Vern Marble — Ambassador of Alfalfa

Vern Marble is a consummate lover of forages, and a key champion of the most important harvested forage in the West-alfalfa. His lifelong career was as Cooperative Extension Specialist at the University of California, Davis, where he was aptly named 'Mr. Alfalfa', but he has also made significant contributions around the world and to the alfalfa seed industry. His history dates to his pioneering family who settled in valleys of Utah during the expansion of the West during the late 1800s. Vern grew up with irrigated farming systems in Utah and California, learning many important lessons in agriculture from his father and family experiences. In 1942 with the with the start of WWII, he worked for 6 years on the family ranch in Utah, having taken over from a hired hand at the age of 13! A graduate of Utah State University and University of California, Davis, he served briefly in the private sector, but was called to serve at UC Davis by the Director of Extension to help solve a critical pest problem with alfalfa in the 1950s: the spotted alfalfa aphid. After struggling with major health problems (a stroke) in the early 1960s, Vern recovered completely and renewed his dedication to his family and public service career. He worked closely with breeders in the 1970s to introduce and popularize advanced multiple pest-resistant varieties such as CUF-101, which addressed a devastating blue alfalfa aphid problem ravaging the industry. The impact of these varieties was seen internationally, for example in Argentina where there was ‘a time before CUF and a time after CUF’. CUF stands for California (UC), USDA, and Farmer (where the mother plants were selected), indicating the highly cooperative nature of that accomplishment. These non-dormant, pest-resistant lines significantly improved yield in many countries, and California varieties are still grown in many non-dormant regions utilizing methods developed by Vern for irrigation, pest management, seed production and harvesting methods. Vern was one of the founders of the Alfalfa Seed Council (later became National Alfalfa and Forage Alliance) which promoted alfalfa nationwide and around the world. He had a major effect, with animal scientists to promote laboratory testing of forage crops from the 1950s through the 1980s. A headline from the late 1960s reads ‘Dairies are buying alfalfa by test!”, and Vern helped to move the industry away from the old USDA guidelines (mostly by color) to an analytical approach. Vern retired in 1991 at the age of 63 to accept a mission for his church in Africa with his wife Mary, and later as a consultant in South America. He is now 91, and resides with family in Roseville, CA. Vern Marble has made profound and lasting contributions to the forage community throughout the West and the world, is truly one of our ‘forage giants’, and richly deserves the moniker ‘Ambassador of Alfalfa’.