Ryan Contreras and Kim Shearer to speak at Farwest 2017

Wilsonville, Ore. – Renowned plant breeders Ryan Contreras and Kim Shearer will be delivering seminars at this year’s Farwest, Aug. 23-25 in Portland, Ore., of particular interest for nursery growers keeping an eye on emerging plants that will shape the future for the industry and the marketplace.

Ryan Contreras, Ph.D, Associate Professor, Oregon State University, will deliver an address, "What’s New from Oregon State Plant Breeding," on Friday, Aug. 25, 8:30-9:30a, in Room B113-114. Dr. Contreras will discuss the value in producing and marketing plants that serve a more overt function or require fewer inputs. He will share ongoing work at the Ornamental Plant Breeding Laboratory at OSU in breeding plants with novel fragrance and flowering, disease resistance, seed characteristics, and improved qualities for native evergreen edible shrubs.

Dr. Contreras teaches plant identifi cation and plant growth and development courses at OSU. He also directs the Ornamental Plant Breeding Program, which focuses on developing new cultivars of woody shrubs and trees with improved traits.

Shearer, tree and shrub breeder at The Morton Arboretum, will present "The Morton Arboretum’s New Plant Development Program," covering the history of the breeding program at the Arboretum. She will share releases currently in the marketplace and look at future introductions in the pipeline. All Arboretum introductions are marketed through the Chicagoland Grows® plant introduction program. Her talk is scheduled for Wednesday, August 23, 9:45-10:45a, Room B113-114.

Shearer earned B.S. degrees in Horticulture and Plant Biology at North Carolina State University and M.S. degree at Oregon State University in Horticulture with a concentration in Plant Breeding and Genetics. Her graduate degree projects focused on inducing and evaluating hereditary variation in maples, penstemon, and cape hyacinth. At NC State, she was mentored by Dr. Tom Ranney and Dr. Jenny Xiang, and conducted research on cultivated dogwoods and native azaleas.

For complete information on all Education Seminars (registration required), free Mini-Sessions, and general information on Farwest 2017, visit www.FarwestShow.com.