Battling wheat stem sawfly? Interested in forages or CRP native plantings? How about forages potentially resistant to grasshoppers or rotations that help curb disease in peas and lentils? These are just a few of the research projects being featured at a joint Dryland Field Day, presented by Montana State University’s Eastern Ag Research Center (EARC) and the USDA Agricultural Research Service’s (ARS) Northern Plains Agricultural Research Lab (NPARL). The tour is set for Wednesday morning, July 17 and features speakers from both research facilities and the Mandan, ND ARS facility, as well as forage specialists from the University of Wisconsin and the Madison, WI ARS research laboratory.
The combined half-day activities begin at the ARS research farmsite located about 4 miles north of Sidney on the Culbertson highway. Take a left at County Road 129 and a second left on County Road 346 to get to the farmsite. Registration opens at 8:45 a.m. with coffee and donuts followed by the start of the tour at 9 a.m. The tour will subsequently move to the MSU dryland farm across the highway for additional research talks and conclude with a free lunch at 12:30 p.m. sponsored by the Richland County Extension Office. Everyone is welcome to participate. Note, pesticide applicator points are pending for the event.
This is the first time in the last five years that the joint tour has been held and it’s coming back as an every-other-year event. Covid restrictions and then staff shortages delayed its reintroduction until now, according to field day organizers. “We’re looking forward to renewing this partnership,” NPARL Dryland Agronomist Brett Allen said in announcing the resumption. “We regularly participate in the EARC irrigated field day, but we also share adjoining dryland research space with EARC and work together on projects there as well, so it only made sense to renew the dryland tour to jointly share our research findings with area dryland producers.”
Speakers and topics for the field day are still being finalized, but in addition to the subjects noted above tour goers can learn more about research examining:
The effect of slow-release N fertilizers on spring wheat yield, quality and more
Pulse crops and protein
Soil microbial communities and disease resistance in peas.
Pollinator research and the impacts of grasshopper spraying on pollinators
And more!
For questions or additional information, contact Beth Redlin at 406-433-9427 or [email protected].
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