Day 9: Punjab University and Flower seed farming

Blog post written by Lacey Caffee and Jason Warrington

Dr. KS Think, Director of Research at PAU

This morning we started at the number one agriculture university in India, Punjab Agricultural University, PAU, in Ludhiana. Due to connections with PAU scientists via colleagues at SDSU, Jon Kleinjan was picked up early, met with the Director of Research, and was given a private tour of the wheat breeding plots.  Jon was impressed with the types of research being conducted, noting that the PAU wheat breeding program was doing extensive work with both hybrid wheat and genomic trait selection.

About an hour later, the rest of the class arrived at campus.  We met with Dr. KS Thind, the Additional Director of Research (Crop Improvement), and senior members of his faculty.  He began his presentation by explaining that PAU is one of the most agriculturally advanced universities in India.  Included in his discussion were important facts about PAU, including founding and evolution, undergraduate programs, research and extension, crop variety releases, achievements in crop improvement, and Indian agricultural concerns.  Dr. Thind also discussed the agricultural importance Punjab, which is the leading agricultural state in India.  Punjab produces 38%, 37%, and 28.5% of India’s wheat, honey, and rice, respectively.

The key takeaways included the advanced status of PAU in mechanization, soil health issues, and plant breeding.  Surprisingly, PAU researchers are in favor of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and hope through the education process to alter any negative sentiment from the general public.  They are promoting more machinery usage and implementing better cultural practices, including no-till for wheat following rice.  And, alternative uses for wheat and rice straw that don’t include burning the fields and creating air pollution.

After our discussion, we were taken on a short tour by Dr. Grueupkar Singh, Assistant Professor of the Agriculture Biotech Research facility.  Researching disease resistance in plants, they use jars to grow clones of different kinds of plants in order to develop and test new varieties which can be released to farmers for production.  We saw them in several different growth stages.  Dr. Yogesh Vikal, Sr. Geneticist, showed us around the room where they do the gene mapping. 

Genetic clones growing in the lab

Showing us some of the projects being worked on

Rob Thuringer inspecting one of the samples.

Concluding our tour of PAU was a tour of the Food Industry Business Incubation center, basically a commercial kitchen to allow producers to value-added production.  They have the facilities available for farmers to process their fruits and vegetables into any number of products for retail sale, not just informal market sales.  They have washing, canning, and processing available for a nominal fee.  We tried sugarcane juice, which is so well preserved they don’t have to keep it cold.   They estimate most products made there can generate a 40% profit for the farmers.

Some broccoli being prepared for packaging.

Adam Ehlers inspects the large cooking pots at the food center

Our group with hosts at PAU

Displaying some of the products made in the value-added center

After lunch busing to the flower farm, we drove by a place along the road where bricks were being made.  The farmer’s lease out the land and workers make bricks out of it.  They dig to a certain depth level per what the farmer asks.  When they get done, it’s all leveled out for the farmer to plant wheat and other crops. 

Brick layers working in fields along our drive

Beauscape Farms was just beautiful! Avtar Singh Dhindsa and is wife were fabulous hosts.  Beauscape began the flower farm in 1985 and has excelled into India’s largest flower seed supplier.  He supplies 50% of the country’s seed.  On the worldwide stage, he has wholesalers in over 100 countries.  This includes Japan, Australia, Europe, and the United States.  Applewood Seed Company in Colorado is one of his major buyers in the U.S.

 Beauscape Farms was just beautiful! Avtar Singh Dhindsa and is wife were fabulous hosts.  Beauscape began the flower farm in 1985 and has excelled into India’s largest flower seed supplier.  He supplies 50% of the country’s seed.  On the worldwide stage, he has wholesalers in over 100 countries.  This includes Japan, Australia, Europe, and the United States.  Applewood Seed Company in Colorado is one of his major buyers in the U.S.

He had a question/answer session and a tour.  Beauscape focuses on seed production in the wholesale division.  They sell in bulk to other companies; then package the seeds and distribute them for retail. His farm is comprised of 800 of acres in Punjab and another 500 in southern India. This leads them to export 30-40 tons of 650 different varieties of flower/vegetables seeds a year.

Inspecting the seed sorting equipment

Inspecting the flood irrigation channels.  Punjab State has invested
in several large canals that helps keep irrigation water flowing.

After seeing several of the flowers in bloom, we discussed harvesting the flower seeds.  The harvesting is all done by hand; therefore, it is the most expensive part of the whole process.  Manually sorting seeds isn’t the most cost efficient.  Ideally machines are used for sorting seeds.  They had to create several of their own machines, including one that takes the fuzz off some of the seeds heading to Japan.  As we were guided around the processing area, we saw cleaners, sorters, and bagger machines.  The seeds need to be 99.9% dry and no swelling, so cloth bags are used instead of plastic. 

These ladies were sorting squash seeds for planting in the coming days.
Most of their labor is hand work done by local villagers