Edward B. Knipling Memorabilia Collection

Edward B. Knipling served as Administrator of the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) from 2004 to 2013. His USDA career spanned 46 years, mainly in leadership positions. He earned his B.S. in forestry from Virginia Tech University in 1961, followed by his M.S. and Ph.D. in plant physiology from Duke University in 1963 and 1966, respectively.

Knipling served in the U.S. Army from 1966 to 1968, conducting research on environmental remote sensing. He began his career with the ARS in 1968 as a research plant physiologist in Gainesville, Florida. He served as area director for ARS in Stoneville, Mississippi, from 1975 to 1978, then in Fresno, California, from 1978 to 1982. He then became associate deputy administrator of the National Program Staff at ARS in Beltsville, Maryland. In 1988, he was named director of the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center and served as deputy administrator of the National Program Staff until 1996. He was appointed associate administrator of ARS in 1997. He became acting administrator of ARS in 2001 before taking over as administrator in 2004. Knipling retired from USDA in 2013.