Dr. Kim Hummer, Research Horticulturalist, USDA National Clonal Germplasm Repository
(NOTE: the new location! Multnomah County Board Headquarters, 501 SE Hawthorne Blvd., Board Room 100, Portland)
Scattered around the world, over a 1,000 gene banks serve an immediate and valuable purpose preserving genetic diversity of thousands of traditional crop varieties and their wild species. Beyond serving as a safeguard for an environmental catastrophe, how do these vital collections impact our world today? Dr. Kim Hummer, Research Leader and Small Fruit Curator at the USDA National Clonal Germplasm Repository in Corvallis will explain how the repository preserves temperate fruit, nut, and specialty crops. She will give examples of her plant collecting expeditions and the newly discovered Oregon wild strawberry species that she named and will reveal the impact plant germplasm has for researchers, growers, industry and consumers.
Kim E. Hummer received her B.S. in Biology from St. Lawrence University in 1974, her M.S. from the University of Vermont in 1978, and her doctorate in Horticulture from Oregon State University in 1981. She holds an honorary doctorate in Agronomy from the Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet. and is an honorary member of the Società di Ortoflorofrutticoltura Italiana.
Her scientific research includes the conservation of fruit, nut, and specialty crop genetic resources. Her present research involves the study of cytology and genetics. She is actively studying the taxonomy, horticultural identity, and diversity of berry crops. During her career Dr. Hummer has participated in more than 18 international plant collecting and exchange expeditions. She was selected as Specialty Crop Curator for the US Department of Agriculture, National Clonal Germplasm Repository in Corvallis, Oregon, in 1987, and became Research Leader in 1989. She manages a gene bank containing more than 12,000 plant and seed accessions. She collaborates with the Global Crop Diversity Trust on the development of Global Conservation Strategy for horticultural crops, including strawberries.