Dr. Ken Smith, a weed expert with the University of Arkansas, provides insight to Clay County farmers during the recent field day event. (Times photos/Ryan Rogers) [Click to enlarge]

Several Clay County agricultural producers gathered Friday, Aug. 8, to take part in the annual field day held by the Clay County Cooperative Extension Service.

The field day offers area growers a chance to see the results of different seed varieties grown on local soil. This offers producers a "trial run" of sorts to assist in determining what types of seed they may wish to use in their own fields. Several different seed company representatives and varieties were on hand for the event.

The field day also gives farmers the opportunity to meet with a number of agricultural specialists from the University of Arkansas.

"This is designed to help our local producers," Clay County Extension agent Andy Vangilder said. "Any time you can bring in experts and give the farmers a chance to meet with them and actually be in the field with them, it's an advantage. When you can actually be there and see what they're talking about and ask questions, you're more likely to learn from that."

The day began with the group assembling at the Rector Community Center. From there, the group, traveling in several vehicles, journeyed to the Scott Kirklin Farm, just south of the city limits. At the Kirklin plot, the group viewed several corn varieties and heard from experts Dr. Jason Kelley and Dr. Ken Smith.

Dr. Kelley, an Extension grain specialist, discussed this year's crop. With heavy rains occurring during the traditional planting season in March and April, this year's corn was pushed back. A similar situation occurred last year, with a late-season freeze. Much like last year, several fields had to be re-planted. Though this was less than ideal, Kelley said the county's corn has turned out well for the most part.

"I think that just about every field we went back in and re-planted, it turned out to be the right decision," Kelley said.

There are some problems facing some corn crops, though.

Some crops are battling deficiencies in sulfur and zinc. Kelley said this is not a major concern, with many growers in the area already accustomed to handling and overcoming such difficulties.

Another setback is tied to the weather. Due to the heavy rains slowing planting, the overall acreage of corn is down this year.

"A lot of people felt like they ran out of time," Kelley said.

Still, the overall assessment for the county's corn was positive.

In fact, corn has done well not only for itself, but other crops, as well.

Corn treatments have been successful against pigweed, lending strength to other crops when the fields are rotated.

"Any time we can rotate the corn, it helps out other crops," weed scientist Dr. Ken Smith said.

Smith noted the current outlook for area corn crops was a positive one, with limited threats of the weed variety.

The next presentation took place at the Chad Agee farm and featured cotton.

Cotton is facing troubles of its own. With many growers opting to increase the production of soybeans for potential use in alternative fuels, the total cotton acreage in the state has dropped to an estimated 606,000 acres. While this number is still impressive, it may show signs a future trend which could present problems down the road.

Brief discussions on cotton were led by Dr. Tom Barber, Extension cotton specialist, Dr. Gus Lorenz, Extension IPM coordinator, and Dr. Smith.

Dr. Lorenz said he feels the appearance of plant bugs on cotton is rising, though the current outlook has been "pretty good." He encouraged growers to protect their crop through the end, but to routinely examine plants to avoid any unnecessary spraying in light of increased fuel and chemical costs.

Lorenz also said boll worms are appearing in large numbers as near as Jonesboro. He referred to this infestation as a "pretty massive" amount of worms, which could be headed this way.

Dr. Smith noted the difficulties in staving off Roundup-resistant pigweed. If the popular weed-killer does not work, he said, it's very hard to remove pigweed from the fields. One of the keys to avoiding the plight is to keep the field clean of weeds of any kind to avoid pollination and the potentially subsequent arrival of pigweed.

The final demonstration of the day was at David Cagle's soybean field approximately three miles south of Greenway. The group met with UA specialists Dr. Jeremy Ross, who focuses on soybeans, and Scott Monfort, a plant pathologist.

According to Monfort, the recent weather has offered some benefits for soybean growers. Due to the dry weather of late, soybean diseases have been limited. Though such debilitating plant diseases as Asian Rust remain a concern, currently the local soybean crop has fared well and, for the most part, remains healthy.

The day concluded at the Rector Community Center with a catered meal from Strawberry's provided by the seed company representatives.