News

After serving as the director of operations at the WCROC for the last 12.5 years, Professor Lee Johnston has returned fully to his research work in the U's Department of Animal Science. Lee will continue to base his research out of the WCROC. Mike Reese, who has served as the center's renewable energy director since 2001, assumed the leadership role effective August 8, 2022.

(New York Times) Across the country, communities and states are accelerating their efforts to fight climate change as action stalls on the national level. That is what happened in Morris, a city of about 5,000 in Minnesota, not far from the South Dakota border.

(AgWeek) Can “green ammonia'' be an efficient fuel for drying down grain? Seamus Kane is working to prove that it can be. Kane is a University of Minnesota researcher who is about to wrap up three years of work by testing out an ammonia-fueled grain dryer at the WCROC.

(AgWeek) Cows don’t like to eat thistles. Farmers don’t want to let thistles take over a pasture. A new possible solution to the problem is the “Cowbot,” a weed-mowing vehicle that can operate without a driver.

The University of Minnesota has released a new hard red spring wheat variety called ‘MN-Rothsay.’ MN-Rothsay features a good combination of yield, protein, and disease resistance and exceptional straw strength.

Sabrina Portner is no stranger to agriculture, or to working with cows. Hailing from a 280 Brown Swiss dairy farm in Sleepy Eye, MN, Sabrina is pursuing her Masters in Animal Science from the U of MN’s College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences, and is mentored by dairy scientist Brad Heins at the West Central Research and Outreach Center (WCROC), Morris.

(MPR News) The University of Minnesota Morris and Minnesota West Central Research and Outreach Center, or WCROC, have long embraced their windy, rural locale to advance wind and other clean energy technology. Now, they’ve set their sights on improving how that energy is stored.

(Forbes) Plants are naturally “solar-powered,” but there is a carbon footprint associated with growing them as a crop. The fuel used to power tractors and other equipment is part of that footprint, but the largest component is associated with the natural gas used to make synthetic nitrogen fertilizers. WCROC researchers are pursuing "green ammonia" as a way to reduce the carbon intensity of agricultural production.

How much Zinc should a pregnant sow get in her diet? Which perennial plants will survive our harsh Minnesota winters? What size of solar PV system is best for a small farm? The answers to these questions are all part of why the University of Minnesota’s West Central Research and Outreach Center is imperative to the advancement of agriculture in west central Minnesota and beyond.

(KARE 11) Gardening guru's Laura Betker and Bobby Jensen at KARE 11 announced our 2022 Top Ten Performing Annuals in their weekly broadcast, Grow with KARE.