2025 journal Outstanding Paper Awards

Each year, ASA, CSSA, and SSSA, and its journals recognize outstanding journal papers with annual awards presented at the CANVAS meeting. Following are this year’s winners.

Society Awards

Articles published during the preceding two years are considered for the current year’s award (e.g., articles from 2023 and 2024 are considered for the 2025 award). In general, the selection is based on evaluation of how the article has advanced knowledge in the profession, the effectiveness of communication, and its originality and impact.

ASA Society Award winner

“A Global Meta-Analysis of Cover Crop Response on Soil Carbon Storage Within a Corn Production System” by Deepak R. Joshi, Heidi L. Sieverding, Hui Xu, Hoyoung Kwon, Michael Wang, Sharon A Clay, Jane M. Johnson, Resham Thapa, Shaina Westhoff, and David E. Clay. See https://doi.org/10.1002/agj2.21340

CSSA Society Award winners

Original Research: “LEADER (Leaf Element Accumulation from DEep Roots): A Nondestructive Phenotyping Platform to Estimate Rooting Depth in the Field” by Meredith T. Hanlon, Kathleen M. Brown, and Jonathan P. Lynch. See https://doi.org/10.1002/csc2.21149

Review: “Contributions of Plant Breeding to Soil Carbon Storage: Retrospect and Prospects” by Hanna Poffenbarger, Michael Castellano, Dennis Egli, Angelica Jaconi, and Virginia Moore. See https://doi.org/10.1002/csc2.20920

SSSA Society Award winner

“Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy for Soil Organic Matter Analysis” by Andrew J. Margenot, Sanjai J. Parikh, and Francisco J. Calderón. See https://doi.org/10.1002/saj2.20583

Journal Outstanding Paper Awards

As with the Society Outstanding Paper awards, articles that are eligible for the Journal Outstanding Paper Awards are published during the preceding two years. The articles undergo a selection process based on evaluation of how the article has advanced knowledge in the profession, the effectiveness of communication, and its methodology, originality, and impact.

Agricultural & Environmental Letters

Research Letter: “Investigating Tradeoffs in Nitrogen Loss Pathways Using an Environmental Damage Cost Framework” by Giovani Preza-Fontes, Laura E. Christianson, and Cameron M. Pittelkow. See https://doi.org/10.1002/ael2.20103

Commentary: “The Fate of Nitrogen of Ammonium Phosphate Fertilizers: A Blind Spot” by Andrew J. Margenot and Jeonggu Lee. See https://doi.org/10.1002/ael2.20116

Agrosystems, Geosciences & Environment

“Determining Cardinal Temperatures for Eight Cover Crop Species” by Mila V. Pessotto, Trenton L. Roberts, Matthew Bertucci, Caio dos Santos, Jeremy Ross, and Mary Savin. See https://doi.org/10.1002/agg2.20393

Crop, Forage & Turfgrass Management

Applied Turfgrass Science Section: “Strategies for Reducing Inputs and Emissions in Turfgrass Systems” by Ross C. Braun, Chase M. Straw, Douglas J. Soldat, Michael A. H. Bekken, Aaron J. Patton, Eric V. Lonsdorf, and Brian P. Horgan. See https://doi.org/10.1002/cft2.20218

Crop Management Section: “Managing Soil Acidity vs. Soil Ca:Mg Ratio: What Is More Important for Crop Productivity?” by Andrea Leiva Soto, Steve W Culman, Catherine Herms, Christine Sprunger, and Douglas Doohan. See https://doi.org/10.1002/cft2.20210

Forage and Grazinglands Section: “Agronomic and Structural Responses of Stockpiled Alfalfa–Bermudagrass Mixtures” by A. C. C. M. Vasco, L. S. Silva, J. C. Burt, K. Mason, M. K. Mullenix, C. Prevatt, and J. J. Tucker. See https://doi.org/10.1002/cft2.20223

Journal of Environmental Quality

“Microplastics in Composts, Digestates, and Food Wastes: A Review” by Katherine K. Porterfield, Sarah A. Hobson, Deborah A. Neher, Meredith T. Niles, and Eric D. Roy. See https://doi.org/10.1002/jeq2.20450

Journal of Plant Registrations

“Registration of Three Sweet Sorghum Lines With High Tolerance to Sorghum Aphid (Melanaphis sorghi)” by Joseph E. Knoll, Minori Uchimiya, Chad M. Hayes, Somashekhar M. Punnuri, Karen R. Harris-Shultz, and J. Spencer Smith. See https://doi.org/10.1002/plr2.20310

Natural Sciences Education

“Plant Blindness Represents the Loss of Generational Knowledge and Cultural Identity” by Stacie Blue, Christina L. M. Hargiss, Jack Norland, Edward S. Dekeyser, and Paula Comeau. See https://doi.org/10.1002/nse2.20106

The Plant Genome

“’Simple Tidy GeneCoEx’”: A Gene Co-Expression Analysis Workflow Powered by Tidyverse and Graph-Based Clustering in R” by Chenxin Li, Natalie C. Deans, and C. Robin Buell. See https://doi.org/10.1002/tpg2.20323

The Plant Phenome Journal

“A Comparison of Genomic and Phenomic Selection Methods for Yield Prediction in Coffea canephora” by Paul Adunola, Estefania Tavares Flores, Elaine M. Riva-Souza, Maria Amélia G. Ferrão, João Felipe B. Senra, Marcone Comério, Marcelo C. Espindula, Abraão C. Verdin Filho, Paulo S. Volpi, Aymbiré F. A. Fonseca, Romario G. Ferrão, Patricio R. Munoz, and Luis Felipe V. Ferrão. See https://doi.org/10.1002/ppj2.20109

Urban Agriculture & Regional Food Systems

“Garden Soil Bacteria Transiently Colonize Gardeners' Skin After Direct Soil Contact” by Gwynne Á. Mhuireach, Kevin G. Van Den Wymelenberg, and Gail A. Langellotto. See https://doi.org/10.1002/uar2.20035