Harold Reetz, known for his trademark approach of using the 4 R's of fertility and integrating precision technology into research, died Aug. 15. 

The Piatt County Journal-Republican in Illinois posted his obituary Wednesday. 

Reetz started his career at Purdue University in the agronomy department and went on to work at the International Plant Nutrition Institute (formerly the Potash and Phosphate Institute) for 28 years. In 2004, Reetz became president of the Foundation for Agronomic Research, a nonprofit research organization.

He also no-tilled for more than 4 decades and authored more than 400 articles about crop production, soil fertility management and computer applications in agriculture. He spoke at 20-30 conferences a year, including the National No-Tillage Conference.

Reetz received the No-Till Farmer Innovator award for Research and Education at the 2010 National No-Tillage Conference.

He conducted training programs on new technology throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and the Soviet Union.

Reetz incorporated new technologies in his research, including global positioning satellites, geographic information systems, remote sensing, computer simulation and electronic communications tools to improve yield, profitability and environmental quality.

One of Reetz's trademark approaches was the 4 R's: right source, right rate, right place and right time.

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