Insomniacs and young people

Allow me a few moments to whine a little. If anyone is still reading, I just want to say that blogging is for young people and insomniacs. Who on earth decided it was a good idea to do everything you have to do in a day and then tell the whole world about it after you're already exhausted? OK, I have finished sounding like Andy Rooney. On with the show!

Today was another full day with the Seed Research crew. After breakfast, we hit the conference room at 7:30 a.m. Bill Dunn, the general manager at SRO for the past eight years, started the morning with an overview of the challenges facing the seed industry, which is, honestly, one of the reasons I love to come out here every couple of years. Meetings can be marketing and then more marketing, but Bill gives us the straight story about the challenges the industry is facing, and he gives a global perspective. He's not whining and saying, "Poor us, we're having a hard time," he's just telling it like it is for the industry as a whole. I learn so much from Bill's presentations — and then I can report that wisdom in the pages of GCM.

The morning was chock full of information, so I'll just give you names and topics for now. Leah Brilman, Ph.D., SRO's director of research talked about choosing and managing bentgrasses, and John Patton from SRO followed with new developments in bentgrass. Mary Beth Menard from SRO gave us some information about the new Kentucky bluegrasses and explained some of the differences among the various types of Kentucky bluegrasses.

The real star of today's show was Gwen Stahnke, Ph.D., from Washington State University, who gave an impressive update on the progress that's being made with intermediate/transitional ryegrasses and described the construction and grassing of Chambers Bay, a new course outside of Tacoma, Wash., that has already been selected as the site of the 2015 U.S. Open. However, Gwen's shining moment today was the announcement that she had been selected Seed Research of Oregon's Researcher of the Year. (Unfortunately, the dreaded technical difficulties are keeping me from providing photos of Gwen or anyone else — maybe tomorrow.)

Tomorrow you'll find out what really goes on at The Wiley Research Farm where we spent this afternoon — it's scandalous — and I'll tell you about our tour of the Seed Research facilities. Stay tuned.