Writer: Kay Ledbetter, 806-677-5608, [email protected]
Contacts: Stan Bevers, 940-552-9941, [email protected]

ALTUS, Oklahoma – Challenges, obstacles and profitability potential facing agriculture producers don’t recognize state boundaries, so Texas and Oklahoma officials along the Red River are once again offering regional farmers and ranchers a two-day agricultural conference.

“Planning for Success – Crop production information designed for Southwest Oklahoma and the Texas Rolling Plains” is the theme of the third annual Red River Crops Conference, set for Jan. 20-21 at the Southwest Technology Center, 711 W. Tamarack in Altus, Oklahoma.

“The conference goal is to provide agricultural producers with relevant management information for this production area that will create and enhance their profitability,” said Stan Bevers, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service agricultural economist in Vernon, Texas.

Bevers said AgriLife Extension and Oklahoma Cooperative Extension collaborated to conduct the first and very successful conference in January 2014. The conference alternates between Oklahoma and Texas and addresses special agricultural production circumstances in the upper Red River region in both states.

In the Red River region, obstacles can include water and land resources, and weather extremes such as hot and dry summers and bitterly cold winters, he said. Producers also find themselves managing pastures of both introduced and native grass for cattle operations, and crop mixes such as cotton, wheat, and grain and forage sorghum.

More recently, Bevers said, producers have discovered that canola, guar and sesame can also be successfully cultivated within this environment.

Both days will begin with registration at 8 a.m. and conclude at 4 p.m.

In-season and summer crops will be featured on Jan. 20. Discussion topics will include effective crop rotation and the use of cover crops, grain and forage sorghum production, transitioning from row crops systems to forage crop systems, best management practices for peanut production, a wheat breeding update and a market outlook.

Cotton will be featured on Jan. 21, with topics including cotton risk management issues, market outlook, variety discussions, herbicide options, seed treatments and disease management, and new innovative cotton production systems.

The fee of $25 covers both days. To register for the 2016 Red River Crops Conference, print the form from http://agrisk.tamu.edu/. Make checks payable to the Red River Crops Conference and mail to 2801 N. Main, Suite A, Altus, OK 73521.

Preregistration is encouraged for planning purposes. To preregister or for more information, contact a local Extension office in either Texas or Oklahoma, or call 580-482-0823.

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