Michel Cavigelli is a Soil Scientist at USDA-ARS in Beltsville, Maryland. He is Lead Scientist of the Farming Systems Project, a long-term cropping systems project evaluating the sustainability of organic and conventional methods. He also conducts research to improve nutrient management in diverse cropping systems and is an expert on nitrous oxide emissions from agricultural soils. He was awarded the 2015 American Society of Agronomy Organic Management Systems Organic Research and Education Award for lifetime achievement.

Michel earned a PhD in Crop and Soil Science at Michigan State University, an MS in Soil Science from Kansas State University, and a BA in Biology from Oberlin College.  He has worked at Michigan State University Extension, helping to incorporate ecological concepts into Extension publications and presentations, was an intern at The Land Institute in Salina, Kansas, and worked for two years at the Kansas Rural Center, a non-profit organization supporting sustainable agriculture in Kansas.