Meadowview Research Farms
The Wagner Farm,
TACF's original research farm in
Meadowview, Virginia
29010 Hawthorne Dr
Meadowview, VA 24361-3349
276-944-4631
Meadowview
Meadowview , Virginia is home to the research farms of The American Chestnut Foundation with almost 34,000 trees planted on over 150 acres.
In 1989, TACF established the Wagner Research Farm in Meadowview, Virginia, to execute the backcross breeding program developed by Philip Rutter and the late Dr. Charles Burnham. Chestnut trees have been planted, crossed, and grown on the Wagner Research Farm over the last 17 years.
In 1995, the farm was filled to capacity with over 5,800 chestnut trees at various stages of backcrossing. A generous donation enabled purchase of land nearby, now known as the Glenn C. Price Research Farm. A third farm was purchased in 2002 and a fourth farm in 2006. Today, TACF’s Meadowview Research Farms have over 34,000 trees at various stages of breeding, planted on more than 150 acres of land.
To visit, tour, and/or volunteer at our research farms please contact
Dr. Fred Hebard
Meadowview Staff
Dr. Fred Hebard, Chief Scientist
Contact Fred about TACF's
breeding program or about growing chestnut trees
Dr. Fred Hebard brings to TACF many years experience researching chestnuts along with practical farm experience. Fred has headed up TACF's research in Meadowview, VA since the farm was established in 1989. Beginning as Superintendent of our Wagner Research Farm, and later becoming Staff Pathologist, he has guided TACF's research over the years.
Prior to joining TACF, Fred was a research specialist (post-doc) at the University of Kentucky, working on disease physiology of chestnut blight, with Dr. Lou Shain. Fred received a Bachelor of Science degree in Biological Sciences from Columbia University in 1973, where he worked on tissue cultures of chestnut and their interaction with the blight fungus. He continued the tissue culture work at the University of Michigan, where he received a master's degree in Botany in 1976.
He then studied the histopathology (microscopic studies) and epidemiology of chestnut blight at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and worked measuring blight resistance in American and Chinese chestnut. He received a PhD. from Virginia Tech in 1982, where his advisor was Dr. Gary Griffin. "This is my dream job, to breed chestnut trees for blight resistance in a practical field setting. I hope that someday, the mountainsides of the Appalachians will once more be white with chestnut blossoms on the fourth of July."
Fred and his family reside in the Meadowview area.
Jeff Donahue, Director of Operations
Jeff Donahue joined the Foundation in November of 2011 as Director of Operations at the Meadowview Research Farms. He has nearly 30 years of experience in forestry research and development. As a tree improvement specialist and research forester he has worked in both the public and private sectors in programs focused on tree plantation productivity. Donahue has a BS in Forestry from Purdue University and a MS in Forestry with a minor in genetics from North Carolina State University. Jeff is a native of southern Indiana.
Donahue’s range of experience includes breeding and testing of pines and hardwoods, research on intensive tree plantation silviculture and vegetative propagation. He has held positions with the Peace Corps, North Carolina State University, the Boise Cascade Corporation, the International Paper Company and ArborGen. Jeff’s tree improvement experience includes both tropical and temperate tree species. His background is unique in regards to the depth of his vegetative propagation experience with southern pines and variety of hardwood species.
In addition to supervising operational activity at the Meadowview Farms Jeff will assist with distribution and establishment of progeny tests in the field.
Laura Georgi, Pathologist
A long-time member of TACF, Laura Georgi comes to the Meadowview Research Farms from Rutgers University, where she worked on genetic mapping of fruit rot resistance in cranberry. Laura studied plant parasitic nematodes for her graduate degrees at Purdue and Cornell, followed by postdoctoral positions working on a free-living nematode at the University of Missouri and on nematode parasites of insects at Tennessee State University. She returned to plant parasitic nematodes when she moved to Clemson, where the focus shifted from the parasite to the host: peach. Laura participated in developing molecular genetic tools that led to the recent sequencing of the peach genome by the Department of Energy’s Joint Genome Institute. While at Clemson, with funding from TACF, she made the first bacterial artificial chromosome library of Chinese chestnut and used this library to develop molecular probes for investigating possible genome rearrangements in Chinese and American chestnuts.
David Bevins, Research Technician
David was born and raised in the Meadowview VA area. His family’s farm i
s only a few miles from the Wagner Research farm. As of May 2010, he is a graduate of King Collegein Bristol, TN with a Bachelor’s of Science in Neuroscience and a Bachelor of Arts in Youth Ministry. He is excited to be beginning this learning position at the Research farms.
David helps direct farm operations during planting, pollination and harvest seasons. He also collects pollen and assesses pollen viability to ensure viable pollen is shipped to state chapters. David will perform laboratory experiments such as testing for rapid screens of resistance and the virulence of the chestnut blight.
David loves anything to do with the outdoors including horses, hiking, backpacking, caving, whitewater, and the like making him a happy resident of the rural mountain scene.
Wallace (George) A. Sykes, Farmer
Wallace, whom we also know as George, was raised in Mendota, Virginia, not far from the original Wagner farm. He is happily married, and he and his wife April have 3 children. George enjoys hunting, fishing, and farming.
George started working at the Wagner Farm in 1989, the year it was founded. When a full-time position at the farm opened up in 1997, George began working steadily for TACF.