Willet Martin Hays was an American plant breeder

Horticulture

Horticulture is the industry and science of plant cultivation including the process of preparing soil for the planting of seeds, tubers, or cuttings. Horticulturists work and conduct research in the disciplines of plant propagation and cultivation, crop production, plant breeding and genetic...

 and U. S. Assistant Secretary of Agriculture.

Education

Hays was born 1859 on a farm near Eldora, Iowa

Eldora, Iowa

Eldora is a city in Hardin County, Iowa, United States. The population was 3,035 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Hardin County. Eldora is located adjacent to the Iowa River and Pine Lake State Park. The city is most famous for the filming of the 1996 movie Twister on location. The...

. He graduated from Drake University

Drake University

Drake University is a private, co-educational university located in Des Moines, Iowa, USA. The institution offers a number of undergraduate and graduate programs, as well as professional programs in law and pharmacy. Today, Drake is one of the twenty-five oldest law schools in the country....

 in 1885 and obtained a master's degree in agriculture from the Iowa State College at Ames

Ames, Iowa

Ames is a city located in the central part of the U.S. state of Iowa in Story County, and approximately north of Des Moines. The U.S. Census Bureau designates that Ames, Iowa metropolitan statistical area as encompassing all of Story County, and which, when combined with the Boone, Iowa...

. In 1888 he became the first faculty member of the newly founded Minnesota Agricultural Experimental Station of the University of Minnesota

University of Minnesota

The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...

 at St. Paul. He served there until 1904, interrupted by a two year stint at the North Dakota Agricultural College at Fargo 1891-1893.

Systematic breeding

"There are Shakespeares among plants" was Hays' reasoning for selecting specific plant units for further breeding. Thus he produced new varieties of plants by selective breeding and crossing.Among his successes were commercially important varieties of superior flax

Flax

Flax is a member of the genus Linum in the family Linaceae. It is native to the region extending from the eastern Mediterranean to India and was probably first domesticated in the Fertile Crescent...

, wheat

Wheat

Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...

, corn

Maize

Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...

, barley

Barley

Barley is a major cereal grain, a member of the grass family. It serves as a major animal fodder, as a base malt for beer and certain distilled beverages, and as a component of various health foods...

, and oat

Oat

The common oat is a species of cereal grain grown for its seed, which is known by the same name . While oats are suitable for human consumption as oatmeal and rolled oats, one of the most common uses is as livestock feed...

; he also discovered winter-resistant Grimm alfalfa

Alfalfa

Alfalfa is a flowering plant in the pea family Fabaceae cultivated as an important forage crop in the US, Canada, Argentina, France, Australia, the Middle East, South Africa, and many other countries. It is known as lucerne in the UK, France, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand, and known as...

.

Government service

In 1904 Hays was appointed Assistant Secretary of Agriculture and served under James Wilson

James Wilson (U.S. politician)

James "Tama Jim" Wilson was a Scotland-born United States politician who served as United States Secretary of Agriculture for sixteen years during three presidencies, from 1897 to 1913. He holds the record as the longest-serving United States Cabinet member.-Personal background:Wilson was born in...

 in the administration of Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...

. He was responsible for setting up the project system for agricultural research that was later developed into the state experimental stations. Hays improved rural infrastructure and took measures to help teach agricultural practices. The Smith-Lever Act and the Smith-Hughes Act

Smith-Hughes Act

The Smith-Hughes National Vocational Education Act of 1917 was an act of the United States Congress that promoted vocational agriculture to train people "who have entered upon or who are preparing to enter upon the work of the farm," and provided federal funds for this purpose...

 were drafted with his help. He left government service in 1913.

Organizations

Hays was influential in the creation of a number of organizations. In 1903 he founded the American Breeders' Association (ABA), renamed American Genetic Association

American Genetic Association

The American Genetic Association , formerly the American Breeders' Association, founded 1903, is a USA-based learned society dedicated to the study of genetics. It publishes the Journal of Heredity-History:...

in 1915. Hays was the first president of the ABA, a position he kept for ten years. He formulated the three objectives of the organization: "(1) Determine the laws of inheritance in animals and plants. (2) Learn the application of these laws to increase the intrinsic commercial and artistic values of living things. (3) Aid in bringing about this desired improvement through associated effort."

In 1913 Hays drafted the protocol for the New International Institute of Agriculture in Rome, the forerunner of today's United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. The same year he went to Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

 where he helped to set up the Department of Agriculture and in the planning of the University of Tucuman.

By 1915 Hays suffered from ill health and retired on a farm, first in Pennsylvania, later in Iowa. He died on January 15, 1927 at Eldora.

U. S. Willet M. Hays (Liberty ship)

Hays had a Liberty ship

Liberty ship

Liberty ships were cargo ships built in the United States during World War II. Though British in conception, they were adapted by the U.S. as they were cheap and quick to build, and came to symbolize U.S. wartime industrial output. Based on vessels ordered by Britain to replace ships torpedoed by...

, the U.S. Willet M. Hays, hull number 2763, named after him. The ship was laid down at the Permente Metals Corporation

Richmond Shipyards

The four Richmond Shipyards, located in the city of Richmond, California, United States, were run by Permanente Metals and part of the Kaiser Shipyards, and were responsible for constructing more ships during World War II than any other shipyard in the country. The shipyards are part of the Rosie...

, Shipbuilding Division, Yard No. 2, Richmond, California

Richmond, California

Richmond is a city in western Contra Costa County, California, United States. The city was incorporated on August 7, 1905. It is located in the East Bay, part of the San Francisco Bay Area. It is a residential inner suburb of San Francisco, as well as the site of heavy industry, which has been...

, on February 1944, and launched on March 4. In 1947, the Willet M. Hays was sold, and it was scrapped in 1964.