Who is Percy Julian? Percy Julian was a chemist who participated in the synthesis and large-scale production of steroids from plant compounds. The grandson of enslaved people, Julian studied chemistry and graduated as valedictorian of his class in 1920 from DePauw University. Among his many accomplishments, Julian collaborated with his colleague Josef Pikl on the…
Tag: agriculture
George Washington Carver and the First How-to Manuals for America’s Farmers
Missouri native George Washington Carver is often well remembered as one of America’s greatest agriculture scientists. But he was also a leader in public outreach, writing bulletins that shared how-to information with farmers who hadn’t previously received such guidance. At the Missouri Botanical Garden, Carver’s legacy as an agriculture scientist is commemorated in the Carver…
The Future of Agriculture
Contemporary agriculture is largely based on monocultures of annual plants. Endless rows of single crops––corn, bananas, soybeans, wheat––are the norm when you think of today’s farms in many places in the world. However, the cultivation and harvesting cycle of these annual plants can lead to soil erosion problems, changes in the composition of soil, and…
Where The Wild Crops Are
Modern agriculture is based largely on a single-crop system. Endless rows of the same crop cultivated and harvested fill thousands of farm acres around the world. However, pests and diseases are a recurring and common threat, and they can be more than just a nuisance. When they affect food crops, they can cause significant losses…