West Central Research and Outreach Center

Feedback from our annual flower trials is instrumental for plant breeding companies, providing them with insights to refine their cultivars. The evaluation results are shared with the participating companies, who may then improve their plants and re-enter them into future trials. Additionally, our annual flower report is distributed to commercial nursery producers, floriculture professionals, grower associations, U of MN Extension, and U of MN Master Gardeners, offering valuable cultivar recommendations for Minnesota's gardening community.

Preliminary yield results from the 2024 variety trials are now available at varietytrials.umn.edu for the following crops: spring wheat, winter wheat, winter rye, winter triticale, barley, and oats. The annual report including all crops and finalized data will be published later this year.

Last week, 30,000+ farmers, ranchers, ag professionals, government officials, ag researchers and more streamed into a small area south of Redwood Falls to attend Farmfest 2024. The annual event features 500+ vendors and exhibitors who are there for a variety of reasons… from advertising their services, to recruiting new members, to showcasing  exciting new research in the area of agriculture.