May 8, 2015 | Pat Beaujot
Teacher Appreciation Week: I Salute Dr. Don Rennie
Dr. Don Rennie 1952 – Head of Soils Department (1965-81) and Dean of Agriculture (1981-89).
My lovely wife Charlotte and I were having coffee this morning and checking the latest news on our smartphones she saw that it was Teacher Appreciation Week. She said you should do a blog about the professors you always mention in your speeches. What a great idea! I have the great opportunity to talk about soil conservation and Seed Hawk in many public forums. I always show a slide of Dr. Don Rennie and Professor Les Henry. They both had a great influence on me when I attended the University of Saskatchewan. I like to use the quote from Isaac Newton “If I have seen farther than others it is because I was standing on the shoulder of giants.”
Today I want to talk about Dr. Don Rennie. My first year at U of S Ag Collage in 1977 I took the standard 1st year soil science ½ class that Dr Rennie taught. All 1st year agriculture students took this class. Dr. Rennie was the Head of the Soil Science Department at the time. I had worked with my Dad through high school trying to learn how to farm without summer fallow and reduce the erosion on our farm by tilling less. Little did I know that the whole movement away from tillage practices and away from summer fallow was led by Dr. Rennie years earlier. Dr. Rennie’s biography explains how he grew up much like I did watching the dust blow and wondering what could be done about it. Read Dr. Rennie’s biography here: http://www.soilcc.ca/feature_articles/2008/2008-01.php
In that class he was so passionate and effective at teaching us with great detail how destructive tillage was, especially when used in conjunction with summer fallow. He shocked us all into realizing that this practice was permanently destroying millions of acres and degrading tens of millions more.
The great thing about Dr. Rennie was that he wasn’t just giving us the bad news like so many pseudo-science people do now. He had many research papers proving that there was a viable solution, even in the dryer climate of south west Saskatchewan where he grew up (near Gull Lake). He taught us that even in that dry climate if the stubble was left standing to protect the soil and trap snow, there would be enough moisture to grow a crop year after year. That practice along with the use of fertilizer and pesticides proved to show a profit on every acre every year.
The most important thing about Dr. Rennie was that as a teacher he was much more interested in us learning and understanding the subject matter than challenging our intelligence. Teachers that get that do a great service to society. Rather than having us guess what would be on the test, he gave us the final exam a week before the test. It was basically an essay question that went something like this:
What does tillage and the practice of summer fallow do to the soil? Provide in detail what farming practice could be adopted to stop soil degradation and why. We all went home and learned the answer thoroughly.
I think everyone who took that class, even the ones going on to animal science or economics, understood what needed to be done.
What made Dr. Rennie great to me wasn’t just that he was a great soil scientist or that he didn’t just look at the problem, he researched and found the solution. It was that he effectively taught his findings and passion to thousands of people like me.
Dr. Rennie reminds me of a great Dalai Lama quote: “Share your knowledge. It is a way to achieve immortality” Thanks Dr. Rennie, for inspiring in me a love of soil that has become my life and my career. I invite your questions or comments, and please, share your memories of Dr. Rennie, or a great teacher in your life with me @PatrickBeaujot or on @NOTILLville.