2019 Ag Research Summit Includes New Date, Irrigated, Horticulture Sessions

As 2019 nears a close, farmers and ranchers have a lot of questions: What's the deal with this weather? What do we need to brace for next? What can be done with all that damaged grain? What about disease....white mold? Fusarium? And what about new crop options to help battle low prices...Kernza, Hemp? Can these crops be adapted here? How do we manage them, and what about markets?

These and many other questions will be addressed during the 3rd Annual MonDak Ag Research Summit to be held Thursday, December 12 at the Richland County Fairgrounds Event Center in Sidney, MT.

The summit runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and is organized by the MonDak area's three ag research facilities – North Dakota State University's Williston Research and Extension Center, Montana State University's Eastern Ag Research Center in Sidney, and the USDA Agricultural Research Service's Northern Plains Ag Research Lab, also in Sidney. The collaborative program focuses on "ready to use" research findings by the more than 20 scientists employed at the three facilities who have expertise in irrigated and dryland agronomy, plant pathology, soil science, plant and insect ecology, molecular biology, weed and insect biocontrol, and much more!

Sponsors for the event include the City of Williston, Sidney Sugars, Inc., Agri Industries, Montana-Dakota Beet Growers Association, American Harvest, Inc, and Cargill in Great Falls.

New Irrigation and Horticulture Programs

This year's Summit includes a new program structure with concurrent sessions targeting irrigated and dryland research in the morning and a new horticulture session and general ag talks in the afternoon. The latter will include a presentation on local hemp research and one by representatives of American Harvest, Inc., the new CBD oil plant being developed in Sidney.

Also featured are several guest presentations, beginning with one on current climate trends and influences, and what to expect next spring by Dr. Kevin Hyde of the Montana Climate Office at the University of Montana. Dr. Hyde will also do a lunchtime presentation on measuring and interpreting soil moisture data. He will be followed after lunch by NDSU Livestock Extension Specialist Dr. Jenna Block who will be discussing potential utilization of weather damaged grain for livestock. And, Dr. Tom Scherer, NDSU Associate Professor and Extension Engineer, will open the new Irrigation Session with a discussion of proper irrigation scheduling and machine maintenance. The afternoon concludes with a special presentation by American Harvest, Inc. CEO John Piracha. American Harvest is a hemp processing company that recently opened a plant in Sidney.

Altogether, 24 different research presentations are planned throughout the day, along with two poster sessions featuring another two dozen ongoing research projects at the three host facilities. The researchers on those projects will be on hand to answer questions regarding their work.

Research talks include:

9:05 a.m .: Guest Speaker – Dr. Kevin Hyde, Montana Climate Office, University of Montana – Monitoring Change: Now and Ahead

Irrigated Session:

9:30 a.m .: Guest Speaker – Dr. Tom Scherer, NDSU-Fargo – Irrigation Scheduling and Irrigation Machine Maintenance

10 a.m .: Tyler Tjelde – Nesson Valley Research Overview

10:15 a.m .: Apurba Sutradhar – Micronutrient Additions for Sugarbeet

10:30 a.m .: Poster Session

11 a.m .: Tyler Tjelde - Effects of Sugarbeet Factory Spent Lime on Soil Crop Production in a Crop Rotation of Wheat and Sugarbeet

11:15 a.m .: Chengci Chen – Economics and Yield and Protein Totals for Irrigated Pea Study with ARS

11:30 a.m .: Audrey Kalil – White Mold in Soybean

11:45 a.m .: Bart Stevens – Irrigated Soybean Management

Dryland Session: (concurrent with Irrigated program)

9:30 a.m .: Clair Keene – Kernza: A New Dual Use Crop for the MonDak

9:45 a.m .: Bill Franck – Pea Protein: Variety and Treatment Differences

10 a.m .: Frankie Crutcher – Fusarium Avenaceum Control in Pea from Scabby Grain

10:30 a.m .: Poster Session

11 a.m .: Brett Allen - Dryland Perennial Grass Response to N Fertilizer Application

11:15 a.m .: Tim Fine - Corn Grazing Demonstration Project

11:30 a.m .: Gautam Pradhan – Application of Unmanned Aircraft Systems in Small Plot Experiments

11:45 a.m .: Meridith Miller – New Dryland Crop Varieties

Noon: Lunch with Guest Speaker – Dr. Kevin Hyde, Measuring and Interpreting Soil Moisture Data and Estimates of Plant Available Water

1:10 p.m .: Guest Speaker – Dr. Janna Block, NDSU-Hettinger, Utilization of Weather-Damaged Grain for Livestock

Horticulture Session:

1:30 p.m .: Rojee Pradhan – Plant Propagation Workshop

2 p.m .: Bill Iversen – Outdoor Composting Techniques

2:20 p.m .: Deb Waters – Kitchen Waste Composting

2:40 p.m .: Composting Q&A

General Ag Session: (concurrent with Horticulture program)

1:30 p.m .: Tatyana Rand – Can Cover Crops Increase the Efficacy of Wheat Stem Sawfly Biocontrol?

1:45 p.m .: Tim Fine – Demonstration: NDSU Projected Crop Budget Software

2 p.m .: Poster Session

2:20 p.m .: CEO John Piracha - American Harvest, Inc. Overview

2:35 p.m .: Chengci Chen – Hemp Research at EARC

2:50 p.m .: Wrapup

Free Lunch, Door Prizes and More

A free lunch from Famous Dave's in Williston is provided for all participants. Door prizes are also planned. Pesticide and continuing education credits are pending.

Those interested in attending can preregister online at https://tinyurl.com/2019agsummit or by calling or emailing Beth Redlin at 406-433-9427 or [email protected]. Note, preregistration is encouraged, but not required.