June 28, 2005
39th annual farmers' field day set for July 13
CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Farmers can learn about soybean rust, innovations in nitrogen fertilizers and other subjects of interest during Southern Illinois University Carbondale's 39th annual farmers' field day.
This year's event takes place a day earlier than past field days to make way for a Thursday research day planned on the Carbondale campus. Field day talks and tours will run from 9 to 11 a.m. Wednesday, July 13, at the University's Belleville Research Center, located across from Scott Air Force Base's Mascoutah gate on Illinois Route 161.
With soybean rust "sentinel plots" established throughout the state as an early-warning system, farmers should find the talk "Soybean Rust or Bust," by SIUC plant pathologists Jason P. Bond and John S. Russin especially timely.
Jorge D. Hernandez, formerly a senior soil scientist specializing in new fertilizer technology with Georgia Pacific Corp. and now an assistant professor at SIUC, will talk about industry efforts to develop ways of using nitrogen fertilizers more efficiently.
SIUC faculty member Bryan G. Young will talk about weed control trends in corn, while SIUC researcher Ronald F. Krausz will focus on old herbicides with new importance in controlling soybean weeds.
Ronald A. Hines, of the crop sciences department at the University of Illinois, will offer tips on insecticide seed treatments for corn, while colleague Stephen A. Ebelhar will fill farmers in on grain sorghum management, and Janice Tribbett, coordinator for the University of Illinois ACRES program, will present information on agriculture education under the tent.
The New Ideal 4-H Club will be on hand to offer its traditional lunch — hot dogs, brats, chips and drinks — for a small fee.
For more information, call Krausz at 618/566-4761 or Young at 618/453-1791.
Leading in research, scholarly and creative activities is among the goals of Southern at 150: Building Excellence Through Commitment, the blueprint for the development of the University by the time it celebrates its 150th anniversary in 2019.