Carlos Villalba
Researcher at the Soil Department of the Paraguayan Institute of Agricultural Technology (IPTA-Paraguay), working in the area of Plant Nutrition, Management and Soil Health. PhD candidate in Sciences, with a concentration in Soils and Plant Nutrition, at the Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture (ESALQ/USP) – 2025-2028. Master of Sciences, in the same area and institution.
Carlos holds a degree in Agronomy from the Universidad San Carlos (USC, 2017-2021), a Bachelor's degree in Environmental Sciences from the Universidad Técnica de Comercialización y Desarrollo (UTCD, 2012-2017) and technical training in Agriculture from the Colegio Técnico Agropecuario San Pedro Apóstol (CTASPA, 2009-2011).
He has extensive professional experience, having worked as a Horticulture Technician and Head of Discipline at the Colegio Técnico Agropecuario San Pedro Apóstol (2012-2013), Technician at Bio Export S.A. (2013-2015), Head of the Agrometeorology Department at IPTA-CICM (2015-2017) and Administrative Assistant at IPTA-CICM (2017-2020).
Carlos has actively participated in projects that investigate the impacts of Paraguayan agricultural systems on soil health, agricultural productivity and the environment, including:
Crop management and rotation in different soil preparations – long-term experiment at IPTA-CICM;
Sustainable intensification of livestock systems with vegetables – initiative of the Fondo Regional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (FONTAGRO);
Effect of long-term agricultural systems on soil carbon stocks – project funded by the National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT).
Currently, in the Postgraduate Program in Soils and Plant Nutrition at ESALQ-USP, he has been developing researches focused on soil management and health in tropical and subtropical agricultural systems. He is a member of the Soil Health & Management Research Group (SOHMA) and a BECAL Don Carlos Antonio López fellow (Paraguay).
