Purdue, OSU assisting in ag meeting for Corn Belt farmers
June 25, 2014
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Purdue and Ohio State Universities are part of an organization that is sponsoring a meeting this summer to help Corn Belt farmers make their agricultural systems more resilient and sustainable.
The Resilient Agriculture Conference Aug. 5-7 at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, will bring farmers and agricultural scientists together for three days. The conference is being organized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Sustainable Corn Project. Purdue and Ohio State are among partners in the organization.
"The meeting is an opportunity for farmers to hear the latest scientific findings on practices that are being tested for their effectiveness in making corn-based farming systems more resilient and sustainable," said Eileen Kladivko, Purdue agronomy professor and co-principal investigator on the project. "Farmers also will participate in activities in the field to increase their understanding of the practices being researched and to learn how to use new decision support tools."
Farmers will hear from project scientists who will share their expertise. The project scientists will hear from farmers about their challenges and successes involving practices that make corn-based systems more resilient in times of drought, reduce soil and nutrient losses under saturated conditions, reduce farm field nitrogen losses, retain carbon in the soil and ensure crop productivity.
U.S. agriculture produces nearly $330 billion annually in agricultural commodities and is directly and indirectly affected by extreme weather and variable climate conditions that affect crop and livestock productivity, pest and pathogen pressures, and soil and water resources, said Lois Wright Morton, director of the Sustainable Corn Project.
"A major goal of our project is to share with farmers what we are learning about a set of practices that have potential to better manage the uncertainty associated with climate variability," she said.
The meeting agenda, location, registration and more details can be found at www.sustainablecorn.org.
Writer: Keith Robinson, 765-494-2722, robins89@purdue.edu
Source: Eileen Kladivko, 765-494-6372, kladivko@purdue.edu
Ag Communications: (765) 494-2722;
Keith Robinson, robins89@purdue.edu
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