Willard Mott, Professor of Agriculture at Illinois Valley Community College
I am currently an agriculture professor at Illinois Valley Community College located in Oglesby, Illinois. I teach a variety of agricultural courses including Field Crop Science, Soil Science, Agricultural Economics, and Agricultural Business Management. Along with my teaching assignment I am also responsible for curriculum development. We have recently developed new curriculum in Agricultural Business Management and Agronomy. Before teaching at Illinois Valley Community College I was a high school agriculture teacher at Bureau Valley High School in Manlius, Illinois.
I am interested in continuing to develop sustainable agricultural practices which promote a healthy environment. Reducing agriculture’s impact on soil erosion, nutrient loss, and water pollution is an interest of mine. My wife and I own a highly erodible land (HEL) farm in Bureau County, Illinois, located in the northwestern corner of the state. We wanted to be able to farm the land while keeping the soil and nutrients in place. We feel that prairie strips are one way we can accomplish our goals and leave our farm better for our son, Warren.