PULLMAN, Wash. — Improving global competitiveness and cropland productivity is the subject of the Northwest Direct Seed Intensive Cropping Conference to be held Jan. 7-8 at the Doubletree Hotel in Pasco, Wash.
“There is a rapidly growing trend towards direct seeding and more intensive crop rotations across the country and around the world,” said Roger Veseth, conference chair and conservation tillage specialist for Washington State University and the University of Idaho.
These changes are being driven by increasing global market competition and the need for improved profitability, a greater awareness about the soil quality and productivity benefits of direct seeding versus detriments of intensive tillage, an increasing grower and public concern about crop-land soil loss by water and wind erosion, and new flexibility in crop rotation under the U.S. 1996 Farm Program.
“The Northwest Direct Seed Intensive Cropping Conference will provide Northwest growers an opportunity to learn about the latest technologies and experience with these new farming systems,” Veseth said.
Fifty speakers will provide a series of eight in-depth focus sessions:
- International and national trends and experiences with direct seeding.
- Alternate crops for direct seeding in the dryland Inland Northwest.
- Advances in direct seeding and annual cropping systems in low, intermediate and higher rainfall zones of the Inland Northwest.
- Selecting crop rotations for direct seeding.
- New industry developments in direct seeding equipment.
- Tillage and direct seeding impacts on soil quality and productivity.
- Grower drill modification and fabrication for direct seeding.
Credits have been requested for pesticide applicator recertification in Idaho, Oregon and Washington and for Certified Crop Adviser continuing education.
The Conference is sponsored by the Pacific Northwest STEEP III (Solutions To Environmental and Economic Problems) program on conservation tillage research and education at WSU, U of I, Oregon State University and USDA-Agricultural Research Service. Monsanto and more than 10 other agricultural service and equipment industries are co-sponsors, in cooperation with five Northwest grower commodity organizations and the conservation district associations in the three states.
Preregistration will be limited to the first 600. Request a copy of the Conference program and preregistration form by phone 509-547-5538, fax 509-547-5563 or e-mail maurer@owt.com. Call the DoubleTree Hotel 509-547-0701 for room reservations at $42-$58. For more information on the conference, contact Veseth, 208-885-6386; fax 208-885-7760; e-mail rveseth@uidaho.edu.
Complete program details may be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.agnic.org/mtg/1998/98ndsi.html
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