Abdel F. Berrada, PhD.

Emeritus Senior Research Scientist/Scholar

Soil and Crop Sciences

Founder and Owner

Mesa Verde Ag Solutions


Fields of Expertise

Agriculture

Areas of Interest

Crop Testing, Irrigation water management including deficit irrigation, Dryland cropping systems research


Biography

Abdel Berrada, founder and owner of Mesa Verde Ag Solutions, grew up on the family farm in Morocco where at an early age, he helped with various chores such as watering trees, hoeing weeds, and picking and selling fruits and vegetables. This experience and his love for the land led him to pursue a degree in agricultural sciences, first at the Agronomic and Veterinary Institute in Rabat, Morocco, then at The National Institute of Agronomy in Paris, France. He later earned a PhD in agronomy at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, NE. Dr. Berrada has over 30 years of experience conducting agricultural research and outreach in northern and sub-Saharan Africa, and in Kansas, Nebraska, and for the last 25 years, Colorado. He has worked with a variety of crops and environments but since 2014, his focus has been on soil health and industrial hemp. He retired from Colorado State University in March 2019 as a Research Scholar Emeritus and since then he has been busy working as a consultant, crop insurance adjuster, and as the PI of a USDA-NIFA grant to organize a national hemp research and education conference in 2020. His lives with his wife Gina in Montezuma County where they enjoy the beautiful scenery and the historic monuments, landmarks, and parks that abound in the the Four Corners region of Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah.