2026 Oakes Field Day

We invite you to our annual Oakes Irrigation Research Site Field Day! This year’s event will take place on August 6 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the NDSU Oakes Irrigation Research Site (OIRS), 4.5 miles south of Oakes, North Dakota on U.S. Highway 1.

Our 2026 Oakes IRS Field Day will focus on southern canola production and marketing, corn and soybean disease updates, nitrogen management, and herbicide control of waterhemp. Following the tour, there will be a ribbon cutting for our new offices, laboratories, and conference space.

Join us for morning refreshments and lunch, sponsored by General Irrigation and Dewatering, Starion Bank, Hoffman Irrigation, BankNorth, Northern Canola Growers Association, and InVigor.

This program is designed for farmers, students, and agronomists who want to stay up to date on local production issues. Speakers include experts who will share practical knowledge and real field examples to help to understand common crop issues.

The agenda includes the following topics and speakers:

• Welcome and opening remarks – Mike Ostlie, Director and Agronomist, CREC.
• Host for the tour – Jeff Stachler, Extension Cropping Systems Specialist, CREC.
• Corn disease identification, and when is management needed? – Andrew Friskop, Cereal Plant Pathologist, NDSU.
• What happens to nitrogen over the winter? – Kelsey Griesheim, Soil Fertility Specialist at NDSU, along with NDSU graduate student Megan Culpitt.
• Staying three steps ahead of soybean diseases – Wade (Richard) Webster, Soybean Pathology Specialist, NDSU.
• Canola production – Ana Carcedo, Extension Broadleaf Crops Agronomist, NDSU.
• Canola flea beetle update – Anitha Chirumamilla, Extension Cropping Systems Specialist at the NDSU Langdon REC.
• Canola updates – Barry Coleman, Executive Director of the Northern Canola Growers Association.
• New building ribbon cutting for office, lab, and conference space – Mike Ostlie.

In the afternoon we will depart from the OIRS for two more topics at our dryland site:

• Waterhemp management in corn and soybean - Jeff Stachler.
• Canola nitrogen trial – Ana Carcedo.

The program provides an excellent learning opportunity for farmers, students and early career crop scouts who want to strengthen their pest identification and crop management skills for the growing season and to stay current with best management practices for new crops and pests.

Thomas Miorini, Ph. D.
Thomas.Miorini@ndsu.edu
Associate Plant Pathologist