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Dr. Alan Walker

Dr. Alan Walker

Plant Breeder, Cytogeneticist, Research Associate B.S. (Argonomy), M.S. (Plant Breeding), Ph.D. (Plant Breeding/Cytogenetics)

Alan earned his BS in Agronomy in 1972 from the University of Minnesota, his MS in Plant Breeding in 1974 from the University of Maryland, and his PhD in Plant Breeding and Cytogenetics in 1977 from Iowa State University. Alan worked 34 years in the seed industry, 6 years with The Ohio State University and 28 years with Asgrow Seed Company/Monsanto. During this time Alan became a tenured Associate Professor at The Ohio State University, and developed breeding research stations in Minnesota and Wisconsin for Asgrow Seed Company. As a soybean breeder, Alan co-developed 46 soybean varieties and germplams, and authored or co-authored 28 Crop Science articles and cultivar registrations, one Phytopathology article, and one Canadian Journal of Crop Science article, and authored or co-authored three patents.


Alan directed Asgrow/Monsanto’s global soybean breeding for 15 years, during which soybean sales of Asgrow/Monsanto germplasm grew 475%. After that Alan was the soybean product deployment manager for Regional Brands, Channel, and Fielder’s Choice.


Alan is the past president of the National Council of Commercial Plant Breeders, a founding board member of First the Seed Foundation for American Seed Trade Association, a co-founder of “Times in Which We Live” prophetic bible teaching ministry, and is the chairman of the Republican Party of Polk County Wisconsin.

Selected Papers & Books:

  • Walker, A. K., & Fehr, W. R. (1978). Yield stability of soybean mixtures and multiple pure stands. Crop Science, 18(5), 719-723.

  • Walker, A. K., Cianzio, S. R., Bravo, J. A., & Fehr, W. R. (1979). Comparison of emasculation and nonemasculation for hybridization of soybeans. Crop Science, 19(2), 285-286.

  • Walker, A. K., & Fioritto, R. J. (1984). Effect of cultivar and planting pattern on yield and apparent harvest index in soybean. Crop science, 24(1), 154-155.

  • Walker, A. K., & Schmitthenner, A. F. (1984). Comparison of field and greenhouse evaluations for tolerance to Phytophthora rot in soybean. Crop Science, 24(3), 487-489.

  • Walker, A. K., & Schmitthenner, A. F. (1984). Heritability of tolerance to Phytophthora rot in soybean. Crop Science, 24(3), 490-491.

  • Walker, A. K., & Schmitthenner, A. F. (1984). Recurrent selection for tolerance to Phytophthora rot in soybean. Crop Science, 24(3), 495-497.

  • Karkosh, A. E., Walker, A. K., & Simmons, J. J. (1988). Seed treatment for control of irondeficiency chlorosis of soybean. Crop science, 28(2), 369-370.

  • Schillinger, J. A., Walker, A. K., & Byrum, J. R. "Plants having resistance to multiple herbicides and its use." (2002). U.S. Patent No. 6,376,754. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

  • Walker, A. K., (2002) Impact of the Roundup Ready gene on soybean breeding, Roundup Ready report card: genetic gain. . In Proceedings of 57th Corn and Sorghum and 32nd Soybean Seed Research Conference, American Seed Trait Association, Chicago, IL, USA.

  • Crosbie, TM, Eathington, SR, Johnson, GR, Edwards, M., Reiter, R., Stark, S., Mohanty, RG,  Oyervides, M., Buehler, RE, Walker, AK, Dobert, R., Delannay, X., Pershing, JC, Hall, MA and Lamkey, KR. (2006). Plant breeding: past, present, and future. In Plant breeding: the Arnel R. Hallauer international symposium (pp. 3-50). Blackwell Publishing.

  • Walker, D. R., Walker, A. K., Wood, E. D., Bonet Talevera, M. E., Fernandez, F. E., Rowan, G. B.,  Moots, C.K., & Boerma, H. R. (2006). Gametic selection by glyphosate in soybean plants hemizygous for the CP4 EPSPS transgene. Crop science, 46(1), 30-35.

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