He makes no excuses for his passion for what he describes as the world's most important forage crop.
As he says: "If you're going to do something, why not be enthusiastic and passionate about it?"
Prof Moot, who has been a lecturer in plant science at Lincoln University since 1996, was in Otago last week for two dryland pasture species seminars organised by CRT and Ballance Agri-nutrients.
Oddly enough, the man responsible for lifting the profile of lucerne in New Zealand did not come from a farming background.
Brought up in urban Christchurch, he initially embarked on an agricultural science degree because he thought it would be a ticket to anywhere he wanted to go, with New Zealand being known for agriculture.
"In short, it has been. I've travelled the world," he said.
Prof Moot, who did his honours degree in lucerne in the mid-1980s, returned to New Zealand 15 years ago to start lecturing, having done "all sorts of things" while he was away.
On his return, he discovered that no-one was talking about lucerne and it had "fallen off the radar" in New Zealand.
He decided to find out why, from both farmers and the agribusiness sector, and discovered that most of the reasons needed good research to answer them.
Excusing the pun, it was a "fertile field" to work in, as no-one else was working on the subject.
Last week, Prof Moot notched up his 146th field day, or farmer visit, since 2007.
He enjoyed seeing the enthusiasm of farmers and changes being made. It was rewarding when research he and his team had done was put into practice.
With those tangible results came "almost a responsibility to go out and deliver the message" and it was a continuing education process. "I don't want to see lucerne fail again, from lack of extension," he said.
The message was getting out, slowly. In the initial phase, changes were made through desperation, when farmers were forced to.
Now, with prices being higher, there was an opportunity for others, who now had money in the budget, to think about doing things differently.
He also had former students, who were now on the farm, coming back to see him.
"They've now got responsibility for the farm and are willing to have a try," he said.
Prof Moot enjoyed teaching - "if I didn't ... I wouldn't be at Lincoln" - particularly the contact with students and also challenging them.
His success in teaching has been recognised in teaching excellence awards from the university.
Prof Moot believed his strength was taking complex things and breaking them down into simple messages.
This week, he is travelling to Australia to speak at a grasslands conference on dryland legume research in New Zealand.
"If you want to transform economies and landscapes, you've got to get out there and do the extension."
New Zealand was one of the most technically advanced farming countries in the world. It had a high population of educated people on farms and in agribusiness "and we value farming".
His goal was to create a situation where farmers earned enough that there could be vibrant social communities in rural New Zealand, and farming systems were environmentally resilient.
Those in the sheep and beef industry had not been as good as dairy at learning from each other.
He was trying to change that attitude and get farmers talking to each other.