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MTO meeting

Tuesday, August 31st, 2010

-E. Taylor

Last Thursday night I was invited to speak at a Michigan Thumb Organics meeting. This group meets monthly to communicate and foster partnerships among organic growers in Michigan’s thumb. The focus of Thursday’s meeting was on the successes and challenges of their cooperative snap bean effort (green bean). In order to meet the demands of their market, the growers have had to work together with staggered plantings so that beans could be harvested every 4 days throughout the season. They are using a shared harvester and shared grading facility and all in all it has worked out, but since this was the first year of this venture, there are improvements that can be made for next year.

I had the opportunity to talk with the growers about our on-farm trials that will be held next year looking at cover crops preceding dry beans. As a result, two growers from the area will be participating, bringing the total number of on-farm trial sites to nine!

Snapbean harvester

Snap bean harvester

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More on the NEWSS trip

Friday, August 6th, 2010

-Alex Lindsey and Laura Bast

Last week, we had the opportunity to participate in the Northeastern Weed Science Society Collegiate Weed Contest.  Our graduate-level team consisted of Daniel Tratt (an undergraduate in Crop and Soil Sciences), Alexander Lindsey (a MS student in Weed Science), and Laura Bast (a PhD student in Weed Science and Soil Fertility), coached by Dr. Wesley Everman.  After weeks of diligent preparation, we arrived at the Cornell University Horticulture Farm in Ithaca, New York, ready to test our knowledge of sprayer calibration, herbicide and weed identification, and farmer problems.  The competition highlighted weeds and crops of the northeastern region of the US; however, a record number of approximately 100 students from 12 participating universities spanned west to Illinois and south to Florida.  After the competition ended and the scores were tallied, the teams convened at Cass Park on the south shore of Cayuga Lake for dinner and the awards ceremony.  The team from Michigan State received First Place in the Graduate Team contest.  Dan Tratt received the Second Place Individual Award for Undergraduate Students, and Alex Lindsey received Second Place Individual Award for Graduate Students.

In addition to participating in the weed contest, we were able to visit Penn State University on the way to New York.  Dr. William Curran and Dwight Lingenfelter, the Weed Team coach at Penn State, graciously allowed us to tour their weed garden and herbicide screen plots.  Afterwards, we were treated to an excellent tour of their campus, including a stop the Penn State Creamery.  After completion of the contest, we toured Cornell University, visited the wineries along Cayuga Lake, and viewed Niagara Falls on our way to Canada to visit a University of Guelph satellite campus in Ridgetown, Ontario.  At the Ridgetown campus, Dr. Peter Sikkema and his collegue, Dr. Darren Robinson, gave us a tour of their research farm.

Overall the trip was educational, fun, and informative.  Many new crops were observed and novel production techniques were discussed.  The people we met were all very nice, open, and helpful.  Next year the WSSA Weed Olympiad is scheduled to occur in Tennessee, and the Weeds Team looks forward to competing.

Posted in Honors/Awards/Graduations, Teaching/Education, Travels | No Comments »

MSU grads take 1st at NEWSS contest

Monday, August 2nd, 2010

- Wes Everman

The MSU Weed Team that competed this week at the Northeast Weed Science Society contest at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY on July 27th. This year there were 95 students representing 10 universities competing in the contest. The MSU team of Laura Bast, Alexander Lindsey, and Daniel Tratt took 1st place in the Graduate Team competition, Alex Lindsey placed 2nd in the Graduate Individual competition, and Dan Tratt placed 2nd in the Undergraduate Individual competition. The students did an excellent job representing MSU!

MSU team- Laura Bast, Alex Lindsey, and Dan Tratt

MSU team- Laura Bast, Alex Lindsey, and Dan Tratt

2010 NEWSS 1st place Graduate Team

2010 NEWSS 1st place Graduate Team

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2010 Midwest Cover Crops Council meeting @ Iowa State

Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

-E. Taylor

Yesterday I made the long voyage to Ames, IA to attend the 5th annual Midwest Cover Crops Council (MCCC) meeting hosted on the campus of Iowa State University. This meeting offers an opportunity for researchers, farmers, students, extension and agribusiness personnel to interact an focus on the past, present, and future of cover crops in agricultural production systems. This year we have had record attendance with over 120 people. Today’s general meeting featured invited speakers from around the Midwest and a panel discussion of growers who are already extensively using cover crops on their farms. Michigan State University was well represented at the meeting with talks given by Biosystems Engineering professor, Tim Harrigan (Intgerating manure and cover crops with manure slurry seeding), MSU Extension educator, Dan Hudson (Fit, Mistfits, and Mightfits: On-farm cover crop demonstrations in Michigan cropping systems), and KBS researcher, Dean Baas (MCCC cover crop decision tool: Guidance for cover crop selection).  We also had our own weed science grad student, John Green, presenting his proposed research in poster form on corn stover and rye for weed management. Now that the general meeting is over we are all headed to a nearby restaurant for the mixer/dinner.

Tomorrow is the MCCC business meeting where we work on regional collaborations and plans to “facilitate widespread adoption of cover crops throughout the Midwest, to improve ecological, economic, and social sustainability” (MCCC goal).

For more information on cover crops relevant to the Midwestern states and Ontario and to see slide presentations from the meeting (soon to be posted) please take time to explore the MCCC website (www.mccc.msu.edu) and also join the MCCC listserv.

Posted in Cover Crops, Meetings, Travels | No Comments »

2010 WSSA (Denver, CO) wrap-up

Monday, February 15th, 2010

-E. Taylor

Rocky Mountain National Park technical tour

Rocky Mountain National Park technical tour...brrrr

During the remainder of the conference I attended several excellent presentations and visited the poster session. I also had the chance to visit the trade show (which we do not usually have at WSSA). On Wednesday evening the societies held a joint event called the “Taste of Colorado” where as you may have guessed we enjoyed a variety of meats from around the state, reflecting their vast range production. On Friday I stayed for the Rocky Mountain National Park technical tour. We had a behind the scenes look at some of the vegetation management and restoration strategies they are implementing at the park.  The elk population at RMNP is causing significant damage to willow and aspen, two of the parks valuable plant species ,so they are using some various fencing techniques to protect certain plant populations in addition to elk population control measures. The park also has been experiencing a mountain pine beetle (factsheet) epidemic which has resulted in the death of many pines, leaving the landscape dotted with red trees. RMNP is making an effort to restore the pines in certain high traffic areas. They also restore native plants anytime there are human disturbances (buildings erected, roads constructed, etc.) using plants grown from seeds collected at the park and some temporary relocation efforts.  From a weeds prospective restoring native plants helps reduce the chances of invasive weeds coming in to the park. Two weed problems at RMNP currently include Canada thistle (nice to know it’s not just MI) and  cheatgrass, though there are several exotic species.

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