The Haskell Agricultural Laboratory, just east of Concord, Neb., began in 1957 as a University of Nebraska research farm. The Experimental Farm Association took a donation of 320 acres from the C.D. Haskell family and turned it over to UNL.
In the past, HAL hosted VIP tours of the farm that included special invitations to specific groups across northeast Nebraska, offering tours of research being conducted at HAL, as well as annual meals, educational sessions and awards.
Three years ago, the VIP tours morphed into the annual Science and Ag Family Field Day event in early August. These successful, daylong events hosted hundreds of local farmers and ag enthusiasts and their families for interactive displays and sessions, vendor exhibits, talks from UNL Extension staff, and field tours.
The Family Field Day event is scheduled again this year for Aug. 5, although COVID-19 has pushed the agenda into a virtual format.
A virtual video tour of HAL will launch at 8 a.m. that day, featuring current research and educational programming taking place there. A live Zoom session at 2 p.m. will allow farmers and area residents to listen in on informative sessions and ask questions about soybean gall midge, and food labeling facts and fiction, as well as other topics.
There also is a video-on-demand component to the virtual field day, covering topics about food safety, food and nutrition demonstrations, grazing management, nitrate management, tree care, cow milk production and calf size, as well as Nebraska land values, cash rental rates, farm and ranch succession, and the tree species of the Northeast Arboretum at HAL. There also will be a scavenger hunt in the arboretum for anyone interested in taking a self-guided walking tour at the site.
To join the tour or the Zoom meeting, participants need to register at go.unl.edu/HALvirtualtour. Registrants will receive a link to join the Zoom meeting at 2 p.m.
For more information, contact Mary Jarvi at [email protected] or Sarah Roberts at [email protected].
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