Haishun Yang

Haishun Yang develops decision support tools to help farmers improve crop management and conserve water. His research activities include crop growth and yield modeling, soil nutrient management and carbon cycle modeling, life cycle analysis of bioenergy systems on energy balance and greenhouse gas emissions, field research on crop water use efficiency and software development for crop management decision-making.

Yang is part of the international research team developing the Global Yield Gap and Water Productivity Atlas, an interactive, map-based web platform developed to estimate exploitable gaps in yield and water productivity for major food crops worldwide. His research helps farmers, governments, policymakers, foundations, private sector organizations and others identify regions with the greatest potential to sustainably produce more food.

Yang worked as a crop modeling scientist for Monsanto Co. after serving as a research assistant professor and postdoctoral research associate at UNL for a number of years. He has also worked as a soil scientist at Rothamsted Research, the U.K.’s largest agricultural research center, and the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines.

Yang holds a doctorate in soil science and a master’s degree in soil and water sciences from Wageningen University in the Netherlands. He earned a bachelor’s degree in soil science and plant nutrition from China Agricultural University.