Meeting Purpose

Working Together to Feed the World

The McFadden symposium is held biennially to memorialize Edgar S. McFadden and learn from leading wheat scientists who continue his legacy of service to the industry. 

This important gathering provides an opportunity for the public and private sectors to discuss current issues in wheat improvement, facilitates collaborative research and teaching activities, and promotes graduate student development through poster presentations and interactions with top scientists in the field.  Guest speakers at the symposium and workshop will discuss wheat improvement, wheat germplasm exchange, and critical issues facing wheat production.

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Schedule

DETAILED SCHEDULE

For a list of daily events, seminars and sessions, please click on any of the day/date headers below.

**NOTICE**

To book a hotel room, please email Abbey Whipple at abbey.whipple@ag.tamu.edu. We have rooms set aside for conference attendees that did not meet the earlier booking deadline.

Monday, April 24 (click to expand)
  • 5:00 PM: Registration (Lobby)
  • 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM: Welcoming Reception and poster set-up
  • 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM: The McFadden Address:
    • Dr. Ed Souza, Global Head Wheat Breeding, BASF Corporation  
  • 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM: Social hour and poster viewing
Tuesday, April 25 (click to expand)
  • 6:30 – 8:00 AM: Breakfast
  • 7:00 AM – 8:00 AM: Women in Crop Science Networking
    • Heritage 3 Ballroom
  • 8:00 AM: Registration
  • 8:15 AM: Welcoming Remarks and Overview of Texas A&M AgriLife Wheat Improvement Program
    • Dr. Leland Pierson, Interim Associate Director, Texas A&M AgriLife Research

Edgar McFadden Symposium

  • 8:30 AM: KEYNOTE – “Accelerating public plant breeding to respond to the demands of more and healthier food”
    • Susanne Dreisigacker, Wheat Molecular Breeding Laboratory Head, CIMMYT  
  • 9:15 AM: “Redefining crop breeding strategy for effective use of nitrogen in major field crops”
    • Dr. Ignacio Ciampitti, Kansas State University
  • 9:45 AM: Discussion
  • 10:00 AM: Coffee Break
  • 10:30 AM: “Current Status of Stem Rust”
    • Dr. Yue Jin, USDA-ARS Cereal Disease Laboratory
    • Dr. Matt Rouse, USDA-ARS Cereal Disease Laboratory
  • 11:00 AM: “Durable host plant resistance and gene stewardship”
    • Dr. Bob Bowden, USDA-ARS, Manhattan, KS
  • 11:30 AM: “The Challenge of Wheat Stem Sawfly”
    • Dr. Jeff Bradshaw, University of Nebraska, Lincoln
    • Dr. Esten Mason – Colorado State University
  • 12:00 PM: Lunch
  • 1:30 PM: “Managing Wheat for Plant Health in Changing Environments”
    • Dr. Amanda de Olivera Silva, Oklahoma State University
  • 2:00 PM: “Economics of Wheat Quality”
    • Dr. Cory Walters, Center for Agricultural Profitability, University of Nebraska, Lincoln
  • 2:30 PM: “Genomics of Utilization of Ancient Relatives”
    • Dr. Eduard Akhunov, Kansas State University Dept of Plant Pathology
    • Dr. Allan Fritz, Kansas State University Dept of Agronomy
  • 3:00 PM: Coffee Break
  • 3:30 PM: “Designing a hybrid wheat program in the public sector”
    • Dr. Amir Ibrahim, Texas A&M University
    • Dr. Katherine Frels, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
  • 4:00 PM: “Using next-gen sequencing to finding out what viruses we are really facing in the wheat field”
    • Dr. John Fellers, USDA-ARS HWWGRU
  • 4:30 PM: Flash and Dash (Coordinated by Dr. Shuyu Liu, Texas A&M and Dr. Mary Guttieri, USDA-ARS)
  • 5:00 PM: Poster Session (Coordinated by Dr. Shuyu Liu, Texas A&M and Dr. Mary Guttieri, USDA-ARS)
  • 6:00 PM: Adjourn
Wednesday, April 26 (click to expand)

Hard Winter Wheat Workers Workshop

  • 6:30 AM – 8:00AM: Breakfast
  • 8:15 AM: Welcome, Announcements and Awards
  • 8:30 AM: “Mixograph Replacement”
    • Andrew Green, North Dakota State University
  • 9:00 AM: “Options for replacing the Perkin Elmer/Perten Single Kernel Characterization System in breeding and agronomy applications”
    • Dan Brabec, USDA-ARS Center for Grain and Animal Health Research, Manhattan, KS
  • 9:30 AM: Panel discussion
    • Integrating Diversity: Dr. Jackie Rudd, Texas A&M University
    • Resiliency: Dr. Sunish Sehgal, South Dakota State University
  • 10:30 AM: Break                                                 
  • 10:45 AM: Hard Winter Wheat Improvement Committee Meeting (Chaired by Dr. Amir Ibrahim, Texas A&M)
  • 11:45 AM: Depart for McGregor, TX, lunch provided for attendees
  • 2:00 PM: Winter Wheat Breeders’ Field – McGregor, TX and Adjourn
  • 4:00 PM: Depart for Hotel

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