Seed field day features research on grains, forage, hemp and more

More than 75 growers, researchers, educators, and other seed professionals attended the 2024 Cornell Seed Grower’s Field Day July 2. 

Field tours of research plots adjacent to the NYSIP Foundation Seed Barn east of Cornell’s Ithaca campus featured updates from faculty, staff and graduate students in the Plant Breeding and Genetics Section, School of Integrative Plant Sciences (SIPS) on projects including:

• Breeding small grains for quality and disease resistance (including varieties of winter wheat, barley, oats, malting barley, emmer, spelt and hulless oats) with professor Mark Sorrells, and others.
• Alfalfa breeding using USDA seedbank, forage yield trials, and developing varieties compatible with intermediate wheatgrass for grain-forage systems, with assistant professor Virginia Moore, senior research associate Julie Hansen, and graduate student Leah Treffer. 
• Cover crop and pulse breeding update with research support specialist Solveig Hanson.
• Hemp fiber variety evaluation with graduate student Luis Monserrate.

In addition, New York State Integrated Pest Management (NYSIPM) director Alejandro Calixto provided an update on how new regulations will affect the use of neonicotinoid insecticide seed treatments.