Dr. Gene Stevens, Extension associate professor at the Delta Center, discusses on going research into sweet sorghum for ethanol during a Field Day tour stop Tuesday at the Lee Farm. Staff photo by Lyman Skyles [Click to enlarge]

PORTAGEVILLE, Mo.--The Delta Center Field Day is a Bootheel homecoming of sorts.

Farmers, agribusiness people, processors, researchers, university and other officials gather at the Delta Research Center's Lee Farm to learn about the cutting edge research taking place there

The Delta Center was commended by the speakers for its extensive work to eradicate hunger around the world.

The new efficiencies that expand production or even enable production in the world's most impoverished climes originate in places like the Delta Center, Congresswoman Jo Ann Emerson declared.

"The product of these technologies is felt by more than a billion people around the world who live on less than one dollar a day. Your research gives them a fighting chance," she said. "It also gives credibility to the United States in places where anti-American sentiments fester amid the perfect conditions of hunger, poverty and often religious extremism.

For every problem the farmer encounters in the field, the staff at the Delta Center is working on a solution, the Cape Girardeau Republican noted.

There's a weed tour where you can ride into the fields and get reports on the latest research being done to control the weeds that overwhelm our crops, Emerson said, adding, there are a lot of challenges farmers encounter outside the field. One challenge is the "weed" threatening to take over our economy--the high cost of energy.

Speaking Tuesday to a field day crowd, Emerson said because of high energy prices "this [year's crop] will be the most expensive crop ever produced."

She said the Department of Agriculture calculates that the price of fuel for farmers is up 62 percent from last year. Fertilizer prices have at least doubled, if not tripled for some. As the cost of fuel has risen, so has the cost of moving grain to market.

"This story is not much different for our friends and neighbors in rural communities who must drive considerable distances to work and school," said Emerson, who represents the sprawling 21-county Eighth Congressional District of Southeast Missouri.

Rural America needs and deserves an energy plan that makes the most of American ingenuity and American Resources, she said.

"Just like the farmer dealing with the weeds strangling his crop, like the researchers working on innovations to eradicate weeds and pests Congress must make every effort and explore every resource to stop skyrocketing costs of energy that are strangling our economy," Emerson said.

It's a dichotomy of yes and no, she added.

-- We must say yes to domestic energy production,

-- Yes to $86 billion barrels of oil off America's coast and 420 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

-- Yes to 97 percent of Outer Continental Shelf lands are barred from development.

-- Yes to shale oil from the U.S. and Canada

--Yes to Alaska oil, and

-- Yes to alternative fuels like those grown here in Missouri which are the backbone of the renewable fuels movement.

She continued, "On the other hand we must also say no."

-- No to the off-limits policies that keep affordable fuels out of the American supply line

-- No to anyone who thinks that while American develops the fuels of tomorrow we can get by on four-dollar per-gallon gas and five dollar per gallon diesel.

"The tough choices aren't too tough, and the bottom-line is simple. Like the farmers who will make every effort to keep his crop from being overrun by weeds, Congress must make every effort to keep our economy from being overrun by high energy prices," the lawmaker said. "This isn't a Republican or Democratic issue. It's a matter of our economic security, our national security."

Energy savings was a theme of this year's field day. New to the program this year were tour stops focusing on saving money on the farm.

Jim Heiser, research associate at the Delta Center, spoke on research being carried out to save water and fuel by using a pivot system to irrigate rice. The technique requires less labor, fuel and water than traditional rice farming, and could triple rice production in Missouri.

Heiser told his audience that field trials have shown "substantial savings in water and fuel, about a 30 percent savings."

He said test plots were watered every other day. "We won't know yield data for another month or two."

The biggest problem was weed control, Heiser said, but is hopeful of developing a workable weed control program.

Choosing electric to power on-farm pumps is a recommendation of Dr. Joe Henggeler, associate professor and irrigation specialist. Ten years ago propane or diesel would have been the choice, he said, but with the higher fuel costs, it's different today.

Flood irrigation can also effect savings because less pressure is needed for flood irrigation than pivot, he said.

Some points to consider, Henggeler said, are load reduction and load management, go electric when you can and reducing pressure where you can.

"The economy depends on plentiful and affordable energy," Dr. Gene Stevens, Extension associate professor.

Stevens spoke on the potential of sweet sorghum as an ethanol crop.

He noted the ethanol yield of sweet sorghum was 598 gallons using 60 pounds of nitrogen an acre, while that of corn was 574 gallons using 160 pounds of nitrogen.

The drawback for sweet sorghum at present is "we don't have the infrastructure in place to handle it," Stevens said.

Other field day tours focused on variable nitrogen aplication in cotton using on-the-go sensors, variations in early vigor of cotton, how to predict when fields are suitable for rain-fed corn production; conventional soybean breeding at the Delta Center, how non-Roundu Ready soybeans can increase profits, mid-season potash management in soybeans and soybean rust in Missouri. The pest conrol tour dealt with Dectes stem borer and other pests in soybeans, pre-emergence soybean pesticides and managing blackbird damage.