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Danforth Plant ScienceCenter pleased with Rajiv appointment

The chairman of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis praises Ag Secretary Vilsack’s appointment of the newUSDA Chief Scientist and Under Secretary of Research, Education and Economics (REE).

Center chairman William Danforth says Dr. Rajiv Shah has a “fresh perspective” and “immense accomplishments.” Danforth says 30 years of under-funding for open competitiveresearch must be fixed so U.S. agriculture can meet the challenge of an increasing world population that’s “hungry for food and fuel and needing to use fewer inputs.”

Dr. Shah manages the Agricultural Development Program for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.He has served as a policy aide in the British Parliament and worked at the World Health Organization.

The Danforth Plant Science Center is a not-for-profit research institute that says its mission is “to improve the human condition through plant science.”