Fargo, North Dakota
March 23, 2006
Former
North Dakota State University
hard red spring wheat plant breeder Richard Frohberg has been
inducted into the North Dakota Agriculture Hall of Fame. The
induction ceremony was held at the North Dakota Winter Show.
Frohberg was the hard red spring wheat breeder at NDSU from
January 1966 through March 2002.
"Richard Frohberg dedicated his life to NDSU and North Dakota
wheat producers," says Al Schneiter, NDSU Department of Plant
Sciences chair. "I appreciated his value as a role model,
especially to the younger faculty."
"He
is very modest and would be the first to say that he was not a
role model, just a plant breeder doing his job searching for
that one plant among his thousands of crosses that had the
potential to become another success in a series of new varieties
for the benefit of North Dakota and regional hard red spring
wheat producers," says Ken Grafton, North Dakota Agricultural
Experiment Station director and NDSU College of Agriculture,
Food Systems, and Natural Resources dean.
Frohberg is only the third public wheat breeder in the history
of North Dakota. During his tenure as the NDSU hard red spring
wheat breeder, he worked on or was involved in the development
of 27 spring wheat varieties.
"Frohberg's level of success is matched by very few plant
breeders in the U.S. or the world," Schneiter says. "In an
average year during his professional career, 8 million to 9
million acres of North Dakota farmland were planted to spring
wheat. Through most of his career, 80 percent to 90 percent of
those acres were planted using varieties released from his
program, which generated millions of dollars in income."
Frohberg developed Alsen, the first scab-resistant, high-quality
hard red spring wheat. Alsen is the leading hard red spring
wheat variety grown in the state. Alsen generates an estimated
$100 million annually, based on increased yield because of its
resistance to scab. This estimate does not include the increased
value received by producers because of increased grain quality.
Frohberg also was actively involved in teaching plant breeding
graduate students throughout his career.
"He instilled in students the same interest, love and dedication
to plant breeding that he possesses," Schneiter says. "Many of
his students have gone on to highly successful careers."
Frohberg decided to become a plant breeder after the stem rust
epidemic of the 1950s devastated his father's crop. After
graduating from high school, his first job was on an extra gang
for the Santa Fe Railroad, which allowed him to earn money to
attend college. He earned his bachelor's degree from Kansas
State University and his master's and doctorate degrees from
Iowa State University. Frohberg and his wife, Norma, have three
grown children. |