Farmers from Hastings and Galva are putting on a virtual field day with the Practical Farmers of Iowa on Wednesday, June 17th from 7:30-8:30 p.m.
Jon Bakehouse of Hastings and Sam Bennett of Galva are going to share findings from their on-farm research looking at the impacts of waiting to terminate cereal rye in soybeans.
Stefan Gailans is research and field crops director with Practical Farmers of Iowa. He says both Bakehouse and Bennett will further discuss how their original research questions evolved into an on-going trial looking at the impact of leaving cereal rye cover crop to re-seed itself before corn, as well as their motivations to conduct on-farm research.
?They have been using cover crops on their farms for a number of years,? Gailans said. ?They have been seeing the benefits particularly in their soybean years to weed control that cover crops can afford them. They use cereal rye as a cover crop. When cereal rye is allowed to grow quite a bit and get nice and tall and thick, it really shades out and out competes weeds.?
The event ?Termination Dates for Cereal Rye in Soybeans? is free to attend and will take place via Zoom. To join, Gailans says people can visit practicalfarmers.org/field-days.
?Sam and Jon will tell us how they came to this research question and how they have designed and put out the strips in their fields,? Gailans said. ?We?ll see what it looks like at this point in the season, how it?s going so far, and what they anticipate by the end of the year.?
The June 17th virtual field day is part of Practical Farmers? 2020 field day season, which includes more than 60 virtual events hosted by farmers across the state. For more information, call 515-232-5661.
