Crops conference taking place April 14th, 2015

Apr 13, 2015

Event being held in Plainview, Texas

Farmers and anyone else interested in things like irrigation and corn’s drought tolerance are invited to the annual Hale and Swisher Crops Conference on Tuesday, April 14^th, 2015.

The conference will be held at the Justice Center Assembly Room in Plainview, Texas from 8am – 4pm.

Blayne Reed, AgriLife Extension integrated pest management agent for Hale, Swisher and Floyd counties said he’s excited about the variety of topics and speakers because there’s something for everyone at the conference.

The subjects and speakers include:

Deana Sageser talking about how people can protect themselves from the sun
Scott Adair from DuPont Pioneer discussing drought tolerance testing in corn
Dr. Jourdan Bell talking about scheduling grain crop irrigation and using plant growth regulators in wheat
Brandon Snyder and Zachary Barton will discuss saving and investing in agricultural business
Cheryl Goswick from the Texas Department of Agriculture will speak about laws and regulations
John Villalba will tackle issues like using soil and water conservation practices
Dr. Pat Porter will talk about pest management including an update on sugarcane aphid
Dr. Jason Woodward will speak about how to manage verticillium wilt in cotton and other crop diseases
Dr. Calvin Trostle will talk about sorghum variety trials and the outlook for alternative crops for 2015

Those in attendance could be eligible for five Texas Department of Agriculture education units. One general, two for integrated pest management, one for laws and regulations and one for drift.

Registration per person is $20 and lunch is included.

Join the conversation and tell us if you’ll be attending the conference. If you do attend, what did you take away from it that you can implement on your farm?

Video: LALEXPERT: Sclerotinia cycle and prophylactic methods

White rot, also known as sclerotinia, is a common agricultural fungal disease caused by various virulent species of Sclerotinia. It initially affects the root system (mycelium) before spreading to the aerial parts through the dissemination of spores.

Sclerotinia is undoubtedly a disease of major economic importance, and very damaging in the event of a heavy attack.

All these attacks come from the primary inoculum stored in the soil: sclerotia. These forms of resistance can survive in the soil for over 10 years, maintaining constant contamination of susceptible host crops, causing symptoms on the crop and replenishing the soil inoculum with new sclerotia.