WREC Director Jerry Bergman
Many of you know Dr. Jerry Bergman as a longtime safflower breeder and pioneer in developing new safflower varieties, but what many of you don’t know is the health benefits that safflower offers: Safflower oil is a healthier version of oil. It’s lower in saturated fats than canola or olive oil and higher in monosaturates than olive oil. Safflower oil is an excellent product for people with high cholesterol and high LDL, but it also helps to reduce the fat verses muscle ration in women who are past the child bearing age. It’s a product with great potential for nutrition and also for feeding ruminant animals.
Dr. Bergman, who worked on developing new and improved safflower varieties and safflower production research for the past 38 years and was the previous director of the MSU Eastern Ag Research Center in Sidney, is now the full time director of the Williston Research Extension Center. His decision to accept the position was based on the fact there is more research funding in Williston, which allows for more opportunity to do more research in dryland and irrigated land both. As a safflower breeder in Sidney, the research responsibility has diminished significantly, but his plan is to continue working with the Eastern Ag Research Center and USDA – Agricultural Research Service in Sidney on a cooperative basis as he has for many years. He will not be administratively in charge at the EARC, but all intentions are to cooperate as much or more than they have in the past. He is still testing advanced lines of Safflower breeds for consideration of release, but is no longer making crosses.
As the director of the WREC, Dr. Bergman is working on a new potato project: One which may lead to getting a potato processing plant in the Williston area. He and his fellow workers are cooperating with the potato breeders from the University of Minnesota and North Dakota State and they are in the process of marketing a new variety of potato called, “Mondak Gold.” This variety of potato will have excellent potential for baking, French fries and other special uses. He is also working on crops which are adapted here, both dryland and irrigated and he is involved in soil research, variety testing and crop production studies. Bergman plants whatever experiments he’s doing to make sure the process is done correctly. With the shortage of labor, he is doing more field work than normal but thoroughly enjoys doing it.
One concern he has in Williston is the ability to fill open positions. “Because of housing shortages and competitive salaries, we currently have three vacancies: a Horticulturist, an Agronomist and a Research Specialist.” He just returned from the American Society of Agronomy Career Fair in Cincinnati, Ohio, where over 3300 scientist attended, in hopes of attracting candidates for the open positions.
Bergman states, “Ag is still the most important income source in North Dakota and Montana and it’s important to have the people know it’s not just oil and gas in this region. Ag is contributing very significantly to the economy and to economic development in the region. We’d like to see more oil companies investing in agricultural projects.”
If you are interested in receiving more information on the vacancies, please contact Dr. Bergman at 701-774-4315 or email him at [email protected]
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