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Extension crops and soils educator outlines research, outreach and 'low‑disturbance' manure work
Summary
Jerry Clark, Dunn County soils and crops educator, summarized local agricultural economic impact, ongoing research on adaptive nitrogen management and outreach including a low‑disturbance manure application field day scheduled for September.
Jerry Clark, the soils and crops educator serving Dunn, Chippewa and Eau Claire counties, told the committee Aug. 12 that agriculture remains a significant economic driver locally and reviewed Extension research, education and field work focused on nutrient management, cover crops and cropping alternatives.
Clark presented county farm statistics and described demonstration and research projects, including adaptive nitrogen management trials on small plots that tested rates from 0 to 200 pounds per acre and generally showed a yield plateau near 120–130 lb/acre in the years reported. He said the research included lysimeters to trap nitrate and that elevated readings in some lysimeters coincided with tile lines in the field, a finding the team will reexamine when they retrieve instruments next spring.
Clark also described a redesigned manure applicator training that used a large map and group exercises rather than slides; he said the interactive approach drew positive feedback. “I want to pass along that I was very impressed,” Clark reported a consultant saying about the hands‑on mapping and peer interaction used in the training.
Upcoming events include a low‑disturbance manure application field day on Sept. 3 at Alpha Lawn Farm west of Downsville, with demonstrations of injectors and narrow‑band application tools and discussion of GPS guidance and planting over application bands. Clark explained low‑disturbance application as systems that place manure just below the soil surface in a narrow band to reduce surface runoff and enable planting immediately behind the toolbar.
Clark also reviewed work on malting barley, alfalfa interseeding with corn silage, industrial hemp trials (noting this will be his final year on hemp projects), and collaboration with watershed groups, the Red Cedar Demonstration Farm and the Chippewa Valley Forage Council. He noted Extension faculty carry a research expectation and described recent and planned scholarly outputs tied to those projects.
The committee was directed to Extension’s event postings and a forthcoming flyer for the Sept. field day; staff offered to distribute the flyer to supervisors and to post events on the office Facebook page.
