There are lots to learn this coming week at two ag research Field Day events planned in Froid and Sidney June 28th and 29th. The back-to-back events include discussions on crop weed herbicide resistance; spring- and fall-seeded cover crops; new oilseed variety studies, wheat stem sawfly management and yield loss, Russian olive removal and revegetation, and more, including a plastic pesticide container recycling opportunity for tour participants. Free meals and pesticide points are also provided.
Agronomist Jeff Stachler, a weed science professor at North Dakota State University in Fargo, is the featured speaker at both events, so if you can’t make one day, you can still catch his presentation at the other event. Dr. Stachler will discuss his herbicide resistant weeds research. His current focus is on weed control in sugarbeets – and in particular management of problematic weeds in Roundup Ready sugarbeet – but his expertise carries over into other crops as well and includes research in confirmation, scouting and management of herbicide resistant weeds.
Dr. Stachler will be speaking at the annual Froid Research Farm Tour on Thursday afternoon, June 28th, and again the following morning during the Sidney ARS Research Farm Tour on Friday, June 29th. The Froid farm is located 8 miles north of Culbertson on MT Highway 16. Registration for that event is at 1:00 pm. Thursday and the day’s activities conclude with a free steak dinner at 5:30 pm sponsored by the Sheridan and Roosevelt County Conversation Districts. Co-sponsors also include the Roosevelt County Extension Office and the USDA-Agricultural Research Service (ARS) laboratory in Sidney.
The fourth annual Sidney ARS Field Tour follows Friday, June 29th, from 9 am to 12:30 pm at ARS’ Research Farm located about 4 miles north of Sidney along MT Highway 16. Take a left on County Rd. 129 and another left on County Rd. 346 to reach the farmsite. The event concludes with a free “farmer’s lunch” provided by the 2012 Extension Blood Pressure/Cholesterol Grant. Co-sponsors include Sidney ARS and the Richland County Extension Office. In case of rain, this event will be moved to the new Richland County Extension meeting room in Sidney at 1501 N. Central Avenue.
Both events offer two private and two commercial pesticide points for attendees.
Other joint highlights include:
A demonstration of the Montana Department of Agriculture’s Pesticide Container Recycling Truck with Recycling Technician Ron Ahlgren. As part of his demonstration, Algren has agreed to recycle plastic pesticide containers from interested tour participants that meet the program’s cleaning and other requirements. Information on those requirements is available at the MT Department of Agriculture website or at http://www.ars.usda.gov/npa/nparl.
Presentations on new fall-seeded cover crop research at the Sidney and Froid research farm sites. In addition, Thursday’s activities at Froid include a trip to the Greg Sunwall farm and a discussion of his spring-seeded cover crops. Also addressing cover crops at Thursday’s event will be Miles City NRCS Agronomist Mark Henning.
Presentations by the USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Plant Materials Center in Bridger, MT. They will discuss the role of the Bridger Plant Materials Center and their work with Sidney and Miles City ARS researchers and others on a long-term study looking at the most effective Russian olive removal methods and prospects for revegetation. ARS scientists will also be discussing their roles in that research effort.
A presentation by Richland County Extension Agent Tim Fine on new label changes for Milestone herbicides.
Presentations by ARS scientists including research on new oilseeds variety studies for use as biofuels; winter wheat forage and hardiness studies; evolving wheat stem sawfly management strategies, wheat stem sawfly impacts on yield losses, and more.
Additional talks by ARS scientists include discussions of nitrogen fertilizer rates for cool and warm-season grass biomass production (Froid only) and cropping sequence and nitrogen fertilization impacts on malt barley yield and greenhouse gas emissions (Sidney only).
For more information on either of these events, contact Beth Redlin at 406-433-9427.
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