**Candidates are now being sought to fill the lead scientist position at the Small Grains Genotyping Laboratory that was vacated when Dr. Shiaoman Chao retired in December**
Position Available - Small Grains Genotyping Laboratory
This Friday, July 6th, at noon CST, the Practical Farmers of Iowa (PFI) will be hosting another Learning Call. This time, Earl Canfield will discuss his specialized equipment and technique for harvesting oats by swathing to maintain quality for his on-farm animal feed business.
PFI will also be holding a workshop entitled “Rotationally Raised – Making Small Grains Work”. This event will be held at Minnesota State U. in Mankato, MN, on July 30th.
Hear from breeders, farmers, and industry about what it takes to breed cereals for organic and low-input production. Learn about the selection process, organic cereal agronomy, and the traits farmers and buyers are looking for. The day will feature new research, varieties, and an overview of the University of Manitoba Participatory Plant Breeding program.
We will also tour plots of new organically-bred wheat and oat varieties, heritage cereals, and farmer-bred wheat and oat lines from the Participatory Plant Breeding Program.
Speakers:
Practical Farmers of Iowa is answering the call for more resources and education on small grains production with a conference and several field days devoted to the topic in 2018. Attendees at these events will learn about a range of issues related to growing small grains crops.
For the second year, Practical Farmers is putting on a conference focused exclusively on small grains. The conference – “Rotationally Raised – Making Small Grains Work” – will take place on Monday, July 30, from 10 a.m - 5:30 p.m., at the Centennial Student Union at Minnesota State University - Mankato.
CROPS-A-PALOOZA is a one day, hands on, free, in-field learning interactive event that brings together the best research and agronomy extension professionals and farmers to learn how to grow the best crops!
There will be 16 stations, including one on Oats Disease Management, with Jennifer Mitchell Fetch (AAFC Brandon), Jason Voogt (Field 2 Field Agronomy Inc.) and Ingrid Kristjanson (Manitoba Agriculture).
Please see the link for more details and to register.
Ottawa Oat Day, 2018, will be held at the Ottawa Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, on July 24th. If you are interested in attending, please contact Weikai Yan (Weikai.Yan@AGR.GC.CA) or Charlene Wight (Charlene.Wight@AGR.GC.CA).
AGENDA
8:30 am: Meet at the entrance of the Ottawa Research and Development Centre facing Carling Ave.; get ready to go to the oat fields.
Address: 960 Carling Ave., Ottawa ON
We begin with the sad news: Charlie Brown, former oat breeder at the University of Illinois, passed away last Friday, June 1st. His funeral will be held this Friday, June 8th. More information about that and about Charlie can be found here. Charlie was also honoured with the Distinguished Service to Oat Improvement Award. It was Charlie who bred cv. ‘Ogle’ – one of the most famous and well-used oat varieties!
This update brings you lots of bits of news gleaned from the web. Firstly, my latest “Harvested from the Web” compilation (covering Jan. – Mar. 2018) is in the “Community news” section.
Melania Figueroa's lab at the University of Minnesota is advertising for a new postdoc:
"The appointee will join an international project investigating the biology of the pathogenic rust fungus Puccinia coronata f. sp. avenae, which inflicts significant yield losses in oats."
The link to the job posting is in the “Community news” section, as well as here.
These folks are so practical, it’s in their name – the Practical Farmers of Iowa (PFI)! As described on their website, “Practical Farmers of Iowa's mission is to strengthen farms and communities through farmer-led investigation and information sharing”. There is a renewed interest in growing oats in Iowa, and you may remember seeing the list of PFI videos published in the newsletter last year.
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