The Raymond F. Baker Center for Plant Breeding at Iowa State University is pleased to announce that Dr. Thomas Hoegemeyer will be presented with the award:

Extraordinary Service to Plant Breeding Community

“For his unparalleled passion and dedication to plant breeding and genetics, demonstrated by his successes in the seed industry as a corn breeder and a business leader, his exemplary leadership and service to the Germplasm Enhancement of Maize (GEM) project, and his active contributions to public institutions after retirement.”

When: Award Ceremony on March 14, 2025, at the

Raymond F. Baker Plant Breeding Symposium

Where: The Iowa State University Alumni Center

429 Alumni Lane, Ames, Iowa 50011-1403

Dr. Thomas Hoegemeyer obtained his B.S. from University of Nebraska – Lincoln in 1970, and his Ph.D. from Iowa State University in 1974. He joined Hoegemeyer Hybrid, Inc. in 1974 to work as a corn breeder until 1984, President in 1984-2004, and then Chief Technology Officer in 2005-2008. Dr. Hoegemeyer was an Adjunct Professor of Practice at the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, University of Nebraska – Lincoln from 2009 to 2015. Throughout his career, he developed 15 commercial corn and 2 sorghum inbred parent lines, and multiple corn lines were used by both small and major seed companies in the Western Corn Belt. He was active in American Seed Trade Association, serving as Division Officer and Board of Directors (2001-2004) and Chair of the Variety Identification/Minimum Distance Committee (1997-2006).

Hoegemeyer served on the Technical Steering Group (TSG) for the Germplasm Enhancement of Maize (GEM) project for 8 years (Chair for 7 years). The GEM project is a public-private partnership focused on expanding the germplasm base of commercial maize germplasm in North America through the incorporation of exotic sources of genetic variability. He served on the Advisory Board of Raymond F. Baker Center for Plant Breeding and led the 2016 center review. In 2019, the support of the Hoegemeyer Family Fund for Agronomy and the McConnell Fund for Agronomy established the Charles O. Gardner Professor of Agronomy endowed professorship at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln. Dr. Hoegemeyer’s passion and dedication to plant breeding and genetics are felt by all those who have interacted with him.