June 15, 2007
SIUC sets annual agriculture field day
CARBONDALE, Ill. — Southern Illinois University Carbondale's 41st Annual Belleville Field Day, set for Thursday, July 12, at the Belleville Research Center on Illinois Route 161, will feature a few extras this year.
Representatives of the College of Agricultural Sciences will announce the recipient of the first graduate assistantship endowed by the Weed Science Society of America and the North Central Weed Science Society in honor of longtime college weed scientist George Kapusta.
In addition, University of Illinois Extension Educator Ruth F. Hambleton and her daughter Lynn, a graduate student at SIUC, will talk about Annie's Project, a business education program for farm women created by Hambleton and named for her mother, a farm wife for 50 years. The Hambletons also will run a separate tour for women attending the field day if there is sufficient interest. Organizers have applied for three units of continuing education credit for the field day.
Activities kick off at 8 a.m. with an early bird program on the behavior and characteristics of soil water presented by agronomist Randy Alvey of Alvey Laboratory, a 31-year-old Illinois company that provides a range of services including GPS soil sampling, fertility management, yield analysis, pest management and contract research.
The main program begins at 9 a.m. SIUC experts Jason P. Bond, Ronald F. Krausz and Bryan G. Young will talk about foliar fungicides in corn and soybeans, residual herbicides in soybeans and strategies for consistent weed control in corn. Guest speakers include: John Caupert, director of the National Corn-to-Ethanol Research Center, who will talk about ethanol as it relates to agriculture, energy, the environment, security and trade; UI Marketing Extension Specialist Darrell Good, who will talk about the farm bill and emerging marketing issues; and UI Urbana-Champaign soil fertility specialist Stephen A. Ebelhar who with his SIUC counterpart Jorge Fernandez will talk about stabilized nitrogen fertilizer use in the state.
SIUC turf specialist Kenneth L. Diesburg will be at the tent from 9 a.m. to noon to answer questions about sustainable turf. The Hambletons also will occupy the tent during that time if they are not giving tours.
A free lunch will be served at noon.
For more information, call Krausz at 618/566-4761.