Thill Retires

Donn Thill recently retired as Idaho Agricultural Experiment Station director, and capped a 35-year career as a University of Idaho College of Agricultural and Life Sciences professor and weed scientist. Thill grew up in Uniontown, the grandson and son of men who served important roles in the community's agricultural industry.

The changes in agriculture nationwide and the Palouse have been enormous since the station's founding. Even during his career as a weed scientist, discoveries about the basic science of weed control have expanded dramatically.

 

Early in his career, wild oats posed a major problem for farmers by cutting wheat and barley yields. Then a new herbicide emerged and solved the problem. As weed scientists learned more about their targets, they better understood how herbicides worked. That helped to develop new weed control chemicals that were more precisely targeted.

 

Early in his career, farmers began pioneering new tillage methods that avoided plowing to prepare the ground for planting. Advocates reported that no-till or reduced-tillage farming reduced soil erosion, improved soil quality and could cut farmer's fuel expenses.

 

Weeds were a bugaboo, though, that could reduce yields and undermine other benefits of no-till farming. Thill, his students and colleagues worked to combine herbicides in fall applications which proved effective in controlling cheatgrass – and broadleaf weeds for up to a year.

U of I science writer Bill Loftus: "He connected with growers but he always had science in mind." Congratulations Dr. Thill and enjoy your retirement."