NEWS for North Dakotans
Agriculture Communication, North Dakota State University
7 Morrill Hall, Fargo, ND 58105-5665

February 4, 1999

NDSU Offers Site Specific Farming Workshop in Fargo on Feb. 25

How-to information on using software and equipment for precision farming techniques will be featured at a site-specific farming workshop at the Fargo Holiday Inn Thursday, Feb. 25.

The workshop, sponsored by the North Dakota State University Extension Service, will feature precision farming experts from NDSU, the University of Minnesota and several private companies. In addition, a number of companies offering technology, equipment and services related to site-specific farming will have exhibits at the workshop. "It will be an excellent opportunity to learn about what's available and compare similar products," says Dave Franzen, an NDSU extension soils specialist and workshop coordinator.

Preregistration by Feb. 10 is $25. Registration at the door is $30. The fee helps cover the cost of lunch and a proceedings booklet. To preregister make checks payable to the NDSU Extension Service and mail to NDSU Extension Service, Box 5758, 218A Walster Hall, Fargo, ND 58105-5758. For more information, call (701) 231-8881.

The workshop opens at 8:30 a.m. and closes at about 4 p.m. The morning program will feature concurrent sessions. Those with a more advanced knowledge of site specific farming may want to attend demonstrations of MAPINFO and SST Toolbox software, two popular geographic information systems software packages used for site-specific farming.

Others may be interested in an introduction to site-specific farming by Franzen, a discussion of global positioning systems by Sid Siefkin of Trimble Navigation Limited, Overland Park, Kan., or a review of rate controlling devices by NDSU agricultural engineer Vern Hofman. Additional concurrent sessions will feature a review of yield monitors and the interpretation of the data they provide by Jay Beede of Fargo Products and a discussion of practical uses of geographic information systems by NDSU agricultural engineer John Nowatzki.

Afternoon sessions will feature a review of area research on site-specific farming techniques. Franzen will discuss a five-year project on effective and efficient soil sampling for site-specific farming. University of Minnesota soil scientist Gary Malzer will outline several research projects related to site-specific farming that are underway in Minnesota. John Lukach will discuss a site-specific farming demonstration at NDSU's Langdon Research Extension Center where he serves as director. NDSU soil scientist Ray Knighton will discuss how producers can set up their own on-farm experiments using site-specific techniques. Finally, Ron Ellingson and Allan Cattanach of American Crystal Sugar will discuss a survey of site-specific users and their results.

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Source: Dave Franzen (701) 231-8881

Editor: Tom Jirik (701) 231-9629