Research and pivots and voles, oh my! Coming August 28 to southwest Michigan

Nicolle Ritchie<ritchi67@msu.edu>, Michigan State University Extension - August 08, 2024

Speakers at the On-Farm Research Field Day will share key learnings from past research, and participants will be able to visit fields with current research plots and an interactive pivot performance evaluation.

A field of potatoes. — This potato variety trial is just one of many on-farm research plots in southwest Michigan. Photo by Nicolle Ritchie, MSU Extension.

The On-Farm Research Field Day will run from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024, at Covered Bridge Farm in Three Rivers, Michigan. Whether through a split field or a check strip, many growers conduct informal trials of some sort on their farms. On-farm research helps keep management recommendations and best practices relevant to local needs. Collaborative formal research between growers, commodity groups, Michigan State University (MSU) and Michigan State University Extension has been an important part of establishing local best management practices throughout the years. This event will highlight past research findings that contribute to our understanding of integrated pest management and irrigation.

Courtesy of the Michigan Soybean Committee (MSC) and the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the field day is free of charge, and lunch is included. Participants will start the day off with educational sessions from MSU specialists. After lunch, there will be a brief tour of some of the current on-farm trials nearby. The tour will be followed by an interactive pivot performance evaluation with MSU Extension irrigation specialist Younsuk Dong and irrigation educators Lyndon Kelley and Angie Gradiz. Two restricted use pesticide credits and 3.5 certified crop advisor (2 SW, 1 IPM, 0.5 CM) credits have been requested.

The full schedule is as follows:

8:30 a.m.: Check-in/Registration
9:00 a.m.: Crop management, Maninder Singh
9:45 a.m.: Irrigation research update, Younsuk Dong
10:15 a.m.: Soybean research update and managing voles in soybeans, Eric Anderson
10:45 a.m.: Disease management, Martin Chilvers
11:30 a.m.: Lunch
12:30 p.m.: Plot tour – Soybean Planting Rate Trial and Vole Management Trial
1:00 p.m.: Pivot performance evaluation, Younsuk Dong, Angie Gradiz, Lyndon Kelley

Please contact the St. Joseph County MSU Extension office at msue.stjoseph@county.msu.edu or 269-467-5511 with questions or for help registering.

If you are interested in participating in future on-farm research, reach out to an MSU Extension educator near you, or fill out this form to host an on-farm soybean trial with the MSC.

This article was published by Michigan State University Extension. For more information, visit https://extension.msu.edu. To have a digest of information delivered straight to your email inbox, visit https://extension.msu.edu/newsletters. To contact an expert in your area, visit https://extension.msu.edu/experts, or call 888-MSUE4MI (888-678-3464).