Paul Vlek is a soil scientist born in Amsterdam who studied agricultural sciences with a focus on soil science at Wageningen before completing a doctorate at Colorado State University and beginning his career at the International Fertilizer Development Center. His early research on preventing nitrogen loss through deep placement of urea in flooded rice became a technology applied across more than two million hectares of rice cultivation, and he went on to lead interdisciplinary research-for-development projects in South America, West Africa, East Africa and Central Asia before receiving the 2014 GCHERA World Agriculture Prize.
Facts
Defining ContributionDiscovered that deep placement of urea in flooded rice prevents nitrogen losses, a technology widely applied in rice cultivation 1 Sources
1. Dr. Paul Vlek, IFDC
Biography, paragraph on his work at IFDCQuote, Biography, paragraph on his work at IFDC
While at IFDC, Vlek discovered the benefits of preventing N losses by deep-placement of urea in flooded rice, a technology widely applied on rice cultivation today.
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