Sugarcane field day set Sept. 19 in Mercedes

WESLACO  —  The Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Weslaco will host a sugarcane field day Sept. 19 at the center’s annex farm, 9584 Mile 2 West, in Mercedes.

Registration will take place from 8-8:30 a.m., followed by a welcome by Dr. Juan Landivar, center director. The program begins at 8:45 a.m.

The field day will tour three stations throughout the sugarcane research field plots at the annex.

Discussions at the first station will be led by Dr. Jorge da Silva, a Texas A&M AgriLife Research sugarcane breeder at Weslaco. da Silva’s talks will include developments in the sugarcane breeding program, breeding house operations, molecular biology and genomics work, and micropropagation.

At 10 a.m. the field day will move to station two where Dr. Erik Mirkov, an AgriLife Research virologist and molecular biologist at the center, will discuss his biotechnology research in sugarcane.

AgriLife Research scientists based at the Weslaco center will discuss cropping systems at the third and final station of the field day from 10:45 a.m. to noon.

da Silva will discuss new sugarcane cultivars; Dr. John Jifon, crop physiologist, will discuss agronomic management of sugarcane; Dr. Juan Enciso, irrigation engineer, will discuss irrigation management; and Dr. Don Henne, entomologist, will discuss insect management in sugarcane.

Lunch at noon will be sponsored by the Rio Grande Valley Sugar Growers, Inc. Speakers and their topics during the lunch hour will be Andy Scott, director of research at Rio Farms, Inc., cultivar updates; and Randy Rolando, Rio Grande Valley Sugar Growers Inc., an update on the sugarcane season.

Attendees are asked to RSVP by calling Lisa Salinas at 956-968-5585, or email analisa.salinas@ag.tamu.edu