News

As winemakers around the world scramble to adapt to the climate crisis, grapes engineered and grown in Minnesota—once a winemaking afterthought—might hold the secret to stabilizing their craft in an increasingly unstable climate.

Congratulations to Dr. Eric Watkins! Dr. Watkins has accepted the role of vice provost for distributed learning starting in September.

As Kate Fessler works toward completing a master of science degree in applied plant sciences, she's evaluating a tabletop strawberry system that has been widely adopted in Europe and Canada to determine its feasibility for use in Minnesota. We talked with her about her journey to the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences (CFANS) and how tabletop strawberries could extend the growing season for the much-loved fruit.

Ancestry tests aren’t just for people or pets anymore. Thanks to DNA-based tracking, researchers at the University of Minnesota have finally traced the family tree of Minnesota’s favorite apple cultivar - the Honeycrisp. Sifting through thousands of DNA markers, Department of Horticultural Science researchers have unwoven the pedigrees of many of the U’s best apple cultivars, following the roots back to their European ancestors and the first days of the breeding program. 

View our seminar recordings from the spring semester. Recordings will be added week by week. Recordings are available for 180 days after the date of the seminar. 

[UMN] Plants that secrete colored nectars are part of an exclusive club. To date, only 70 plants in the world are on that list. The colors lure in pollinators, but more recently they sparked the interest of researchers and industry partners in search of natural colorant options.

The 2022 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient is Dr. David Zlezak. Dr. Zlesak will be presenting at our Kermit Olson Memorial Lecture on Wednesday, February 16th, 2022.

Winter can lead to turfgrass damage and death, causing challenges for turfgrass managers. And with a changing climate, new challenges are cropping up every year. Eric Watkins, a professor in the Department of Horticultural Science, is seeking out answers to those challenges, most recently through an $8 million USDA Specialty Crop Research Initiative grant.

We interviewed the graduate students from the Shannon Lab to see what they have been working on.