Feaster Honored For Pima Research
February 22, 2010 Dr. Carl Feaster, a retired research agronomist and cotton breeder, is the recipient of the 2009 Cotton Genetics Research Award.
Feaster’s career in cotton research spanned almost 40 years as a research agronomist, professor of Plant Sciences at the University of Arizona and research leader of the USDA Agricultural Research Service’s Cotton Breeding and Production Unit in Phoenix.
During his career in Phoenix, Feaster and his team developed and released six commercial varieties of American Pima cotton, and Feaster himself made 225 germplasm releases.
“It is not an exaggeration to say that had it not been for Dr. Feaster and his USDA cotton breeding program, there would not be an Extra-Long-Staple cotton industry in the United States today,” said Jesse Curlee, president of Phoenix-based Supima. “The respect and admiration that Dr. Feaster has earned from the scientific community, as well as the entire cotton supply chain from producer, ginner, shipper, merchant and textile manufacturer, is an indication of his major contribution to this industry.”
Curlee said each succeeding Pima variety released has shown improvements in both yield and fiber properties. Average yields for American Pima cotton were in the range of 400 pounds-per-acre when Feaster began his breeding program. His last official release, Pima S-7, has ranged from 1,000 to 1,800 pounds-per-acre in the San Joaquin Valley of California.
Feaster earned a B.S. in Agricultural Education from Purdue, and an M.A. (Field Crops) and Ph.D. (Plant Breeding) from the University of Missouri. He joined USDA in Phoenix in 1956 as a research agronomist. In 1972, he became research leader of USDA’s Cotton Breeding and Production Unit in Phoenix and a professor in the University of Arizona’s Plant Sciences Department ― positions he held until his retirement in 1994.
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