Bennett, Hugh Hammond (1881–1960)

US soil conservationist. Bennett began working on the problem of soil erosion in 1903 when he joined the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Bureau of Soils. In the 1930s he worked for the Soil Erosion Service in the Department of the Interior, persuading Congress to enact the Soil Conservation Act. He became the first chief of the Soil Conservation Service.

As supervisor of soil surveys, 1909–28, Bennett assessed agricultural possibilities in the Panama Canal Zone, inspected the land proposed for a territorial railroad in Alaska, and conducted soil surveys in Cuba. In 1928 he co-authored the USDA report ‘Soil Erosion, a National Menace’.