MOUNT VERNON, Wash. – Members of northwestern Washington’s agricultural community are invited to participate in the annual field day and picnic at the Washington State University-Mount Vernon Northwestern Washington Research and Extension Center. The event will feature a tour of field research trials, a picnic dinner, and meetings of the Northwest Agricultural Research Foundation and other crop research advisory groups.
The field research tour will get underway at 4 p.m. on Thursday, July 8, at the NWREC campus located at 16650 State Route 536. The tour will leave from the campus’s landmark Treehouse.
This year’s field tour will visit field trials on the topics of small grains, small fruit horticulture, vegetable horticulture, vegetable and vegetable seed pathology, and weed science. It will also include a discussion of the research underway on control methods for the pest spotted wing drosophila.
The picnic dinner will be served at the Treehouse beginning at 6 p.m.
Concurrent research advisory meetings for various crops are scheduled around the field tour and picnic. The informal meetings are an opportunity for growers to discuss ideas and share information on their priorities for agricultural research with WSU scientists.
The NARF advisory meetings will get underway prior to the field tour with 2 p.m. sessions for those interested in small seed crops, tree fruits, alternative crops and wine grapes. At 7 p.m. the advisory meetings for small fruits and cucumbers, and discussion groups for potato and organic research, will be held.
The event is an opportunity for the community to meet informally with NWREC faculty and researchers to hear about their latest research projects, to share information and ideas on research priorities and approaches, and to brainstorm funding opportunities.
All members of the agricultural industry are welcome to attend free of charge.
For additional information contact Ashley Bentley at 360-848-6143 or ashleyb@wsu.edu.