by Mary Garbacz
Henry J. and Darlene Stumpf were hardworking farmers, born in the 1920s and made a living growing wheat in Perkins County in southwest Nebraska. Both children of Germans from Russia, they knew the work of their hands was the path to success.
Marvin Stumpf, one of Henry and Darlene’s six children, learned the work ethic and the skill of growing wheat from his parents. He decided to pay tribute to them and to his late wife, Pearl. In 2013, Marvin donated $1 million and 640 acres of land east of Grant, Nebraska, to the University of Nebraska Foundation to establish the Henry J. Stumpf International Wheat Center. The Pearl C. Pogue Peterson Stumpf Educational Center was constructed on that land as a part of that gift. The Perkins County Extension Office relocated to the Pearl C. Pogue Peterson Stumpf Educational Center. The research component of the wheat center began in 2015.
This gift is an example of a public-private partnership involving an individual benefactor partnering with the University of Nebraska–Lincoln to “do something that would benefit not only the people in the Grant area or in southwest Nebraska, but around the world,” according to Don Adams, director of Research and Extension at the UNL Agricultural Research and Development Center near Mead and former director of the UNL West Central Research and Extension Center in North Platte. Grant is in the West Central district.
“Marvin Stumpf has also made some other gifts to help furnish the Pearl C. Pogue Peterson Stumpf Educational Center,” Adams said. Part of his contribution will be his passion to see that good comes from his gift.
Wheat: An international crop
Wheat is a crop that is grown internationally, Adams said, and products made from wheat are consumed internationally. Growing wheat involves cultural practices with implications far beyond Nebraska, he added. Wheat is an important crop where there is limited precipitation and where water must be conserved, such as in southwest Nebraska. “How do we conserve water, build soil and produce crops? How do we help people to be successful with limited resources, particularly water?” Adams asked.
“Conserving the world’s water supply has worldwide implications,” Adams said, and global partnerships with other countries and businesses are encouraged.
The UNL Agricultural Research Division has reached out to several companies to extend partnership opportunities, Adams said, and Bayer CropScience and Monsanto accepted invitations to partner. Bayer CropScience conducts variety testing; Monsanto conducts variety testing and also cultural practice work. Research into water, fertilizer and other inputs is establishing management strategies for successfully growing particular wheat varieties.
P. Stephen Baenziger, UNL professor of agronomy and horticulture, is a geneticist and Nebraska’s small grains breeder. He holds the Nebraska Wheat Growers Presidential Chair, which was endowed by Bayer CropScience in 2010. The Henry J. Stumpf International Wheat Center gives Baenziger a presence right in the heart of the wheat-growing area for research, field trials, working with international wheat companies and for educating graduate students in genetics and in growing wheat in water-restricted conditions, Adams said.
Implementing the dream
Adams said Robert Klein, UNL emeritus professor and Extension cropping systems specialist, has been critical in implementing the dream of Marvin Stumpf. Klein has helped transition from the farm to research and demonstrations at the wheat center. He has worked to be certain everyone knows who is responsible for each part of the center’s synergy. “It works,” Adams said.
Many opportunities have resulted from Marvin Stumpf’s gift, including partnerships with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Services, Nebraska’s Natural Resources Districts, the Nebraska Water Balance Alliance, Nebraska Extension and the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, as well as with Bayer CropScience and Monsanto. The University of Nebraska–Lincoln recently hired a cropping systems specialist at the West Central Research and Extension Center, who will take on additional responsibility at the wheat center.
Additionally, UNL specialists from the West Central Research and Extension Center in North Platte are conducting research at the Henry J. Stumpf International Wheat Center facilities, all using a systems approach and collaborating with others to find answers to production questions. For example, a UNL entomologist is collaborating with a UNL plant pathologist on bacterial control of insect pests. Soil fertility and irrigation specialists are teaming up on water efficiency and crop rotation questions. Two Extension educators — one 4-H Youth Development and one Cropping and Water Systems — and an office assistant round out the permanent Perkins County Extension Office. A technician has been added to the farm team, Adams said, a UNL employee paid in part by UNL and in part by the partnership with Monsanto. Other scientists conduct research at the wheat center; everyone works together in this “true public-private partnership,” he said. “We’re sharing the resources and each person working there is contributing to see that the work is done.”
Grant
The Henry J. Stumpf International Wheat Center has been well-received by the town of Grant, Adams said. The population of Grant is just more than 1,100, so housing is at a premium.
“When you go into a rural community, they don’t have a lot of those resources, but the community of Grant has bent over backwards to try and help,” he said.
One essential already has been integrated: high-speed internet. “We have really good service,” Adams said. “High-speed internet is really important for the graduate students to be able to come from Lincoln and for the scientists in Lincoln to be able to communicate with their students at the wheat center.”
Hands-on learning
The Pearl C. Pogue Peterson Stumpf Educational Center, as an Extension Office, has space to accommodate about 200 visitors, Adams said. There are plans to reach out to schools in the larger area so youth can have a learning experience like few others in the world.
“We built a small teaching kitchen in the new building,” Adams said. “In the future, our Extension staff can take students out and show them what wheat looks like in the field, then bring them back to the kitchen, give them some wheat, grind it into flour and then make a pastry they can eat,” he said. “It’s that kind of experience, from producing the food to eating it that will help youth know where their food comes from. We want to teach from this farm, every day.”
The public good
Public-private partnerships help to fund university research, teaching and outreach that go beyond taxpayer support, he said. If someone is passionate and wants to help further opportunities for food production, for conserving natural resources, for educating students, for the whole gamut of what the university is about, Adams said there are huge opportunities available.
“There is significant opportunity to help attract some of the best faculty in the world, to support the best research and teaching in the whole world,” Adams said. “It goes way beyond the equipment and the farm; it really goes to student training, engagement and virtually everything. This is the public good at a high level.” [ extension.unl.edu ]