Fairbanks Field Day

Tuesday, July 29, 2-6 p.m 

Fairbanks Experimental Farm

 

Download the pdf version of the map, schedule and program

 

Program

Botanical Garden Tours Lacey Higham & Tori Shoemaker

Go on a guided tour of the botanical gardens. Visit the research garden, food garden, native plant garden, children’s garden, perennial display gardens and hedge maze

Managing Weeds for Sustainable Crop Production in Alaska Magdi Elsayed

This research evaluates integrated weed control strategies to reduce weed pressure, enhance crop yield and minimize environmental impacts. This work supports local farmers in adopting effective, site-specific practices that improve long-term soil health and resilience in northern climates.

Cover Crop Effects on Root Maggots and their Natural Enemies Gino Graziano

This project aims to identify how cover crops with different ratios of clover and radish affect root maggot damage on cabbage crops.  

Small Grain Variety Trials Mingchu Zhang & Inga Peterson

These variety trials aims to develop a spring wheat variety for Alaska’s climate, choose a feed barley cultivar for malting purposes and finalize a Polish canola variety to be used an oilseed crop and rotational crop. 

Vegetable Variety Trials for Alaska Glenna Gannon

This program grows and evaluates different fruit and vegetable varieties to understand which are best suited to Alaska’s growing conditions. Researchers look for crops that do well in cold soils and long days, among many other characteristics. 

Permafrost Grown: The Great Mulch Study Glenna Gannon & Melissa Ward Jones

The Permafrost Grown Research Project seeks to understand the interactions between agriculture and permafrost in interior Alaska. The Great Mulch Study is a subset of this project and is focused on evaluating the thermal impacts of 12 mulch treatments on Alaska soils. 

Soil Profile Characterization and Monitoring Caley Gasch

The soil science research program aims to characterize soil profiles and understand how soil properties change in response to different land uses across Alaska’s main agricultural regions. By analyzing soil samples for a long list of properties and collecting continuous climate data from the stations, researchers can learn how land use changes the soil ecosystem.

Small Grain Research & Breeding Program Jakir Hasan 

This program is developing early-maturing, high-yielding barley, wheat, and oat varieties suited to Alaska’s climate. Researchers focus on traits like drought tolerance, rapid growth, disease resistance and grain quality. This work aims to support local farmers, reduce dependence on imported grain and promote long-term food security in the North. 

Forage Cover Crop Trial Mingchu Zhang & Inga Peterson

This cover crop experiment is an ongoing project that tests the forage quality of various cover crop for their rotational schedule, biomass production, hay quality and impact on soil health indicators.

Tables at the garden entrance

Alaska Harvest Collaborative is a cooperative effort between different community-oriented groups and organizations that seek to provide experiential learning opportunities designed to empower people to participate in their local food system and to make healthy life choices. Programming is focused on teaching participants how to grow and prepare fresh food while building community.

The Alaska Songbird Institute maintains at the UAF Experiment Farm, as part of a long-term project monitoring phenology and vital rates in nesting tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor). Swallows are aerial insectivores, a guild experiencing steep decline across the continent. Interior Alaskan swallows are at the northern limit of their range, making this an ideal location to look at response and resiliency in changing environmental conditions. Each year, active nests are monitored for occupancy, success, productivity, and chronology (timing of lay, hatch, and fledge). Adult and nestling birds are safely captured and banded to track return rates, site fidelity, and juvenile recruitment. These data are used to look at large-scale changes in population and timing, as well as to identify potential demographic drivers of decline. 

Research at the Agriculture and Forestry Experiment Station that isn't represented by presentations and tours includes research identifying new locally grown livestock feed ingredients, reliable methods of killing the peony pest, thrips, the behavior and biology of root maggots, and where in the world barley varieties grown at the farm were collected from.   

 

Schedule

Presentations are about 15 minutes long with time for questions

 

2:00

1 Registration, tables and welcome from Jodie Anderson, director of the Institute of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Extension

 

 

2:30

2  Botanical Garden Tour (45 minutes): Lacey Higham & Tori Shoemaker

3  Managing Weeds for Sustainable Crop Production in Alaska: Magdi Elsayed

4 Cover Crop Effects on Root Maggots and their Natural Enemies: Gino Graziano

 

3:00

3  Managing Weeds for Sustainable Crop Production in Alaska: Magdi Elsayed

4  Cover Crop Effects on Root Maggots and their Natural Enemies: Gino Graziano

5  Small Grain Variety Trials: Mingchu Zhang & Inga Peterson

6 Vegetable Variety Trials for Alaska: Glenna Gannon

 

3:30

5  Small Grain Variety Trials: Mingchu Zhang & Inga Peterson

6  Vegetable Variety Trials for Alaska: Glenna Gannon

8 Soil Profile Characterization and Monitoring: Caley Gasch

 

4:00

7 Permafrost Grown: The Great Mulch Study: Glenna Gannon & Melissa Ward Jones

8 Soil Profile Characterization and Monitoring: Caley Gasch

Small Grain Research & Breeding Program: Jakir Hasan 

10  Forage Cover Crop Trial: Mingchu Zhang & Inga Peterson

2 Botanical Garden Tour (45 minutes): Lacey Higham & Tori Shoemaker

 

4:30

7 Permafrost Grown: The Great Mulch Study: Glenna Gannon & Melissa Ward Jones

Small Grain Research & Breeding Program: Jakir Hasan 

10  Forage Cover Crop Trial: Mingchu Zhang & Inga Peterson

 

5:00

1  Visit with the researchers over refreshments

 

 

Map

Map of the Fairbanks Experiment Farm with research plots, roads and parking