Jeffrey Pedersen

Jeffrey Pedersen

Emeritus Associate Professor - USDA

Area of Expertise:

B.S., Biology, Nebraska Wesleyan

M.S., Agronomy, University of Nebraska

Ph.D., Agronomy, University of Nebraska

Area of Focus

Consultation on agricultural and scientific projects, and review of proposals, projects, and programs.

Research Interests

Plant Breeding and Genetics.

Major Project Activities

For the period Aug 1989 to Dec 2011, I was a USDA Agricultural Research Service Lead Scientist, and University of Nebraska–Lincoln Adjunct Professor, responsible for management of a sorghum genetics project with approximately $1 million annual base funding. Targeted traits were for nutritional value and improved industrial value of grain and cellulosic components with emphasis on conversion of plant tissues to bioenergy and ruminant nutrition. Personal research was primarily at the whole plant level. The research Project included two additional Ph.D. scientists and support staff and integrated molecular biology and plant pathology with plant breeding. Work involving a wide network of collaborators throughout the world included risk assessment and management of transgenic materials. Collateral duty assignments for the USDA Agricultural Research Service included National Program Leader for Grain Crops, Technology Transfer Coordinator for the USDA-ARS Plains Area, and Research Position Evaluation System Panel Chair.

Current activities include various aspects of management of two family farms with irrigated and non-irrigated land in Nebraska with experience in marketing commodities, compliance with various State and Federal programs, and management of estate planning and legal issues involving generational transitions.


Publications

  • Sattler, S.E., Saballos, A., Xin, Z., Funnell-Harris, D.L., Vermerris, W., Pedersen, J.F.  2014. Characterization of novel sorghum brown midrib mutants froman EMS-mutagenized population. Genes|Genomes|Genetics. 4: 2115-2124.
  • Pedersen, J.F., Sattler, S.E., Anderson, W.F. 2012. Evaluation of public sweet sorghum A-lines for use in hybrid production. BioEnergy Research  6: 91-102.
  • Sattler, S.E., Palmer, N.A., Saballos, A., Green, A.M., Xin,Z., Sarath, G. Vermerris, W., Pedersen, J.F. 2012. Identification and characterization of 4 missense mutations in brown midrib 12 (Bmr12); the caffeic O-methyltransferase (COMT) of sorghum. BioEnergy. 6: 402–403.
  • Sattler, S.E., Funnell-Harris, D., Pedersen, J.F. 2010. Efficacy of singular and stacked brown midrib 6 and 12 in the modification of lignocellulose and grain chemistry. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.  58: 3611–3616.
  • Wong, J., Marx, D.B., Wilson, J., Buchannan, B.B. Lemaux, P., Pedersen, J.F. 2010. Principal component analysis and biochemical characterization of protein and starch reveal primary targets for improving sorghum grain. Plant Science. 179: 598–611.
  • Tesso, T., Kapran, I. Grneir, C., Snow, A., Sweeny, P., Pedersen, J.F., Marx, D.B., Bothma, G., Egeta, G. 2008. The potential for crop-to-wild gene flow in sorghum in Ethiopia and Niger. Crop Science. 48: 1425-1431.
  • Graybosch, R.A., Pedersen, J.F., Funnell, D.L. 2007. Occurrence of waxy alleles wxa and wxb in waxy sorghum plant introductions and their effect on grain thermal properties. Crop Science. 47: 1927-1933.
  • Tang, H.V., Pedersen, J.F., and Pring D. 2007. Fertility restoration of the sorghum A3 male-sterile cytoplasm through a sporophytic mechanism form sudangrass. Crop Science. 47: 943-950.
  • Hooks, T., Pedersen, J.F., Marx, D.B., Vogel K.P. 2006. Variation in the U.S. photoperiod insensitive sorghum collection for chemical and nutritional traits. Crop Science. 46: 751-757.