The University of Minnesota’s Northwest Research and Outreach Center’s annual Crops and Soils Day event is scheduled for Wednesday, July 20, at the Northwest Research and Outreach Center’s (NWROC) Maintenance/Farm Operations Building located south of Polk County Hwy 71 on NWROC’s campus near the University of Minnesota Crookston Campus.
Parking is across from the office building. Upon arrival, you will be directed to parking across the street from NWROC’s office building. The event highlights the quality of research at NWROC involving small grain yield and disease, drainage, hemp, insect management, and sugarbeet trials.
Registration and CEU signup for the small grains morning tours are at 7:30 a.m., with tours beginning at 8 a.m. Registration and CEU signup for the afternoon sugarbeet tours open at 12:15 p.m., and the tours will start at 12:45 p.m. A complimentary lunch will be served at noon for all guests.
Research will be presented by:
Dr. Lindsay Pease: Performance of NWROC’s New Subsurface Drainage Installation
Dr. Pease’s presentation will focus on how a new subsurface drainage system has been performing since its installation in Fall 2019. The presentation will cover several aspects of soil and water management, including moisture, compaction, soil carbon and nitrogen levels, and yield.
Dr. Ruth Dill-Macky: Diseases of Small Grains
The disease of small grains talk will include information on Fusarium Head Blight and Bacterial Leaf Streak of wheat and barley.
Dr. Angie Peltier: Planting Green Along the Red: The effects of tillage, rye seeding rate, and termination timing on soybean
Whether to prioritize either long-term soil health goals or the near-term benefits of tillage for residue management and seedbed preparation is challenging due to the narrow planting window and short growing season in NW MN. This on-farm/NWROC project aims to understand the effect of a cover crop on crop nutrition, residue decomposition, and pest pressure.
Dr. Brian Steffenson: A Walk on the Wild Side: Exploiting Wild Relatives to Enhance Disease Resistance in Wheat and Barley
A summary will be presented on how useful disease resistance genes in wild cereal relatives are identified and transferred into wheat and barley breeding programs.
Dr. James Anderson: Wheat Breeding Variety Update
Dr. Anderson will be discussing spring wheat varieties and the U of MN spring wheat- breeding program. A brief summary of characteristics of about 20 of the 46 spring wheat varieties displayed will be provided, with a focus on varieties released within the past 2-3 years.
Dr. Kevin Smith: Barley Breeding Research Update
This presentation will provide an update on current barley breeding research activities. This will include a review of the current variety performance, including the new UM winter barley release MN-Equinox. Also included will be an update on naked or hulless barley and winter barley breeding.
Dr. Ian MacRae: Insect Research, 2022
Dr. MacRae will discuss the insect problems in the Red River Valley and discuss the advantages of utilizing remote sensing of insects and remote sensing of plant disease in the Valley. He will also speak to the benefits and limitations of remote sensing.
Jonathan Wenger: Breeding drug-free industrial hemp for fiber production in Minnesota and the Dakotas
With support from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, Professors Tom Michaels and George Weiblen are collaborating to re-domesticate fiber hemp from feral Cannabis (also known as “ditch weed”). Feral Cannabis in Minnesota is descended from hemp introduced for fiber production during the early 20th century through the Second World War. We are using the diversity and desirable characteristics of feral Cannabis to develop new fiber cultivars while selecting against undesirable traits such as seed dormancy and drug-type genetics.
Afternoon Sugarbeet Program
Registration 12:15 p.m. and CEU Credits Signup Sheet
Simultaneous tours start at 12:45 p.m.
Dr. Ashok Chanda: Management of Major Sugarbeet Diseases
How to manage full-season Rhizoctonia diseases with emphasis on fungicides (seed treatment and postemergence application)
Cercospora leaf spot management with emphasis on fungicide resistance and CR+ varieties
Dr. Thomas Peters: Sugarbeet Tolerance with Ultra Blazer in Sugarbeet
Ultra Blazer to control escaped waterhemp was used on over 30,000 sugarbeet acres in 2021 using a Section 18 Emergency Exemption. EPA, in May, approved Ultra Blazer for use in sugarbeet in 2022. Waterhemp control from Ultra Blazer in 2021 was influenced by waterhemp size, air temperature at application, and adjuvant with Ultra Blazer alone or adjuvant mixed with Ultra Blazer and PowerMax. Yield trials in 2022 are designed to push the boundaries to improve the consistency of waterhemp control without taking unnecessary risks to sugarbeet tolerance.
Dr. Lindsay Pease: Interseeding Cover Crops into Sugarbeets
The presentation will discuss a new trial looking at options for integrating cover crops into sugarbeet systems. This trial pairs small plot experiments with on-farm testing to evaluate these options. One of the options tested at NWROC this season is interseeding cover crops directly into a growing sugarbeet crop.
Please see the attached PDF for additional details below.
For questions, contact Megan Benoit at mbenoit@umn.edu or (218) 281-8610.