Brookings, S.D. (KELO AM) - South Dakota State University will honor renowned wheat geneticist Edgar S. McFadden with the inaugural McFadden Symposium on Wheat Improvement Sept. 23-24 at the Performing Arts Center. The two-day event will feature presentations by several internationally renowned wheat experts.
The opening day is highlighted by the 7:30 p.m. presentation from SDSU vice president of research and economic development Kevin Kephart at the Performing Arts Center. His presentation, "SDSU's Edgar S. McFadden, Prelude to the Green Revolution," is open to the public. Kephart will be joined by Noel Vietmeyer, a biographer on Norman E. Borlaug, and Ray Huey, McFadden's grandson.Mark Mickelson, grandson of Gov. George T. Mickelson, will re-enact a speech his grandfather made on McFadden Appreciation Day in Webster Oct. 10, 1947. Huey will play the role of McFadden.
"The McFadden Symposium is an opportunity to recognize an individual who helped change food production throughout the world," said Kephart, whose presentation will highlight McFadden's contributions to science and to global food production. "The work Edgar McFadden began in 1913 at SDSU is still impacting global wheat production today. Having the quality of individuals we have attending this symposium truly recognizes that work."
As a student from 1911 to 1918, McFadden envisioned and accomplished the first major breakthrough in conferring genetic resistance to stem rust. Born and raised on a homestead in Day County, he developed a spring wheat variety that was immune to stem rust. Aptly, he named it 'Hope.'
From a single seed, his work is still making a critical difference today, feeding hundreds of millions of people. McFadden was awarded a doctorate of science in 1950 and received the John Scott Medal in 1955. Fellow winners include Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla and the Wright brothers. Key speakers for Sept. 23 include Catherine Woteki, Under Secretary for the United States Department of Agriculture's Research, Education and Economics mission area, as well as the department's chief scientist; Elsa Murano, interim director of the Norman E. Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture; Yue Jin, research plant pathologist with the USDA Agricultural Research Service; and Bikram S. Gill, Kansas State University's distinguished professor of plant pathology. Murano and Woteki highlight the morning's agenda.
In the afternoon, Gill and Jin will present. There will also be a poster session. A public program is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. On the morning of Sept. 24, Craig Morris and Steven Xu, both from the USDA Agricultural Research Service, will present. SDSU professor Karl Glover will close that morning's schedule. For more information or to register, visit www.sdstate.edu/mcfadden. The registration deadline is Tuesday.