Fairchild, David Grandison, 1869–1954, American botanist and agricultural explorer, b. East Lansing, Mich. He entered the service of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, where he organized (1895) and later (1906–28) was in charge of a division of plant exploration and introduction. He had charge also of the foreign research expeditions, in many of which he participated. With colleagues Barbour Lathrop and Wallace Swingle, Fairchild introduced into the American diet or improved the soybean, zucchini, avocado, nectarine, kale, Meyer lemon, seedless grape, watermelon, and other food crops. Fairchild wrote Exploring for Plants, 1925–27 (1930) and The World Grows round My Door (1947).
See D. Stone, The Food Explorer (2018).
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