Labor People: Doctor of Agricultural Sciences from Apastovsky District
The Ministry of Agriculture and Food of Republic of Tatarstan in its heading - “Labor People” writes not about famous personalities, but about real workers who deserve honor and respect for their daily work, devotion to their beloved work, rich experience and high professionalism.
Today, the hero of our rubric is Galeyev Gayfutdin Salakhutdinovich, who put his life to learn about issues of maize breeding. Gayfutdin Galeyev was born in 1911 in the village of Yangildino, Apastovsky District. In time of famine his family with 7 children left the village. After graduating from school in Grozny, Gayfutdin entered at the agronomical department of the Krasnodar Institute of Breeding and Seed. By his wish he had practice at experimental station in Kazan. There he wrote his thesis.
After graduating from university and getting married, he went to the Voronezh region and began working as an agronomist of state farm. In this period he gor interested in science. In 1936 he became a junior research assistant at the Kamenno-Stepnaya State Breeding Station. When the Great Patriotic War started, he volunteered for front.
After the war Galeyev returned to Krasnodar and several years later, without taking off his officer's uniform, he went to work on the lands of Kuban experimental station. There, the head of the corn department, Ivan Kozhukhov, help him to find out about corn, and Gayfutdin Galeyevich got completely amazed by this plant. Corn turned out to be a very interesting object for genetics and selection. Gayfetdin Salakhutdinovich visited several times the homeland of this culture - America. He participated in congress of the European Breeders Association. The Kuban Experimental Station maintained official relations with corn institutes of Yugoslavia, Germany, Bulgaria, and Czechoslovakia. He shared his experiences in Yugoslavia, France, Bulgaria and Switzerland.
After joint testing of the hybrid “Bekos-215” with German breeders, the variety was grown on the fields of both countries. For the work done, the Academy of Agricultural Sciences of Germany elected Gayfetdin Salakhetdinovich as a corresponding member. In 1971 he was awarded the title Hero of Socialist Labor. He was a doctor of agricultural sciences, a director of the All-Union School of Corn Science and an academician of the Academy of Agricultural Sciences. In 1963, he was awarded the Lenin Prize. In 1986 he won the State Prize.
A memorial plaque was installed on the building of the Kuban Experimental Station VIR in memory of Academician G. S. Galeev, and its name is recorded in the Book of Heroes of Labor of the Agro-Industrial Complex.