ÈÕ±¾avÊÓƵ Northeast Research Farm
The overall mission of this research station is to provide an environment conducive to research and extension activities in the plant sciences. This station also provides an additional platform for communication between area crop producers, stakeholders and university personnel and aids in providing agronomic information applicable to Northeastern South Dakota.
About us
The Northeast Research Farm was established in 1956. It is located approximately 15 miles north of Watertown at the junction of Highway 20 and old Highway 81, or 2 miles west of the Interstate 29 South Shore exit. This farm was originally one of several mobile units and intentions were to move to different locations every six to 10 years. However, a long-term lease arrangement with Orrin Korth has enabled the station to remain in place and increase in size from the original 20 acres to the current 93 total acres with 80 tillable acres.
Research Summary
Northeastern South Dakota has traditionally been an important small grain producing area. Small grains are still important, but row crops, primarily corn and soybeans, have assumed increased importance and activities at the station have reflected the changing crop mix in the area. This location has been and continues to be used extensively by the small grains plant breeders. Breeding efforts include the following crops: spring wheat, winter wheat, oats and forages. A major focus of breeders has been the development of lines resistant to biotic and abiotic stress. Improved methods of disease management in spring wheat and other small grains are also being investigated. In the last 15 years, herbicide demonstration and testing program has been greatly expanded and currently large area of the farm. Crops included in the herbicide programs are corn, soybeans, alfalfa, flax, sunflowers, dry beans, canola and spring wheat. Over the years, other programs such as variety testing of alfalfa, sweet clover, red clover and warm and cool season grasses have also utilized the farm. Studies designed to improve fertilizer recommendations for no till corn have received increased emphasis the past several years. The effects of row spacing and plant populations on soybean yield have also been investigated.
To summarize, a major share of the research conducted at this station has been of an applied nature and the overall objective is to provide crop varieties and crop production techniques that will increase the production efficiency of area farmers.
Summer field tours are held each year and fall row-crop tours are also being held. Attendance at the tours has been excellent in recent years, ranging from 150–350. Current and proposed activities at the farm are discussed each year with the Northeast Research Farm Advisory Board. The Advisory Board consists of a farmer representative from each of the ten counties (Brown, Clark, Codington, Day, Deuel, Grant, Hamlin, Marshall, Roberts and Spink) in the northeastern region, and the area agronomy, farm management and extension educators. The Advisory Board has helped shape the direction of research at the station, and has been helpful in obtaining increased support.
Key Research Projects
Spring Wheat Breeding – Karl Glover
The ÈÕ±¾avÊÓƵ Hard Red Spring Wheat breeding and genetics program was initiated in 1977 and is housed on campus. However most of the important research results are gathered from trials conducted throughout the Hard Red Spring Wheat growing region of the state. Because abiotic stresses, such as heat and drought, often progress from south to north during summer months, this program has a unique ability to identify commercially valuable germplasm that performs well under conditions that are generally more hot and dry than where other Hard Red Spring Wheat breeding programs operate. Because of the abiotic stress characteristics associated with selection environments, the ÈÕ±¾avÊÓƵ Hard Red Spring Wheat breeding program consistently releases cultivars that are among the fastest in the nation to reach maturity.
Winter Wheat Breeding – Sunish Sehgal
The ÈÕ±¾avÊÓƵ Winter Wheat breeding program develops hard winter wheat varieties with excellent yield potential that provide increased resistance to diseases like fusarium head blight, stripe rust and good winter hardiness along with desired end-use quality. The program has a 63-year history of releasing widely adapted hard winter wheat varieties. Some of the recently released hard red winter wheat from ÈÕ±¾avÊÓƵ are "Winner" and "Draper" (2019), "SD Andes" (2020) and "SD Midland" (2021). ÈÕ±¾avÊÓƵ varieties also do well in neighboring states like North Dakota and Minnesota. Fall-grown winter wheat captures snow/moisture and keeps ground covered/reduces soil erosion, and living soil builds farm sustainability. Further, research has shown integrating fall-planted winter wheat in corn-soybean rotation can have additional yield advantages for corn.
Oat Breeding – Melanie Caffe
The oat breeding program at ÈÕ±¾avÊÓƵ has a long history of successfully releasing oat cultivars that are widely grown in and outside of South Dakota. Foundation seed of oat cultivars released by ÈÕ±¾avÊÓƵ have been sold in Minnesota, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, North Dakota, New York, Wisconsin, Indiana, Maine and Oklahoma in recent years. Over the last five years, four new oat cultivars (Hayden, Natty, Warrior and Saddle) were released by the South Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station and one variety (Sumo) was licensed to a seed company for oat production under organic management systems.
Small Grain Pathology – Shaukat Ali
The Small Grain Pathology program has been a great support to breeding programs in identifying lines with improved tolerance to many economically important diseases in South Dakota and surrounding region.
