DAKOTA GROWERS PASTA COMPANY
One Pasta Avenue, P.O. Box 21, Carrington ND 58421, U.S.A.

James Quick and Brad Miller.

Dakota Growers Pasta Company (DGPC) has launched its own durum-breeding program headed by James Quick, who will serve as a consulting durum breeder for the company. Quick retires as head of the Colorado State University Soil and Crop Sciences Department on 30 June, 2003. His experience in plant breeding and genetics spans nearly 40 years, including 12 from 1969 to 1981 as a durum breeder at North Dakota State University, where he developed 10 durum wheat varieties, including the first semidwarf and the first strong-gluten cultivars developed for the major durum region of the U.S. For several years, DGPC has been working with Quick and Western Plant Breeders to conduct field trials, including research on FHB resistance, which has been causing durum quality and grain yield problems.

Having its own breeding program will allow DGPC to develop specialized durums to fill niche or identity-preserved markets. The company already has pasta customers that request specialized semolina. Establishing a durum-breeding program fits into the company's objective of satisfying growing IP market opportunities.

DGPC's breeding program hopes to develop further collaboration with the durum-breeding programs at North Dakota State University and elsewhere. NDSU has released numerous cultivars with good agronomic and quality attributes in recent years. Breeding is a numbers game. With more breeders working on a problem such as scab and more crosses being made through more diverse genetic material, the better the chances that a scab-resistant cultivar will be found. DGPC also will be able to respond more quickly to fill niche or IP markets.

Organized in 1991 as a coöperative of durum-wheat growers, Dakota Growers Pasta is the third largest producer of dry pasta products in North America and the leading supplier of retail store brand pasta and a leader in the food-service and ingredient pasta markets. The company's processing plants in Carrington, ND, and New Hope, MN, employ over 400 people. Grower members voted to convert the company from a closed coöperative to a common stock corporation last year.