The North Dakota State University Carrington Research Extension Center (CREC) annual field day will be held Tuesday, July 19.
Two crop tours will be conducted during the event for participants to view research trials and receive current production information. Highlighted will be crop variety performance, production and pest management, tillage systems and plant nutrition.
The morning tour will begin at 9:30 a.m. The tour will include a review of spring and durum wheat, barley and dry bean cultivars by NDSU plant breeders Mohamed Mergoum, Elias Elias, Richard Horsley and Juan Osorno. Corn and soybean production highlights will be presented by NDSU Extension Service agronomists Joel Ransom and Greg Endres. Also, an update on energy beets will be provided by Maynard Helgaas, area commercial vegetable producer, and Blaine Schatz, CREC director and research agronomist.
Following a noon lunch, tour participants are encouraged to attend a second crop tour starting at 1 p.m.
The tour will focus on four areas:
* Tile drainage - Tim Becker, Eddy County Extension agent; Hans Kandel, Extension agronomist; and Ron Wiederholt, CREC nutrient management specialist, will provide an introduction to the benefits and challenges of land management strategy.
* Managing prevented plant cropland - Dwight Aakre, Extension economist, and Kandel will review regulatory and agronomic options for unplanted cropland.
* Crop pest update - Sam Markell, Marcia McMullen and Michael Wunsch, NDSU plant pathologists, will provide an update on the threat and management of this season's small-grain and row-crop diseases. Janet Knodel, Extension entomologist, will highlight management strategies for late-season insects, including wheat and soybean aphids, and sunflower head-infesting insects. Kirk Howatt, NDSU weed scientist, and Endres will review this season's weed management challenges and highlight CREC weed management trials.
* Tillage systems and plant nutrition - John Nowatzki, Extension agricultural machine systems specialist, will review current research on the impact of crop residue on soil moisture and temperature. Also, Paul Hendrickson, CREC research agronomist, and Endres will highlight CREC research on row-crop response to tillage systems and placement of starter fertilizer.
In addition to the crop tours, field day visitors will have the opportunity to attend livestock and fruit tours.
For more information, contact the CREC at (701) 652-2951 or go to http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/carringtonREC/.
