Chiwon Lee, professor of plant sciences, received the 2016 Friend of the Farmer Award from the Northern Plains Sustainable Agriculture Society. He received the honor during the society's winter conference Jan. 21-23 in Aberdeen, South Dakota.

The award recognizes individuals who support agriculture in the Northern Plains through efforts to enhance the sustainability of agricultural, food and distribution systems.

Lee partnered with the group during the last three years to conduct vegetable cultivar trials, working to select varieties that have preferred taste and texture, as well as the highest yield and percentage of salable production.

“Dr. Lee has been an integral part of Northern Plains Sustainable Agricultural Society’s vegetable research efforts,” said executive director Edd Goerger. “We awarded Dr. Lee the Friend of the Farmer award based on the dedication he brought to providing our membership with useful and practical information they can apply to their garden production immediately.”

In addition to receiving the award, Lee presented a session during the conference that described the breadth of specialty crop breeding at NDSU. Graduate student Zhigang Wu, who is advised by Lee, presented results of vegetable crop variety and management trials in North Dakota.

Lee has worked at NDSU since 1991. His research involves culture and breeding of vegetable crops, plant nutrition and controlled environment crop production.

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