Producers learn about latest agricultural advancements at Field Day

PORTAGEVILLE, Mo. -- The rain clouds stayed away long enough for the Delta Center Field Day to go off without a hitch on Thursday.

"It looks like it's been another successful field day," said Thomas E. "Jake" Fisher, superintendent of the Delta Center.

Fisher, who visits with attendees throughout the day, said he heard a lot of positive comments, as usual, this year.

"Everyone said they have really enjoyed the tours this year," said Fisher. The two most popular, he said, focused on rice and cotton, and irrigation and disease.

The 49th Annual Field Day, this year's theme was "50 Years of Service to Agriculture."

The day kicked off with a breakfast, in which local politicians and others spoke. Following the breakfast, the 1,500 or so attendees had a chance to browse through the vendors set up in Rone Hall at the Lee Farm, as well as board color-coded trailers for informational tours winding through the farm.

In addition to the blue tour, which focused on rice and cotton and the irrigation and disease topics discussed on the yellow tour, soybeans were the focus of the red tour, while cotton soil fertility was the featured topic of the green tour.

Featured speakers talked about research still under way as well as resources now available to farmers.

For instance, on the yellow tour, Dr. Earl Vories spoke about remote monitoring and control of irrigation. He focused on two specific systems on the market now.

"But we're not recommending brands," he urged. "That's not our business."

The systems Vories spoke about tie in with the Internet, allowing farmers to check into their irrigation system as long as they have Web access -- even if only on a smart phone. Information at their fingertips once they log on gives color-coded information such as application rates, statistics and maps.

"You can get a lot of information just at a glance without physically having to look at the field," he said.

This technology ties into research, said Vories, because he and others are looking into the estimated annual irrigation usage for different crops. "A lot of water is lost with surface irrigation," said Vories. "This is going to make farmers a lot more efficient."

Research also brings up any challenges -- for instance, it's been found that the sensors in the fields are often fine the first go-round, but the second time they are used, the sensors often don't respond because they are clogged with trash and dirt.

"The growers didn't feel like it was a system they can rely on so it's something we need to do more research on," said Vories. "We need to come up with things that work all season or multiple seasons."

The economics of a system like this depend on the situation. Vories said that while it may not be beneficial for a farmer with a smaller number of acres close together, it is for one who has a lot of acreage spread out, in which the farmer is allocating the time and fuel expense to check all of the pivots.

Also on the yellow tour, Dr. Allen Wrather spoke about soybean nematode management, with a focus on the soybean cyst nematode and root-knot nematode, both problems that Southeast Missouri farmers face.

"My goal is to research solutions to these problems," said Wrather. He spoke about symptoms, detection and control of the nematodes, including things farmers can do without sending plants off for expensive tests.

"You can see the knots on roots just before or after harvest," he said. Wrather also noted that nematodes can be detected by looking for places where the plant growth is stunted or off-color.

Nematodes are a problem because they stay in the soil and only die off when there is nothing to feed on, said Wrather. "So there is nothing to rotate it with," he said. Additionally, some of these nematodes can live in gardens, he said.

Wrather reminded those on the tour that he and other researchers are always there to help farmers with questions and encouraged them to call if needed. Also, there is more in-depth information on his research and other projects at the Delta Center on its website, http://aes.missouri.edu/delta/.

Wrapping up the field version of the yellow tour, Tim Kavan, a private lands conservationist with the Missouri Department of Conservation, talked about the Conservation Reserve Program with respect to the sand prairies.

"These are one of the rarest natural grass communities in Missouri, and they support numerous rare wildlife and plant species," said Kavan.

Only about 2,000 acres of sand prairie remain in Southeast Missouri, and they constitute the single most-endangered habitat site in the state, he said.

In 2005, an idle land program was implemented, in which landowners were paid to set aside sand land types instead of trying to grow crops there, which was mostly unproductive, said Kavan.

"And that was just the start of many things to come," he said.

In 2008, the United States Department of Agriculture -- with input from the MDC -- initiated a new grassland restoration practice, but there was little feedback due to unfamiliarity. So, MDC applied for and received a grant that provides a project coordinator to assist landowners with the contract details and work directly with contractors, explained Kavan. To date, more than 54 landowners have enrolled an additional 2,400 acres in the project, he said.

"If it wasn't for this program, those acres would likely be idled out or turned into pasture land," he said.

One of the yellow tour riders was Keith Collins of Holcomb. He said he's attended the Field Day for several years and always makes an effort to ride on each tour.

"I gain more knowledge on growing crops -- everything changes from year to year," said Collins. He collects all the literature pertinent to his operation and takes it home to read in-depth.