This year, virtual events are becoming the new norm. In-person events must follow social distancing measures and are limited to a certain number of people. But that doesn't mean University of Nebraska Extension isn't holding its usual field days this year — those field days will be held in a virtual format.

One of these field days, the Water and Crops Field Day hosted by the West Central Research, Extension and Education Center in North Platte, will be held virtually Aug. 27.

"We have had a number of COVID-19 cases here in Lincoln County, and with the attendance we've had in the past, we don't want to bring that many people together and risk the general public and UNL employees," says Chuck Burr, Nebraska Extension educator and organizer of the event. "We felt we could still have a good program and bring good information to growers — it will just look a little different this year. It will be about three hours long, starting at 9 a.m., with a keynote and then will break into concurrent sessions."

After opening remarks at 9 a.m. from Kelly Bruns, WCREEC director, the field day will start with a keynote presentation at 9:15 on "The Reality about Digitization in Farming: A Look at Robotics, Automation and the Future of Agriculture," by Michael Horsch of Horsch Equipment.

On the agenda

At 10 a.m., concurrent sessions will kick off, with sessions on using technology in pest management, and using technology in water and nitrogen management.

The first concurrent session, on using technology in pest management, will include:

The other session, on using technology in water and nitrogen management, will include:

Both concurrent sessions will be followed by a live Q&A session.

"The presentations will be prerecorded, but we will provide time for an open discussion afterward," Burr says. "Presenters will be available for Q&A discussion for about 10 to 15 minutes."

From 11 a.m. to noon, three breakout sessions will take place discussing University of Nebraska-Lincoln research.

The first breakout session on Nebraska On-Farm Research includes:

The second session, which will cover research at the Stumpf Research Center in Grant, includes:

The third session will include:

The event is free to attend, but registration is required by Aug. 25 to receive a Zoom link to attend the event. Participants will be able to choose which concurrent sessions they want to participate in, and they will be assigned a specific Zoom meeting room.

To register, visit go.unl.edu/t5qq.