Illinois Ag Connection - Raising Awareness of Local Grains and Local Markets

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Raising Awareness of Local Grains and Local Markets
Illinois Ag Connection - 08/26/2016

The potential for regionally adapted grains to serve growing local and regional markets is the topic of an upcoming workshop at the University of Illinois. Illinois Extension, along with the departments of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, Crop Sciences, and Food Science and Human Nutrition will host "Illinois Local Grains and Local Markets" on Sept. 9 in the Monsanto Room of the ACES Library, Information and Alumni Center.

The workshop runs from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m., with presentations starting at 8:30 a.m. Speakers include Bill Davison from Illinois Extension, Allison Krill-Brown from the Department of Crop Sciences, Harold Wilken from Janie's Farm, Frank Kutka from the Northern Plains Sustainable Agriculture Society, and Julie Dawson from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Presentations by Kutka and Dawson will showcase participatory breeding efforts taking place in other regions. This event will be of interest to researchers, breeders in the region, bakers, and brewers who want to source locally produced grains, and farmers interested in conducting trials.

Kutka is a plant breeder and the co-coordinator of the Northern Plains Sustainable Agriculture Society Farm Breeding Club. In his current work, he is developing a yellow dent corn that has the ability to prevent cross-pollination with GMO corn. This work builds on approximately 20 years of experience with corn breeding for the organic farming sector.

Dawson is an assistant professor of horticulture at the University of Wisconsin. Dawson's background is in organic wheat breeding and participatory research. She has conducted research on value-added grains for regional food systems at Cornell University, and she helped create a participatory wheat breeding program with an association of organic farmer-bakers in France.

A field day will be held on Sept. 10 at Janie's Farm in Danforth, Illinois. Presentations will be given by Harold and Ross Wilken on their experience with on-farm selection and milling at Janie's Farm. Fred Kolb and Allison Krill-Brown will speak on U of I efforts to develop wheat varieties suitable for Illinois. A discussion on participatory crop breeding will be led by Frank Kutka.

Lunch will be prepared by chefs from Hendrick House Catering with foods made from locally sourced grains. The cost is $12 for pre-registered participants. A limited number of lunches will be available for $15 for on-site participants.

The Agroecology and Sustainable Agriculture Program at the University of Illinois, and the Illinois Organic Growers Association are also co-sponsors for these events. For more information about the workshop, contact Carmen Ugarte at cugarte@illinois.edu or Bill Davison at wdavison@illinois.edu. You may consider participating in one or both events; registration is required for the field day.

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