Row crop conference set for Jan. 27 in Hondo

The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service will host the 2nd annual Winter Garden Row Crop Conference on Jan. 27 in Hondo.

The conference is sponsored by the AgriLife Extension offices in Atascosa, Dimmit, Frio, Guadalupe, Medina, Uvalde, Wilson and Zavala counties. It serves as a kick-off to the corn, cotton and sorghum growing season in the Winter Garden. 

The event begins with registration at 8:30 a.m. and will conclude at 4:20 p.m. at the Hermann Sons Life Hall, 251 Texas Highway 173. Registration is $30, which includes lunch. To RSVP, contact the AgriLife Extension office in Medina County at 830-741-6180. The deadline to RSVP is Jan. 24.

Five Texas Department of Agriculture continuing education units will be available — one general, one laws and regulations, and three integrated pest management. 

Speakers and topics

• Applicator laws and regulations, Mark Matocha, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension environmental unit pesticide safety education specialist, Agricultural and Environmental Safety Unit, Bryan-College Station.
• Herbicide-resistant weeds, Josh McGinty, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension agronomist and assistant professor, Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Corpus Christi.
• Row-crop diseases, Tom Isakeit, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension plant pathologist and professor, Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, Bryan-College Station.
• Crop marketing and risk management Department of Agricultural Economics panel: Mark Welch, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension economist for grain marketing and professor, Bryan-College Station; John Robinson, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension cotton marketing economist and professor, Bryan-College Station; Yuri Calil, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension economist and assistant professor, Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center, Corpus Christi.
• Pesticide modes of action, Matocha.
• Insect pest management in row crops, Noel Troxclair, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension agriculture and natural resources agent, Uvalde.