Internationally respected grassland scientist Dr. Carl Soren Hoveland died in Athens on July 4, 2021.  He was born October 25, 1927 on a dairy farm near Sand Creek in northwestern Wisconsin. All four grandparents came from southern Norway as children.  Carl grew up with Norwegian as his first language.  In winter he skied two miles to a one-room country school.  Family frugality and hard work on the dairy farm taught him valuable lessons as they survived the Great Depression.  After high school, he entered the University of Wisconsin, working three jobs to support himself.  He served in the Marine Corps and then complete his BS and MS degrees in soils.  He obtained a PhD in agronomy-ecology and animal nutrition at the University of Florida in 1959.  After spending 22 productive years in research and teaching at Auburn University, he joined the Agronomy faculty at the University of Georgia, serving 26 years and becoming Terrel Distinguished Professor, and retiring in 2006.

During his productive research-teaching career he received many awards, among them were Fellows of the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society, American Society for the Advancement of Science, and the Silver Medallion Award of the American Forage and Grassland Council.  His exciting career included a great deal of international travel for consulting, lectures, and teaching in many countries around the world in both hemispheres.  One of his proudest achievements was co-authoring, with Don Ball and Garry Lacefield, ‘Southern Forages’. The book has been translated into Spanish and Chinese and is used as a textbook at 60 universities and colleges.

Dr. Hoveland trained many grassland scientist in his career including UK Forage Specialist Ray Smith. His legacy will continue for many generations through his mentorship of 100’s and the students that each of them will teach.