Better ways to manage weeds, soil fertility and learning the latest in variety breeding and testing are part of the wide-ranging agenda at the July 18 Row Crops Field Day at the Rohwer Research Station.
This event, the first of the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station’s row crop field days, will feature a lineup of University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture experts talking about production in corn, cotton, soybeans, and rice.
“Our field day is all about methods to control disease, insect populations, anything that’s pertinent to our agriculture production system,” said Larry Earnest, manager of the Rohwer Research Station. “This is an opportunity for producers to see what our researchers have found in their work.”
Jean-Francois Meullenet, director of the Agricultural Experiment Station, will be this year’s lunchtime keynote speaker.
There is no cost to attend and registration opens at 7:30 a.m.
There are four sets of tours, one for cotton and corn; a second for soybeans, a third tour for rice and a fourth tour, which will give a behind-the-scenes peek at the station’s research equipment.
Tours will leave at 9 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. Participants should only select two tours. A free lunch will be catered by Country Catfish Cooking.
This year’s agenda:
Rice Tour
• New tools for nitrogen management in rice: Pre– In– and Post-Season Test – Trent Roberts.
• Rice variety performance on clay soils in Arkansas – Jarrod Hardke, extension rice agronomist, Division of Agriculture.
• Effects of spray volume on herbicide efficacy and implications on selection for resistance – Nilda Burgos, professor – Crop, soils and environmental science.
Cotton/Corn Tour
• Another shift in cotton varieties in Arkansas – Fred Bourland, U of A System Division of Agriculture cotton breeder.
• Overview of corn, grain sorghum and soybean Official Variety Trials – John Carlin, director, Arkansas Crop Variety Improvement Program, Division of Agriculture.
• A new approach to nitrogen management in corn – Trent Roberts, associate professor-soil fertility/soil testing, Division of Agriculture.
• Overcoming yield limitations in corn – Jason Kelley, extension wheat and feed grains agronomist.
Soybean Tour
• Application technology and weed management. Across soybean systems – Thomas Butts, extension weed scientist, Division of Agriculture.
• Soybean disease research, seed, foliar and tap root decline – John Rupe, professor-plant pathology, Division of Agriculture.
• Present and future of soybean breeding at the Division of Agriculture – Marcos Paulo Da Silva, post-doctoral associate, Division of Agriculture.
Behind-The-Scenes Tour
• Overview of research equipment – Guided by Scott Hayes, program associate; and program technicians Linda Martin and Matthew Young, all Division of Agriculture.
Certified Crop Advisors’ credit will also be available.
The station is located at 140 Expy Station Loop, Watson, Arkansas. For more information, contact the Rohwer Research Station at 870-644-3101.
The University of Arkansas contributed this article.