Specialists Give New Strength to Missouri Crops and Center
⋅ BY CASSIDY NEMEC ⋅
EDITOR
Down in Portageville, Missouri, the Fisher Delta Research, Extension and Education Center (FDREEC) sits perched on Upper Delta soils in the “bootheel” region of the southeastern part of the state.
The Station
The T.E. “Jake” Fisher Delta Research, Extension, and Education Center (FD-REEC) was established in 1959 in Portageville, Missouri, to provide research and educational programs unique to the Southeast Delta region of the state and to function as a center for university programs, educational meetings, workshops, short courses, 4-H training, FFA Days and Field Days.
The FD-REEC facilities include 1,119 acres of land at five locations representing the major soil types of the region. Research studies are designed to improve production of crops that are of major importance to the region; namely soybeans, cotton, rice, grain sorghum, wheat, peanuts, and possible new crops that could economically benefit the area. The land that comprises the facilities was donated to the university by families who strongly believed in the land grant mission. In 2011, the Center was renamed in honor of T.E. “Jake” Fisher, who had served as a superintendent and had been employed with the University of Missouri for more than 50 years.
As director of the research center, Aaron Brandt manages the center’s facilities, budget and resources to provide and promote an adequate agricultural research environment.
“We have six different research programs — Soil & Cropping Systems, Rice Agronomy, Crop Protection, Cotton Agronomy, Weed Science, and Soybean Breeding — plus my operations team, which is basically support staff for our faculty and research functions,” Brandt said. “I am also the administrative link between our main campus in Columbia, Missouri, and the FD-REEC. I work in conjunction with other REEC directors across the state on various projects, including grant applications.”
The People
Four state Extension specialists who work in conjunction with Brandt, all new to the Center as of 2021-2023, form a group working to rejuvenate the FD-REEC.
Justin Calhoun is a former assistant professor and soil and cropping systems state Extension specialist.
“My program aids other specialists like Justin Chlapecka and Bradley Wilson in conducting some research and Extension work (mainly fertility, tillage, weed control and rotation studies) in rice and cotton, respectively,” Calhoun said. “But we also do extensive pest management, fertility, and basic agronomic work in crops that we do not have Extension representation for here in the Delta region of the state. This includes soybean, corn, peanut, grain sorghum, wheat, and industrial hemp.”
Justin Chlapecka worked as assistant professor and state rice Extension specialist. He conducted research on best management practices in rice production, including cultivar trials, fertility, weed control, seeding rate, and other agronomic practices.
Chase Floyd is an assistant professor and state Extension crop protection specialist for Missouri, covering entomology and plant pathology focus areas. He said he is in a unique position in the Missouri Bootheel due to the responsibilities of entomological and pathological pest management of row crops.
“Essentially, I am running both an Extension entomology and pathology program,” he said. “Predominantly, my research focuses are in entomology due to my training as well as needs of the growers. Cotton and rice insects are where I spend a large amount of my research efforts.”
Bradley Wilson is an assistant professor and state cotton Extension specialist for the University of Missouri. “My main role is to provide timely and updated research information to producers in respect to variety selection, best management practices and updated technologies in cotton production,” he said. “I also have a role to establish relationships with cotton producers in Missouri and be available to answer calls and visit farms when the need arises.”
All of these specialists work as a unit year-round to maintain and improve the FD-REEC’s operations and research efforts.
Bootheel Rice
190,000 to 200,000 acres of rice is typical for the Bootheel. Southeastern Missouri is home to the highest percentage of row rice acres across all six major rice-growing states, averaging about 30%-35% of total rice acres.
Chlapecka said that planting is a busy time at the FD-REEC.
“During planting, it seems that we are running in 1,000 different directions trying to get trials planted at two research and the various on-farm locations we have throughout Southeastern Missouri,” he said.
“We run about 5,000 small plots per year, which takes a large amount of time and preparation to get things ready before we ever go to the field. March turns into one of our busiest times trying to get everything ready. The bulk of our planting season is from late March through the first of May, but we do have some trials running from a late February planting date through mid-June.”
On the flip side, harvest poses its own challenges.
“Harvest can be a logistical nightmare at times as well, trying to get plot combines to the right locations at the right time, especially for our on-farm trials as we try to mesh up our schedules with the cooperating farm,” Chlapecka said.
He said they don’t do any plot desiccation, so harvest isn’t able to start until roughly 11 a.m., which causes some longer evenings when the time is right. “We try to stay extremely flexible during the harvest to allow us to get to everything timely and not put any of our cooperators behind.”
As for the “in between,” Chlapecka said the summer between season focuses on farmer interests such as fertilization, herbicide application, irrigation, and data collection including stand counts, plant heights, tissue sampling, and other common data points. “The between time for the winter is filled with meetings and this can actually be one of our other busiest times, as I presented at something like 10 or 12 conferences last winter.”
The major weed issue, as is the same for much of the South, is barnyardgrass. According to Chlapecka, white margin sedge also seems to be spreading rapidly. “It’s not controlled by our most common herbicide programs and can dominate an area of the field and take it to the ground.”
He said insect pressure is not as heavy as other southern areas with warmer climates but that they do have some billbug issues due to the sheer number of row rice acres they have in the state.
“Disease is similar in that we don’t see as much as those who are further south,” Chlapecka said. “We still combat the same diseases such as sheath blight and blast, but not on the same level. Blast also tends to not be a huge issue as we are around 70% hybrid rice.”
More Trials
Chlapecka said there are many potential hybrids and varieties that can produce a successful rice crop in Missouri. “As far as varieties are concerned, generally the Arkansas-bred lines perform better than Louisiana-bred lines, but that is not a hard and fast rule. The hybrids tend to do well in our area, especially when planted later because they’re earlier maturing than most of our inbred varieties.”
One of his favorite studies they researched during his last three years at the station was the seeding rate trial in furrow-irrigated rice.
“We rep those out at the top, middle, and bottom of the field with one hybrid and three inbred varieties to look at how we need to be seeding our row rice,” Chlapecka said. “The past couple of years have suggested that a slightly higher seeding rate is needed toward the top end where we aren’t backing up any floodwater, while the opposite has been true at the bottom of the field where it looks like we can get away with a lower seeding rate down there.”
He said they also had cultivar (variety) trials take up a large portion of their workload. They conduct those trials on their research stations, in their planting date trials, on-farm, and in both flood and furrow-irrigated systems.
Floyd confirmed the main insect issues in the region and his role in evaluating them.
“Rice billbug is the main target pest of our program. Only gaining major pest status in the past few years, we are working with all our rice growing states to establish management guidelines to manage this pest.
Additionally, we are evaluating the level of threat rice water weevil is in the Bootheel, being the major early season rice pest in Arkansas. We don’t have near the amount of population density, but we are evaluating a need to adjust our current strategies. Finally, we are looking at rice stink bug resistance to lambda-cyhalothrin. Our neighbors in Arkansas are dealing with this issue annually. We are establishing how much resistance we have and alternate methods to keep this pest at bay.”
Ultimately, Chlapecka enjoys seeing what harvest can bring.
“My favorite part of the job is gathering research results at the end of the year. Harvest is a continual influx of data that either verify or refute our hypotheses for each test. Harvest consists of some long days trying to get the plots out in a timely manner, but once harvest is complete at the end of the day, I’m ready to pull data and hop on the computer to see what the plot yields actually revealed to us. I geek out on running data when a day’s harvest is completed,” he said.
Seeing Change and Looking Ahead
In terms of progress, much has been made over the past few years at the FD-REEC. Chlapecka, as the first specialist to arrive at MU of the noted group, said he witnessed a lot of change.
“I’ve gotten to see a huge positive transformation in the atmosphere, facilities, and equipment.
The state legislature has been a huge supporter since my arrival (and the arrival of others), and we have been able to make some major upgrades to facilities including the main office. In addition, we have made a lot of equipment upgrades with that funding, which has allowed us to have modern equipment that was not here when I first started. So, I would say what started as major challenges have actually turned into achievements and things we can brag about as a research center.”
One of Brandt’s biggest achievements includes the planning and construction of the new “Roy Blunt Soil Testing and Research Laboratory.” He said this facility will provide over 6,000 square feet of research space for soil, water and plant tissue testing, as well as provide space for their crop protection and rice agronomy programs. “This is the largest new construction project for the center in a very long time,” Brandt said.
Calhoun shared his excitement for the project. “The soil testing lab has an extraordinary opportunity to impact agriculture in our part of the state. Currently, our ag community has to send soil, plant tissue, and water samples off to labs hours away for analysis.
“My hope is that this lab will be able to serve the community for fast and reliable results. Rather than waiting even a couple of days for samples to arrive at a lab and be processed, I hope it will be able to provide near same day results and information,” he said.
In the short-term, Brandt said his goals include finishing remodeling of existing facilities to meet current and future research needs.
“Long term, I want to ensure that the REEC continues operating at high standard and continue building upon its reputation,” he said. “We will need to be agile and adapt to the changing needs of our farmers and communities. I want the Center to continue growing and be at the forefront of agricultural research and innovation.
“In the next five years, I am looking forward to seeing all of the progress made by the team here, through research advancements, graduate student enrollment and contributions to the success of our farmers. We all have a shared vision of growing this research facility into one of the premier research facilities in the country, and I am excited to play a small part in that.”