.

ASA, CSSA, and SSSA | Tools at Work

First Place | Jennifer Jensen

Conservation practices

Engineered practices are tools in our toolbox. Constructed wetlands protect downstream ecosystems by slowing down waterflow to filter excess nutrients and sedimentation. In-field best management practices should be paired with edge-of-field practices to accelerate conservation efforts for soil, water, biodiversity, and economic sustainability.

Second Place | Kritika Malhotra

All set for soil collection

This picture demonstrates a front-mounted hydraulic cylinder device to extract large-diameter undisturbed soil cores, which can closely mimic the field conditions. The system minimizes the labor and time required to collect deep soil cores under hard soil conditions. The system was designed, developed, and constructed at USDA-NSDL in Auburn, AL.

Third Place | Ryan Schroeder

Montana sharpshooter in a Wyoming soil

The Montana sharpshooter shovel is great for many things: cutting sod, busting rocks, and giving the ‘umph’ to get down those last few centimeters. Its red blade also provides great contrast to show soil colors and horizonation at the surface!

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