Mark your calendar for two upcoming Iowa State University research farm fall field days, both to take place on September 8. Iowa State University’s Northern Iowa Research Farm Association and the Boone River Watershed will hold a fall field day focusing on water quality, cover crops and late season crop issues. Iowa State’s Southeast Research Farm field day will have presentations on UAV’s, farm pond management and various corn and soybean cropping system topics.

PLAN TO ATTEND: Iowa State University’s Northern Iowa Research Farm Field Day is set for Sept. 8 at Kanawha. ISU’s fall field day for its Southeast Iowa Farm will be held Sept. 8 at Crawfordsville. Both will feature timely topics of interest.

Northern Iowa Field Day at Kanawha: Cover crops, corn rootworms and water quality topics will highlight the fall field day of the Iowa State University Northern Research and Demonstration Farm. It will take place Sept. 8 at the research farm located at 1040 James Avenue, about two miles south of Kanawha on County Road R-35.

Registration and refreshments will be at 9 a.m. and the field day will start at 9:30 a.m. Lunch, sponsored by the Northern Iowa Research Farm Association and the Nature Conservancy in Iowa, will be available at noon. The wetland tour after lunch will come to an end around 2 p.m., which concludes the field day.

TIMELY TOPICS: At the Kanawha farm, ISU specialists will discuss crop production issues, including corn and soybean development and late season crop diseases.

Field day presenters will discuss timely topics of interest

* Matt Schnabel, Northern Research Farm superintendent, will begin the field day program by reviewing the growing season and discussing summer activities at the farm.

* Erin Hodgson, ISU Extension entomologist, will discuss some insect issues that occurred in Iowa crops this summer. She will also talk about corn rootworm management for 2017.

* Jamie Benning, ISU Extension water quality program manager will discuss recent progress to improve water quality in farmland in north central Iowa.

* Bruce Voigts, Wright County Natural Resources Conservation Service, will discuss recent successful projects from the Iowa Clean Water—Water Quality Initiative that are a part of the Boone River Watershed.

* Angie Rieck-Hinz, ISU Extension field agronomist, will discuss cover crops and water quality. Rieck-Hinz will highlight the benefits of cover crops by showing some late summer seeded cover crop demonstration plots.

* Paul Kassel, ISU Extension and Outreach field agronomist, will discuss crop production issues, including corn development, soybean development and late season crop disease.

* Bruce Voigts will also conduct a tour of a Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program wetland construction site following lunch at the farm. Voigts will discuss site requirements, construction and benefits of a CREP wetland.

An application has been made for Certified Crop Advisor credits. For more information, please contact Paul Kassel at 712-262-2264 or [email protected]; Angie Rieck-Hinz at 515-231-2830 or [email protected]; or Matt Schnabel at 641-762-3247 or [email protected].

DRONES AND MORE: Field Day Sept. 8 at ISU Southeast Farm at Crawfordsville will include presentations on UAVs, farm pond management and crop production issues.

Southeast Iowa Research Farm at Crawfordsville: Farmers, agronomists and crop consultants will have the opportunity to hear Iowa State University Extension specialists cover the basics of imagery, farm pond management and the new online yield forecasting tool at the annual fall field day on Sept. 8 at Crawfordsville. The field day will take place at the ISU Southeast Iowa Research and Demonstration Farm.

Registration for the half-day event begins at 1 p.m., and the tour starts at 1:30 p.m. with a season review and a CenUSA research update by Myron Rees, superintendent of the ISU Southeast Research and Demonstration Farm, and Greg Brenneman, ag engineering specialist with ISU Extension.

Demonstration and discussion of basics of UAVs and imagery

“One of the featured tour stops will be a presentation on UAVs that includes a demonstration and discussion of the basics of imagery,” says Meaghan Anderson, ISU Extension field agronomist.

Also highlighted on the tour will be a discussion featuring farm pond management by Allen Pattillo, fisheries specialist with ISU Extension. A presentation on the Forecast and Assessment of Cropping sysTemS (FACTS) yield forecasting tool will be made by Sotirios Archontoulis, ISU assistant professor of agronomy.

Event is free and everyone interested is urged to attend

The event is free and open to the public. Certified Crop Advisor continuing education units will be available. The Southeast Research and Demonstration Farm is located at 3115 Louisa-Washington Road. To reach the farm, follow U.S. Hwy. 218 1 3/4 miles south of Crawfordsville, then drive two miles east on County Road G-62, then 3/4 mile north. Signs will be posted to guide visitors to the event.

For more information, please contact Meaghan Anderson at 319-337-2145 or [email protected], Virgil Schmitt at 563-263-570 or [email protected], or Rebecca Vittetoe at 319-653-4811 or [email protected].