Steven Calhoun
Head of Regional Breeding Management, Bayer
Expert Bio
As Head of Regional Breeding Management, based in Lubbock, TX, Steve Calhoun oversees all administrative, managerial and logistical tasks to allow our scientists to focus on science. He is also responsible for optimizing research and development resources, developing cross-crop systems to improve crop efficiency and interfacing with the commercial seed business to keep Breeding & Trait Development objectives aligned with needs of Bayer customers.
Prior to taking on this role in 2014, Steve worked in other positions within Bayer, including Senior Cotton Breeder/Station Manager (where was an actual plant breeder) and later in more administrative roles such as International Cotton & Asia Rice Breeding Manager.
Before joining Bayer in 1997, Steve was Associate Agronomist for the Delta Resource and Extension Center in Stoneville, MS. Here he oversaw the development of cotton germplasm with improved yield, fiber properties and pest resistance characters.
Steve completed his BS in Agronomy at Texas A&M University in 1980. After a couple years in Nigeria, he returned to school and completed MS and PhD in Plant Breeding at University of Florida in 1988 and Post-Doc at International Center for Maize and Wheat Improvement (CIMMYT) in 1990.
Studies, Articles and Answers
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Question
Q: Why were GMO, what was the purpose, for which they were initially created?
A: There are many reasons and positive impacts stemming from the creation of GMOs. One being to develop crops with pest resistant traits, and/or crops that are resistant to low cost, environmentally safer herbicides. These crop varieties mean fewer and/or less troublesome chemicals are needed to control various crop pests. GMOs have also been developed to improve nutritional content. For example “golden rice” (not yet on the market) contains higher vitamin A content to reduce blindness in impoverished communities, but unfortunately its approval has been stalled. Other GMOs have been [...]
A: The technology of genetic modification or genetic engineering was first developed in the early 1970s, commercialized in pharmaceutical applications in the early 1980s, and then agricultural applications in the early 1990s. You can read more about genetic modification for medical purposes in the article GMOs in Food and Medicine: An Overview by Richard Green, Former Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing Manager. There are a variety of reasons that GMOs are created and they serve many purposes. First let’s start with the definition of a GMO: GMO crops are developed w [...]