Crop Production Update

Date: December 10 – 11, 2025
Location: Bluemont Hotel – Excel Room
Address: 1212 Bluemont Ave.
City: Manhattan, Kansas

The presentations include the latest technology on weed and insect control, fertilizer and chemical recommendations, soil fertility concerns and much more.

The Particulars

This training, offered in cooperation with Kansas State University Research and Extension provides the latest research and technological advances in the crop production industry. Topics of discussion include: Palmer Amaranth control, wheat response to fertilization, climate-smart cover crop management, irrigation and water management and advancing corn-soybean management.

Bluemont Hotel

Date: December 10 – 11, 2025
Location: Bluemont Hotel
Address: 1212 Bluemont Ave.
City: Manhattan, Kansas
Cutoff Date: Nov. 24, 2025

MAKING RESERVATIONS BY PHONE:

• Call the hotel at (785) 473-7091, press “0”.
• Let me know you’d like to make a reservation in the Kansas Agribusiness Retailers group “b546405”.

MAKING RESERVATIONS ONLINE:

• Go to www.bluemonthotel.com
• Click on the BOOK ONLINE button at the top of the page.
• On the top of the page, select Check-in and Checkout date. (must chose dates before entering promo code)

Just below the dates, click, “Have a promo code?” and enter b546405 and click APPLY CODE (Case sensitive, use a lowercase letter b)

This presentation will cover the topics of irrigation water quality and irrigation timing affect crop yields. Water quality parameters such as salinity and sodium levels will be discussed and how to potentially be proactive in these situations since changing water sources is often not an option. Additionally, the conversation around irrigation timing and the effects on yield and test weights will be had based on research occurring at KSU experiment farms.

Sullivan graduated with her bachelor’s degree in agriculture – agricultural engineering technology and precision agriculture from the University of Tennessee at Martin in 2018. Working as a manager trainee for the Tennessee Farmers Cooperative stationed at the local branch of her home county led her down a path of wanting to go to graduate school for the intersections of agronomy and irrigation. This desire led her to Utah State University, where she did her master’s and PhD with Dr. Matt Yost. Her graduate work focused on irrigation and cropping system management interactions in common and alternative forage systems. Additionally, Sullivan led some of Utah’s first outdoor industrial hemp trials since the 1940s.

Outline

• Growing cover crops to enhance soil health and suppress weeds as part of dryland production system is increasingly being considered by producers, but the water requirements pose a concern for growers in western Kansas.
• This presentation will discuss management options water-limited cropping systems sharing results from K-State long-term cover crop research in western Kansas.

Dr. Augustine Obour is a Professor of Soil Science at the Kansas State University Agricultural Research Center-Hays. He holds a master’s degree in Agronomy and a Ph.D. in Soil and Water Science from the University of Florida, Gainesville, FL. His research focuses on soil and nutrient management issues in semi-arid dryland cropping systems. A major emphasis of his applied research program is placed on developing a systematic understanding of soil management and agronomic production practices within dryland cropping systems and the impact of such practices on soil health, water use, crop productivity, and economic returns. Augustine’s current research projects are focused on understanding the interaction among tillage practices, cropping sequence, integrated-crop livestock systems (including cover crops) and their impacts on crop yield, nutrient cycling and soil health

This presentation will explore how sensing technologies, ranging from soil and crop based sensors to aerial and satellite systems are transforming how we monitor and manage agricultural water use.  Overview of soil moisture and plant-based sensing tools, and how real-time field data supports irrigation scheduling. Use of UAV-mounted multispectral and thermal sensors to assess crop water stress and spatial variability. Applications of satellite imagery for regional evapotranspiration mapping and drought monitoring. How multi-scale data fusion enhances precision irrigation, improves water-use efficiency, and supports producer decision-making across Kansas.

Dr. Gaurav Jha is an Assistant Professor in Precision Agriculture in the Department of Agronomy at Kansas State University. His lab Digital Agronomy Research Team (DART) focuses on maximizing agricultural production in the integrated agricultural system of Kansas using proximal and remote sensing techniques. His research is dedicated to minimizing the environmental footprint across different spatiotemporal scales.  Dr. Jha received his Ph.D. in Plant and Environmental Sciences (Geostatistics and Proximal Sensing) from New Mexico State University.

1. Fungicide Application timing, and product efficacy
2. Most important diseases
3. Improving profitability and yield throughout disease management
4. Cropping systems and its impact on disease
5. Seed treatment and efficacy
6. Corn leafhopper update

Qualifications: Dr. Onofre is a K-State Research and Extension post-doctoral fellow working on diseases of summer crops.

The presentation will discuss how AI-based technologies can be used in agriculture and various on-farm decisions.

Dr. Ajay Sharda is a Professor at KSU in the department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering and is the Terry Beemer Foundation Chair for Engineering Innovation.  He received his Ph.D. in Biosystems Engineering form Auburn University.

Outline

Overview of the existing Spray Drone types
Different Parameters Affecting Spray Efficiency
Case Study: Fungicide Application with Spray Drone
Rules and Regulations
Future Trend of the Spray Drones.

Dr. Deepak Joshi is an Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist in Precision Agriculture in the Department of Agronomy at Kansas State University. His research focuses on applied precision agriculture and on-farm decision-making, leveraging multiple sensor-based technologies including drones, satellites, ground-based sensors, and open-access data. By integrating these technologies with advanced data science models, such as machine learning and artificial intelligence, his work aims to enhance farm-level decision-making and optimize agricultural practices.  He received his Ph.D. in Plant Science from South Dakotah State University.

Significance of the cover crops and crop residue on the erosion control and various other soil health-related benefits.

Dr. Tomlinson is an Environmental Quality Extension specialist and Associate Professor with Kansas State University, PhD University of Arkansas.

Declining well capacities across southwest Kansas and the High Plains have forced many producers to reassess crop selection for their irrigated acreage. One strategy that could stabilize irrigated acreage as well as on-farm income is the incorporation of more drought-tolerant crops like cotton. However, in thermally-limited cotton-producing regions like southwest Kansas, regionally-focused management practices are essential to avoid yield and quality penalties. This presentation will discuss the impacts of planting date, seeding rate, variety, and deficit-irrigation strategy on cotton yield formation factors including square and boll initiation/retention as well as locks/boll, seeds/lock, and lint yield in the 2024 and 2025 growing seasons at Garden City, KS.

Logan Simon is an Assistant Professor and Southwest Area Agronomist based at the Kansas State University Southwest Research-Extension Center near Garden City, KS and serves the 26 counties of southwestern Kansas. Research focuses include cropping systems management in primary dryland and irrigated crops (wheat, sorghum, corn, cotton, soybeans, sunflowers, canola, and alfalfa) to sustain economic growth in the region despite limited or diminishing water resources.

This presentation will cover recent legislation, or lack thereof, related to the Farm Bill, crop insurance, and other agricultural policy topics. Important risk management decisions for producers for the 2026 crop year will be highlighted.

Jennifer Ifft is a Professor and Extension Specialist in Agricultural Policy. She has an integrated research and extension program that covers policy and regulatory issues that affect the viability of U.S. and Kansas agriculture. Her current projects are in the areas of nontraditional finance, crop insurance, farmland markets and farm labor. She has published on how farm programs and regulations are capitalized into farmland values, farmland value determinants and measurement, farm labor and management, and crop insurance and farm debt. She also regularly publishes in the farm press and works with farm sector policymakers and stakeholders. Before coming to Kansas State University, she was an assistant professor at the Cornell University Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management and worked in the Farm Economy Branch of the USDA Economic Research Service. She has a PhD from the University of California – Berkeley, an MPhil from the University of Cambridge and a BS from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She grew up on her family’s farm in central Illinois.

Different pest managements methods including digital tools.

Dr. Brian McCornack received his B.S. in Biology from Luther College, M.S. in Entomology from Michigan State, and Ph.D. in Entomology from University of Minnesota.  He is a professor and department head of KSU department of entomology.

Outline

• Wheat fungicide management for improved rust control
• Integrated management (variety x fungicide) of wheat head scab
• Increased risk of ‘common bunt’ disease in Kansas wheat

Dr. Kelsey Andersen Onofre is an Assistant Professor in the department of Plant Pathology at Kansas State University. She is originally from New Jersey, obtained her Bachelors in Biology from Lafayette College, M.S. in Plant Pathology from Ohio State University, and PhD in Plant Pathology from the University of Florida. At Ohio State, Dr. Andersen Onofre’s research focused on epidemiology and management of Fusarium head blight (scab) of wheat. Her PhD research was focused on modeling epidemics in seed systems to inform landscape-scale intervention strategies, primarily in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. Between her MS and PhD programs, Dr. Andersen Onofre spent three years working in industry where she primarily researched soybean diseases. Dr. Andersen Onofre joined the faculty in the Department of Plant Pathology at Kansas State in 2020.

Farmers are adopting different types of targeted herbicide application technology. This presentation will discuss results of on-farm experiments conducted in cotton and soybean during the summer of 2025. Experiments evaluated weed control and crop response to various uses of targeted application technology.

Sarah Lancaster, PhD is an Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist at the KSU Agronomy Department.  She was raised on an integrated crop and livestock farm in east central Missouri and holds degrees from the University of Missouri, North Carolina State University, and Texas A&M University.

The presentation will cover the new fertilizer recommendations for various soil nutrients and discuss fertilizer decision-making in the context of crop market prices and economics.

Dr. Dorivar Ruiz Diaz is a professor for Soil Fertility and Nutrient Management at Kansas State University in the department of Agronomy.  He received his Ph.D. in Soil Fertility from Iowa State University.  His research program in soil fertility and nutrient management emphasizes applied field experiments to develop efficient, cost effective, and environmentally sound nutrient management practices for agronomic crop production in Kansas. Areas of interest include the efficient use of fertilizers, soil test interpretations and fertilizer recommendations, and land application of manure and biosolids with emphasis on crop-available nitrogen. His program also assesses environmental risks associated with nutrient management and tillage.