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The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation
The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation is a nonprofit organization focused upon benefiting mankind through agricultural enhancement and targeted philanthropy. The foundation mission:
 * To enable individual farmers and ranchers to better understand resource management and achieve their goals through consultation, education, research and demonstration.
 * To enhance agriculture through fundamental, translational and applied research.
 * To assist community service, health research and delivery systems, education and other select nonprofit organizations through grants and employee involvement.

History
As a young man in the early 1900s, Lloyd Noble witnessed the value of agricultural production to Oklahoma and its people. However, he also saw the dramatic effects of poor farming practices on the land's fertility and the state's economy. As was often the case, farmers frustrated by their inability to make a living simply abandoned depleted croplands and moved to other areas of the country.

With the help of his mother, who co-signed a $15,000 loan, the 24-year-old purchased his first drilling rig in 1921. He quickly became one of the most successful and respected onshore drilling contractors in the United States. His reputation was defined by his principles and his appreciation of technology that allowed him to drill faster and deeper than his contemporaries.

Noble used aviation to move between his headquarters in southern Oklahoma and his various drilling sites that were scattered from Canada to the Gulf Coast. From his vantage point above the rolling prairie, he confirmed the consequences of poor farming from another perspective. Years of man's failure to return anything to the soil had resulted in a barren, nonproductive land that was susceptible to erosion and incapable of supporting a viable economy.

Noble saw the land as essential to the future successes of Oklahoma and the nation. He understood that the land would continue to be needed long after oil and gas were gone. Noble established The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation to address the challenge.

The Noble Foundation's early efforts focused on educating and encouraging area farmers and ranchers to practice land stewardship and resource conservation. Today, the Noble Foundation has grown to include three operating divisions - Agricultural, Plant Biology and Forage Improvement - which work together in a coordinated manner to move science from the laboratory to the field in an effort to enhance production agriculture and plant improvement, while remaining true to Noble's vision of assisting farmers and ranchers.

Lloyd Noble died unexpectedly of a heart attack at age 53 on Valentine's Day 1950. While the loss of Lloyd Noble left a great void, the stewards of the Noble Foundation - largely comprised of his descendants - have continued his legacy of generosity. The work has changed through the decades, but the mission remains the same - to benefit mankind.

Divisions
The mission of the Noble Foundation Agricultural Division is to assist agricultural producers and land stewards in attaining their financial, quality of life and stewardship goals in an ever-evolving environment by educating and counseling them on the adoption of sustainable, research-proven practices.
 * Agricultural Division:

Serving a 47-county area in southern Oklahoma and northern Texas, the Agricultural Division assists more than 1,300 farmers and ranchers through an agricultural consultation program. Consultants specializing in pasture and range, agricultural economics, soils and crops, wildlife and fisheries, and livestock are available, depending on the needs of the individual agricultural producer. Consultation services are provided at no cost to participating farmers and ranchers, and the program is the division’s primary focus.

In addition, the division operates seven farms — totaling more than 12,000 acres — to perform research and demonstration projects designed to answer real-world production questions posed by today’s agricultural producers. A multidisciplinary team with expertise in a wide range of agricultural specialties uses a systems-based approach to address these applied research questions. This team provides agronomic information and practical agricultural solutions, which are delivered to producers by the division’s consultants.

The division also conducts a variety of educational events designed to reach agricultural producers and offers agriculture-related education to high school, college and post-graduate students, as well as the general public.

The mission of the Plant Biology Division is to perform high impact, basic research on the processes that determine plant quality, productivity and sustainability. Since 1988, the Plant Biology Division has conducted fundamental biochemical, genetic and genomic plant science research. As the fundamental research arm of the Noble Foundation, the division is evaluated primarily on the quality of its science. Research within the division is target driven and designed to provide momentum to other Noble Foundation programs.
 * Plant Biology Division:

The Plant Biology Division is internationally renowned for its work in legume genomics. From its earliest years, the division was a promoter of the use of Medicago truncatula as a model plant. Lessons learned from the relatively simple genome of this plant are now being applied to more genetically complex and commercially valuable crops such as alfalfa, soybean and clover.

A diverse staff of 11 principal investigators, each with their own core focus, leads teams of postdoctoral fellows and other scientific staff in research ranging from genomic discovery, drought tolerance and the effects of gravity on plant growth to studies of plant protein structure and the interactions of plants with microbes.

Division researchers are at the forefront of bioenergy research, developing lignocellulosic crops for sustainable production of liquid transportation fuels. Emphasis is placed on plant natural products such as tannins and isoflavonoids, which hold promise for application in human health conditions such as cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease.

The mission of the Forage Improvement Division is to develop improved forage cultivars for the Southern Great Plains and, in the process, advance the science of plant improvement. Within the institution, the Forage Improvement Division serves as a link between discoveries made in the laboratory and application in the field. The division focuses primarily on developing new varieties to improve hay and grazing systems, but also improves emerging crops, primarily switchgrass, for bioenergy production.
 * Forage Improvement Division:

The division’s primary focus is the development of forage cultivars that complement bermudagrass and other warm-season grasses, providing forage between the last growing days in fall and the reemergence of warm-season grasses in spring. Cool-season forages hold the potential to provide producers a highly valued alternative to costly hay or feed, saving time, energy and expense. Success in grass breeding by the division has produced its first improved cool-season grass – Texoma MaxQII tall fescue.

Forage Improvement researchers use conventional breeding methods that are augmented by genetic marker, genomic and transgenic technologies to make cultivar development efficient and successful. The division also conducts long-term performance evaluations and animal trials to assess the impact and safety of new plant varieties prior to public release and to develop cropping systems that will improve forage productivity.

Collectively, cultivars developed by the division and research innovations derived through the division’s cultivar development programs will help improve farming systems and options, yield safe and nutritious feed for beef and dairy cattle production, and help provide for future energy needs.

Together, Noble Foundation scientists, researchers and agricultural consultants move plant science and agricultural research from the laboratory to the field, giving life to discovery and improving agriculture for Oklahoma, the United States and the world.

Institutional Philanthropy
Through its grant making program, the Noble Foundation supports community projects and the activities of nonprofit charitable, educational and healthcare organizations. The Noble Foundation has expended more than $1 billion for charitable purposes, including more than $300 million for grants to charitable organizations and scholarship programs.

The scholarship program was established by the late Sam Noble to encourage and enable outstanding students to continue their education. Sam Noble was a long-time member of the Noble Foundation Board of Trustees and son of Lloyd Noble, founder of the Noble Foundation.
 * Sam Noble Scholarship Program

Scholarships through this program are available to eligible southern Oklahoma students in all stages of their academic pursuits – from incoming freshmen to those seeking graduate degrees.

Community Outreach
The Noble Foundation offers many educational opportunities that are open to the public. These opportunities are events ranging in topic from the various divisions of The Noble Foundation. The Profiles and Perspectives Community Enrichment Series allow the southern Oklahoma community to enjoy interesting and stimulating discussions and lectures.