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The South Dakota
Pulse Growers will be sponsoring two speakers at
The Ag Horizons
Conference, scheduled for Dec. 10th and 11th
at The Ramkota
Hotel and Convention Center in Pierre.
Paul Thomas, Executive Director
of the North Dakota Dry Pea &
Lentil Association, will be making a presentation on The
Future of Pulse Crops. Thomas has been actively working
with North Dakota pulse growers for five years. During this time
pulse acres have grown tremendously and conditioning/processing
plants have located in several cities throughout North Dakota.
North Dakota is the leading dry pea producing state and is also a
major producer of US lentils and chickpeas. Thomas has been
instrumental in improving production and marketing tools as well as
increasing marketing options for growers in North Dakota. Thomas'
most recent efforts have focused on including pulse crops in the
2002 US Farm Bill.
Dr. Fred
Muehlbauer is a research geneticist
with the USDA and a professor of Crop
Science at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington.
He is the primary breeder of peas, lentils and chickpeas, in the
USA. His current research has addressed problems such as ascochyta
blight of chickpeas, disease resistance in peas, and winter
hardiness in peas and lentils. He has developed and released
varieties such as: Sanford, Dwelley, Myles and Sierra chickpeas, as
well as numerous varieties of lentils and dry peas. He has been
breeding pulse crops for 32 years. Dr. Muehlbauer will be discussing
“Breeding Pulse Crops for Disease Resistance, Yield and Quality.”
The SD Pulse Growers are
bringing these speakers to South Dakota with the aid of a grant made
available to us by The SD Dept. of Agriculture.
The Ag Horizons Conference is a 2-day conference
sponsored by The South Dakota Wheat,
Inc., South Dakota Wheat
Commission, S.D. Oilseeds Council,
S.D. No Till Assn., S.D. Pulse
Growers and S.D. Crop Improvement Assn. For further information
about the program, please contact Rick Vallery at (605) 224-4418.
For hotel reservations at The
Ramkota call (605)
224-6877.
View the Ag Horizons
Conference Agenda
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