ROD SANTA ANA: Cotton, grain pre-plant meet set for Jan. 18

MERCEDES — The 18th annual Cotton and Grain Pre-plant Conference will be held Jan. 18 at the Events Center of the Rio Grande Valley Livestock Showgrounds, 898 N. Texas Ave., in Mercedes.

Registration begins at 8 a.m. and presentations begin at 9 a.m.

The event will provide information to help cotton and grain producers maximize their yields and profits in 2012, said Brad Cowan, a Texas AgriLife Extension Service agent in Hidalgo County.

“We’ve got a great lineup of topics and speakers, some first-timers and others are repeat performers, but all will provide important information specific to this year’s crops,” he said.

Growers will be especially interested in new varieties that will be available to cotton producers this year, Cowan said.

“Dr. Gaylon Morgan, an AgriLife Extension statewide cotton agronomist in College Station, will tell us about new varieties that have the potential to boost both the yield and quality of cotton,” he said. “We seem to get new varieties that produce more and more each year, and it’s important for growers to know what’s out there now.”

With record high cotton prices last year, growers are also interested to hear prognostications about what 2012 will bring, Cowan said.

“We’ll have Dr. John Robinson, an AgriLife Extension ag economist who specializes in cotton markets, who will explain the factors that could influence this year’s market,” Cowan said. “Growers take a lot of information into account when deciding what and how much to plant, so this talk will be especially useful.”

Dr. John Parker, an integrated pest management coordinator with the National Cotton Council in Memphis, will discuss the current status of cotton boll weevil eradication in Mexico.

“Boll weevils in Mexico directly affect cotton production here,” Cowan said. “There’s a spillover effect. We noticed that Valley cotton acreage along the river had high weevil trap counts last year.”

Dr. Paul Bauman, an AgriLife Extension weed specialist in College Station, will discuss the emerging issue of herbicide resistant weeds in cotton fields.

“This is a huge issue,” Cowan said. “We’ve had no reports of any here, but there are many reports in other areas of weeds resistant to the commonly used herbicides. Dr. Bauman will discuss strategies we should consider to prevent that problem here instead of waiting for it to happen.”

Shelee Padgett, a representative of the United Sorghum Checkoff Program, will provide an update on grain sorghum research projects funded by the Checkoff program, Cowan said.

Other speakers include Larry Smith of the Texas Boll Weevil Eradication Foundation, and Dr. Tom Isakeit, an AgriLife Extension plant pathologist in College Station.

“Mr. Smith will discuss the tweaking that will be done to this year’s boll weevil eradication program that has worked very, very well in our area. But like anything with a lot of moving parts, there are always adjustments to be made,” Cowan said.

Isakeit will provide an update on cotton root rot control, a disease problem that has limited cotton production for years, he said.

“Growers will be pleased to know that we’ve submitted a Section 18 for permission to use a new product to control cotton root rot,” Cowan said. “Dr. Isakeit’s research shows it is economically feasible and we may just have the clearance to use it this year.”

Other speakers include Cowan, who will discuss the current soil testing campaign in South Texas, plus representatives of the agricultural industry who will discuss updates and new technology developments.

“We will have continuing education units available from the Texas Department of Agriculture and the Crop Consultants Association,” Cowan said. “And the Cotton and Grain Producers of the Lower Rio Grande Valley will hold their annual membership meeting at noon, under the direction of Dr. Webb Wallace, the executive director, and Chris Bauer, the association president.”

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Rod Santa Ana is a Texas AgriLife communications specialist.