LIND, Wash. — Conversations buzzed with talk of soil conservation, crop rotations, and winter wheat breeding, as grain trucks rolled out for the first tour of the day.
Grain growers and researchers from across Washington gathered Thursday for Washington State University’s 107th annual Lind Field Day, which included research station tours focused on winter wheat breeding, sustainable intensification with Camelina and PeaLina, and soil and crop quality in rotations.
David Nissen, a fifth-generation farmer from Lind, said he enjoys attending the variety trials and takes pictures of what performed well and what didn’t.
Then later, after the harvest data is published, he revisits his observations to confirm and strengthen what he learned, he said.
“But I think mostly farmers, you know, we love to see our neighbors. We love to see some of the guys from WSU here,” Nissen continued.
Zhiwu Zhang, a professor in WSU’s Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, said he also attends to build connections with farmers and better understand their needs through research.
“I’ve been coming for the past 10 years,” Zhang said, whose interests lie in food production and management.
The Lind research station was founded in 1915 by the university and has been hosting tours since 1916 to promote farming practices in Washington’s 8 to 12-inch rainfall region.
Receiving just 9.6 inches of annual precipitation, it is the driest state or federal dryland agricultural research facility in the United States.