The Carrington Research Extension Center (CREC) has a long history of devoting resources to provide agronomy training to crop advisers and college ag students as part of its educational mission. During the 2016 crop season, two major programs were conducted at the CREC to provide ‘hands-on’ training using field demonstration exhibits and research trials.

Crop Management Field School

The field school was conducted on June 16 with over 50 participants, primarily agri-business crop advisers and extension agents. There were six educational sessions: weed identification, herbicide site-of-action, herbicide-tolerant soybean traits, late-season wheat management, insect management update, and management of salt-affected soils. Instructors were NDSU and Minnesota Extension Service crop specialists. Three quizzes were given and discussion was interactive. Participants received information that could be immediately used during the balance of crop season and future seasons. Seventy-six to 97% of participants completing a written evaluation indicated good to excellent usefulness of sessions.

Crop Field Labs for College Agriculture Students

Field labs were conducted for a total of 65 agricultural students on June 20 for Lake Region State College and July 21 for Bismarck State College and ND State College of Science. Subjects included alternative crops and crop diversification, weed identification, herbicide site-of-action, herbicide-tolerant soybean traits, crop staging and management (alfalfa, corn, soybean, sunflower and wheat), crop tolerance of salt-affected soils, and cropping system study. Instructors were CREC agronomists and college professors. The field training was used to enhance the students’ classroom learning experiences.

Greg Endres
Area Extension Specialist/Cropping Systems

Blaine Schatz
CREC Director and Agronomist