By Jerry Wilhm. NCRS Research Lead
The North Central Research Station has been in existence for 28 years and is mainly known for its research in crop fertility. However, in recent years the NCRS has been expanding its profile into a wider variety of experimentation with the advent of Contract Research.
By Jessi Nash, NCRS Associate
“I believe in the future of agriculture…” E. M. Tiffany said it best. Agriculture has a bright future with a multitude of new technologies currently being developed and much more that are currently only a thought. But, one of the most promising avenues within the future of agriculture, is the youth of today. Here at the NCRS, we know the importance of teaching and developing the leaders of tomorrow. Over this past year, the North Central Research Station (NCRS) was able to host a multitude of events that focused on the betterment of today’s youth.
By Brian Laskowski, AgroLiquid Grounds and Landscaping Supervisor
As the weather slowly warms up here in Michigan and we start thinking about what needs to be done with our lawns, I thought that I would give everyone a basic guide to spring lawn maintenance.
Spring Cleanup
Now is a good time to get out and clean up the yard.
If you have trees in your yard, go around and pick up all of the twigs that have fallen over the winter months.
Rake the yard. This will get any dead material out and encourage a quicker green up. If you live on a gravel road or have a gravel driveway, don’t forget to clean up the stones from the snow plows. It is a lot easier to clean up the stones now, before we get that spring flush of new growth which will cover them up.
Cleaning up the yard before you start your regular mowing schedule will help to save some wear and tear on your mower blades.
There are all sorts of data to collect from agricultural field plots during the growing season.
We have previously discussed the need to maintain uniformity within the research site. Another factor of equal importance is avoiding cross contamination from one plot to the next. This is done in field crops with border rows. These can keep the harvested area of a plot separated from anything in an adjacent plot that could have an influence on yield. But how do you do that in an orchard crop like apples where treatments are applied with a high-volume sprayer and the spray can travel from one row to possibly several others?
