Contact

Dr. Alan J. Busacca
Owner Vinitas Consultants, LLC

PO Box 274
Bingen, WA 98605-0274 UNITED STATES

Work: 509-592-0756
Cell: 509-592-0756

Send message to Dr. Alan J. Busacca Website: www.windhorsevineyard.com

Employment History

• Walla Walla Community College   (Jan 2013)
  
• Washington State University   (Feb 1982)
  

Membership

• Member Emeritus
• Soil Science Society of America, 36 Years

Past Membership

• American Society of Agronomy, 23 Years
• Crop Science Society of America, 7 Years

Certifications Held

• Certified Professional Soil Scientist

Education History

• Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of California-Davis, 1982, Soil Science
  
• Master of Science (MS), University of California-Davis, 1979, Soil Science
  
• Bachelor of Science (BS), University of California-Santa Cruz, 1973, Earth Sciences
  

Divisions of Interest

• SSSA Soil & Water Management & Conservation Division
  
• SSSA Practicing Professional Soil Scientists Division
  
• SSSA Pedology Division
  
• SSSA Wetland Soils Division
  

More About Me

Alan Busacca is known to many people around the Northwest and beyond as ‘Dr. Dirt’. He is a soil scientist and a geologist who some years ago shifted his passion for pure research on agriculture, soil formation, and Ice Age geology toward the applied science of growing grapes for fine wine and helping others to do the same. The newest chapter in Alan’s life is as Director of the Center for Enology and Viticulture at Walla Walla Community College, which is the premier 2-year winemaking degree program in the Pacific Northwest and is the first community college program in America with its own bonded winery, College Cellars. Alan has a B.S. degree in Earth Sciences from U.C. Santa Cruz and M.S. & Ph.D. degrees from U.C. Davis. He was professor of soil science, agriculture, and geology at Washington State University from 1982 to 2006. His teaching focused on soil resources, Ice-Age geology, and world agriculture. His research areas were the Ice-Age geology of the Pacific Northwest, the formation and properties of soils of the Pacific Northwest and how geology and soils have shaped our agriculture and our use of natural resources. His WSU research and consulting activities took him to 30 countries around the world. With a growing personal and professional interest in vineyard consulting, wine grapes, and wine, in 2006 Alan left WSU and now co-owns Volcano Ridge vineyard near The Dalles, Oregon in the Columbia Gorge AVA and he consults on land evaluation for vineyards, on hydric (wetland) soils litigation, and gives talks and leads field trips.