Elaine Ingham
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Elaine Ingham is an American soil biology researcher and founder of Soil Foodweb Inc. She is recognised around the world as a leader in soil microbiology and research of the soil food web. She is a key author of the USDA's Soil Biology Primer.
Research
Ingham obtained her PhD from the Colorado State University in 1981. Elaine’s doctorate is in Microbiology with an emphasis on soil. Elaine was offered a Post-doctoral Fellowship, along with her husband Russ (who also has a doctorate from Colorado State University in Zoology, emphasizing nematology), at the Natural Resource Ecology Lab at Colorado State University. In 1985, Elaine accepted a Research Associate Fellowship at the University of Georgia.
In 1986, Elaine moved to Oregon State University, and joined the faculty in both Forest Science and Botany and Plant Pathology. She remained on faculty until 2001.
Elaine is also an Affiliate Professor, Graduate Research, South Cross University, Lismore, NSW, Australia, 2001 - present, and was Program Chair, Ecological Society of America (1999-2000). [1][2]
Soil Foodweb Inc
In 1991, because the number of samples from outside Elaine’s immediate program being sent to her for analysis were becoming a large component of what she was doing, Elaine opened a service through the University called the Soil Microbial Biomass Service. The Service offered researchers and commercial clients the ability to have soil samples analysed for soil foodweb organisms.
By 1995, the number of samples coming into the Soil Microbial Biomass Service was close to 8,000 samples a year, and the amount of lab space required to process this number of samples was greater than originally planned. The head of Elaine’s department asked that the commercial portion of the Biomass Service be taken off-campus. Thus, in the fall of 1996, Soil Foodweb Inc. became a commercial enterprise. Dr. Ingham is President and Director of Research at Soil Foodweb Inc., a small business that grew out of her Oregon State University research program.
Elaine continues her research activities focussed on: What organisms are present in the soil and on the foliage of your plants, which organisms benefit which types of plants, which organisms harm plants, how can these organisms be managed to grow plants with the least expensive inputs into the system while maintaining soil fertility.
Since 1996, Dr. Ingham and her staff have developed three new methods. These methods more rapidly assess soil and foliage-related organisms, and are a major break-through for easily assessing how soil and foliar biology changes with different management practices. Her work with biological products with a number of companies is leading the way for understanding which bio-stimulant products work best to stimulate which groups of organisms, and how much material is needed to achieve desired improvements in soil organism functions. Work with many growers on how to make the best compost/humus material possible shows that establishing biological components of the foodweb, and giving the biology the foods needed, explain how and why soil and compost life give long-term benefits for plant growth.
Working on compost tea with many people around the world has brought a greater understanding of how to properly manage thermally produced compost, vermicompost, and compost tea to guarantee disease-suppressive, soil-building, nutrient-retaining composts and compost teas. [3][4]
Dr. Ingham maintains a website where the results of work done at Soil Foodweb Inc and in her University research program are posted [2]. Her publication, The Compost Tea Brewing Manual, is updated periodically to include the latest results in compost tea work. She writes occasional columns for a variety of magazines and papers. Dr. Ingham has worked extensively on genetically engineered organism issues with a non-governmental organization called the Edmond’s Institute, directed by Beth Burrows. Elaine is a strong advocate of sound ecological testing of all genetically engineered organisms before they are released into the environment. [5] In her spare time, Elaine publishes scientific papers, writes book chapters, gives talks at meetings [6] and symposia around the world and has a family. Her current projects range from working in onion and wheat in Ukraine, avacado and tomato in South Africa, cotton, grazing and grapes in Australia, turf and golf courses in many places, landscaping in California and just about every other plant system in between.
Books
- Ingham, E.R. and M. Alms. (1999), The Compost Tea Handbook 1.1
- Ingham, E.R. (2000) The Compost Tea Brewing Manual. Sustainable Studies Institute, Eugene, OR. 60 pp.
- Ingham, E.R. (2001) The Compost Tea Brewing Manual Second Edition, Soil Foodweb Inc, Corvallis, Oregon 68pp
- Ingham, E.R. (2002) The Compost Tea Brewing Manual Third Edition, Soil Foodweb Inc, Corvallis, Oregon 78pp
- Ingham, E.R. (2003) The Compost Tea Brewing Manual Fourth Edition, Soil Foodweb Inc, Corvallis, Oregon 88pp
- Ingham, E.R. (2004), Compost Tea Quality: Light Microscope Methods, Soil Foodweb Inc, Corvallis, Oregon 47pp
- Ingham, E.R. (2004) The Field Guide for Actively Aerated Compost Tea (AACT), Soil Foodweb Inc, Corvallis, Oregon 178pp
- Ingham, E.R. (2005). The Compost Tea Brewing Manual, Edition 5, Soil Foodweb Inc, Corvallis, Oregon 79pp
Publications
- Ingham, E. R. (1999). The Soil Biology Primer. Chapter 1. The Soil Foodweb. NRCS Soil Quality Institute, USDA. 48 pp.
- Ingham, E.R. (1999). The Soil Biology Primer. Chapter 2. Soil Bacteria. NRCS Soil Quality Institute, USDA.
- Ingham, E.R. (1999). The Soil Biology Primer. Chapter 3. Soil Fungi. NRCS Soil Quality Institute. USDA.
- Ingham, E.R. (1999). The Soil Biology Primer. Chapter 4. Soil Protozoa. NRCS Soil Quality Institute. USDA.
- Ingham, E.R. (1999). The Soil Biology Primer. Chapter 5. Soil Nematodes. NRCS Soil Quality Institute. USDA.
- Ingham, E.R.(2004). The Soil Foodweb: It’s Role in Ecosystems Health: The Overstory Book Cultivating Connections with Trees 2nd Edition; Editor Craig R. Elevitch.
- Ingham, E.R. and M.D. Slaughter. (2005). The Soil Foodweb–Soil and Composts As Living Ecosystems. International SoilACE Conference in Soil and Compost Eco-Biology. Leon, Spain. 1: 127-139.