carefully groomed arboretum, and on the other side
happens,” Hanks said. “Our motto could be ‘Farm
by a volunteer-tended vegetable garden that supplied
Ugly’ because there is no weed control or irrigation
produce to local food banks through the summer. The
and the seeds were planted in blocks at different
plot illustrates a dilemma that researchers face when
times, using different methods, so we have bands
their laboratory is a highly visible field. The objec-
where the plants look good next to bands where
tive is not to create a beautiful garden. The goal is to
they are stunted and sparse.”
gather data to determine whether or not crops can be successfully grown under tough conditions before a
safflower on the UBC research plot in the 2009 crop
lot of time and money are spent trying it on a larger
year, making it appear, at least preliminarily, that
scale. But the public just sees a field where plants
covering the seeds with compost was a winning
appear neglected and assumes that a college full of
technique. The formula to determine whether the
agricultural scientists ought to know better.
crop is profitable is a complicated one, taking into
“We are trying to simulate what happens along the roadside so we just have to plant and see what
8
The team produced a respectable crop of
Top: Graduate researcher Dallas Hanks harvests safflower at the Utah Botanical Center. Above: Mature and dry safflower plants. Utah Science
account moving targets like the going price for the seeds, and the market price for biodiesel.
“The climate and soils here make this a big challenge. In fact, Utah and Nevada are probably the two worst places to try this. But if we can do it here, people in other states will be able to make this work.”