Northwest Research and Outreach Center

The 2021 growing season has been one to be remembered in northwest Minnesota. Most of the region started the year with abnormally dry conditions that escalated to exceptional and extreme drought (the U.S. drought monitor’s worst drought categories) by mid-summer.

Some effects of this drought, like stunted crop development and a lack of water running through drainage ditches, are easy to see in farmer’s fields throughout the region. The impact of the drought on agricultural research at the Northwest Research and Outreach Center is more varied. Read on to see how NWROC research has been impacted by the drought.

The Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station (MAES) and the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences (CFANS) have published the 2021 Minnesota Field Crop Trials. Visit varietytrials.umn.edu/2021 to see variety trials for 10 different Minnesota crops.

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.