01/21/08 Direct Seed Conference this week

Farm and Ranch January 21, 2008 The 11th Annual Direct Seed Cropping Systems Conference is being held this week, January 23rd and 24th at the Three Rivers Convention Center in Kennewick, Washington. Russ Evans, Executive Director of the Pacific Northwest Direct Seed Association, says one of the keynote speakers is Dr. Dwayne Beck, Research Manager of the Dakota Lakes Research Farm in South Dakota. Evans: "And he's got a bit of an interesting take on things. His latest research looking at reducing the net geologic carbon that goes into the farm by 2026. So he has a plan to produce food and fuel and kind of come out net-zero on fossil fuel use. And that includes everything from moving fertilizer in and moving grain out so the whole system comes out at net-zero. So it should be interesting to see what he has planned." Also speaking will be Dr. Kristine Nichols, a USDA-ARS soil microbiologist with the Northern Great Plains Research Lab in Mandan, North Dakota. She will be talking about the role of fungi called glomalin in healthy and productive soils. There will be numerous concurrent sessions over the two days and Evans says if you haven't registered you can do so at the door. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.