2023 WFREC Extension Farm Field Day Highlights

On August 24, 2023, the West Florida Research and Education Center (WFREC) hosted an Extension Farm Field Day that brought together farmers, researchers, and agriculture enthusiasts for a day of learning, networking, and celebrating the agricultural innovations of the region. This event focused on discussing insect, nematode, nutrient, weed, and disease management for cotton and peanuts, as well as variety updates. Additionally, experts discussed the upcoming cotton STEP competition starting in 2024 at WFREC. The Extension Farm Field Day wasn’t just about theoretical knowledge; it also included practical demonstrations and a spray drone demonstration.

The program started with the field tour at 8:00 am CST. There were five outdoor talks and three indoor talks and each talk was approximately 25 minutes. The event had a record high attendance of 144 attendees joining us for the event despite the high temperatures that day.

All speakers provided handouts to attendees so that they could follow along at the stops. If you missed the WFREC Extension Farm Field Day, we have compiled a short video where experts/speakers provide a brief update about their talk.

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All of the Field Day handouts provided by speakers are linked below and labeled by speaker and topic.–

Dr. Zane Grabau – Nematode Management

Peanut Nematode Management

Cotton Nematode Management

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Dr. Barry Tillman – Peanut Variety Update

2023 Field Day Peanut Varieties

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Dr. Hardeep Singh & Ethan Carter- Nutrient Management in Cotton

Cotton Nutrient Management Trial

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Jennifer Bearden- Sprayer Nozzle Selection

John Deere Nozzle Chart

Teejet Nozzle Chart

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Drs. Ian Small & Nick Dufault – Disease Management

Hardeep Singh

Assistant Professor- Cropping Systems Specialist at UF-WFREC

Dr. Singh’s research focuses on utilizing a systems approach to enhance and evaluate the sustainability, profitability, and delivery of ecosystem services of traditional agriculture (row crops) and emerging cropping systems. His research program focuses on developing improved integrated crop fertility management tools and technologies for increasing the sustainability of cropping systems in the Southeast. Much of his work centers on nutrient mineralization and improved nutrient synchronization to increase nutrient use efficiency and reduce losses to the environment. Additionally, his work incorporates enhanced efficiency fertilizers, precision agriculture applications, crop physiological responses to fertility, and utilizing cover crops for improving soil health. Although his focus is on crop fertility, program remains responsive to critical industry needs. This necessitates research on critical topics that affect existing and novel cropping systems for the region, such as disease management, genotype evaluation, basic agronomy, phenology tracking for modeling purposes, and precision agriculture applications.