A question of balance

It started with a song and ended with champagne. There was no doubt that the occasion on 15 April 2016 when professor Tommy Dalgaard held his inaugural lecture at Aarhus University was a happy one.

The congenial event started with a singalong song on agriculture accompanied by Marie Trydeman Knudsen on piano. That set the atmosphere for the rest of the event. Tommy Dalgaard continued with a lecture on the sustainable use of resources in agriculture and why investments in the biobased economy are particularly important now.

The lecture gave a good impression of the breadth of the subject that Tommy Dalgaard covers in his work. Land use, you see, is not just about crops and machinery – it is also about landscape, people, economy, nature and biodiversity.

We must protect the soil so that it can be passed on to future generations in a good condition; we must, in other words, manage the soil sustainably. Based on our use of nitrogen, the newly minted professor analysed agricultural development with examples from the past and present, from Denmark and abroad.

He pointed out that nitrogen can be both a problem and a solution, and that the fruits of the earth can be used for both food and non-food products. The trick is to balance the two – so that there is room for both nature conservation and for a strong and efficient agricultural sector.

Head of Department Erik Steen Kristensen quoted from an article about Tommy in the department’s newsletter with, amongst other things, a description of the wide-ranging scope of Tommy’s work.

Section Manager John Hermansen observed that there is a historian hiding in Tommy.

Professor Jørgen E. Olesen warned Tommy – with a glint in his eye – that being a professor brings responsibilities.

Senior Researcher Chris Kjelsen and Tommy have followed each other since university days.

Professor Henrik Vejre from University of Copenhagen praised Tommy for his cooperation in projects such as dNmark.

Read also the article ”New sustainability professor”