Each year, the Forage Systems Research Center, located in Linneus, Mo., opens its doors to the public to share research findings and information related to agriculture and natural resources during its field day. This year is going to look a little bit different.
Instead of offering an in-person event, Forage Systems will go virtual this year, along with the rest of the University of Missouri College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources (CAFNR) Agricultural Research Centers. Forage Systems will offer a handful of online, prerecorded presentations that will be available via the Center’s website and Facebook page. The virtual field day will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020.
“We definitely wish that we could meet with our attendees in-person,” said David Davis, superintendent of the Forage Systems Research Center. “That face-to-face interaction is a key part of our mission, and we really value the back-and-forth discussions that occur during our annual event. While it’s not exactly the same, we thought an online offering would at least allow us to share the important information that our local producers use in their operations.”
The Center is still finalizing its speaker list and plans on featuring timely topics related to agriculture and natural resources. During the virtual offering, the hope is to include a few familiar speakers from the in-person event, and maybe a few that the Forage Systems audience hasn’t seen. Topics could change as the virtual field day approaches as well.
“CAFNR has an incredibly strong group of researchers, many of whom have projects at the Forage Systems Research Center,” Davis said. “We plan on sharing information about some of those projects, as well as other research taking place throughout the college.”
Individuals can find the presentations beginning around 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 15, on the Forage Systems Research Center Facebook page (facebook.com/foragesystems/). Presentations will be posted throughout the morning. The videos will also be posted on a special webpage on the Forage Systems website.
“We have a lot of important and relevant information to share, and our virtual field day will allow us to do that,” Davis said. “We encourage interested individuals to tune in and reach out with any questions. Our focus is to be an interactive and timely resource for our region.”
