Purdue News
Purdue News
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August 10, 2004 Cornfield politics: Plots vie for votes at Agronomy Field DayWEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Election Day will come early for those attending Purdue University's 2004 Agronomy Field Day on Sept. 14 as producers and other visitors can exercise their right to vote on eight different corn demonstration plots. The demonstration plots are among six tours being offered at the free field day, which runs from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Purdue's Agronomy Center for Research and Education (ACRE). ACRE is located five miles west of Purdue's West Lafayette, Ind., campus on U.S. 52. Other tours address hybrid tests and research, pests, grain quality, yield monitors, and autosteer technologies. The corn plots election is a first, said Bob Nielsen, Purdue Extension corn specialist and field day coordinator. It has been tabbed the "kitchen sink" plots tour because "everything was thrown into those plots, including the kitchen sink, so to speak," he said. Eight teams of Extension educators, farmers and Purdue Ag Centers personnel entered plots, Nielsen said. "We gave them a list of production practices that they could choose from," he said. "We allowed them to choose the hybrid, seeding rate and the nitrogen fertilizer rate, as well as whether to put it on ahead of planting or as sidedress. We also allowed them to choose the rate of starter fertilizer and whether or not they used a planter insecticide. So within that limited set of production practices to choose from, these teams put together eight 'recipes,' and we've got those in demonstration plots." Plots are 12 rows wide by about a quarter mile long. All plots were planted on the same day in a conventional tillage system. At the field day, the tops will be removed on the last 10-30 feet of row in each plot and ears shucked, so that visitors can inspect ear size and kernel set, Nielsen said. "We'll go through the descriptions of those practices during the field day with the crowd," he said. "Then we'll let everyone walk through the ends of those plots, give everybody a ballot and let them vote on which plot they think is going to win." Ballots will ask visitors to estimate yield and choose the plot they think posts the highest net return. The "kitchen sink" tour runs at 8:30 a.m., 10 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 2 p.m. Other tours conducted at those same times, and the speakers, include: • Hybrid Testing and On-Farm Research - Phil DeVillez, Purdue field trial coordinator, and Nielsen. "Phil will be talking about crop variety testing at Purdue and at universities in general," Nielsen said. "He'll emphasize why public variety testing is useful, how to use the reports and what's in it for growers. I'll be doing the second part of that tour stop and discuss on-farm research and distinguish the difference between field demonstrations and field research." • Insect and Weed Management - John Obermeyer and Larry Bledsoe, Purdue Extension entomologists, and Bill Johnson and Glenn Nice, Purdue Extension weed specialists. "The entomologists will address the newer genetic technologies on insect resistance, primarily for corn, and discuss insect refuge areas mandated by the Environmental Protection Agency," Nielsen said. "Bill and Glenn will talk about genetic technologies for herbicide tolerance, particularly to avoid developing resistance in weeds to herbicides." • Grain Quality Assurance Program - Dirk Maier, Purdue Extension agricultural engineer, and Umit Karaca, agricultural engineering graduate student. "Dirk's been very involved with developing a quality control program that growers can adopt to help assure superior grain quality when they are producing for markets where grain quality is an issue," Nielsen said. The final two tours, offered only at 2 p.m. and 3:30 p.m., are Yield Monitor Calibration and Autosteer Technologies. "Steve Hawkins and Jeff Boyer from the Purdue Ag Centers staff will go through some tips and tricks for calibrating yield monitors to ensure the best accuracy on estimating yield," Nielsen said. Purdue Extension agricultural engineers Buddy Miles and Dan Ess, and Jess Lowenberg-DeBoer, a Purdue agricultural economist, will cover autosteer technology from both the technical and economic standpoints. "Autosteer is one of the newer technologies out there today for growers," Nielsen said. "It revolves around GPS-enabled navigation systems that steer tractors and other equipment on their own, without any human interference." Farmers who plan to attend all six tour stops should arrive soon after gates open at 8 a.m., Nielsen said. Each tour program lasts about 90 minutes. A pork chop lunch will be available for $8 beginning at 11:30 a.m. At around noon, a special ceremony honoring Ellsworth Christmas, retiring Purdue Extension soybean and small grains specialist, will take place at the lunch area. Displays from many Purdue School of Agriculture departments will be set up at that location. Additional information on the Agronomy Field Day is available on the event Web site. Writer: Steve Leer, (765) 494-8415, sleer@purdue.edu Source: Bob Nielsen, (765) 494-4802, rnielsen@purdue.edu Ag Communications: (765) 494-2722; Beth Forbes, forbes@purdue.edu Related Web sites:
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