Farm Progress

Field days offer look at what’s coming

Ron Smith 1, Senior Content Director

October 4, 2016

22 Slides
<p>Cotton bolls maturing in the Texas High Plains.</p>

Late September brings the first cool days of autumn to the Texas High Plains, a crispness in the air that promises—almost—that the summer’s heat is done for the year. The air seems cleaner, the sky bluer, and the dust a tad more settled than was the case just a few weeks back. It’s almost harvest time and also opportunities for farmers to gather at seed company field days to see what new varieties will be available over the next few years.

Recent events sponsored by Deltapine—in  Seminole, Texas,—and Bayer FiberMax—in Idalou—gave producers a chance to see new herbicide resistant technology, new and improved fiber quality offerings, and more pest resistance, among other variety characteristics.

Farmers and industry observers walked the fields and bounced around in trailers to get up-close, in-the-field views of experimental varieties compared with current standards.

Here are a few photos from the Deltapine and Bayer field days.

About the Author

Ron Smith 1

Senior Content Director, Farm Press/Farm Progress

Ron Smith has spent more than 40 years covering Sunbelt agriculture. Ron began his career in agricultural journalism as an Experiment Station and Extension editor at Clemson University, where he earned a Masters Degree in English in 1975. He served as associate editor for Southeast Farm Press from 1978 through 1989. In 1990, Smith helped launch Southern Turf Management Magazine and served as editor. He also helped launch two other regional Turf and Landscape publications and launched and edited Florida Grove and Vegetable Management for the Farm Press Group. Within two years of launch, the turf magazines were well-respected, award-winning publications. Ron has received numerous awards for writing and photography in both agriculture and landscape journalism. He is past president of The Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association and was chosen as the first media representative to the University of Georgia College of Agriculture Advisory Board. He was named Communicator of the Year for the Metropolitan Atlanta Agricultural Communicators Association. More recently, he was awarded the Norman Borlaug Lifetime Achievement Award by the Texas Plant Protection Association. Smith also worked in public relations, specializing in media relations for agricultural companies. Ron lives with his wife Pat in Johnson City, Tenn. They have two grown children, Stacey and Nick, and three grandsons, Aaron, Hunter and Walker.

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