Moisture deficits loom as one of the greatest challenges to future crop production, both in rainfed and irrigated agriculture. Enhancing the genetic tolerance of crops to drought stress, together with improved agronomic practices, is considered an essential strategy for addressing these deficits.

To respond to the need for more plant scientists trained in developing drought tolerant cultivars, Colorado State University, Oklahoma State University, and University of Nebraska researchers, guided by a committee of breeders, growers, physiologists, and agronomists are offering a short course (June 14 - 25, 2010) and symposium (June 24-25, 2010) in Plant Breeding for Drought Tolerance in Fort Collins, CO. The Symposium is open to the public; at this time, the course is full but you may submit an application to be held on our wait-list.

The course is targeted to graduate students in the plant sciences, as well as to professionals in the public and private sectors. It will provide three transferable graduate-level credits. The course will consist of classroom lectures, hands-on lab exercises, and field research in a drought breeding program at field sites in Eastern Colorado and Western Nebraska.

• Whole Plant Physiology of Drought Stress
• Plant Breeding for Drought Stress Tolerance
• Genomic approaches to Drought Stress Tolerance

Visit the Course Overview page for more course details, and the Tuition and Fees page for program costs. Although we are no longer accepting applications, the Plant Breeding for Drought Tolerance Symposium is open for registration.

An online course is planned for summer 2011, which will include lectures and lessons from the short course this summer. If you would like to be on an email list to learn more about this as information becomes available, please send us your information.