UW-Extension Brian Smith

COOPERATIVE EXTENSION

Agriculture and Natural Resources Specialist

Brian R. Smith

Plant and Earth Science Department
UW-River Falls
410 So. 3rd Street
River Falls, WI 54022
715-425-3851
brian.r.smith@uwrf.edu

Dr. Smith is an Extension Commercial Fruit Specialist who helps growers make improvements in cultural efficiency to remain competitive, improve their profitability, diversify their operations, and respond to changing government regulation of pesticide usage. He also maintains an active research program focused on developing winter hardy fruits - strawberries, raspberries, and plums - of high quality, good yield and superior pest and disease resistance for Midwest commercial growers.

UW-River Falls is the only campus in the UW-System actively engaged in fruit breeding. It is home to the only plum and raspberry breeding programs in a 24-state surrounding area.

Current Activities

Brian has a patent pending on a plum he developed! This new plum, Lydecker, was created by crossing a winter hardy plum with a Japanese dessert plum. The result is a plum that can stand up to Wisconsin winters and has fruit as large and tasty as any California-grown plum. The name, Lydecker, was chosen in honor of the late UW-River Falls Chancellor, Ann M. Lydecker who was killed in a car accident in 2004. Link to the UW-River Falls press releases on Brian's new plum:

UW-River Falls Professor Develops Hardy Midwestern Plum

Prof's Fruit Research Program Garners Grants, Recognition

Efforts to develop appropriate propagation techniques for new plum cultivars continue. This is one of the last steps before final testing can begin and new plum cultivars are released. This project is in cooperation with Brent McCown at UW-Madison and is funded by a University of Wisconsin Consortium for Agriculture and Natural Resources (CERANR) grant.

Work continues with raspberries. Funding from a UW-System Applied Research Grant program is allowing Brian to identify and evaluate new summer-bearing raspberries. A second year of funding from the Wisconsin Agriculture Development and Diversification program is supporting ongoing efforts in raspberry breeding for Wisconsin's commercial fruit growers. The National Association of Bramble Growers (NABGA) has also provided financial support for this work.

Strawberry breeding is an ongoing part of the small fruit breeding program. These efforts are supported by the Wisconsin Berry Growers Association

Each year Brian plans, hosts and/or presents at various events for samll fruit and vegetable growers, including the annual Wisconsin Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Conference, annual Field Days for the various grower associations, as well as Master Gardener training sessions.

Education

Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in Horticulture with a minor in Plant Breeding
M.S. from the University of Minnesota in Horticulture
B.S. from South Dakota State University in Horticulture