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Dr '''Roger Beachy''' is is the Director of the National Institute for Food and Agriculture (NIFA), part of the United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C.<ref>[http://www.danforthcenter.org/science/laboratories/Roger_Beachy/ Roger Beachy], Donald Danforth Center website, acc 27 Aug 2010</ref>

He was the founding president of the [[Donald Danforth Plant Science Center]], which was established by [[Monsanto]] and academic partners, including [[Peter Raven]]'s Missouri Botanical Garden. The Center was launched with a $70-million pledge from Monsanto, which also donated the Center&#39;s 40-acre tract of land, near Monsanto's home town of St. Louis, valued at $11.4 million. As of August 2010 he still runs a laboratory there.<ref>[http://www.danforthcenter.org/science/laboratories/Roger_Beachy/ Roger Beachy], Donald Danforth Center website, acc 27 Aug 2010</ref>

Beachy was a member of the Biology Department at Washington University in St. Louis from 1978-1991.<ref>[http://www.ibioseminars.org/beachy/bio.shtml Speaker biography: Roger Beachy], www.ibioseminars.org, acc 27 Aug 2010</ref>

==Activities==

In September 2009 US President [[Barack Obama]] announced that he had appointed Beachy as the first director of a new federal agriculture agency, the [[National Institute of Food and Agriculture]] (NIFA), a US Department of Agriculture agency. Beachy took up his post on October 5, 2009. According to a report in the St. Louis Business Journal:

:The new agency will award competitive grants to fund research and technological innovations aimed at making agriculture more productive, environmentally sustainable and economically viable.<ref>Kelsey Volkmann, [http://gmwatch.org/latest-listing/1-news-items/11531-more-monsanto-men-joining-obama-administration Beachy joining Obama administration], St. Louis Business Journal, September 24 2009, accessed 24 Sept 2009</ref>

The report adds:
:On assuming his new role as NIFA director, Beachy will become vice chairman of the [[Donald Danforth Plant Science Center|Danforth center]]'s board of trustees, a move that was originally scheduled to occur in July 2010.<ref>Kelsey Volkmann, [http://gmwatch.org/latest-listing/1-news-items/11531-more-monsanto-men-joining-obama-administration Beachy joining Obama administration], St. Louis Business Journal, September 24 2009, accessed 24 Sept 2009</ref>

==History==
Beachy's work at Washington University, in collaboration with Monsanto, led to the development of the world's first genetically modified food crop, a variety of tomato that was modified for virus disease-resistance. 

In 2003, in letters to the journals ''Science'' and ''Nature'', the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) complained that Beachy had published an editorial in ''Science'' and co-signed a letter in ''Nature Biotechnology'' without either journal disclosing that "Beachy's research on agricultural biotechnology has been funded by Monsanto and other biotech companies, even though the subjects of his submissions - the safety of genetically engineered crops and intellectual-property policies - are directly relevant to those companies."<ref>[http://www.cspinet.org/new/200308211.html Journal Editors Urged to Disclose Conflicts of Interest: Nature and Science Failing To Disclose Authors' Financial Ties], press release, CSPI, 21 Aug 2003, accessed 24 Sept 2009</ref>

One of the co-signatories of Beachy's letter in ''Nature Biotechnology'' was Prof [[Chris Lamb]]. Beachy was co-chair with Lamb of the scientific advisory board of the Akkadix Corporation, a global agricultural biotechnology company co-founded by Lamb. Beachy is also on the Board of Directors of the industry-supported Nidus Center for Scientific Enterprise, and on the scientific advisory board of Spacehab, Inc.. He is also a consultant to the United Soybean Board.

Among numerous honours and awards, Beachy was the 1991 recipient of the Bank of Delaware&#39;s Commonwealth Award for Science and Industry and in 1999 he was named R&D Magazine&#39;s Scientist of the Year.

==Notes==
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[[Category:Biotechnology|Beachy, Roger]] [[Category: Food lobbyists and PR consultants|Beachy, Roger]]
[[Category:Pro-GM Lobbyists|Beachy, Roger]][[Category:GM|Beachy, Roger]][[Category:Industry-Friendly Experts|Beachy, Roger]]