Home > Reports / Minutes > 2006 Annual Report (Amarillo, TX)

2006 Annual Report

Project/Activity Number: SERA-IEG-20
Project/Activity Title: Southern Conservation Agricultural Systems Conference
Period Covered: January, 2006 through December, 2006
Annual Meeting Date(s): June 26 to 28, 2006

Program: The Conference Program is available on this year's Conference web site:
http://www.cprl.ars.usda.gov/SCSC_program_tour.htm

Minutes: The minutes of the steering committee meeting held on June 27 are available at:
http://www.ag.auburn.edu/aux/nsdl/sctcsa/Minutes/2006minutes.html

Proceedings: The proceedings of the conference are available at:
http://www.ag.auburn.edu/aux/nsdl/sctcsa/Proceedings/2006/proc2006.html

Summary:

The Southern Conservation Systems Conference was held at Fifth Seasons Inn in Amarillo, TX. This year’s theme, Improving conservation technologies to compete for global resources and markets, focused on the connection between all types of conservation systems, global competition for resources, and the farmer’s bottom line profit. The conference was opened by this year’s program chair, Dr. R. Louis Baumhardt, who recognized Dr. Nolan Clark, Director of the USDA-ARS Conservation and Production Research Laboratory at Bushland, TX. Dr. Clark welcomed attendees and provided some background information on the area climate and agricultural industry. Unique to this year’s conference was an interactive panel of area producers that use conservation tillage practices and irrigation technologies as part of their everyday dryland and irrigated farming enterprise. After the panel and audience discussions, attendees heard reports of research during some 20 oral and 42 poster presentations. Topics included tillage and residue management effects on soil water, physical, and chemical, properties (14 papers); water conserving irrigation management technologies(12 papers); production economics (11 papers); soil fertility and crop management practices (11 papers); and animal production and animal waste management (14 papers). Poster presentations were viewed during two sessions, 45 & 60 minutes, during the day with additional poster viewing following the oral program. During the oral program before the luncheon on June 27, Normie Buehring announced the 2006 Southern Conservation Tillage Conference Service Awards for Pat Bollich, LSU, Baton Rouge, LA and Don Tyler, Univ. Tennessee, Jackson, TN. in recognition of their work and dedication.

On the morning of June 28, a field tour featured agricultural production systems unique to the Texas High Plains. These included stops at the Randal County Feedyard with 80,000 head of fed cattle and an irrigated farm using no-tillage in cotton and forage production. Following the commercial production stops the tour visited the USDA-ARS Conservation and Production Research Laboratory at Bushland, TX where residue management, irrigation application technologies, and wind energy generation were discussed. The tour ended with a luncheon at the lab before returning to the hotel.

There were 107 registered participants at the conference and approximately 55 on the tour.  Participants who were at all sessions could sign up for 9.5 Texas Certified Crop Advisor credits distributed in Nutrient Management (1), Soil & Water Management (3), Pest Management (1.5), Crop Management (3.5), and Professional Development (0.5). The Texas Department of Agriculture awarded 11.5 Continuing Education Units toward restricted use pesticide license in Integrated Pest Management (2) and General (9.5) categories. Organizing sponsors included the USDA-Agricultural Research Service Conservation & Production Research Laboratory at Bushland, TX; USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service at Lubbock, TX; Golden Spread – Soil and Water Conservation Society, Amarillo; and members of the Cooperative Research, Education, and Extension Triangle (CREET): West Texas A&M Univ., Agriculture Division, Canyon, TX; Texas Agricultural Experiment Station (TAES), Texas Cooperative Extension (TCE), and Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory (TVDML), Amarillo, TX; and USDA-Agricultural Research Service, Bushland, TX. Financial sponsors included: Cotton Incorporated, Cary, NC.; Monsanto, Canyon, TX; Texas Corn Producers Board, Lubbock, TX; and Golden Spread Soil and Water Conservation Society, Bushland, TX. To broaden the information available at the conference and defray display costs, we invited exhibitors that included: Orthman Manufacturing, Lexington NE.; Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board, Temple, TX.; and USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service, Lubbock, TX.