General Mills and South Dakota State University have announced the opening of a state of the art oats variety development laboratory on the Brookings campus. Interim Dean of Agriculture at SDSU Dr. Daniel Scholl says the maker of Cheerios cereal and Nature Valley bars chose SDSU as its partner to improve the nutritional quality of oats, increase yields and make the crop sustainable by 2020.

He says SDSU will provide the land for the lab while General Mills will staff the lab with a scientist who will collaborate with SDSU researchers.

Oats is found in more than a quarter of General Mills products. Scholl says last year the company sourced much of its supply from South Dakota farmers.

Scholl says another major benefit of partnering with General Mills on the lab is SDSU students will have an opportunity to work with and learn from those researchers.