Purdue News

Field day will provide info on crops, confined feeding

The Aug. 26 field day will begin with a farm tour at 9:30 a.m. The tour includes four presentations: "Corn and Soybean Herbicides," "Debugging Bt Corn," "Composting Swine Mortality" and "Leafhopper-Resistant Alfalfa."

Free registration begins at 9 a.m. at the ag center, which is five miles north of Farmland on State Road 1.

According to Jeff Boyer, superintendent of the ag center, researchers conducted experiments on Bt corn varieties, grew a series of alfalfa plots, and tested 32 different herbicide treatments on corn and 37 treatments on soybeans. Information will be provided on the techniques used for each treatment and the cost, Boyer said.

"This is something that we work with the different county reps in our area. They supply the products, and we do the spraying," he said.

After a lunch provided by sponsoring chemical companies, Don Jones, a Purdue agricultural engineer, will give visitors an update on confined feeding operations. According to Jones, several new state requirements became effective July 1. Among them:

• All such operations must have a manure management plan that includes soil testing procedures, manure testing procedures and maps of application areas.
  
• An updated manure management plan must be sent to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) at least once every five years to maintain state approval of a confined feeding operation.
  
• IDEM will establish a compliance and technical assistance program for confined feeding owners and operators in conjunction with university and industry specialists.

"Basically, producers will need to report the procedures they use to do manure and soil testing on their farm. IDEM is working out the details on exactly how much detailed information on spreading records will have to be kept on-farm." Jones said.
CONTACTS: Boyer, (765) 468-7022; Jones, (765) 494-1178

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; e-mail, purduenews@purdue.edu

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