Dr. Marvin Boerboom

Marv Boerboom grew up on a crop and livestock family farm in southwest Minnesota outside of Cottonwood. He attended North Dakota State University and received his M.S. and Ph.D. Degree in Agronomy/Plant Genetics in 1977. He spent over 37 years with Bayer (formerly Monsanto) developing corn inbreds and hybrids while managing the Corn Research Station in Olivia, MN. Dr. Boerboom documented over 93 million units (1 unit = 80,000 Kernel bag) of U.S. hybrid corn sales that contain an inbred patent developed in his breeding program. These 93 million units were planted on over 232 million acres of crop land, which is approximately equivalent to planting every corn acre in N.D. for 66 years, or every corn acre in Minnesota for 32 years. Dr. Boerboom has 84 corn inbred line patents issued or pending, plus an additional 66 inbreds issued Plant Variety Protection certificates, for a total of 150 protected inbreds. Marv developed this scholarship to recognize and support students who are pursuing a degree in agriculture at his alma mater, North Dakota State University.