2007 U of M Research Special Report

Small Grains Outreach and Communications

The Small Grains Update, in its tenth consecutive year, is jointly organized with the Minnesota Association of Wheat Growers (MAWG). The update is comprised of 9 half-day meetings across the northwestern part of the state in the third week of January.  The series was expanded to the south with the addition of Morris as the ninth location. The attendance once again exceeded 700 growers this past winter.

The ‘Best of the Best’ series of seminars was held for the third time this past winter, organized cooperatively with the MAWG, NDSU, and grain groups in N.D. The event focused on the most advanced management approaches to HRSW and the latest research results.

The ‘Southern Wheat Tour’ series was focused on the southern part of the state. The Center for Small Grains Production and Management has built a solid foundation for small grains production clinics south of I-94.  Doug Holen, regional extension educator in Fergus Falls, has been instrumental in this development.  Locations this past winter included the cities of Benson, Dawson, Kilkenny, and Hutchinson.  Attendance continues to grow, especially at the meetings in west central part of the State.  The programming effort was expanded with two scouting clinics in the southeastern part of the state in the month of July.

I continued to address timely production issues with eight articles in the Minnesota Crop eNews and contributions to Prairie Grains.  I co-authored the ‘Winter Wheat in Minnesota’ extension bulletin, and updated 6 HRSW variety fact sheets. Four new HRSW variety fact sheets were developed for ‘Ada’, ‘Freyr, ‘Granite’,  and ‘Trooper’.

– Dr Jochum Wiersma, U of M small grains specialist, wiers002@umn.edu