Crop Management Conference, Dec. 15-16, in Columbia reviews problems, looks ahead

The annual Crop Management Conference offers time to learn from the past and plan for the coming year.

The 2016 event, held Dec. 15-16, offers many lessons, says Kevin Bradley, University of Missouri plant scientist and program planner. The event will be held at the Holiday Inn Executive Center in Columbia and coincides with the MO AG winter meeting.

Bradley describes the conference as “a packed two days,” and it will featue several discussions on various topics:

· MU Extension specialist Bill Wiebold will give the keynote, “Lessons from Soybean in Missouri,” to open the conference at 8 a.m., Thurs. Dec. 15. The soybean crop looking like record yields didn’t look good earlier in the season. Weather delayed plantings and early growth. However, Wiebold has previously given the soybean the name of “miracle-crop," due to the many times the crop turned bad years into good ones.

· Bradley will deliver a few hot topics: “A season to remember: Our experiences with off-site Dicamba in 2016.” The talk will discuss the misuse of an illegal herbicide that damaged crops on neighboring fields. The old formula of Dicamba was subject to drift. He'll also have a separate discussion on weed management in pastures.

· From the corn state to the north, Daren Mueller, plant pathologist at Iowa State University, will discuss ”New and re-emerging corn diseases in the Midwest.” He'll also present on “Managing soybean sudden death syndrome.”

· Kelly Nelson, from the MU Greenley Center in Edina, will touch on foliar fertilizer and fungicide combinations.

· Information on economics and risk management will come from Ray Massey, MU Extension economist. He'll discuss “Decision making in a down market.”

· Cover crops, an emerging tool to cut soil erosion in winter, will be discussed by Greg Luce, MU adjunct faculty. His topic is “Cover crop strip trials: Results and opportunities.”

· Kent Shannon, an MU Extension agricultural engineer in Columbia, will talk of “Using technology to implement strip trials.”

· Tall fescue, the most widely grown pasture grass in the state, has new research by Sarah Kenyon, an MU Extension agronomist in West Plains. She tells of liming and grazing height impact on toxic fungus in the forage.

· Some of the topics challenge future thinking. Wiebold will ask if the right maturity-date soybean varieties are being used.

· Pat Guinan, MU Extension climatologist, will present new farm-weather tools becoming available.

· Gene Steevens of the MU Delta Center in Portageville, will discuss new apps for irrigation water use.

Many other topics will be covered during discussions over the two-day event. The crop conference is the lead off for regional winter meetings. Originally, it brought the latest crop news to regional extension specialists and certified crop advisors with companies, but then top farmers started coming to Columbia to hear the data first hand.

More information about the conference:

· Professional advisors can earn Continuing Education Credits.

· Farmers not seeking credits can take advantage of a special offer to cut $75 off the registration fee.

· The conference fee allows free entry in the MO AG trade show held in the same hotel.

· Special room rates will be given at the Holiday Inn Executive Center in Columbia on I-70 Drive SW.

Conference registration will be available online soon. Details can be obtained from Bradley at 573-882-4039 or the MU Conference Office at muconf9@missouri.edu.

Source: Kevin Bradley, 573-882-4039

For more than 100 years, University of Missouri Extension has extended university-based knowledge beyond the campus into all counties of the state. In doing so, extension has strengthened families, businesses and communities.