University of Minnesota 2016 Production Agriculture Symposium
Part of the DuPont Plant Sciences Symposia Series
Keynote Speakers
Opening Keynote Speaker: Sarah Carlson
Sarah Carlson joined Practical Farmers of Iowa staff in the fall of 2007. Sarah is the Midwest Cover Crop Research Coordinator. She helps transfer agronomic research about cover crops through articles, blogs and presentation materials while working to improve the support for cover crop research. She also serves as an agronomist on the staff transferring ideas for solutions to integrated crop and livestock concerns from farmers’ stories, results from on-farm research projects and her own knowledge as a trained agronomist
Closing Keynote Speaker: Dr. Rob Myers
Dr. Rob Myers is a plant science faculty member at University of Missouri. His primary current appointment is as Regional Director of Extension Programs for the USDA-NIFA North Central Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program. He administers competitive grants and state funding for sustainable agriculture projects in 12 North Central states, including on cover crops and soil health. His past research and extension experience includes work on cover crops and diversification of cropping systems. His experience includes a one-year appointment in 2013-14 as an Endowed Chair of Agriculture Systems with University of Minnesota where he worked part-time on cover crop issues in the Upper Midwest. He has worked on conservation and other agriculture policy issues in Washington, DC, both as a National Program Leader in Sustainable Agriculture with USDA in Washington, DC, and earlier as a Congressional Science Fellow with the U.S. House of Representatives Agriculture Committee. He is currently Co-Chair of the National Working Group on Cover Crops and Soil Health and is leading a national team developing a new $25 million research and education consortium effort on soil health. Dr. Myers obtained his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in agronomy at University of Minnesota and grew up on a family farm in central Illinois.
Expert Panel
Mark Gutierrez (USDA-RMA)
Mark Gutierrez is a manager with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Risk Management Agency in St. Paul, Minnesota. Before joining RMA, Mark graduated from New Mexico State University with an M.S. in Agricultural Economics and was an Agricultural Statistician with the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) in Olympia, WA. Mark’s leadership in survey administration and data analysis led him to Washington, DC where he was a national survey administrator for NASS. Mark then moved to Minnesota where he led the Estimates Group in the NASS–Minnesota Field Office. Mark was responsible for the data analysis and estimates for nearly 200 commodity items in MN.
Jim Webster (Pioneer Hi-Bred)
Jim Webster has worked in seed corn production for more than 30 years. During that time he has served as a seed corn Production Agronomist, a seedcorn Plant Manager, and Agronomy Manager providing training and technical support to Pioneer production agronomists across North America.
Carmen Fernholz
Carmen Fernholz owns and operates A Frame Farm in Madison, MN. A Frame Farm is a certified organic, diversified grain farm. Carmen utilizes cover crops underseeded into small grains.
Jerry Ackerman:
Jerry Ackerman owns and operates Ackermann Farms in Lakefield, MN. He utilizes cover crops in a corn, soybean, and alfalfa system.
Stephanie McClain (NRCS):
Stephanice McClain works as a District Conservationist at the NRCS in Worthington, MN. She connects growers with cover crop solutions.
Breakout Sessions
10:00 AM – 11:00 AM Presentations
Main Ballroom – Forages
- 10:00 AM – The Best of Both Worlds: Cover Crops for Forage in Silage Systems
Tim Sklenar, Iowa State University, Andrew W. Lenssen, Mary H. Wiedenhoeft - 10:15 AM – Double-cropping with pea-barley forage and short-season corn in Minnesota
Dan Raskin, University of Minnesota - 10:30 AM – Forage Value of Annual Cover Crops
Jim Paulson, University of Minnesota
Cherrywood Room – Soils
- 10:00 AM – Can Cover Crops Increase Soil C Storage?
Anna Cates, University of Wisconsin - 10:15 AM – Cover Crop Mixture Diversity and Soil Nutrient Cycling
Angela Florence, University of Nebraska - 10:30 AM – Soil Microbial Communities Under Cover Crops
Adria Fernandez, University of Minnesota, Craig Sheaffer, Donald Wyse, Christopher Staley, Trevor Gould, Michael Sadowsky
Room 110 – Entomology
- 10:00 AM – Utilizing Buckwheat in an Insect Pest Management Program
Aimee Talbot, University of Minnesota - 10:15 AM – Increased Risk of Insect Injury to Corn Following Rye Cover Crop
Mike Dunbar, Iowa State University, Adam J. Varenhorst, Erin W. Hodgson, Matthew E. O’Neal and Aaron J. Gassmann - 10:30 AM – The Value of Winter Oilseed Cover Crops to Beneficial Insects
Matt Thom, USDA-ARS, Matthew D. Thom, Frank Forcella, Carrie Eberle
11:00 AM – 12:00 PM Presentations
Main Ballroom – Economics and Industry
- 11:00 AM – Coordinate Cover Crops with Crop Insurance
Gary Luebke, Risk Management Agency (Retired) - 11:15 AM – Diverse Cover Crop Observations and Opportunities
Colten Catterton, Green Cover Seed - 11:30 AM – Agro-Ecosystems and Polyculture Design for Sustained Harvests
Daniel Halsey, Southwoods Permaculture Design
Cherrywood Room – Cropping Systems
- 11:00 AM – Corn Yield Response under Winter Cover Crops: An Updated Meta-Analysis
Guillermo Marcillo, Iowa State University, Fernando E. Miguez - 11:15 AM – Phenology and Productivity of Pearl Millet in the Wisconsin Central Sands
Paige Leytem, University of Wisconsin, Christopher Kucharik, Mallika Nocco - 11:30 AM – Integrating cover crops into corn-soybean cropping systems in the upper Midwest
M. Scott Wells, University of Minnesota
Room 110 – Biofuels
- 11:00 AM – Perennial Cover Establishment in Row Crop Systems for Sustainable Biofuels Production
Cynthia Bartel, Iowa State University, Andrew Lenssen, Ken Moore, David Laird, Sotiris Archontoulis - 11:15 AM – Integrating Winter Annual Oilseed Crops into Corn and Soybean Rotations in the Upper Midwest and Evaluating the Germplasm of the oilseeed C. sativa
Matthew Ott and Kevin Anderson, University of Minnesota, Gregg Johnson, M. Scott Wells, Donald Wyse, Frank Forcella, Russ Gesch, James Anderson, M. David Marks, Carrie Eberle, Matt Thom, James Eklund, and Dean Peterson - 11:30 AM – Residue Management and Cover Crop Systems
Alicia ElMamouni, POET, Alex Johnson, Ben Parsley
Our Sponsors
The 2016 Production Agriculture Symposium is funded by:
