Soil Fertility Among Topics On All Three Tours

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Soil fertility will be featured on each of the three tours, even the beef tour, at the Greenley Memorial Research Center Field Day, Aug. 2, at the University of Missouri farm in Knox County.
Fertilizers are a concern because of rising costs and changing technology. Alternatives to ammonium nitrate will be discussed, said Randall Smoot, superintendent.
Three tours featuring crops, pest management and beef will start at 8:30 a.m. Each four-stop tour will be repeated until noon.
On the crop tour, Kelly Nelson, MU research agronomist at the center, will tell of research on polymer-coated urea, slow-release nitrogen for crops. He also will show the fertility value of distillers dried grains, a co-product of ethanol.
Chris Zumbrunnen, regional MU Extension livestock specialist, Milan, Mo., will describe the soil nutrients in a bale of hay fed on pasture.
Clint Meinhardt, Greenley Center research specialist, will report on studies of potassium fertility and fungicide applications to soybeans.
Ray Massey, economist with the MU Extension Commercial Agriculture Program, Columbia, will talk about the economic impact of time of purchase of fertilizer and other inputs.
Other speakers will tell of variable-source fertilizer applications, fungicides on corn, management of glyphosate-resistant weeds and feeding distillers dried grains to beef cattle.
Two regional speakers will describe opportunities for farmers.
G.W. Dimmitt, representing Premium Ag Products of Clarence, Mo., will describe how the farmer-owned cooperative will help producers sell identity-preserved crops for added value.
Karisha Devlin, MU Extension farm business specialist, Edina, Mo., will tell of a series of marketing and management lessons for farm women. Devlin has taught Annie’s Project, a program developed in Illinois that encourages women to become familiar with the business side of the family farm.
The field day is the 30th one held at the Greenley Center. "The first field day was 31 years ago," Smoot said. "But, we didn’t have anything to show in the drought of 1988, so we cancelled all tours that year."
Smoot will be looking for those, like him, who have attended every field day.
Lunch speaker will be Katie Smith, director of the Missouri Department of Agriculture. Smith, an MU agricultural journalism graduate, was appointed director in May 2007. She had previously served on staff for members of the U.S. congressional delegation from Missouri.
Like the rest of the program, the noon lunch following the tours is free.
A tour starting at 2 p.m. at the nearby MU Ross Jones Farm will report on MU Drainage and Subirrigation (MUDS). Tile laid under the fields takes away or adds water to a growing crop, depending on need.
Smoot reminds field day visitors that the tours will start at 8:30 a.m., a half hour earlier than in the past.
The Greenley Center, a part of the MU Agricultural Experiment Station, is located on Highway 156, about 30 miles southeast of Kirksville, Mo.
The farm was donated to the University of Missouri in 1969 by Hortense Greenley, Edina, Mo., in memory of her parents, Grace and Lee Greenley, Jr.
For field day details, e-mail Smoot at smootr@missouri.edu or call 660-739-4410.