Dr. Usha Barwale Zehr is the Joint Director, Research at Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company Limited, India. She is responsible for research on plant biotechnology, technology transfer to farmers, utilization of new technologies and tools, including biotechnology for improving the quality and productivity of seeds and agriculture.
She received her Ph.D. from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Later, she worked at Purdue University in the Sorghum improvement program. For the last eight years, she is involved in the Private Seed Industry in India. Director Dr. Zehr serves on a number of board viz., M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation.
She was also member of the Technical Advisory Committee of the CGIAR, other committees such as the Intellectual Property Committee of the International Seed Federation. She has been involved in the founding or functioning of several charitable and educational organizations including the Shri Ganapati Netralaya and Barwale educational institutions at Jalna, Maharashtra.