b'some cancers, coronary heart disease,dinary; were simply working to create obesity, and overall holistic benefits forsomething that works for growers in digestive health and immune systemMinnesota that will be appealing to craft health, he said. brewers and their customers.Creating a functional product with the Finding What Works consumer in mind is a philosophy Wayne Successfully commercializing a varietyHanna drove home to meeting attendees isnt always about figuring out whatThe turning point towardduring his talk on what makes a good cul-consumers want, though. Charlie Rohwer,tivar. Hanna, who spent his career at the horticultural scientist at the Universitycommercial success is always theUniversity of Georgia, is an internationally of Minnesota Southern Research andattractiveness of the product.recognized plant breeder of grasses and Outreach Center, knows what fans ofgrain crops, particularly turf grass and craft beer already desire. He presented Fan-Li Chou pearl millet. Hes also last years NAPB on small-scale hop breeding for regionalLifetime Achievement Award winner.growers and brewers. In recent years he has taken to breeding Craft beer was a small portion of thepine trees for the ornamental market. He beer market until mid-2000s when it tooksaid he got chuckles from suppliers when right off. Craft beer uses a lot more hopshe floated the idea of breeding a coneless than mass produced brands. Craft beerpine tree, something he is currently work-enthusiasts want that full hop flavor youing at doing during his retirement.dont find in a beer like Bud Light, hethe North Star State are proprietary. People said I was crazy to want to said. Hop growers in Minnesota need newmake a pine tree with no cones. I said, If Problem is, farmers in Minnesota whocultivars for marketing purposes, Rohweryou ask homeowners in the South, about want to grow hops have a hard timesaid. As a result, hes using public varieties1% will tell you they dont mind having doing so due to competition from pro- to create made-in-Minnesota hops thatpinecones all over their lawn. Everyone else ducers in states like Washington, Oregoncan be marketed under new names tosays theyre aggravating. If you can breed and Idaho. Also, many popular hop varie- craft beer makers in the state and poten- a pine tree that redirects its energy to tree ties do not grow well in Minnesota, andtially beyond. growth instead of making cones, it could be several varieties that might grow well inWere not doing anything extraor- a billion-dollar business, he said.SWOCTOBER 2020SEEDWORLD.COM /55'