Climate-Smart Agriculture to be Covered at Milan No-Till Field Day

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Tour Focuses on Agriculture Productivity and Resilience Amid Changing Climates

MILAN, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee AgResearch and Education Center at Milan is excited to host another Milan No-Till Field Day, which is the nation’s largest no-till field day. This year, the event will be held in person and features 17 research tours, including the Climate-Smart Agriculture tour.  

As climate changes across the globe, it can result in high carbon dioxide levels, increased temperatures, variations in rainfall and the emergence of new diseases and pests. All these variables impact agriculture, resulting in lower yields, poor livestock performance and water stress, among other challenges.

Climate-Smart Agriculture is an integrated approach to address these interlinked challenges and achieve increased production, enhanced resilience and reduced emissions. To achieve such goals, Milan No-Till Field Day is offering six presentations covering a variety of climate-smart topics so that farmers can be better informed and prepared to navigate the challenges of climate change.

From the Department of Biosystems Engineering and Soil Science, Postdoctoral Research Associate Patricia Lazicki and Assistant Professor Sindhu Jagadamma will discuss practices that Tennessee farmers are implementing to store carbon in soil, especially in subsoil.

Lazicki and Jagadamma think their study will be especially interesting to producers because their data is mostly from producers’ fields, rather than controlled plots. ‘’We hope our presentation sparks some great conversations with producers, and that we can even recruit some to participate in our future work,” says Lazicki.

Nutifafa Adotey, assistant professor for the Department of Biosystems and Soil Science, will present about the best nitrogen management practices that have the potential to improve nitrogen use efficiency.

“Nitrogen is unstable and hence susceptible to several loss pathways,” says Adotey. “My presentation will focus on the impact of nitrogen on dryland corn production systems. The nitrogen management practices I cover will ultimately improve agricultural productivity and income.”

These topics and more will be covered during the Climate-Smart Agriculture tour, which takes place over the course of two sections in Tent 2. The first section (Tour I) begins at 11 a.m. and the second (Tour J) at 12 p.m. There are three presentations per section.

Tour I: Climate-Smart Agriculture – Section 1

  • Understanding Climate Smart Agriculture
    • Forbes Walker, professor, UT Department of Biosystems Engineering and Soil Science
  • Optimizing Crop Production with Soil Testing
    • Robert Florence, director, UT Soil, Plant and Pest Center
  • Cover Crops Mitigated Nitrous Oxide Emissions from Extensive Soil Drying and Rewetting
    • Debasish Saha, assistant professor, UT Department of Biosystems Engineering and Soil Science

Tour J: Climate-Smart Agriculture – Section 2

  • How Rainfall is Changing and Affecting Water Management in Tennessee
    • Brian Leib, professor, UT Department of Biosystems Engineering and Soil Science
  • Deep C Diving: Exploring How Climate-Smart Management Affects Subsurface Carbon in Tennessee Soils
    • Patricia Lazicki, postdoctoral research associate, UT Department of Biosystems Engineering and Soil Science
    • Sindhu Jagadamma, assistant professor, UT Department of Biosystems Engineering and Soil Science
  • Impact of Nitrogen Rate, Source and Placement Method on Ammonia Volatilization in Dryland Corn Production Systems
    • Nutifafa Adotey, assistant professor, UT Department of Biosystems Engineering and Soil Science

The 2022 Milan No-Till Field Day will be Thursday, July 28, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. CDT at the AgResearch and Education Center at Milan, located at 3A Ledbetter Gate Road, Milan, Tennessee. Registration begins at 7 a.m. and is also available online at milannotill.tennessee.edu. Tours will also be available online following the field day event. Note that Tour P, no-till basics, and Tour Q, natural resource management, will only be available online.

Through its land-grant mission of research, teaching and extension, the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture touches lives and provides Real. Life. Solutions. utia.tennessee.edu.