Schillinger honored by state Senate

ODESSA – Native son William F. (Bill) Schillinger retired Jan. 1, 2022 from his position at Washington State University as a professor and research agronomist. Much of his time over the past 30 years has been devoted to his work at the WSU Dryland Research Station near Lind, Wash., where test plots are studied over several years to ascertain their suitability for the low-rainfall regions of the Pacific Northwest.

On Feb. 21, Sen. Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville, introduced state Senate Resolution 8645, which the senators passed, honoring Schillinger for his service to farmers. Schoesler spoke on the senate floor to thank Schillinger for his many years working at the Lind station to develop beneficial farming practices.

Schillinger grew up on the family wheat farm near Odessa in Adams County. He attended school in Odessa, graduating in 1970. After high school, he attended Eastern Washington University, receiving his B.A. in communications in 1974. With degree in hand, he went to work for the Peace Corps, traveling to Nepal to work with local farmers to create a certified seed program for Nepal's Ministry of Agriculture.

After earning his M.S. in agronomy at the University of California-Davis, he spent additional time managing similar seed programs for countries in West Africa and then once again in Nepal for U.S. agencies.

After receiving his doctorate in agronomy in 1992 from Oregon State University-Corvallis, Schillinger settled into academia at the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences at WSU. As director of the Dryland Research Station at Lind he had the best of both worlds. He was doing the field research he loved, while working his way up to full professor at the university.

He has been a prolific contributor to scientific journals and books on soils and crop production. This Odessa native has done well, and we wish him a pleasant retirement.