Seed World U.S. editor Aimee Nielson and Donn Cummings at the 2024 American Seed Trade Association Vegetable and Flower Conference in Monterey, California.
Cummings will receive the award in March at the Raymond F. Baker Plant Breeding Symposium
The Borlaug Scholar program creator and long-time industry advocate Donn Cummings will receive the Extraordinary Service to Plant Breeding Community award at the Iowa State University Raymond F. Baker Center for Plant Breeding annual symposium this March.
The award celebrates Cummings for his exceptional performance in the seed industry, leadership and active service in multiple professional organizations, even continuing his contributions post-retirement. Nominators said his efforts to engage and encourage students and early career scientists have been particularly noteworthy.
“I was very surprised and felt quite humbled by being singled out to receive this unique and very special award,” Cummings says. “It is such a high honor coming from a globally esteemed institution. It is a wonderful feeling coming from one’s peer professional community. I value all the work I have done with many of the land grant institutions that train so many of our nations’ best plant breeders and leaders.”
The award organizers said the accolade celebrates Cummings’ “unparalleled passion and dedication to plant breeding and genetics, demonstrated by his outstanding performance in seed industry, his exemplary leadership and service in multiple professional organizations, and his continued active contribution after retirement; and for his genuine effort to engage and encourage students and early career scientists.”
Officials at Iowa State University’s Raymond F. Baker Center for Plant Breeding will present the award at the center’s annual symposium in March.
Cummings describes ISU breeders and administrators as great partners who are involved in advancing careers in plant breeding.
“I want to be very clear that I view this award as a community win-win,” he says. “I know personally so many in our profession who have volunteered so much and could be equally deserving. I feel the support of our entire scientific and professional community. People have been so supportive in recognizing this award with their personal notes that I want them to know that I feel the love! That is why I have been very motivated to continue my efforts well into my very gratifying retirement years.”
Throughout his career, Cummings has held positions in various organizations, including the Crop Science Society of America (CSSA), American Society of Agronomy (ASA), National Council of Commercial Plant Breeders (NCCPB), American Seed Trade Association (ASTA), Plant Breeding Coordinating Committee (PBCC), and National Association of Plant Breeders (NAPB). As a founding member of the NAPB, he has played pivotal roles in initiating the NAPB’s Borlaug Scholars Program, spearheading the development of the NAPB Strategic Plan, and securing its largest financial donation.
Cummings says he can point to two legacy-type achievements in his career.
“The first is a portfolio of improved maize germplasm, inbreds and hybrids that benefited many growers, producers and farmers in many countries,” he explains. “This resulted primarily from the first three decades of my career. The second is the legacy of plant breeding talent that I helped inspire at some point in their quest to engage in the plant improvement process globally.”
He says mentoring has been a rewarding passion that he developed especially in the last two decades. Keystone in those achievements is establishing the National Association of Plant Breeders (NAPB) Borlaug Scholars travel grant and mentoring program.
“This program has benefited so many and with community support, should last well beyond my years,” he says. “Plant Breeding is a smaller profession in numbers with an outsized impact on society that is grossly misunderstood and undervalued in my experience. So I salute all plant breeders and those who support them!”
Cummings’ professional journey includes a 30-year tenure with industry giants such as Pfizer Genetics, DeKalb and Monsanto, where he excelled as a corn breeder, station manager, and area research director. In 2007, he was appointed Monsanto’s global breeder sourcing lead, overseeing global strategic planning for the company’s plant breeder talent pipeline.
Nominators said even in retirement, Cummings continues to lead and contribute to the field by serving in various capacities within NAPB, ASTA, CSSA and the Agronomic Science Foundation (ASF). His educational background includes a bachelor’s degree in biology education and a master’s degree in plant breeding from Purdue University and a Ph.D. in plant breeding and genetics from the University of Minnesota.
The center invited all to join in celebrating Cumming’s career and contributions at the award ceremony March 22.
