Dr. Tejendra Chapagain is bringing years of international and domestic experience to his new role as OMARA’s soil fertility specialist- horticulture. His office is based at the university’s School of Environmental Sciences.  

His areas of focus are:  soil fertility and tissue nutrition guidelines for horticultural crops, soil and tissue reports, sources, application and timing of macro and micronutrients, OMAFRA Soil Team, OMAFRA Soil Laboratory Accreditation Program. 

His academic studies span the globe. First, he received his M.Science in horticulture from Tribhuvan University-Nepal then his first Ph.D. in Sustainable Agriculture from the University of Tokyo-Japan. He earned a second Ph.D. in Plant Science/Agronomy from the University of British Columbia with a focus on intercrop experiments assessing the effect on land productivity, biological nitrogen fixation and cycling, carbon sequestration and water-use efficiency of intercrop and monoculture plots.

Subsequently, he worked as a post-doctoral research agronomist at the University of Alberta and most recently as a senior research associate in the Department of Plant Agriculture, University of Guelph. 

He has conducted applied and basic research in horticultural and field crops, was a team leader in several agriculture development projects in Nepal, coordinated diagnostic events in collaboration with Saskatchewan Agriculture and has experience communicating his research to the scientific community and growers with more than 50 publications in peer-reviewed international journals as well as conference proceedings, books and technical papers and through mass media and extension reports.  

Source:  Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs