Urbana, Illinois
March 31, 2009
For his career as a pioneer in
corn breeding, A. Forrest Troyer is one of this year's
recipients of the prestigious Siehl Prize for Excellence in
Agriculture.
As one of the world's most effective corn breeders, Troyer
developed or co-developed 40 commercial corn hybrids for major
agribusinesses that sold more than 60 million bags of seed corn
- enough to plant all the corn in North America for two years.
Troyer earned a B.S. from Purdue University in 1954, an M.S.
from the University of Illinois in 1956, and a Ph.D. from the
University of Minnesota in 1964.
He was born on a farm near La Fontaine, Indiana in 1929. "I
farmed 200 acres for six years while I was in high school and
college," said Troyer. "It was a corn and hog operation. My
brother-in-law and I traded the work so that if I needed to be
somewhere else, he stepped in."
His career in corn breeding was spent primarily at Pioneer,
DeKalb and Cargill. After retiring from Cargill in 1998, he was
appointed as an adjunct professor of crop sciences at the
University of Illinois. He
travels to the campus at Urbana-Champaign about once a month to
serve as guest lecturer for a plant breeding class.
While at Pioneer, Troyer said that he is proud to have worked on
developing a hybrid called DK 250 — one of the largest
selling hybrids in Germany and France for many years. "It was
popular there because it was extremely stress tolerant and
matured in 75 days as opposed to the 110- to 120- day maturity
here in the Midwest."
Troyer said that he had an advantage in spending 20 years in
Minnesota, working in a part of the country with a limited
season. "You have to consider the whole life cycle of the plant
within a limited number of days." He enjoyed the challenge of
developing hybrids that incorporated the yield traits of the
Southern Dents with northern plants.
The Siehl Prize for Excellence in Agriculture was created in the
early 1990s by a generous gift from New Ulm-area livestock
breeder and businessman Eldon Siehl, a dedicated philanthropist
who had a lifelong interest in agricultural systems. Siehl was
concerned that people were losing touch with their agrarian
roots and wanted his gift to ensure that achievements in
agriculture would be recognized and celebrated. Recipients
receive a $50,000 award as well as a sculpture and lapel pin
designed by Minnesota artist Thomas Rose especially for the
Siehl Prize.
The recipients were announced during National Ag Week in March,
sponsored by the Minnesota Farm Bureau. They will be honored at
a ceremony in May. |
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