The Snake River Sugar Beet Conference will be held Dec. 15 this year, about a month earlier than normal, and will be condensed to a single day.
The program planned at the Best Western Burley Inn and Convention Center will feature a session with chemical company representatives to offer growers updates on pesticide label and use changes.
A trade show with representatives of companies that serve the sugarbeet industry will offer exhibits and information for attendees as part of the conference.
In addition University of Idaho Extension plant pathologist Oliver Neher and USDA Agricultural Research Service plant pathologist Carl Strausbaugh will focus on ways to identify, prevent and control root rot diseases, and address potential influences of conventional and strip tillage influences on disease severity.
University of Idaho Extension soil scientist Amber Moore and weed scientist Don Morishita will join Neher to review strip tillage studies on crop residue and nitrogen application rates and placement. They will review how they influence sugar beet yield and quality as well as weed and disease control.
Morishita will also review glyphosate herbicide resistance management in sugarbeets, tank mixing insecticides, fungicides and other herbicides with glyphosate and managing volunteer sugar beets. He will also summarize the first year of direct-seeded (no till) sugar beet trials.
USDA ARS agronomist David Tarkalson will review efforts to screen sugarbeet breeding lines for drought tolerance. He also will talk about the effects of irrigation rate and timing effects on sugarbeet production.
University of Idaho Extension irrigation engineer Howard Neibling and Amalgamated Sugar Co. crop consultant Howard Binford will talk about water management in sugarbeets.
University of Idaho entomologist Erik Wenninger will talk about leaf miner and root aphid biology and management in sugarbeets. Extension nematologist Saad Hafez will talk about alternatives for controlling nematodes.
The conference will conclude with a panel discussion about resistance management for all sugarbeet pests including insects, nematodes, diseases and weeds.
Conference participants can earn five Idaho State Department of Agriculture pesticide applicator recertification credits, and certified crop advisors can receive seven CCA credits.
Pre-registration is $25 until Dec. 8 and $35 after that. Lunch is included in the registration fee. More information is available by calling Tamie Keeth at (208) 423-6684.
The Burley Inn and Convention Center is located at 800 North Overland Ave. in Burley.
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