Writer: Kathleen Davis Phillips, (979) 845-2872, ka-phillips@tamu.edu
Contact: Ron Woolley, (817) 968-4144, r-woolley@tamu.edu
Archie Abrameit, (512) 898-2214
THRALL — Ultra-narrow cotton rows, precision farming and other current agricultural research for Central Texas will be among the top issues discussed during the 34th Stiles Farm Foundation Field Day June 17.
Field tours, walking tours and exhibits will begin at 1:30 p.m. at the Stiles Farm, about 30 miles northeast of Austin on U.S. Highway 79. A barbecue and presentation of 10 Central Texas scholarship winners who plan to attend Texas A&M University will begin at 6 p.m.
“This is an opportunity for people to get the latest technology from the leading experts,” said Archie H. Abrameit, Stiles Farm Foundation manager. “The agriculture industry is one of the few that has such an open door policy, allowing people to come out and view the latest developments and to ask questions of the top educators in the field.”
Experts will be available to identify weeds and range grasses for participants who bring samples, for example, according to Ron Woolley, District 8 director for the Texas Agricultural Extension Service in Stephenville.
Highlights of this year’s field day riding tour will be a field demonstration of cotton variety plots, weed control in farm crops and plots of Bt corn, which was bred to have a resistance to European and Southwestern corn borers. A walking tour will include aquatic weed control, beef cow management, forage grasses for the future, tomato disease resistance and precision farming. Several exhibits, including one on fire ants, will be available as well.
Field days have been held at the farm annually since 1963, with the exception of last year when the event was cancelled due to drought.
The Stiles Farm Foundation, which is overseen by the Texas Agricultural Extension Service, is a non-profit, self-supporting institution established in 1961 by bequest from the late J.V. and H.A. Stiles for the advancement of agriculture.
The 2,800-farm, with non-irrigated cropland and pastureland, is under the trusteeship of The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents and serves as a crop and livestock demonstration site for the Central Texas Blacklands.
For more information, contact Abrameit at (512) 898-2214, or Woolley, (817) 968-4144, r-woolley@tamu.edu.
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