Southwest Research and Outreach Center

East African immigrant farmers grow culturally relevant crops in Minnesota; U of M researchers share agricultural management expertise.

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.

Hot and dry. Those words describe the 2021 growing season here at the Southwest Research and Outreach Center, as well as across much of Minnesota. 

Redwood County, where the SWROC is located, spent much of the summer in the U.S. Drought Monitor’s moderate and extreme drought categories, with portions of the county reaching extreme drought levels at the end of July. 

While the drought’s impact can only be seen as a negative for most corn and soybean growers in the region, the dry growing season presented exciting research opportunities for Professor Jeff Strock, who conducts drainage water quality research at the SWROC.