Crop tours planned for Wilbarger, Foard counties

Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service specialists and county agents will join Texas A&M AgriLife Research small grains breeders across the state to host field days for the next month as a part of the annual Statewide Small Grains Tour.
Small grain crops across Texas will ripen over the next month.
On May 21 the Wilbarger County tour will begin at 8:30 a.m., at intersection of County Road 126 E. and Farm-to-Market Road 1763 northeast of Oklaunion. Contact Langdon Reagan, AgriLife Extension agriculture and natural resources agent, 940-552-5474 for more information.
On May 22 the Foard County tour will be 2 miles east of Crowell along U.S. Highway 70. Call Michael Bowman, AgriLife Extension agricultural and natural resources agent, at 940-684-1919 for more information.
Individual crop tours may feature small grains strip trials, wheat and oat grain trials, wheat dual-purpose trials, and multispecies forage trials.
These events will allow attendees to view varietal research plots and hear from industry professionals such as agronomists, small grains breeders, plant pathologists, agriculture economists, crop consultants and others. They will cover a wide array of topics such as pest and disease resistance and management as well as grain economics.
“Our small grains variety tours will focus on historical yield performance for both grain and forage of widely recognized and newly developed cultivars,” said Brandon Gerrish, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension agronomist and professor, Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Bryan-College Station.
“Recent rains throughout the state have certainly helped wheat conditions but more will be needed to get it to the finish line,” Gerrish said. “However, the rain also has encouraged the development of leaf rust which now exceeds 75% flag leaf coverage of susceptible varieties at our southern testing sites.”