All-America Selections Breeders Cup Award presented to Dr. Randy Gardner

NC State University’s Dr. Randy Gardner, horticultural science professor emeritus in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, was recently named winner of the 2015 All-America Selections (AAS) Breeders Cup Award. He was honored at the annual AAS Awards Banquet in Dallas, Texas.

Gardner is a renowned tomato breeder, with more than 32 years’ experience at the Mountain Horticultural Crops Research and Extension Center in Mills River. He is credited with developing the cultivars used on some 60 to 75 percent of the vine-ripe tomatoes grown in the Eastern United States.

Established in 2004, the AAS Breeders Cup Award recognizes plant breeders who dramatically influence horticulture by breeding new cultivars that bring significant class improvements.

All-America Selections, founded in 1932, is the oldest independent plant testing organization in North America.