Newsroom

PENDLETON - Oregon State University will hold an open meeting and training session on Monday, June 23, for seed producers, Extension agents and seed certification officials interested in a new CLEARFIELD wheat variety developed by OSU called ORCF-101.

The meeting will run from 1 to 5 p.m. at the Pendleton Convention Center. Admission is free.

During the meeting, OSU scientists, technology licensing specialists, a BASF Corporation representative and others will discuss the characteristics of the new soft white winter wheat variety, as well as plans for its stewardship, seed licensing and marketing.

ORCF-101 contains a gene for herbicide tolerance patented by BASF, an international chemical company. The gene makes the wheat tolerant to the BASF herbicide "Beyond." The new variety was developed using traditional plant breeding methods and not by genetic engineering, according to OSU wheat breeder Jim Peterson.

Speakers at the meeting include Peterson, who leads OSU's wheat breeding and genetics program; Russ Karow, head of the OSU Department of Crop and Soil Science; Bill Hostetler, director of OSU's Technology Transfer program; Greg Vollmer, of the WSCIA Foundation Seed Service; Chad Shelton, of the BASF Corporation; and Dan Ball and Carol Mallory-Smith, weed scientists from OSU.

Information about ORCF-101 and the June 23 meeting are available on the web at http://cropandsoil.oregonstate.edu/wheat/orcf-101/.

Meeting organizers are asking persons interested in attending to pre-register by calling the OSU Crop and Soil Science Department at 541-737-2821.