Stephen Vantassel will speak at the Froid Field Day on vertebrate pest management. Vabtassel is holding a Richardson's ground squirrel.
Area producers have two opportunities in June to learn more about dryland agricultural research being done in this region including work on intercropping, renovating CRP monocultures, new cereal livestock forages, soil acidification and remediation, as well as training in vertebrate pest control, grazing cover crop mixes, and more.
The first opportunity is Tuesday, June 19th when the joint field day hosted by Montana State University's Eastern Agricultural Research Center (EARC) and the USDA-Agricultural Research Service's (ARS) Northern Plains Ag Research Lab in Sidney is held. The second opportunity is two days later at the annual Froid Research Farm Field Day on Thursday afternoon, June 21st.
Both events are free and open to the public! Note: pesticide points for both events are pending.
Other details include:
Sidney ARS / EARC Field Day – Tuesday, June 19
This joint federal and state Dryland Field Day begins at 9 am (registration at 8:45 am) at the Sidney ARS research farm and ends at 12:30 pm at the EARC dryland research farm, where a free lunch is being provided by the Richland County Extension Office. Everyone is welcome to attend!
Tour talks planned include a special presentation on grazing cover crop mixes by NRCS Area Agronomist Mark Henning and another on soil acidification and remediation (an emerging issue in the region) which will include a presentation by Sidney ARS Soil Scientist Upendra Sainju and another by Sidney Sugars Agriculturalist Vanessa Pooch who will discuss the factory's lime giveaway program. Other ARS talks include presentations on new studies looking at biocontrol of whitetop, an invasive weed; drought impacts on grasshoppers, and renovation of troubled Conservation Reserve Program plantings that have evolved into monocultures of exotic grasses. EARC talks include updates on integrated weed management strategies for organic chickpea production and the effects of durum variety and planting dates on Fusarium head blight. A discussion of a new cereal livestock forage study by Richland County Extension Agent Tim Fine rounds out the day.
In addition to those already mentioned, other presenters include Drs. Chengci Chen, cropping systems agronomist, and Frankie Crutcher, plant pathologist, both with EARC; and Drs. Brett Allen, research agronomist; Natalie West, research ecologist, and Dave Branson, research entomologist, all with Sidney, MT ARS.
The Sidney ARS research farm is located about 4 miles north of Sidney off MT Highway 16. Coming from Sidney, take a left on County Road 129 and a second left on County Road 346. The turn into the farm will be marked.
Froid Research Farm Field Day – Thursday, June 21
The 2018 Froid Research Farm Field Day is Thursday afternoon, June 21st, from 1-5 pm, and begins with two special presentations, the first on dryland intercropping research by Canadian Lana Shaw, manager of the Southeast Research Farm, Inc. at Redvers, Saskatchewan. Her presentation is followed by a training in vertebrate pest control by Stephen Vantassel, vertebrate pest specialist with the Montana Dept. of Ag. The Froid research farm is located 8 miles north of Culbertson on MT Highway 16.
Also on tap are talks on CRP renovation studies; wheat stem sawfly and conservation biocontrol; grazing cover crop mixes; the impacts of durum variety and planting dates on fungal disease; soil acidification and remediation options, and updates on the research farm's subsurface irrigation system demonstration project and the saltcedar spraying project conducted along the Missouri river late last summer.
Speakers include Dr. Tatyana Rand, research ecologist, and Dr. John Gaskin, botanist, both with Sidney ARS, and Roosevelt County Conservation District Board member Mike Christoffersen, along with Drs. Crutcher, Allen and Sainju; NRCS' Henning and Sidney Sugars' Pooch.
The day concludes with a free steak dinner at 5:00 pm sponsored by the Sheridan and Roosevelt County Conservation Districts. Other event sponsors include the Sheridan and Roosevelt County Extension offices, and the USDA-ARS Northern Plains Agricultural Research Laboratory in Sidney.
For more information on both the Froid and Sidney tours, contact Beth Redlin at 406-433-9427 or [email protected].
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