The Official Newspaper for Foster County
The Official Newspaper for Foster County
Do you need to replant? That was one of the questions I asked ten youths who recently attended Junior Crop Scout School at the Carrington Research Extension Center (REC).
The young men and women had just completed an exercise in which they were asked to determine plant populations in corn and soybean fields.
Now, I was asking them to share their results.
“We found 141,000 plants per acre in the soybean plot,” said one of the participants. “That’s good. There’s no need to replant.”
Stand assessment was just one of the topics covered during Junior Crop Scout School. Additional topics included weed identification, crop growth staging and plant disease diagnosis.
During lunch, the youth had the opportunity to learn about different job opportunities in the field of agronomy, as a seed distributor, a crop scout, an NDSU Extension agent and a technology specialist described their jobs.
This is the third consecutive year that NDSU Extension agents and specialists have offered the program to 12- to 18-year-olds in this region.
The sponsors of this year’s program were the North Dakota Corn Utilization Board, the North Dakota Soybean Council and FarmQA.
FarmQA is a company that offers digital tools to agronomists and other agribusinesses.
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Several months ago, I wrote about a man who traveled from Iowa to attend field day at the Carrington REC last July.
He made the 600-mile journey because of his interest in haskaps, one of the fruit crops that Kathy Wiederholt is researching at the center.
The man was completely blown over by what he saw during the field day. “I couldn’t get over the scope of the work that’s being done at the center,” the man told me. “We’ve nothing in Iowa that compares with your REC.”
Sometimes we take for granted the tremendous resources right in our own backyard.
I hope you are already planning to attend this year’s field day on Tuesday, July 18. If not, then I urge you to consider the possibility.
The program starts with registration, coffee and a welcome at 9 a.m.
Morning tours depart at 9:30 a.m. and conclude with lunch at noon. Attendees will choose among four tour options: agronomy, northern hardy fruit, beef cattle and organic/sustainable agriculture.
In the afternoon there will be sessions related to farm safety, new agricultural technology, and local food production.
Stop the Bleed training is also offered during the afternoon. The one-hour course is open to anyone interested in learning this lifesaving skill. Preregistration is required for Stop the Bleed. Phone 652-2951 for more information.
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Don’t forget that Project Safe Send will be in Carrington this Tuesday, July 11 collecting unusable pesticides from farmers, ranchers and homeowners.
Herbicides, insecticides, rodenticides and fungicides will be collected between 8 a.m. and noon at the State Highway Shop, 6739 Highway 200.
If the pesticide containers are deteriorating or leaking, then they should be packed in plastic bags or larger containers with absorbent materials before bringing them to the drop-off point..
Project Safe Send only accepts pesticides. The program does not accept unwanted fertilizer, paint or oil.
