Research station invites public to open house

It’s been a mixed year for the Emo Research Station, with some of the plot trials doing very well while others seemed to have suffered.
The research station will be holding an open house next Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. to give area residents a chance to see how this year’s crop trials are going.
Station manager Kim Jo Calder said yesterday the open house will consist of a tour of the plots, as well as a few displays at the main building.
“Forage-wise, we can look at the yields,” she said. “And the wheat trials are just about ripe.”
Forage crops have done fairly well this year, Calder said, noting the station was on second–and even third crops–for the season.
“The later planted cereal crops are hurt,” she added, noting they suffered from the heavy rain last month.
One of the main points of interest at next week’s open house will be how the hemp trials have been going although Calder noted that trial was stymied from day one because the seed arrived late.
“It had some flooding [in June] and some of the plants didn’t survive,” she remarked. “But it’s coming along good now.”
Calder also said results have been varied at the other farms growing hemp in the district. One farm has had excellent results while a couple have “not done so well,” she noted.
But even with these less-than-ideal hemp yields, Calder said they’re learning a lot.
“I can see that the seed will have to be here on time and it will have to planted on well-drained soil,” she explained. “Tile drainage would suit well to hemp.
“Management is really important with hemp,” she added. “It’s comparable to alfalfa for draining but for fertility it’s more like corn.”
One very good point with the hemp trials so far is that it hasn’t had any weed problems.
“[The hemp] shades everything out,” Calder said, making it the most dominant plant in the field.
Other trials include Kahmut wheat (grown from seeds found in an Egyptian tomb), plus soybeans and peas.
Calder said the station’s open houses have been known to attract as little as 30 people and as many as 70. She hoped this year’s will see a good turnout from the agricultural community.
“It depends if it’s a nice day and everybody’s done haying this year,” she reasoned.