Texas Rolling Plains and Southwest Oklahoma producers will meet in Altus, Oklahoma, for the 7^th annual Red River Crops Conference, Jan. 22-23 at the Southwest Technology Center, 711 W. Tamarack Road.

The 2020 theme is "Planning for Success - Crop production information designed for Southwest Oklahoma and the Texas Rolling Plains."

Day 1 will focus on cotton production, while Day 2 highlights in-season and summer crops, including a fescue new to the area.

"We've invited Dr. Michael Trammel from Noble Research Institute to talk about Chisholm tall fescue.  Tall fescue is relatively new to our region and getting lots of attention from producers," says Emi Kimura, State Texas A&M AgriLife Extension agronomist and Texas peanut specialist. "We look forward to the discussions on the potential perennial winter forage production in our area." 

Cotton Day

The cotton day, which begins at 8:15 a.m., Jan. 22., kicks off with an update on domestic and international policies and programs affecting the U.S. cotton industry by National Cotton Council Director of Economics and Policy Analysis Jody Campiche. Cotton economist and Southwest Farm Press columnist John Robinson, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, will follow with an update on cotton markets.

National Cotton Council’s Riley Akin, left, and Dr. Jody Campiche, center, visit with Lauren Decker, Rolling Plains Cotton Growers, at last year's conference.

Other cotton topics include module storage and a gin contamination management session along with herbicide and Bt technology updates.

The afternoon session, preceded by a catered lunch, includes a cotton update by Seth Byrd, Oklahoma State University assistant professor and cotton Extension specialist, and Kimura.

"We will discuss variety performance from our on-farm trials, and other considerations regarding variety selection," Byrd says. "We'll also discuss the results from on-going agronomic research and key characteristics that factor into variety success that may not be picked up in our variety trial work, along with what producers can do to get additional variety information."

The final presentation of the day will focus on cotton irrigation and water use management with Jim Bordovsky, research engineer, Texas A&M AgriLife Research.

"I will discuss the results from several irrigation research evaluations dealing with improving water productivity of Texas High Plains cotton and elements of that research applicable to growers in the upper Red River region," Bordovsky says.

"For example, one long-term experiment shows that attempting to spread limited irrigation water over too large an area reduces not only the value of irrigation water but also the value of rainfall that occurs on that area during the growing season."

Bordovsky will also discuss results from a five-year subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) experiment. "Using SDI at low irrigation capacity clearly shows poor use of pre-plant and early season irrigation above that required for cotton germination."

In Season & Summer Crops

Day 2, which begins at 8:15 a.m., Jan. 23, will highlight a presentation by Michael Trammel, senior plant breeder for the Noble Research Institute, Ardmore, on Chisholm tall fescue production and use. .

Other topics will include: a 2019/2020 wheat crop update and in-season management by Amanda De Oliveira Silva, assistant professor, Small Grains Extension specialist, OSU Extension. Extending the use of grain sorghum will be presented by Josh Lofton, assistant professor, and cropping systems specialist, OSU Extension. Stan Bevers, ranch economics practitioner, King Ranch Institute for Ranch Management, will discuss grain and livestock markets.

Following a catered lunch, the conference will conclude with a farm bill update by Joe Outlaw, professor and Extension economist, Texas A&M University. 

Outlaw will also give his 2020 farming outlook and discuss issues such as low commodity prices and marketing opportunities growers can take advantage of while prices are flat.

"Throughout the marketing year, following harvests, producers will have opportunities to do some things through the futures market where they may get a better price than just selling it off the combine," Outlaw said in recent outlook presentation.

Registration

The conference registration fee is $25. Preregistration is encouraged. For more information go to http://bit.ly/2tsJkK2 or call the Jackson County OSU Extension Office, 580-477-7962.