Turfgrass Producers International Name Innovator of the Year Award Winner

J. R. Simplot Co. and Jacklin Seed’s Doug Brede, Ph.D., was the recipient of Turfgrass Producers International (TPI) Innovator of the Year Award.

Brede is Research Director at Jacklin Seed in Post Falls, Idaho. Before joining Jacklin Seed in 1986, he was Associate Professor of Turfgrass Management at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater. He received his bachelor's master's and doctorate degrees at Penn State University in turfgrass agronomy.

Brede is the developer of more than 60 popular turf varieties, including Nu Destiny Kentucky bluegrass and T-1 creeping bentgrass, both which rank at the top of National Turfgrass Evaluation Program trials. His research team has developed, released, and patented top cultivars in nine other grass species. He has authored 53 Plant Variety Protection certificates, 73 peer-review journal articles, 94 technical articles and abstracts, 72 magazine articles, and a book entitled, “Turfgrass Maintenance Reduction Handbook,” that describes ways to optimize your turf maintenance budget.

Brede was inducted as a Fellow in the American Society of Agronomy in 2004. A Fellow is the highest award bestowed by the scientific society. He was awarded a Fellow of the Crop Science Society of America in 2005.  He is also a recipient of the Genetics and Plant Breeding Award for Industry from the National Council of Commercial Plant Breeders, and the Fred V. Grau Turfgrass Science Award, for lifetime achievement in the advancement in turfgrass science.

Simplot is a privately held agribusiness company with annual revenues of $3 billion and more than 10,000 employees in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Australia and China. Its core businesses include fertilizer manufacturing, food processing, farming, cattle feeding and turf products. Simplot brings together highly regarded names in the turf industry including Jacklin, JacklinGolf, BEST, and APEX. Featuring state-of-the-art technologies, Simplot is a leader in turfgrass seed and professional fertilizer products around the world.