Dr. João Carlos Sá holds a degree in Agronomic Engineering from the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro (1981), a Masters degree in Agronomy (Plant Production) from the Federal University of Paraná (1994) and a Ph.D in Soils and Plant Nutrition from The Ohio State University and São Paulo State University (Escola Superior de Agricultura “Luiz de Queiroz") as part of a dual degree program.
In 2008 and 2012, he completed the Postdoctoral program at The Ohio State University, at the Carbon Management and Sequestration Center (C-MASC), developing projects with Dr. Rattan Lal on C sequestration in no-tillage production systems.
He served as Associate Professor at the Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Engineering at the State University of Ponta Grossa and and he got a Research Productivity Scholarship by CNPq, where he lead the research group “Dynamics of Organic Matter in Soil Management Systems” with emphasis on the no-till system. The main topics of action are: decomposition of crop residues and their relationship with compartments of soil organic matter and the soil aggregation, C and N stock inventory and balance, C sequestration influenced by production systems and strategies for mitigating greenhouse gases.
He was coordinator and scientific consultant of the cooperation agreement between UEPG - CIRAD on the sequestration of C in no-tillage production systems between 2005 to 2012. He is a reviewer for Soil & Tillage Research, Soil Science Society of American Journal, Land Degradation and Development, Catena, Environmental Pollution, Geoderma, Agriculture and Ecosystem, Journal of Cleaner Production, Ecological Indicators, Science of The Total Environment and other prestigiuous journals.
Most recently, Dr. Sá and Dr. Lal have served as consultants to a partnership between with The Ohio State University and the Brazilian No-Till System Federation on the project, “No-Till System: Basis for Sustainable Agriculture.”
The project team sampled almost 4000 soil samples from four different Brazilian biomes (the Amazon, Cerrado, Atlantic Forests, and Pampas regions). The objective of the project is to measure the capacity of no-till systems for carbon sequestration, based in the principles of 1) no plow, 2) year long continuous soil cover, and 3) the diversity of crop rotation.
After carefully studying each biome for over a year, the project selected seventy locations within the four biomes for sampling and research. Within each of those locations, the team designed a robust matrix for soil comparison. The project measures carbon content and sequestration under three conditions within the soils of each location: native vegetation, the no-till system, and a degraded area. As the project compares the carbon content among the native, no-till, and degraded areas, it can calculate the capacity of no-till as a tool to sequester carbon and promote healthy soils.
