Dr. Kevin Smith is best known for leading the U of MN's barley breeding program. He has been forced to react to changes in plant diseases, economic challenges from other crops, and evolving demands of the brewing industry, but has new varieties that will be in your beer soon. In this episode, he talks with David and Seth about the opportunities to develop varieties for a changing beer industry in the US. Kevin also leads the breeding efforts for another traditional Minnesota crop, oat. He talks about oat’s unique challenges and the opportunity to compete with Canadian production. Finally, Dr. Smith is working to domesticate a crop for tomorrow, Silphium (
Silphium integrifolium), a native perennial plant in the sunflower family. Kevin speaks briefly of the challenges in crop domestication.
What is Minnesota CropCast?
Hosts David Nicolai and Seth Naeve discuss the progress and challenges of Minnesota's agronomic crops in this new podcast. They are joined by a diversity of specialists representing all crops and agronomic disciplines to discuss their research and its impact on future Minnesota crops. Dave Nicolai is a crops Extension educator and Seth Naeve is the Extension soybean agronomist.
How do I sign up?
You can subscribe and listen to
Minnesota CropCast using one of many popular podcasting apps or directories.
Learn more.
Comments
Post a Comment