July 12, 2006

North Central Research Extension Center Sets Field Day for July 19

North Dakota State University’s North Central Research Extension Center in Minot will hold its 62nd annual Field Day on July 19.

This year’s event includes the groundbreaking for the center’s agronomy research laboratory and greenhouse, a pest diagnostic clinic, morning and afternoon tours highlighting the latest research and a noon luncheon.

The event begins at 9 a.m. with refreshments, a welcome from Jay Fisher, center director, and comments from D.C. Coston, NDSU’s vice president for Agriculture and University Extension; Ken Grafton, director of the North Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station and dean of NDSU’s College of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Natural Resources; and Duane Hauck, director of the NDSU Extension Service. The groundbreaking is scheduled for 9:30 a.m.

The agronomy research laboratory and greenhouse will create a more efficient flow of materials from seed preparation through harvesting, seed cleaning and sample analysis, according to Fisher. It also will provide more working areas for crop production research, including pest diagnostics and seed treating, weighing, counting, washing, drying, packaging, dissecting and sample rating. In addition, the greenhouse will allow researchers to conduct studies under controlled conditions.

A pest diagnostic clinic will be available throughout the day to help people identify weed, disease or insect problems. Field Day participants may bring plant samples or insect specimens to the clinic.

Topics and presenters for the morning tour are (all of the presenters are from NDSU’s Department of Plant Sciences):

• Barley - Richard Horsley, professor
• Durum - Elias Elias, professor
• Hard red spring wheat - Mohamed Mergoum, associate professor
• Oats - Michael McMullen, associate professor
• Specialty wheat - William Berzonsky, associate professor
• Corn - Marcelo Carena, associate professor

Afternoon tour topics and presenters are:

• Wireless technology for monitoring your farm - Ken Hellevang, NDSU Extension agricultural engineer
• Small-grain disease update, include wheat streak for 2007 - Marcia McMullen, NDSU Extension plant pathologist
• Cereal crop production and soil fertility - Joel Ransom, NDSU Extension agronomist, and Dave Franzen, NDSU Extension soil science specialist
• Weed control - Kirk Howatt, associate professor in the NDSU Plant Sciences Department
• Oilseeds and their potential for biodiesel production - Duane Berglund, NDSU Extension agronomist
• Disease management - Carl Bradley, NDSU Extension plant pathologist

For more information about the center and the research conducted there, visit the center’s Web site at www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/minot/.

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Source: Mark Halvorson, (701) 857-7677, mhalvors@ndsuext.nodak.edu
Editor: Ellen Crawford, (701) 231-5391, ellen.crawford@ndsu.edu

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