NEWS for North Dakotans
Agriculture Communication, North Dakota State University
7 Morrill Hall, Fargo, ND 58105-5665

November 25, 1998

Smith to Retire from USDA-ARS

Garry A. Smith, a research leader with USDA's Agricultural Research Service, will retire in January after more than 32 years of government service. Smith heads the sugarbeet and potato research unit at the Northern Crop Science Laboratory located on the North Dakota State University campus.

A native of New Mexico, Smith earned a doctorate in genetics from Oregon State University and his master's and bachelor's degrees from New Mexico State University. He began his federal research career in 1968 as a USDA-ARS geneticist in Canal Point, Fla., where he was responsible for the genetics and breeding of sugarcane.

In 1969 Smith transferred to Fort Collins, Colo., and began research on sugarbeet genetics and disease-resistance breeding. He taught advanced classes at Colorado State University and advised and directed graduate students, many of whom are now engaged in plant breeding research in the United States and several foreign countries.

Smith has held his current USDA-ARS position as research leader of the sugarbeet and potato research unit in Fargo since 1988. During that period he has also served as adjunct professor in the NDSU plant sciences department. His research while in North Dakota has focused on disease resistance, inheritance and breeding methodology in sugarbeets, and his efforts have resulted in the development and release of 28 disease-resistant breeding lines. He has published more than 95 scientific papers, 210 technical reports and five book chapters dealing with sugar crops, sugarbeet genetics and breeding.

Smith's awards and recognition include the following: Fellow of the American Society of Agronomy, Fellow of the Crop Science Society of America and the Meritorious Service Award from the American Society of Sugarbeet Technologists.

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Source: Brady Vick (701) 239-1322

Editor: Dean Hulse (701) 231-6136