I'm Steve Amerige, founder and president of AgriCommons Foundation, a North Carolina nonprofit organization established to pursue charitable, educational, and scientific purposes. Crop & Soil is an educational project of AgriCommons Foundation, created to make agricultural and horticultural knowledge practical, understandable, and useful.

Professionally, I work at NC State University as a Systems Development and Project Manager in the Precision Sustainable Agriculture (PSA) laboratory, where I develop software systems, research computing infrastructure, and decision-support tools supporting agricultural research and Extension.

I am also pursuing a Ph.D. in Crop Science, focusing on applying computer vision, machine learning, and synthetic data to agricultural decision-support tools for farmers, researchers, and other stakeholders.

I pursue my work with AgriCommons Foundation and Crop & Soil independently of my responsibilities at NC State University.

Before joining NC State, I spent four decades in software engineering, including many years at SAS Institute, where I was a Distinguished Software Developer. That experience still shapes how I approach agriculture today: combining systems thinking, software engineering, data science, and reproducible methods with the biological complexity of plants, soils, and agricultural systems.

Beyond research computing, I have longstanding interests in horticulture, ecological gardening, pollinator conservation, wildlife, and science communication. My own landscape is maintained as a National Wildlife Federation Certified Wildlife Habitat, reflecting my interest in creating environments that support plants, pollinators, birds, and other wildlife.

I have been sought out for independent speaking and writing engagements on plant science. My volunteer work includes involvement with the Gardening Association of North Carolina and participation in the NC State Extension Master Gardener℠ program, where I help people observe more carefully, ask better questions, make better-informed decisions, and build practical knowledge.

Building AgriCommons

Crop & Soil brings these interests together as one of AgriCommons Foundation's educational projects. The site explores the intersection of plant science, ecology, agriculture, horticulture, and technology through articles, educational resources, practical guides, software tools, and other materials intended for growers, gardeners, students, researchers, and curious learners.

AgriCommons Foundation is currently a founder-led organization, and I presently create and maintain most of its early projects and resources. As the Foundation and its projects mature, I hope to broaden participation through volunteers, contributors, and collaborators who share its interest in making agricultural knowledge, technology, and educational resources more accessible and useful.