Christopher Teh Boon Sung

I am an Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Land Management at the Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). My field is soil and water conservation and agroclimatology: how tropical soils store and lose water and nutrients, and how weather shapes crop growth. I have taught at UPM since 1995.

Much of my recent research concerns the Malaysian oil palm. I build mathematical models of its growth and yield, test conservation practices such as silt pits and mulches on sloping land, and estimate what a changing climate will do to production. I also researched on wastewater reuse, such as washed rice water, the kitchen leftover, as liquid plant fertilizer. Outside the university I write gardening newspaper columns, and I answer pressing agriculture issues on radio and television.