Opinion: Agricultural Research Service Salutes Researcher With Big Impact On Fruit Industry

David EddyIn the mail the other day I got a personal letter — and what a rare event that’s become, actually seeing someone’s handwriting — from a California reader who thought David Ramming should get some props for being inducted into the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Science Hall of Fame. I could not agree more, as Ramming has had a huge impact on the fruit business.

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Ramming was inducted along with Sarah Hake and Rufus Chaney for discoveries that have improved the environment, deepened the understanding of plant biology, and improved the quality of grapes and other fruits. Chaney, an agronomist in the ARS Environmental Management and Byproduct Utilization Laboratory in Beltsville, MD, is an international expert on assessing the health and environmental risks posed by trace metals in contaminated soils, manures, biosolids, composts, and other soil amendments.

Hake, who is director of the ARS Plant Gene Expression Center in Albany, CA, was the first scientist to clone a developmental gene using a transposable or “jumping” gene, and the first to identify a class of genes in plants that activate a cascade of other genes. The discovery of these influential genes that determine the architecture of plants was a surprise that created a whole new subfield of plant genomic studies.

Half The Table Grapes
Ramming, who retired earlier this year from the ARS San Joaquin Valley Agricultural Sciences Center in Parlier, CA, is responsible for developing 40 varieties of table grapes, raisin grapes, peaches, apricots, and other stone fruits, and has been instrumental in developing technologies that address a number of grower concerns. His 15 varieties of table grapes represent more than half of the table grape production in California. That is quite a feat.

He also led research that resulted in a plant regeneration system that allows for the routine insertion of genes into grapes, speeding up the process for developing improved varieties. Embryo rescue techniques developed by Ramming also have significantly shortened the time required for development of new table grape and raisin grape cultivars.

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But it’s all the grape varieties he developed for which he is best known by growers. They include the hugely popular raisin grape “Selma Pete,” which was named after the late L. Peter Christensen, whose name is familiar to grape growers. Christensen was a world-renowned University of California Cooperative Extension specialist who was born in Selma.

Over the years I’ve interviewed Ramming a couple of times regarding his new releases. I can personally attest to the fact that he’s such a soft-spoken, self-effacing man that you would never guess that he’s responsible for much of the tremendous success enjoyed by the California table and raisin grape industry.

The gentleman who sent me the letter about Ramming — and I owe him a debt for correcting my oversight regarding Ramming’s induction into the ARS Hall of Fame — wrote the following: “In my opinion, he ranks with California plant breeders Fred Anderson, John Weinberger, and Floyd Zaiger.” ‘Nuff said.

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