Thomas Jefferson, third U.S. President and Virginia native, is inducted for his pioneering of scientific farming practices.

Throughout his life, Jefferson promoted agricultural education, experimented in plant and animal breeding and invented various tools to improve farming techniques and products.

Jefferson staunchly endorsed independent farmers as the bulwarks of the nation. While president in 1803, he urged that courses in agriculture be taught in all colleges and universities and was able to lead agricultural innovations based on his own field work.

His keen interest and demonstration of crop rotation led to practices with peas, corn, potatoes and clover designed to maintain the fertility of the land. He experimented with fertilizers, was one of the first to import Merino sheep in an effort to improve local breeding, and field-tested his own experiments.

Jefferson was an avid inventor; his mission to ease the labor of farming. He is credited with many innovations including a seed drill, hemp brake and threshing machine. One of his most important inventions was a plow moldboard; the curved plate of a plow that turns over the furrow slice—a design which was later improved upon by John Deere and Company.

Jefferson left an indelible stamp upon American agriculture and for his contributions, may truly be called “America’s Father of Scientific Agriculture.”