Oat breeder Dr. Vernon Burrows of Ottawa has been honoured
with the unveiling of a bronze bust during the China-Canada Agricultural
Science and Technology Forum in Baicheng, Jilin Province, China.
Burrows began voluntary consulting at the Baicheng Academy
of Agricultural Science more than 14 years ago, helping to develop oat
varieties suited to Northern China.
Burrows worked as a scientist for the federal agriculture
department in Ottawa for more than 50 years.
I recall writing about his work with the opening sentence: "Mrs. Vernon Burrows doesn’t mind when her husband is late home from work. She
knows he’s just out sowing his wild oats.”
To his credit, Dr. Burrows let that stand in an article
about how he was crossing commercial oats with wild oats with the aim of
developing “dormoats” that could be seeded in the fall and begin germinating as
soon as the weather began to turn warm in the spring. That would be early
enough to escape some later-season yield-reducing diseases.
Dr.
Burrows' numerous professional awards include The Order of Canada (2001), The
Friendship Award of China (2003), AAFC's Agcellence Award in the Innovation
category (2000), and the Agricultural Institute of Canada's prestigious
Grindley Medal (1975).
He
registered 27 new oat varieties during his career including innovations such as
“naked oats” that have no hulls.
