BRADFORD NOTES
January 25, 2008 News for Users from Bradford Research and Extension Center
by Tim Reinbott and Thresa Chism
A Note:
It's hard to believe that it is the end of
January and planting time will soon be upon
us. This past year, 2007 was a very busy and
exciting year and 2008 looks to be just as
exciting. I have noticed at the winter meetings
that the mood in Agriculture has been its best
in a long time. I suppose good prices and
yield have a lot to do with that! In 2007, we
continued to broaden our horizons by starting
an aquaculture project where Ray and I have
been attempting to grow fish in cages. We
feel that this is a great value-added project and
hope that we can have a fish fry later this year.
Although I am a little concerned that a fish
farmer told me you have to kill one million
fish to be considered a fish farmer! Speaking
of eating, I hope that everyone had a chance to
participate in the first ever Sweet Corn Tasting
Day we held in August. We plan on doing this
again with the many different genetics for
sweetness and tenderness.
This fall we had well over 2000 primary and secondary students come out for educational events. Part of the draw for these kids are our wonderful educational opportunities such as the Gene Zoo, Weed Garden, Native Plants, Greenhouses, etc. as well as the general farm tour. Many of you may not realize that Eric has a real gift of working with children. We made many new contacts this year including the Missouri School for the Deaf which brought groups out here on four different occasions to learn about science and agriculture. Of course the corn maze was a hit again this year with thousands of students, scouts, and church groups taking advantage of it. We were also very successful with our pumpkin patch and were able to give away over 2000 pumpkins to school children and disadvantaged youth. We also had many visitors and participants at our annual workshops and clinics such as the Weed/IPM Field Day, Crop Injury Clinic, Native Plant Field Day, Integrating Bobwhite Quail Management in a Modern Agriculture Setting Field Day, and Tomato Festival. In early September we had nearly 3,000 bicyclists utilize Bradford as their rest and lunch stop for the annual MS bike ride. If you count up all of the visitors this year we easily had over 7,000! Without the tremendous support that we receive from the MU Faculty, Staff, and Students we would not be able to pull any of these events off.
Thanks for all that you have done to make 2007 a successful year and I look forward to 2008.
Tim
Fertilizer:
Eric and I got all of the P and K on last
fall. Unless we hear otherwise, we will be
applying 80 lb N/acre to all of the wheat
blocks starting in mid February. Let me know
which plots will be in corn this year. We plan
on putting 160 lb N/acre on all corn plots, but
if you need less (or more), please let me know
since the price of nitrogen has sky rocketed
this year to over 60 cents/lb.
Worker Protection Video:
Just a reminder that every new full-time
person and summer helper that will be
exposed to pesticides are required to watch a
30 minute video within 30 days after their first
day of employment. Please see Tim for the Video.
Equipment Maintenance:
Barry, Benton, and the boys are hard at it
getting all of the tractors and equipment ready
for the field season. If you have any special
requests please get them to us as soon as you
can. Planting season will be on us before you
know it.
Web Site:
Check out the new photos and information
on our web site: http://aes.missouri.edu/bradford/
Alternative Energy:
As many of you know, Bradford has
several alternative energy projects including:
a passive solar greenhouse, a corn furnace in
the large greenhouse, a pallet burner that heats
the main building, etc. All of these items save
thousands of gallons of propane each year.
We hope in the near future to have a wind
turbine and photovoltaics to supply part of our
energy needs. In the meantime we are
participating in the wind anemometer loan
program from the DNR. They will be
monitoring our wind speed at 66 feet for the
next year. The results will be posted on their
web site: http://www.dnr.mo.gov/energy/renewables/wind-energy.htm
High Yield Soybeans:
If you haven't heard, the world record
soybean yield record has been shattered by
Kip Cullers in Southwest Missouri (155 bu/
acre). We tried some of Kip's treatments and
were able to increase our soybean yield from
41 to 88 bu/acre. I am sure that our 2008
soybean yield on some plots at Bradford will
top 100 bu/acre.
Produce Sales:
I am sure everyone enjoyed the extras that
were supplied by the horticulture crops grown
out here in 2007. But did you know that the
best of the produce wound up at Campus
Dining? We sold nearly $3,000 worth of
produce to them and these funds will now be
used to sponsor undergraduate research
projects in Horticulture in 2008. Thanks to
Leslie Shaw and Dr. Dave Trinklein for their
hard work and dedication to students.
Calendar of Upcoming Events:
| Syngenta Training | March 31-April 4 |
| Native Plant Sale | April 12 |
| Rose Workshop | May 22 |
| Quail and Native Plant Field Day | June 26 |
| Crop Injury Diagnostic Clinic | July 22-25 |
| Tomato Festival | September 4 |
| FFA Field Day | September 9 |
Bradford Research and Extension Center
4968 Rangeline Road
Columbia, MO 65201