Stephanie Greene: Scientifically
in clover in the former Soviet Union
by MARLENE FRITZ
SHE’S TASTED SHEEP’S EARS and fermented camel’s milk in Kazakhstan, scrutinized centuries-old herbarium records in Ukraine, and sent e-mail from a trendy Internet café in St. Petersburg, Russia.
As a geneticist and curator for the USDA Agricultural Research Service in Prosser, Wash., Stephanie
Greene ’88 (M.S., Plant Science) banks the seed of 15,000 wild and cultivated alfalfas and clovers. Because the former Soviet Union (FSU) is a center of diversity for these globally essential crops, Greene has been combing pastures and hillsides in this part of the world to fill gaps in the U.S. forage legume collection.
Not only are alfalfa and clover crucial to livestock, but they add nitrogen to soils, prevent erosion, and feed wildlife. Increasingly, they’re also being investigated for their biofuel, nutriceutical, and bioremediation potential. In Europe, geneticists are working towards forages with smaller environmental footprints—plants that deliver nutrients to livestock more efficiently and leave fewer undesirable components—like nitrogen—in animal wastes.
“Every day when I go to work I feel that I’m doing something worthwhile,” says Greene, who earned her Ph.D. in plant science at Kansas State University. “Genetic diversity is really our only source of plant traits. We don’t know what we’ll be up against in the future, and more and more we’ll be going to these germplasm collections to mitigate the effects of global climate change.”
Stephanie Greene, second from left,
enjoys tea with Russian scientists.
Stephanie Greene ‘88
Global focus: Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Russia
“After the breakup, all these independent countries
became responsible for providing food
for their citizens, so now there’s a huge
need to diversity agriculture and find out
what will grow best in each country.”
Building an agricultural atlas to
help growers in FSU republics
Greene is the only American among 65 scientists building an interactive geographic information system-based agricultural atlas for the former Soviet republics. They’ve developed the most up-to-date maps on climate, soils, historical cropping patterns, and ranges of weeds, insects, and diseases. They plan to train other FSU scientists in the use of the Agro Atlas (www.agroatlas.ru).
It will guide scientists, policymakers, farmers, students, and extension professionals in making decisions about what to plant where.
In Soviet times, crop production was assigned centrally, Greene says. For example, Kazakhstan was the nation’s bread basket and Ukraine its grape vineyard. “Since the breakup, all these independent countries are responsible for providing food for their citizens, so now there’s a huge need to diversify agriculture and find out what will grow best in each country.
“There’s a lot of research that has a global context, and if you don’t have overseas connections, you’re really missing a lot. Networking internationally can make you a much better scientist. That’s how progress happens—by collaboration,” she says.
Bonding over cups of tea
“Scientists can always bond because they’re usually pretty enthusiastic about what they do,” Greene says, “and everybody recognizes the importance of the project.” In Russia, much of that bonding takes place over “great tea breaks”—brown, green, and even Lipton.
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