Charlie integrated his plans and work with all campus departments and other stations. He effectively worked with industry in machinery development and weed control. Charlie was respected by peers and associates at local, state, regional, national, and international levels as an authority on wheat production, weed control, conservation production systems, soil erosion control, dry land farming, and tillage equipment.
Tonight, our honorees are Charles R. Fenster, Virgil A. Johnson, and John W. Schmidt.
I consider being selected to present this tribute on behalf of the Nebraska Hall of Agricultural Achievement a special privilege. These are three members of the Nebraska Hall and career colleagues in the Department of Agronomy whose records of achievement are widely recognized. Placing their photographs in the C.Y. Thompson Library along with previous honorees becomes a special distinction for such worthy individuals selected for making outstanding contributions to agriculture.
Humanity on Planet Earth faces major challenges in supplying food for its exploding population and achieving sustainability in its state, national, and international acclaim for their scientific contributions to increase and stabilize food production, to manage soil and water for high productivity on a sustainable basis, and to encourage global application of their advances. The three agronomists worked primarily with wheat, the principal food for more of the world's people than any other crop.
Settlers coming to Nebraska from Wisconsin and Illinois in the 1870s and '80s brought seed of spring wheat that had been performing well for them. They learned the hard way over many years that spring wheat does not mature early enough in Nebraska to escape damage from summer stress, especially the heat of July.
Fortunately for the Great Plains, Mennonite immigrants to Kansas in the 1870s brought drought resistant, winter hardy Turkey wheat from Crimea in southern Russia. As farmers across Kansas and Nebraska became convinced of the superiority of winter over spring wheat, they gradually shifted. By 1905 the change was virtually complete. Hard red winter wheat became the primary dryland crop of the southern Great Plains including Nebraska. Our honorees were visionary scientists who greatly improved adaptation, yield, and quality of hard red winter wheat. The added value stemming from their efforts has meant millions of dollars annually to the Nebraska economy. The increased production means millions of additional loaves of bread – nutritional food for hungry children, women, and men throughout the world.
CHARLES R. FENSTER
Charles Fenster, a native son of the Nebraska Panhandle, is primarily accountable for changing the wheat-black fallow agriculture long used in that area with its associated dust storms and severe wind erosion into the productive, sustainable farming systems there today.
Charlie taught vocational agriculture before he was employed by the Soil Conservation Service. Working in Pierce County with demonstrations of Dr. F.L. Duley and Profession J.C. Russel of the University, he learned that stubble mulch had much to offer in the management of sandy soils.
Aware of the great needs and challenged by the opportunity, Charlie accepted a University assignment in 1956 to address soil and water management problems of dryland farming in the Panhandle counties. Operating first from the Box Butte Station at Alliance, next from the Scottsbluff Station at Mitchell, and finally from the Panhandle Station at Scottsbluff, he worked long hours and traveled many miles. Wheat farmers came to regard him as the final authority in dryland crop and soil management. He led program development for the High Plains Ag Lab at Sidney when Ordnance Plant land was obtained from the federal government for its establishment.
Charlie integrated his plans and work with all campus departments and other stations. He effectively worked with industry in machinery development and weed control. He is respected by peers and associates at local, state, regional, national, and international levels as an authority on wheat production, weed control, conservation production systems, soil erosion control, and tillage equipment.
Charlie has been invited speaker at many regional and national conferences. Responding to requests, he has presented papers and/or consulted in Turkey, Sweden, Argentina, Australia, Spain, and Morocco – repeatedly on the University/AID project there. He has worked with several graduate students including a number from foreign countries with special interests in dryland farming.
Honored by many groups, Charlie in 1980 was made Fellow of the American Society of Agronomy and the Soil Science Society of America. His wife, Eunice, and their two children have been proud, loyal supporters.
In this tribute I must recognize Virgil Johnson and John Schmidt as individuals and also as a team. The list of achievements and honors each has received is long. Time will permit mention of only a very few.
VIRGIL A. JOHNSON
Virgil Johnson, a Nebraska native son, may be the most widely recognized wheat breeder in the world, ranking with Norman Borlaug and Orville Vogel. He joined the University staff in 1952, was employed by the USDA in 1954, and spent his career in wheat research with Lincoln as home headquarters. To amplify his own great capabilities as a scientist in plant breeding and genetics and as an organizer of human talents, he acted as team co-leader of wheat research at Nebraska, as Coordinator of the State-Federal Wheat Research Program of the Hard Red Winter Wheat Region, as key establisher of the International Wheat Performance Nursery in about three dozen countries, and as organizer of five international winter wheat conferences.
Dr. Johnson supervised 17 Ph.D. and 8 M.S. students, 8 being from foreign countries. He supervised 11 other foreign trainees destined to be leaders of wheat research in their home countries.
His honors are many, including election in 1978 as President of the Crop Science Society of America. He enjoyed his home with wife, Betty Ann, and three children, a supportive base for his career with its global benefit for mankind.
JOHN W. SCHMIDT
John Schmidt, a Kansas native stemming from Mennonite ancestry that brought Turkey wheat from Russia, was employed by the University as a wheat breeder in 1954. The Johnson-Schmidt team developed the most productive wheat breeding program in the nation, perhaps in the world. Virg has described John as "the best wheat breeder in the U.S." John gave leadership to improving field and greenhouse methodology, special equipment such as nursery planters, and operational techniques that greatly increased gains from growing and evaluating large hybrid populations.
Dr. Schmidt taught a highly successful course in fundamentals of plant breeding for 20 years. He was major advisor for 16 M.S. and 8 Ph.D. students, of whom 11 came from other countries. He also directed programs and research of 4 foreign trainees.
John is a recognized and honored international authority in wheat genetics, breeding, and cytogenetics. He has gained high recognition from farmers, Wheat Commissions, Crop Improvement Associations, industry leaders, the University, and the USDA. In additional to wheat, John also released 4 spring oats and 3 winter barley varieties and developed germ plasm in winter triticales and winter durums. His home with wife, Lucile, and five children has been a valuable complement to his scientific career.
