History
Raymond F. Baker Center for Plant Breeding
Foundation
The Raymond F. Baker Center for Plant Breeding (RFBCPB) is named for one of Iowa's legends. Raymond Baker's extensive work in corn breeding led to unprecedented innovations in the farming industry. In September 1999, funding from an anonymous gift was allocated to found the RFBCPB. The Center was established to continue Mr. Baker’s work and vision for basic, long-term research designed to further enhance plant breeding programs in corn, forages, soybeans, popcorn, small grains, and potential new crops. The research conducted by the RFBCPB is dedicated to the improvement of selection/breeding methods and yield stability, germplasm enhancement and product development, discovery of genes, characterization of value-added traits, and the introduction of novel technologies for breeding applications through interdisciplinary research. The following key events are part of the history of the RFBCPB.
- September 1999: the RFBCPB was founded.
- September 1999: Dr. Arnel Hallauer became the first Director of RFBCPB.
- March 2000: First memorandum of understanding was signed.
- 2003: Dr. Kendall Lamkey became the second Director of RFBCPB.
- 2007: Dr. Thomas Lubberstedt became the third Director of RFBCPB.
- 2023: Dr. Jianming Yu became the fourth Director of RFBCPB.



Former members of the RFBCPB:
- Dr. Arnel Hallauer, corn breeding
- Dr. Kendall Lamkey, corn breeding
- Dr. Ken Ziegler, popcorn breeding
- Dr. Walter Fehr, soybean breeding
- Dr. Jean-Luc Jannink, small grains breeding
- Dr. Charles Brummer, forage breeding
- Dr. Michael Lee, corn genetics
- Dr. William Beavis, population genetics