By Brooke Keltner
Blue skies and sunshine marked the perfect weather for SIU’s Ag Field Day on July 14 where a drone and artificial intelligence (AI), some of the latest technology to sweep the farming industry, were among the star performers.
Southern Illinois University Carbondale rebooted this research-focused event after a three-year hiatus. The research on display is from graduate students mentored by faculty and supported through grant funding from the Illinois Nutrient Research and Education Council, the Illinois Soybean Association and the Illinois Farm Bureau, each of which had representatives on-site.
Dipanjan Mazumdar, interim associate dean for academic and student affairs and associate professor in the School of Physics and Applied Physics, said Ag Field Day is an opportunity to highlight SIU’s R1 research and inform farmers about the latest trends in the industry.
“This is a great community outreach with our farmers and agriculture partners who help fund some of our research projects,” he said. “University Farms is SIU’s largest research facility in terms of scope and size with 600 of the 2,000 acres being dedicated to research. Our college is producing quality research that can improve farming practices, and we want to share that information.”
Attendees watched a drone demonstration and experienced ag research firsthand through in-person field talks on topics such as:
Novel cover crop and herbicide management for controlling waterhemp in no-till and strip-till soybean fields
Cover crop biomass and weed suppression trials
An update on the next generation of cover cropping and sustainable intensification of corn and soybean rotation
Impacts of conservation practices on water equality
Source : siu.edu