• By Mary Hightower •
After COVID forced a virtual version last year, the in-person Arkansas Rice Field Day will be back Aug. 6 at the Rice Research and Extension Center in Stuttgart.
“We’re glad to be back to a face-to-face format,” said Jarrod Hardke, Extension rice agronomist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. “This is usually one of the most well-attended field days of the year and producers and others have told me they’re ready to come back.”
On-site registration opens at 7 a.m. There is no cost to attend. The traditional field day lunch of catfish will be served.
This year’s field day will feature two rounds of tours, one beginning at 7:30 a.m. and the other at 9:30 a.m.
“As in 2019, each tour will cover only half of the stops so attendees wishing to see all tour stops will need to go on both the 7:30 and 9:30 tours,” Hardke said.
The details are still being sorted, but attendees can expect to hear from research and extension faculty of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture:
• Rice breeding with Xueyan Sha, professor of plant rice and genetics, and Christian de Guzman, assistant professor of rice breeding and genetics.
• Pathology update with Yeshi Wamishe, Extension plant pathologist.
• Agronomy with Jarrod Hardke, Extension rice agronomist.
• Soil fertility with Trent Roberts, associate professor – soil fertility and soil testing.
• Weed management with Jason Norsworthy, professor and weed scientist.
• Insect management with Nick Bateman, Gus Lorenz and Ben Thrash, all Extension entomologists.
• Irrigation with Chris Henry, associate professor and water management engineer.
Mary Hightower is University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture communications director. She may be reached at mhightower@uaex.edu.