Writer: Pam Dillard (806) 677-5600, p-dillard@tamu.edu
Contact: John Sweeten (806) 677-5600, j-sweeten@tamu.edu
AMARILLO– Wheat has been the crop of choice for High Plains farmers for nearly a century and a Panhandle production staple for decades. Putting wheat quality research, production techniques and breeding under the microscope is a natural for the Panhandle Wheat Field Day scheduled at the Bushland Experiment Station on May 22.
The station is just 10 miles west of Amarillo on I-40. Registration will start at 8:30 a.m. in the Kenneth Porter Seed Processing and Storage Building, adjacent to a recently constructed state-of-the art greenhouse complex operated by the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station. A formal dedication ceremony to name each greenhouse will be held during a luncheon program with the meal courtesy of Texas Wheat Producers Board.
The site is the regional headquarters for the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, a part of The Texas A&M University System, and the Conservation and Production Research Laboratory, a unit of the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service.
A total of five continuing education unit credits will be available, three for certified crop advisers and two for pesticide applicator license holders.
Bindweed mites will be available for participants to take home, courtesy of the successful biological control program developed by Experiment Station entomologist Gerald Michels at Bushland. The mites have been distributed at past field days. Mite nurseries have been previously established around the Panhandle by Michels’ project with cooperation by Extension’s county agricultural agents.
Field tours will begin by 9 a.m. with buses taking participants to see research close-up. Stops will showcase crop comparison results, new varieties under development in outdoor wheat nurseries, drought tolerance trials and plant disease updates, trials, and water use efficiency and conservation.
The noon program will honor those supporting efforts to build the three new greenhouses in the second of three phases to expand A&M’s statewide wheat breeding, processing and storage capabilities, which also includes facilities at Vernon and Chillicothe in addition to those at Bushland and College Station. Guest speakers include David Worrall, co-manager, AgriPro Wheat of Vernon and Rodney Mosier, executive director, Texas Wheat Producers Board.
Project contributors will be recognized with awards presented by an A&M System Agriculture Program and wheat industry coalition that includes Charles Scifres, Experiment Station deputy director; TWPB chairman Gary Murphy and organization executive Mosier; Warren Evans, A&M Resource Development officer; and John Sweeten, research director at the Amarillo Experiment Station. A ribbon cutting ceremony and greenhouse tour will follow.
Buses will load for an informal tour of dryland wheat trials where participants can walk through plots along with researchers and take a closer look at the varieties under development. For details about the field day, contact Bean or Sweeten at the Amarillo center at (806) 677-5600.
-30-