South Central Ag Lab FIELD DAY
Thursday Aug. 7
8:30 a.m. – 3:10 p.m.
Clay Center, NE
Refreshments provided under the big tent all day and Dairy Store ice cream with lunch!
Field day speakers will share information about their research for improved crop production and profitability
Approximately 100+ applied field research trials are conducted at SCAL annually by University of Nebraska-Lincoln faculty and United States Department of Agriculture/Agricultural Research Service scientists. Trials are focused on irrigation and water management, soil fertility, entomology, weed science, cropping systems, disease management, and crop variety testing.
Continuing Education Units have been applied for and are pending.
Current, up-to-date topics focusing on improved crop production & profitability
Luncheon Keynote speaker: Dan Snow
Nitrate Challenges in Groundwater
The Upper Big Blue NRD and UNL are partnering to study nitrate and agrichemical levels in the vadose zone, focusing on historical and spatial changes across 12 water quality management zones. The vadose zone, also known as the unsaturated zone, is located between the root zone and the groundwater table. While there have been decreases in some areas of the district over the past few decades, overall increase of 54% across the district. Dan will talk about the study and what they are learning about increased and decreased nitrate levels, as well as how you can access and use the information.
The Nebraska Vadose Zone program coordinates, standardizes, and shares past and ongoing studies of Nebraska's vadose zone on-line using GIS mapping. State and local entities may use this public database to make decisions and prepare for future changes in water quality. Growers will also find this information helpful as they plan and manage their operations.
The interactive map at https://nebraskavadose.unl.edu/ depicts locations where measurements of nitrate and other agrichemicals, such as pesticides and heavy metals, have been recorded in the vadose zone in Nebraska.
Dan Snow, Director of Laboratory Services,
University of Nebraska Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute
Irrigation Management (Session 2 & 4) Strategies for Irrigation Scheduling
Saleh Taghvaeian, Irrigation Specialist and Steve Melvin, Extension Educator
Disease Management (Session 1 & 3) Corn and soybean disease updates Corn and soybean disease update: Tar spot management
Tamra Jackson-Ziems and Dylan Mangel, Plant Pathologists
Weed Management (Session 1 & 3) Cover Crop for Weed Suppression in Corn and Soybean: Planting Green and Intercropping
Amit Jhala, Weed Management Specialist
Nitrogen/Fertigation Management (Session 2 & 4) Demo Site:
Optimizing Nitrogen Use Efficiency via Sensor-based Fertigation
Joe Luck, Professor of Biological Systems Engineering/Precision Ag Engineer and Katie Bathke, Research Technician
Insect Management and Conservation Features (Session 2 & 3)
Matheus Ribeiro and Ron Seymour, Extension Educators
Customize your Schedule
8:30 a.m. – 8:45 a.m.
Registration, Coffee & Rolls. Check out our sponsor tables!
8:45 a.m.– 9:00 a.m. - Welcome and opening remarks by our sponsors
9:15 a.m. – 10:05 a.m. - Choose a tour – Disease management, Weed management
10:20 a.m. – 11:10 a.m. - Choose a tour - Insect management, Irrigation management, Fertigation management
11:25 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. - Choose a tour - Disease management, Weed management, Insect management
12:30 p.m.- 1:45 p.m. - Lunch, Keynote Speaker & Dairy Store Ice Cream
2:00 p.m. – 2:50 p.m. - Choose a tour - Fertigation management, Irrigation management
3:10 p.m. - Field day ends. Thank you for coming and have a good trip home!
Map and Directions
The field day is at the South Central Agricultural Laboratory Research Farm located at 851 Hwy. 6 near Harvard, NE.
Directions: 13 miles east of Hastings on Hwy. 6 or 4.5 miles west of the intersection of Hwy. 14 and Hwy. 6 north of Clay Center.
SCAL Farm Address: 851 Highway 6, Harvard, NE
GPS Coordinates: 40.575256, -98.137824
Sponsor Recognition
Thank you to our sponsors for their support of the South Central Agricultural Laboratory Field Day.
A complete list will be available at the field day.
Contact Information
South Central Agricultural Laboratory
Office Phone: (402)762-3536 * Web: https://scal.unl.edu * E-mail: shachtel1@unl.edu * Facebook: UNL.SCAL