MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) -- A new wheat variety will be named 1863 to help Kansas State University celebrate its 150th birthday.

The hard red winter wheat variety will be introduced next year as the university begins its sesquicentennial celebration.

The celebration's coordinator, Megan Umscheid, calls the new wheat variety a "neat connection" to the school's heritage. Kansas State was the nation's first operational land-grant university under the Morrill Act.

Kansas Wheat Alliance president Daryl Strouts approached Kansas State about the project. Planters who purchase the wheat variety will get waterproof stickers with the university's 150th anniversary logo to post on their field signs.