The Brazilian Soil Science Society awarded Professor João Mielniczuk the Antonio Carlos Moniz Soil Science Award, in recognition of his broad and relevant contribution, throughout his professional life, to Soil Science and to Rio Grande do Sul and Brazilian agriculture. The award ceremony took place during the Society’s General Assembly, on August 2, 2017, in Belém (PA).

João Mielniczuk is an agronomist (1964) and a master in Soil Science (1970) from UFRGS, with a doctorate from the University of Wisconsin – USA (1973). He dedicated his professional life to developing research and training human resources in Soil Science at the Soil Department and in the Postgraduate Program in Soil Science at UFRGS. With an academic background in Soil Fertility, he worked, until the end of the 1960s, in the development and calibration of soil analyzes in the South region. Subsequently, the enormous problems of degradation of agricultural soils due to inadequate management led him to act and to develop the area of ​​Soil Management in Brazil. It was in this area where he made his most significant contribution to teaching, research and training of human resources, particularly in the development of sustainable management systems adapted to Brazilian subtropical and tropical regions.

His solid technical training, privileged vision and humble behavior led to this son of small Polish farmers working in the coordination and development of important extension projects that boosted the Brazilian agricultural sector. Until the end of the 1960s, he worked on the Soil Fertility Improvement Project in Rio Grande do Sul, called Operation Tatu, which revolutionized regional agriculture. The significant results obtained in the recovery and adequate management of soil fertility are reflected to this day in the performance of agriculture in Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina.

Later, at the end of the 1970s, he coordinated, together with his colleague Werner Wunshe, from Embrapa Trigo, the Integrated Soil Use and Conservation Project (PIUCS), which covered an area of ​​3.5 million hectares and was developed in grain producing region of the Middle Plateau of Rio Grande do Sul. Similar to Operation Tatu, PIUCS had a profound influence on changing soil management by recommending the use of soil according to its agricultural suitability, eliminating the burning of wheat straw, reducing soil preparation through the adoption of minimum cultivation and direct planting systems, in addition to the use of cover crops. It can be said that the development of PIUCS was associated with a similar project in Paraná, the landmark of conservation agriculture in Rio Grande do Sul, which later spread to different Brazilian regions.

Despite his great contribution to research in Soil Science, with approximately 70 articles published – mostly in RBCS and international journals – and in the development and coordination of these important extension projects, with a strong impact on crop productivity and preservation of resources natural resources at a national level, Professor João’s most significant contribution to the development and sustainability of national agriculture was possibly in the teaching and training of human resources. In the undergraduate course in Agronomy at UFRGS, he taught the Soil Fertility subject. In the Postgraduate Program in Soil Science he had an outstanding role in conducting the same discipline for more than 10 years. Later, he created the discipline Soil-Plant Relationship with the effective collaboration of professor Ibanor Anghinoni.

Already migrating to the Soil Management research area, he created the Soil Management discipline in 1993, which he still teaches and is aimed mainly at doctoral students. It addresses advanced interface aspects of Soil Management, such as the Systemic View of Soil, Soil Quality and Environmental Services, Carbon Sequestration and Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Agricultural Soils.

CNPq level 1A researcher from 1976 to 2010, when he deactivated his line of research, professor João Mielniczuk supervised 32 masters and 18 doctors in Soil Science, researchers who carry out their activities in federal universities and research institutes throughout Brazil. His continuous participation as a speaker in congresses promoted by SBCS, added to the strong emphasis on the training of human resources – which results in the occurrence of ramifications and indirect influence of this professional’s performance – makes it difficult to measure the extent of his real contribution to the Science of Science. Soil and national agriculture. Therefore, the conviction is reinforced that Professor João Mielniczuk is among the most recognized researchers at national level, whether for his significant technical contribution in the areas of Fertility and Soil Management, or for his humanitarian character of respect for human beings. human, which has always guided his life and professional activity.

Retired since 1995, professor João Mielniczuk only deactivated his line of research in 2010, a period until which he maintained intense teaching, research and guidance activities in the Department of Soils and in the Postgraduate Program in Soil Science at UFRGS, as guest collaborating professor.