ND FFA Foundation
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students in North Dakota"
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Melissa Quam- Food
Science and Technology Placement Proficiency Award Winner A 19 year old graduate from the Wyndmere FFA Chapter,
Melissa Quam started out at Seeds 2000 in the fall of 2004 to help out. Melissa’s
main motivation to work there was because of her interest in science. When first starting at Seeds 2000, Melissa’s goal was to
get a good feel for the research because it would help her with her future goal
of going into microbiology and in veterinary medicine. Now Melissa has been able
to conduct research that most of the other assistants would never get to
experience such as running the NMR to test the amount of oil in the seeds and
treat seeds with fungicide to ensure that there are no problems during the
germination process. When Melissa started, her main duties were to work
primarily on threshing the sunflower heads and aspirating the seeds harvested
from each individual head; however, as her experience grew so did the tasks
list. At Seeds 2000 they try to produce the best oil and
confection sunflowers available today. Melissa says, “I spend my time during
the fall preparing the seeds from the last season to test their oil percentage
and seed production.” She also treats the seeds and prepares them to be planted
in the greenhouse for winter research trials and to be shipped to Melissa plans to work at the Seeds 2000 until completing
her degree in veterinary medicine. She will attend NDSU where she will earn her
degree in microbiology. She then
plans to get into the veterinary medicine program at the The Food Science and Technology Placement Proficiency
awards are sponsored by Agri-Pro Wheat/Syngenta in By: Melissa Mitchell |
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Ths
page is sponsored by the ND Grain Growers Association