The Crop Science Society of America (CSSA) is a

scientific Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

and professional society of plant biologists and crop scientists based in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

About

The Crop Science Society of America was founded in 1956 as a daughter society of the

American Society of Agronomy The American Society of Agronomy (ASA) is a scientific and professional society of agronomists and scientists of related disciplines, principally in the United States but with many non-U.S. members as well. About It was founded December 13, 190 ...

with its inaugural president being Gerald Mott and in 1961 launched ''

Crop Science Agricultural science (or agriscience for short) is a broad multidisciplinary field of biology that encompasses the parts of exact, natural, economic and social sciences that are used in the practice and understanding of agriculture. Profession ...

'', the society's flagship peer-reviewed journal. More recently the society has launched two open access journals: '' The Plant Genome'' which was originally organized as a supplement to ''Crop Science'' in 2005 by Randy Shoemaker and in 2008 became an independent journal and '' The Plant Phenome Journal'' which was launched in 2017. The Crop Science Society of America awards a number of recognitions classified as "prestigious" by the

National Research Council (United States) The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (also known as NASEM or the National Academies) are the collective scientific national academy of the United States. The name is used interchangeably in two senses: (1) as an umbrell ...

. These include the Frank N. Meyer Medal for Plant Genetic Resources, the Fred V. Grau Turfgrass Science Award, the Young Crop Scientist Award, and CSSA Fellow. No more than 0.3% of the total membership are voted the title of Fellow.

Notable Presidents

The following notable scientists served as President of the Society on the year listed: *

Jack Harlan Jack Rodney Harlan (June 7, 1917 – August 26, 1998) was an American botanist, agronomist, plant collector, and campaigner for crop plant biodiversity conservation. Early life Born in Washington, DC, Jack Harlan was the son of Harry Harlan, a pla ...

, 1966 * Martin Massengale, 1973 * William L. Brown, 1982 * James B. Beard, 1986 * Donald N. Duvick, 1987 *

Betty Klepper Elizabeth Lee "Betty" Klepper (1936 – 2018) was an American agronomic scientist from Memphis, Tennessee. Life In 1954 Klepper began her university education at Vanderbilt University.Throughout her undergraduate years, she drifted from math ...

, 1997 * Ronald L. Phillips, 2000

References

{{Reflist Professional associations based in the United States Soil and crop science organizations 1956 establishments in the United States Scientific organizations established in 1956 Agricultural organizations based in the United States