PULLMAN, Wash. — Precision fertilizer management, weed management strategies and field burning alternatives are among the topics to be featured at the 2005 Direct Seed and Precision Farming Research Field Day Thursday, June 23, at Washington State University’s Cunningham Agronomy Farm.
Located northeast of Pullman, the 140-acre Cunningham farm is a long-term research site managed since 1999 under continuous direct seeding with field-scale equipment. Ninety acres have been intensively sampled at 370 sites referenced to global positioning satellites for data collection on soil characteristics, nutrients, water content and crop water use, weed seed bank and soil-borne pathogens.
The research, which involves more than 20 scientists, focuses on developing precision-agriculture technologies and direct seed cropping systems for a “typical” Palouse landscape. A 12-member advisory committee of growers, scientists and representatives from agribusiness and agencies guides the research.
Registration will begin at the farm at 7:30 a.m.; tours at 8 a.m. The field day will conclude following a hosted lunch at noon. R. James Cook, interim dean of the WSU College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences, is the featured luncheon speaker.
More information is available by contacting Debbie Marsh at (509) 335-2915 or marshdj@wsu.edu.
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