| The Award Committee members in 2006 were E. Charles
Brummer, Iowa State University; Dave Miller, Pioneer Hi-Bred
International; Mike Peterson, W-L Research; Craig Sheaffer,
University of Minnesota; Jessica Tofte, Forage Genetics
International; and Dan Undersander, University of Wisconsin.
The committee solicited nominations from the North American
Alfalfa Improvement Conference membership for both the Honorary
Membership and the Richard R. Hill, Jr. Achievement Awards. We
received two nominations for the Honorary Membership and one
nomination for the R.R. Hill Award.
Images of Award Winners |
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2006 NAAIC Honorary
Membership Award
The Honorary Membership Award is given to recipients at each
biennial meeting for “outstanding contributions to alfalfa
improvement and or utilization”. This award recognizes alfalfa
specialists, who are active or retired, and who have made
significant contributions during their careers to the improvement
and use of alfalfa
The Honorary Award recipients were Bill Knipe, Forage Genetics
International; and Real Michaud, Agriculture Canada.
William “Bill” J. Knipe
For the past 35 years, Dr. Bill Knipe has made significant
contributions to the success and advancement of the US alfalfa seed
industry both domestically and internationally. During his career,
he has developed over 50 new cultivars and managed alfalfa seed
company activities across the world. Dr. Knipe coordinated
commercial alfalfa seed activities for Northrup King, Calgene and
Forage Genetics International. He served as the President of both
NAAIC (1987-88) and Western Society of Crop Science (1984-85). Dr.
Knipe is an innovative plant breeder who was among the first to
release cultivars with novel traits such as multifoliolate leaf
expression, Aphanomyces root rot resistance, extremely non-dormant
growth (FD10), and the Roundup Ready trait. Dr. Knipe is recognized
internationally for his depth of knowledge, experience and industry
leadership. His primary focus for the past 20 years has been on the
development of new cultivars, seed production opportunities, and
business relationships for the Southwest U.S. regions, and
International Markets.
Real Michaud
Dr. Michaud has been leading for more than 30 years, a vibrant
breeding program targeted towards the development of alfalfa
cultivars with improved persistence and superior nutritive value. He
has constantly fostered and significantly contributed to the success
of multidisciplinary research efforts at the local, national and
international levels. Through his collaboration with other forage
breeders, plant scientists he has developed new selection
methodologies and original testing approaches to incorporate winter
stress tolerance into cultivars of high agronomic value. Dr. Michaud
has produced a large body of scientific and extension publication.
He has markedly contributed to the advancement of forages and more
specifically alfalfa as a key element to the sustainable development
of agriculture though his leadership of major scientific societies.
He has been a member of the NAAIC executive committee since 1992 and
President of the society from 1996 until 2000. His breeding program
led to the development and registration of numerous alfalfa
cultivars. In 2003, these varieties held approximately 25% of the
alfalfa seed market in Québec and other regions of Canada. The
release of these winter hardy cultivars has allowed the extension of
the growth adaptation zone of alfalfa in Canada and, as a
consequence, to an increase in forage proteins produced on the farm
allowing savings of millions of dollars through reduced use of
supplements. He has also contributed through his adjunct professor
positions to the training of graduate students that went on to
promote forage production in Canada.
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2006 NAAIC Richard R. Hill,
Jr. Achievement Award
The Richard R. Hill, Jr. Achievement Award was created as a
tribute to Dr. Hill. Dr. Hill was a prominent researcher in genetics
and plant breeding, but his interest in alfalfa was broad and
extended into many areas of alfalfa production. This Award was
created to recognize a worthy contributor for some recent, specific
and outstanding achievement in any area of alfalfa science or
production.
Stephan Temple
Stephen Temple led a research team that designed and implemented
a high throughput molecular marker-assisted breeding program to
support development of Roundup Ready alfalfa – the first biotech
trait to be commercialized in alfalfa.
Stephen was part of the team that designed a new “dihomogenic”
breeding program for Roundup Ready alfalfa. This new approach
required the development of novel molecular tools and implementation
of high throughput techniques. Stephen led a group that designed PCR
primers that were specific for individual Roundup Ready transgenetic
events – enabling both the dihomogenic breeding system and event
purity screening appropriate for regulated biotech traits. This
group also applied the new tools on an industrial scale, with very
high quality control standards. This research was critical for
successful commercialization of Roundup Ready alfalfa and will
likely facilitate the trait integration, product development and
regulatory stewardship of future biotech traits in alfalfa.
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