BROOKINGS, S.D. – South Dakota State University Extension’s horticulture team invites everyone to attend the 2023 Specialty Crop Field Day.
This year’s event is from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. CDT on Sept. 12 at the SDSU Specialty Crop Research Field-South in Brookings, South Dakota. It is free to attend, and no registration is required.
The research field is east of the SDSU Oscar Larson Performing Arts Center, 1601 University Blvd. Follow the “SDSU Extension Horticulture” signs to event parking. It will be held rain or shine and is open to all ages and all members of the public. Please leave pets at home.
There will be concurrent presentations and field tours related to vegetable and cut flower production for commercial growers, nonprofit organizations, technical service providers, Master Gardeners and home gardeners.
Attendees can observe field trials of cucumbers, onions, cut flowers and cover crops integrated with broccoli, pepper and broccolini production. There will also be tours of a newly constructed high tunnel and the SDSU Local Foods Education Center.
Participants can visit multiple educational exhibitors, including McCrory Gardens, the SDSU Native Plant Initiative and the SDSU Plant Diagnostic Clinic. SDSU horticulture students will display posters from their summer internship activities.
“This will be a great networking event with multiple chances to learn from students, SDSU Extension specialists and each other,” said Kristine Lang, assistant professor and SDSU Extension Consumer Horticulture Specialist.
For a complete schedule of tours and presentations, visit extension.sdstate.edu/events and search “field day”.
Funding for the field day is provided by the South Dakota Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources Specialty Crop Block Grant Sub-recipient award 2021SDSU04 and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under agreement number 2022-38640-37486 through the North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program under project number ENC22-216.
For more information, contact Kristine Lang, assistant professor and SDSU Extension Consumer Horticulture Specialist, at 605-688-5796 or Kristine.lang@sdstate.edu.