The 2011 Cotton Field Day at Judd Hill on Thursday, Aug. 25, will feature an array of field research and programs of interest to farmers. First District Congressman Rick Crawford of Jonesboro will be keynote speaker.
"This annual field day is a great opportunity for cotton people to learn about research and technology that could benefit them," said Fred Bourland, director of the Northeast Research and Extension Center at Keiser.
"I am very grateful to the Judd Hill Foundation for making some of the best cotton land in the Mid-South available for cooperative research by scientists from Arkansas State University, the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture, other agencies and agribusinesses," said Bourland, who also directs the division's cotton breeding program.
Registration will begin at 9 a.m. The field tour will depart from the Judd Hill office at 9:30 a.m., 10 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. A variety of displays and demonstrations will also be provided.
The farm is on Highway 214, about five miles south of Trumann. Farm Credit Services and the Judd Hill Foundation will provide a complementary lunch to conclude the program.
Division of Agriculture and ASU scientists will show their research plots and discuss cotton variety testing and breeding, irrigation timing, tillage, nitrogen fertilization, plant bug control, seedling disease and bacterial blight, plant growth regulator products and the effects of high temperature stress in cotton.
Visitors can also visit with representatives from Cotton Incorporated on fiber quality; the USDA Agricultural Research Service on use of soil moisture sensors for irrigation timing; the Arkansas Association of Conservation Districts and USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service on the Mississippi River Basin Healthy Water Initiative; the White River Irrigation District on wireless pump control systems; and Division of Agriculture faculty on herbicide-resistant pigweed control, bioenergy research and online crop production budgets.
Judd Hill Plantation began as a wedding gift from Judd Hill to his daughter, Ester, and her husband, Sam Chapin, who created one of the largest contiguous farms in Poinsett County. In 1985, Ester Hill Chapin established the Judd Hill Foundation for the purpose of research, experimentation and the dissemination of information to the public on progressive techniques in farming. Today, the farm produces 3,800 acres of cotton annually.