Panhandle dry edible bean breeder honored

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Carlos Urrea, dry edible bean breeding specialist at the University of Nebraska Panhandle Research and Extension Center, received the 2011 Distinguished Achievement Award from the Bean Improvement Cooperative, an international organization dedicated to the improvement of bean production.

Urrea was recognized Nov. 1 at the 2011 BIC meeting at San Juan, Puerto Rico. He was one of three recipients of the Distinguished Achievement Award in recognition of outstanding scientific achievement relating to bean improvement. The other recipients were from Spain and Puerto Rico.

Urrea has been at the Panhandle Center since 2005. His work focuses on the genetics, germplasm evaluation, and development of dry bean and chickpea cultivars adapted to western Nebraska with drought tolerance and resistance to diseases such as common rust and bacterial blight. Coyne, a new variety of Great Northern dry edible bean developed by Urrea, was released by UNL in 2008. It became commercially available in 2011 and is expected to be widely available in 2012.

Urrea has developed strong relationships with the Nebraska Dry Bean Growers Association and Nebraska Dry Bean Commission, as well as other local and regional organizations and many dry bean growers. He has co-authored more than 33 refereed publications, 27 of them on beans.

Before coming to UNL, Urrea worked as a barley breeder in North Dakota and a corn breeder in Mexico and Nepal. He received his bachelor’s degree in agronomy from Universidad Nacional de Colombia in 1984, his master’s degree in agronomy from the University of Puerto Rico, and his Ph.D. in plant breeding with a minor in statistics from North Dakota State University.

BIC is a voluntary and informal organization that exists for the exchange of information and materials for the improvement of bean production worldwide. Members include scientists, students, private organizations and lay-people interested in the organization’s mission.