A Time of Change
An opportunity knocked and so: a different city, a different job, a different house, a different school, and a different church. All these things have changed for my family in the last month or so. My name is Kristin Simons and I recently started as the research agronomist at the CREC.
Growing up on a small grain farm near Center, ND, I knew I wanted to be involved in agriculture. My career path has been full of twists and turns. It started in wheat, working to understand fertility and then the mechanism behind the free threshing trait. I took a turn and looked at how DNA is recombined to form new gene combinations in corn. Another twist brought me to the pulses where I identified a new virus strain, worked to better understand the seed transmission of anthracnose and identified genomic regions associated with resistance to common bacterial blight. The last turn was working with a dry bean breeder to learn the facets of a breeding program. As the harvest is done, we complete one cycle to start another after a rest.
My family and I moved from Fargo this fall during the middle of harvest. It’s been an exciting time to join the Carrington REC. Thus far, I’ve been fortunate to assist in chopping corn silage, harvesting flax, lupins, dry beans, and soybeans and collecting soil samples. We’ll soon move on to corn, sunflowers, and sorghum. The breadth of research that occurs at the CREC is truly amazing!
My interests are varied, and the future is full of possibilities. If you have an idea or want to see research on a particular topic or crop, send it my way.
Kristin Simons
Kristin.Simons@ndsu.edu
CREC Research Agronomist
