The Iowa Learning Farms conservation webinar taking place Sep. 6 at noon will feature Jeff Strock, Ph.D., professor and soil scientist, University of Minnesota Southwest Research & Outreach Center. Strock’s research activities are focused on diversified cropping systems/rotation complexity and agricultural drainage water management. He directs a field-based research program focused on vadose zone hydrology, agricultural drainage, crop response to water, and understanding nutrient mobility, uptake, storage, transformation and losses in agricultural systems.

In the webinar, “Crop Response to Excess and Deficit Water Stress,” Stock will present results from studies of corn and soybean production in southwest Minnesota between 2019 and 2022, in which growing periods included average, wet and dry conditions. He will discuss crop performance in terms of grain yield and crop canopy temperature data under the different conditions. Strock will also provide insights on soil water content data collected in non-irrigated fields and those irrigated with recycled drainage water.

“The incidence and frequency of extreme wet and dry conditions is becoming more common and has even occurred within a single growing season,” said Strock. “Farmers need strategies to respond to often unpredictable and changing weather conditions to help maintain crop productivity and profitability. Supplemental irrigation through drainage water recycling is one such strategy that farmers should consider, and may become necessary, to maintain crop performance in the future.”

Shortly before noon CDT, click the link below or type this web address into your internet browser: https://iastate.zoom.us/j/364284172