News

50 years of U of M research bears fruitful insights and advancements. Department of Horticultural Science experts have developed strawberry varieties that thrive in Minnesota’s challenging climate, improving production practices that make this crop more resilient and profitable for growers.

The Shannon Lab has released its first potato, Polaris Gold, the University of Minnesota’s latest potato release since Mondak Gold in 2014.

By growing 10 cut flower varieties suited for the Upper Midwest, MPS student Sarah Anderson evaluated the economic and environmental viability of local cut flower production in Central Minnesota. 

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. 

The 2023 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient is Phil Forsline. Phil will be presenting at our Kermit Olson Memorial Lecture on Wednesday, February 15th, 2023.

Grape growers and wine lovers take note: The University of Minnesota is releasing its sixth cold-hardy wine grape, Clarion.

Thriving in Minnesota climate for over 80 years without cultivation, hemp has adapted to Minnesota’s frigid winters and hot summers. Dr. Tom Michaels and lab have initiated a hemp breeding project to develop Minnesota-specific cultivars and better understand industrial hemp and its diverse use cases. 

This summer, eight undergraduate students from diverse backgrounds across the country were provided full-time research positions with CFANS through the Sustainability Opportunities for Agricultural Research - Research and Extension Experiences for Undergraduates (SOAR-REEU) program, which aims to close the agricultural career gap for youth from underrepresented groups. 

A University of Minnesota-led team of researchers received the first round of funding from a $10 million grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to follow up on their work with VitisGen2, a multi-disciplinary, collaborative project focused on cultivating disease-resistant grapes that can be grown sustainably with reduced pesticide and fossil fuel use. 

The University of Minnesota’s Plant Protein Innovation Center (PPIC) is the first center of its kind in the nation for plant and other alternative proteins. PPIC was founded in 2018 to bring together researchers—including undergraduate and graduate students—and industry to study and produce sustainable plant protein ingredients. The center is housed in the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences.