The Northern Hardy Fruit Evaluation Project will be the focus for one of four tours offered during the North Dakota State University Carrington Research Extension Center’s annual field day set for July 17.

All field day events begin at 9 a.m. with a welcome from Blaine Schatz, center director, and the introduction of guests and speakers. Tours and meetings will begin at 9:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. Lunch will be served at noon. No preregistration is needed.

The Northern Hardy Fruit Evaluation Project field tour starts at 9:30 a.m. Kathy Wiederholt, Carrington Research Extension Center fruit project manager, will lead the tour of the center’s fruit orchard.

The fruit project’s featured speaker is Dave Vander Werf, an aronia grower from Sioux Center, Iowa. Vander Werf grows more than 20 acres of aronia. He will discuss establishment and field care in the morning session. He also will talk about aronia sales and marketing in a session that begins at 1 p.m.

The Northern Hardy Fruit Evaluation Project was established in 2006 to introduce and demonstrate alternative, economically viable fruits that will grow in North Dakota. The project features black currant and Juneberry variety trials, and demonstration plantings of University of Saskatchewan cherries and haskaps, as well as apples, aronia, red and black currants, elderberries, grapes, honeyberries and plums.

The Carrington Research Extension Center’s other tours will focus on livestock, crop and organic production.

For more information on this year’s field day tours, contact the center at 701-652-2951 or visit its website at https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/CarringtonREC.

NDSU Agriculture Communication - June 20, 2018