FOUNDERS SERIES PART 6 OF 6 2015 Top 100 Founders Whether it’s in plant breeding or business, policy or marketing, sales or education, leadership in the seed industry takes many forms. Meet the most transformational men and women in the seed industry during the past 100 years. From all across the globe, they shape your world.
THESE ARE THE individuals his first batch of okra seeds research stations and farmers’ fields of Mexico that Borlaug who have provided leadership to his neighbors, his com- developed successive generations of wheat varieties with broad during trying times, insight to pany contracts with more and stable disease resistance, broad adaptation to growing con- complex issues, and a com- than 100,000 growers. Since ditions across many degrees of latitude and with exceedingly mitment to something larger then, seed distribution in India high yield potential. These new wheat varieties and improved than self. has grown 40-fold. In 1998, crop management practices transformed agricultural produc- The 100 founders of the he received the World Food tion in Mexico during the 1940s and 1950s and later in Asia and seed industry that we’ve Prize award and invested that Latin America, sparking the Green Revolution. Because of his chosen to represent the money into research pro- achievements and efforts to prevent hunger, famine and misery dramatic changes during the grams for hybrid rice varieties. around the world, it is said that Borlaug has saved more lives past century have all left a than any other person who has ever lived. tremendous mark — be it in Henry Beachell plant breeding, technology, Creator of IR8 Rice Kent Bradford business or the policy arena — Today, most of the rice Launched the Seed Biotechnology Center that impacts the seed indus- grown in the world comes Through workshops and courses, the try. As a group, they represent from plants that build on Seed Biotechnology Center at the the industry’s diversity and Beachell’s work. From 1931 to University of California, Davis, has hail from all over the world. 1963, he worked for the U.S. kept more than 2,000 profession- We know the progress and Department of Agriculture als connected to the latest scientific advancements realized today to improve rice varieties advances that affect the seed indus- have not been accomplished in the United States. Upon try. One of the most prominent is by just 100 people. It has retirement, he took a posi- the Plant Breeding Academy, which required hundreds of thou- tion at the International Rice hosts workshops in the United States, sands of dedicated individu- Research Institute where his Asia, Europe and Africa, training seed als throughout this rich and breakthrough IR8 rice variety industry personnel to become plant highly textured industry, as revolutionized the crop in the breeders and filling a shortfall in the well as the creativity, drive and 1960s. Instead of 1 to 2 tones profession. Kent Bradford fortitude of people like you. of grain per hectare, growers started averaging 4 or 5 tons, Robert Chandler Jr. B.R. Barwale and some saw as much as 10 Supported the Green Revolution Founded Maharashtra tons. Beachell worked all his Chandler lead the International Rice Research Institute and Hybrid Seed Company life, consulting with Rice-Tec, rounded up prominent scientists to lead a portion of the Green After getting access to some the first company to commer- Revolution. During his decade at IRRI, several new rice varie- CELEBRATING 75+ YEARS OF SERVICE high-yielding okra seeds, cialize hybrid rice seed in the ties were developed, including Henry Beachell’s IR8, lauded as CELEBRCELEBRAATTINGING 75 +77+ YEA RYEARSS OF SERV IOFCE SERVICE Barwale was impressed with United States. “miracle rice.” IRRI increased rice production by two-thirds in the improved performance of Asia, outpacing population growth. the new hybrids and decided Norman Borlaug to start Maharashtra Hybrid Father of the Green Mary-Dell Chilton Seed Company, known as Revolution Helped Create the First Transgenic Plant Mahyco, in India. More than He devoted his life to crop Best known for producing the first transgenic plant in 1983, 50 years after Barwale sold improvement. It was on Mary-Dell Chilton’s achievement has furthered the field of sci-
52 / SEEDWORLD.COM DECEMBER 2015 ence and helped to propel the world of production agricul- ture forward. Transgenic or www.hmclause.com biotech crops are grown on 488 million acres in 28 coun- tries by more than 18 million farmers. Today, her work at Syngenta focuses on gene targeting.
Gebisa Ejeta Developed Striga Resistant Sorghum While working at the International Crop Research Robb Fraley Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, Ejeta developed ered on of the fathers of the drought-tolerant and high- Green Revolution. yielding varieties of sorghum that doubled yields. Later, he Yuan Longping developed another drought- “The Father of Hybrid tolerant sorghum variety Rice” that increased yields four to Longping, born in Beijing, is five times the national aver- responsible for developing age in Niger. In the 1990s, he the genetic materials and conquered Striga, a parasitic technologies essential for weed that plagued African breeding high-yielding hybrid sorghum farmers. rice varieties. He was the first Julie and Norman Borlaug scientist to successfully alter Robb Fraley the self-pollinating charac- Helped Create the First herbicide tolerance together tions. In 1994, he and his team teristics of rice and facilitate Transgenic Plant in one corn hybrid. Garst succeeded for the first time large-scale production of After leading groundbreak- was acquired by Syngenta in in producing fertile progenies hybrid rice, which has 20 ing molecular research on 2004. — “New Rice for Africa,” later percent more yield than elite how plant bacterium could dubbed NERICA. Thanks to varieties. His research institute be adapted as a tool to insert J.C. Hackleman NERICA’s ability to increase has trained more than 3,000 genes from another organ- “Soybean’s Greatest farmers’ harvest by 25 to 250 scientists from more than 50 ism into plant cells, Fraley Missionary” percent, Africa was cata- countries and farmers around lead the commercial launches Hackleman was responsi- pulted almost overnight from the world continue to ben- of the first genetically modi- ble for explosive growth of relative obscurity among the efit from his techniques with fied crops, Roundup Ready soybean as a crop in Illinois, international rice research and the spread and adoption of soybeans and Bollgard insect- as well as educating count- development community into hybrid rice throughout Asia, protected cotton. less farmers on methods for the limelight. Africa and the Americas. increasing their yields. David Garst Gurdev Khush Marc Van Montagu Owner, Garst Seed Monty Jones Creator of IR36 Rice Helped Create the First Company Bred NERICA Rice Mentored by Henry Beachell, Transgenic Plant Under Garst’s direction, the Varieties Khush was head of plant From 1996 to 2013, global brand flourished and went As head of the West Africa breeding at the International farmer income gained from To learn more, visit on to bring many innovative Rice Development Agency’s Rice Research Institute and biotech crops was an esti- Global Reach. Local Touch. www.hmclause.com corn solutions to the market. Upland Rice Breeding built IR36 off of IR8. IR36 is mated $133.5 billion, accord- From the world market to the farmer’s market, we breed, produce, It led the way in developing Program, Jones was among considered the most widely ing to PG Economics. herbicide-tolerant hybrids, the first agricultural scientists planted food crop in the and sell vegetable seeds to growers in every corner of the planet. including the first IMI-corn. It to understand that Africa world. Since its creation, rice Owen Newlin also was among the first seed needed to do its own research production increased from Industry Leader Combining global expertise with local experience, we continue to companies to offer European and develop technologies 257 million tons to 686 million As senior vice president of lead the development of the highest quality seeds in the world. corn borer (Bt) control and adapted to its specific condi- tons per year. Khush is consid- Pioneer Hi-Bred International
54 / SEEDWORLD.COM DECEMBER 2015 HM.CLAUSE, Inc. 260 Cousteau Place, Suite 100, Davis, CA 95618 USA | 1.800.320.4672 | www.hmclause.com Inc., Newlin served as a cham- and DuPont. It’s reported pion for the industry and gave that more than 80 percent farmers a voice, helping to of the soybeans planted in establish checkoff programs the U.S. can be traced back in eight key-corn producing to Stine’s germplasm. Today, states. He served on numer- the company employs nearly ous boards and raised infinite 400 people in 16 states with Quality. amounts of money for various a focus on corn and soybean since 1900 agricultural projects. genetics.
Eda Reinot M.S. Swaminathan Pioneer of Inoculants Facilitated Adoption of Reinot and her team are Improved Wheat Varieties responsible for the creation He converted a generation of of products such as Vault HP, farmers in India to new plant Integral and Flo Rite that are technology and high-yielding available in the United States. crop varieties. Having learned of Norman Borlaug’s new Bernice Slutsky dwarf Mexican wheat varie- Leader in Biotech Policy ties, Swaminathan invited him She’s been influencing policy to India to help develop varie- and how biotech events are ties that would work there. handled from the time they He set up test plots to bring receive regulatory approval farmers up to speed. After for commercial use to how four crop seasons, wheat pro- regulatory approvals are to be duction grew from 12 million handled and/or maintained to 23 million tons, ending the once an event’s patent expires. need for grain imports.
O.J. Sommer Surinder Vasal Bernice Slutsky Founder of Sommer Co-Creator for Quality Brothers Seed Company Protein Maize nutritional value than conven- 1930s, farmers were taking More Thorough. An innovative seedsman who Combining cereal chemistry tional maize. In the 1990s the notice — about 1 percent of More Data. tested new selection and and plant breeding tech- International Maize and Wheat the corn planted in Iowa came drying methods through his niques, Vasal worked with Improvement Center gained from Wallace’s hybrid seed. More Value. company, he was selected to Evangelina Villegas to com- the international support and By the mid 1960s, almost the be the first president of the bine conventional maize with funding to promote the QPM entire U.S. corn crop came From innovative genetics to the newly formed Illinois Crop genetic modifiers. Throughout maize variety in Africa. Since from hybrid seed corn. The latest in molecular technology, Improvement Association the 1970s, they produced and then, QPM has also saved lives company is what we know we have an uncompromising in 1922. He led the group analyzed germplasm at an in China, Mexico and Central today as DuPont Pioneer. commitment to method validation that has played, for nearly a astonishing rate, sometimes America. century, a significant role in processing up to 25,000 sam- James Watson and and statistical integrity. preserving the purity of seed ples a year. By the mid-1980s, Henry Wallace Francis Crick We are proud to offer: and certifying seed through- the team had produced a Introduced the Concept of Determined the Structure out the state. QPM germplasm with hard Hybrid Vigor of DNA • Seed Certification kernel characteristics and He developed the first com- The discover did not immedi- • Field Inspection Services Harry Stine taste similar to the traditional mercial hybrid corn in 1923. ately revolutionize agriculture, Owner, Stine Seed grain, and with much higher Confident that hybrid seed but it did eventually lead to For over 100 years, we have built a strong • Identity Preservation (IP) Company nutritional content. corn was the future, Wallace modern methods of selecting foundation by providing a sound scientific • Laboratory Testing Stine started one of the first went on to form the Hi-Bred desirable traits. SW soybean breeding programs Evangelina Villegas Corn Company in Des Moines, approach to testing. We are proud to be an • Conventional Seed Tests outside of the university and Co-Creator for Quality Iowa, in 1926. By the early ISO 9001:2008 certified organization. • Genetics and was one of the first to patent Protein Maize the genetics of soybean Along with Vasal, Villegas was Trait Testing seeds in the industry. As a charged with developing a • Bioassay WHERE We have too many names to list in such a short space. Check out the full list of businessman, he negotiated quality protein maize germ- ON THE Herbicide deals licensing the genetics to plasm with much higher WEB Founders online at SeedWorld.com/100Founders. companies such as Monsanto 866.899.2518 - www.indianacrop.org Testing
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