Champion of Ag Research Reflects on Storied Career

The start of summer 2025 will mark the end of Michael Parrella’s near decade as dean of the University of Idaho’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. Parrella also spent nearly 30 years as a key agricultural figure in California at UC Davis and UC Riverside.

As retirement nears, Parrella said he’s optimistic that research at the university level and through Redox and others in the private sector will help growers do more with less.

“Ultimately what we really want to do is grow a healthy plant and use less traditional fertilizer,” Parrella said. “Less nitrogen and less potassium. I think the work with micronutrients is going to enable us to do that. That’s a huge part of dealing with sustainability of agriculture and healthy soils moving forward.”

He said he’d like his time at the University of Idaho to be remembered for two primary areas: hiring the best early career faculty possible, supporting the existing faculty and having updated facilities for them to carry out effective work.