US (TX): Summer Crops Field Day focuses on vegetables

Parts of the Summer Crops Field Day will have a new look and feel this year as vegetables, high tunnels and the human health connection with agriculture are highlighted, along with traditional research projects.

The Aug. 10 event is hosted annually by Texas A&M AgriLife Research, the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service and West Texas A&M University.

This year the indoor portion of the field day also has a new location, the Cornerstone Ranch Events Center, 1 mile west of Bushland on the north side of Interstate 40.

The tours and research highlighted will still be that of AgriLife Research and the USDA-Agricultural Research Service and their research fields located west of Bushland. Buses will be provided to take attendees on the tours.

Registration will be from 7-8:15 a.m. There is no charge and no advanced registration needed.

The program will open at 8:15 a.m. with “Connecting Agriculture with Human Health,” presented by Dr. Angela Burkham, AgriLife Extension regional program director for family and consumer sciences in Amarillo.

Dr. Kyle Grigsby, southwest nutrition manager with J.D. Heiskell & Co. in Friona, will follow with “Forage Quantity and Quality Considerations for Southwest Dairies.”

The morning tours will run from 9-11:30 a.m., and will be followed by a luncheon. An afternoon tour with two different stops will take place from 1:15-4:15 p.m.

Joseph Bunting, produce director for United Supermarkets in Lubbock, will present “From Farm to Market – How Research and Retail Can Work Together” as the keynote luncheon speech.

He will be followed by Dr. Bill McCutchen, associate director of AgriLife Research in College Station, discussing “Texas A&M AgriLife’s Commitment to Vegetable R&D and Commercialization.”

Morning tour stops will cover cotton boll production and lint quality, irrigation comparisons, water-use efficiency of corn, greenhouse gas monitoring from livestock operations, cattle diet effect on emissions, high tunnels, integrated pest management and variable rate irrigation. The afternoon tours will look at corn under limited irrigation, weed control in cotton, and corn and sorghum herbicide trials.

Three Texas Department of Agriculture continuing education units-two general and one integrated pest management-will be offered.

For more information:
Texas A&M AgriLife
Dr. Charlie Rush
806-354-5804
crush@ag.tamu.edu

USDA-ARS
Dr. Susan O’Shaughnessy
806-356-5770
susan.oshaughnessy@ars.usda.gov