Interview with Frank McGill, July 11, 2014

Partial Transcript: Tell us about your early years...

Segment Synopsis: McGill talks about his childhood on a farm in Tifton, Georgia during the 1920's. McGill relates that his father and mother met at a community church meeting. McGill explains that his mother and father grew tobacco in south Georgia and gained ownership of a substantial amount of land after marriage.

Keywords: Athens, Alabama; Rural Development Center; Tifton, Georiga

Partial Transcript: Where did you fit among the four children?

Segment Synopsis: McGill describes the hard work associated with working on a family farm. McGill emphasizes the importance of mules in the farming process. McGill talks about the inner workings of his childhood family farm and all the products produced by the farm including wheat, meat, vegetables, butter and milk.

Keywords: farming; mules; production

Partial Transcript: Then we had plenty of grits...

Segment Synopsis: McGill shares a childhood story in which a cat had managed to contaminate the family's butter supply. McGill recalls the importance of supper time on the family farm. McGill talks about how his uncle came to get involved with the University of Georgia Department of Agriculture.

Keywords: Andrew M. Soule; University of Georgia; supper

Partial Transcript: He paved the way for my oldest brother...

Segment Synopsis: McGill explains how he and his brothers came to attend the University of Georgia. McGill states that he obtained a degree in agronomy from the University of Georgia and became the assistant county agent for the University of Georgia. McGill states that he later became an agronomy extension specialist for the University of Georgia. McGill recalls how the massive emergence of technology during the 1960's Green Revolution led McGill to specialize in peanut production efficiency.

Keywords: Agronomy; Andrew M. Soule; Glenn Burton; University of Georgia

Partial Transcript: Well, one day the telephone rung in 1959...

Segment Synopsis: McGill recalls a job offered to him as a peanut consultant for the extension services in Alabama. McGill relates that the threat of him leaving the University of Georgia compelled his boss to offer him a full-time position as an extension service peanut specialist at the University of Georgia.

Keywords: Georgia King; extension services; peanut production

Partial Transcript: In 1951, the beginning of the extension...

Segment Synopsis: McGill lists the yield increases in peanut production for key years throughout the state of Georgia. McGill emphasizes that the work conducted by the extension of the program was a team effort on the part of many researchers. McGill explains how revolutions in genetic modification have led to an increase in peanut yields throughout Georgia and the world.

Keywords: President Jimmy Carter; Thomas Jefferson; University of Georgia Cooperative Extension; gene map; genetic engineering; peanut

Partial Transcript: All I want to say, is that...

Segment Synopsis: McGill shares how he utilized effective communication and education to bridge the gap between peanut researchers and companies that distribute peanut-related products. McGill describes his peanut-related extension work conducted in developing countries where children commonly suffer from the protein deficiency, pellegra. McGill describes the global shift towards the sharing of food-related technology between countries over the last decade.

Keywords: Bill Gates; Ted Turner; pellagra

Partial Transcript: Bill Gates said this...

Segment Synopsis: McGill talks about Bill Gates's wish for global innovation in food production. McGill talks about how he met his wife, Janet McGill and shares his concluding thoughts about the future of food production.

Keywords: Bill Gates; Glenn Burton; Normal Borlaug; World Food Prize