Photo of the wheat variety OK Corral. — OK Corral – Oklahoma State University’s best beardless wheat variety since Deliver – is one of many OSU-developed varieties available for viewing through the Lahoma virtual field day. (Photo by Todd Johnson, OSU Agricultural Communications Services)

Date set for OSU's Lahoma virtual field day

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Wheat producers are invited to bring their questions to Oklahoma State University Extension’s first virtual field day May 8.

The inaugural event on the Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources’ Facebook page is taking the place of physical tours that allow farmers and other industry experts to check out dozens of wheat varieties and their characteristics as well as discuss farming practices and other crops. By placing electronic media recordings as a single collection on the internet, the field day will keep growing as additional content is submitted from across the state.

OSU Extension historically has received positive feedback from producers about such demonstrations. The virtual field tours and field days help farmers make operational decisions and inform them of trial research that might be coming onto the market soon.

The Oklahoma Wheat Commission is working closely with OSU Extension and the statewide Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station system to ensure producers have access to data during the season. The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly disrupted the agricultural industry and overall economy, but growers are proving resilient and creative.

“With all the pandemic-related challenges going on this growing season, we feel people are taking a greater interest in food production,” OWC Executive Director Mike Schulte said. “A great benefit of the OSU Virtual Wheat Field Day is that it provides a wonderful platform for people in general to become more educated about what it takes to get food from the field to someone’s table in addition to the benefits it gives wheat growers and related agribusiness operators.”

The expected schedule kicks off with an 8:30 a.m. presentation on wheat varieties. Attendees can participate on other topics and interact with OSU experts leading each session until noon:

8:30 a.m. - Wheat varieties - Amanda de Oliveira Silva
9:00 a.m. - Tank-mixing insecticide with topdress nitrogen - Tom Royer
9:30 a.m. - Wheat breeding and disease update - Brett Carver and Bob Hunger
10:00 a.m. - Integrated weeds management - Misha Manuchehri
10:30 a.m. – Long term study of stratification of nutrients and soil - Brian Arnall
11:00 a.m. - Alfalfa management - Alex Roccateli
11:30 a.m. - Cotton management - Seth Byrd

Silva, OSU Extension small grains specialist, also encouraged people to walk around the test plots while keeping social distancing guidelines in mind. Information about OSU’s 2019-2020 wheat variety trials and the locations across Oklahoma in which they are located is available online through the university’s Department of Plant and Soil Sciences.

MEDIA CONTACT: Donald Stotts | Agricultural Communications Services | 405-744-4079 | donald.stotts@okstate.edu