Fall is in the air, and with it comes the annual Texas AgriLife Extension Service’s cotton tours in Runnels and Tom Green counties, set Sept. 29 and Oct. 6 respectively.

The Runnels County Cotton Field Tour will start at 9 a.m. at the Runnels County Courthouse in Ballinger. Participants will then travel to the Paul Minzenmayer Farm (just south of Hatchel on U.S. Highway 83) to view a dryland cotton variety test.

The Runnels County Tour will include talks on Texas Department of Agriculture laws and regulations, boll weevil eradication and cotton-root rot. The tour will conclude with a complimentary meal at St. Mary’s Old Church Hall in Ballinger. Three Texas Department of Agriculture continuing education units will be provided for those who attend the entire tour (one in laws and regulations, and two general).

The Tom Green County Cotton Field Tour begins at 9 a.m. at the John and Doug Wilde farm just north of the intersection of Loop 306 and Farm-to-Market 765, east of San Angelo.

The Wilde farm tour includes an irrigated cotton variety test, a harvest-aid trial and a look at a cotton root-rot study. The tour will continue with a Texas Department of Agriculture presentation, a boll weevil eradication update and a complimentary meal at St. Ambrose Church in Wall. Texas Department of Agriculture will offer three continuing education units (two general and one laws and regulations) for those attending the entire tour.

For more information and to RSVP for either of the tours, call the AgriLife Extension office in Runnels County at 325-365-2219, the AgriLife Extension office in Tom Green County at 325-659-6523 or call Rick Minzenmayer, AgriLife Extension entomologist for Runnels and Tom Green counties, at 325-365-5212.