The responsibility of providing informational service to the agriculture industry is not a small one in the rural state of Iowa, but it is one that Regis Voss, Extension agronomist, has done successfully for 32 years.

Voss, professor of agronomy, was awarded the Distinguished Service Award, which is the top career award in the ISU Extension at an awards ceremony on Monday, Nov. 11, according to a press release.

The award recognizes sustained distinguished performance and educational contributions to ISU and clientele through extension programs.

Voss, who is employed as a soil fertility specialist, said he has coordinated the activities of agronomy extension since 1983. He said he works on providing information to the agriculture industry and to farmers in a variety of methods including meetings, publications and conferences.

“We get a lot of one-on-one calls,” Voss said. “The questions range from … elementary to some fairly complex.”

Some of Voss’s achievements include being involved in the development of the nation’s first computerized soil test recommendation print-out system, helping to create a computerized crop enterprise record system for Iowa crop producers and leading the extension’s program efforts in and adapting state-of-the-art technologies.

Geopositioning, or “precision agriculture” as Voss calls it, is one technology that he has worked on. He said it involves 24 satellites that circle the earth and transmit signals to the earth. “If you’ve got three or more of them you can position yourself exactly on this earth.”

He said this has been made available to the public and he uses it in fields to monitor crop yields. “On a given tract of land or a field they monitor the yields on combines, for about every six feet you’ll get a yield and a position.”

This information is put on a card and then ran through a computer. Voss said a colored map is made with the different yields positioned over the field. He said people then sample the soil so they can find different nutrient levels in the field. “Using all of this information, I can tell you that fields are more variable than what people thought.”

Voss also created a fuel diagnostic laboratory that is located west of Ames on a plot of 25 acres. “That is where we teach crop diagnosis, insect identification and weed identification.”

Voss said he is very appreciative to have been selected for the award. “It is a humbling thing when your coworkers select you to receive such an award and also at the same time, you’re very appreciative after you spend years in an organization working.”

Garren Benson, a professor of agronomy, has worked with Voss in extension. “I feel very good about (Voss) winning the award. I’ve enjoyed working with him over a period of years in extension.

“He has done very good work in the soils area and is a real pleasant guy with work with,” Benson said. He worked with Voss on an integrated crop management research.

Voss graduated with a B.S. from Iowa State in 1952 and earned his Ph.D. from ISU in 1962. He said it has been a pleasure working at ISU.

“If one is involved in agriculture, particularly in crop production, this is the place to be because of the Iowa soils and the number of acres in crop production that we have in this state.”