Farm landscape with silos and crops under clear sky. Text: University of Maryland Extension, AgFS. Title: Agronomy News, a research-based publication."
Updated: August 15, 2025

August 2025  | Volume 16, Issue 5

Inside this Issue:

Events

Event: Land & Wildlife Speaker Series
Location: online (via Zoom)  | Time: 12:00 PM—1:00 PM

  • August 20, 2025
    Ownership Patterns and Landscape Diversity: Conservation Implications in Maryland
    Join us on August 20th, 2025, at Noon for this month’s installment of the Land and Wildlife Speaker Series featuring Dr. Luke Macaulay from the University of Maryland Extension. This month’s webinar topic will be Ownership Patterns and Landscape Diversity: Conservation Implications in Maryland.

    To sign up for this and following webinars in our monthly Land & Wildlife Speaker Series, join the mailing list at https://www.wildlife.umd.edu/

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Event: Ag Integrated Pest Management Web Series
Time: 12 noon - 1:00 p.m.
Location: Online webinar (via Zoom)
Description: Weeds, diseases, and insects are often a major concern for growers in Maryland. Integrated pest management (IPM) programs incorporate multiple pest management strategies into their production practices. Join us monthly for timely topics to help manage pests on the farms. Hosted via Zoom, on the Third Thursday of every month at noon, these one-hour sessions are both informative and interactive, providing an opportunity for participants to learn and engage with specialists in the field.

  • August 21st - Managing late-season corn earworm - Hayden Schug, University of Maryland Extension
  • September 18th - Neo-P and other strawberry diseases - Dr. Mengjun Hu, University of Maryland
  • October 16th - Cover crops for weed management - Dr. Dwayne Joseph, University of Maryland Extension

Pesticide Credits will be available but vary by date. Please contact Emily Zobel (ezobel@umd.edu) or Hayden Schug (hschug@umd.edu) for more information. 

If you need a reasonable accommodation to participate in this event, please contact Emily Zobel (ezobel@umd.edu) or Hayden Schug (hschug@umd.edu).

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Event: Agri-Toursim Bus Tour
Date: August 14, 2025  |  Thursday
Cost: $20
Description: Delaware Farm Bureau and University of Delaware Cooperative Extension are hosting an Agri-tourism Bus Tour on Thursday, August 14, 2025. This tour will visit four diverse farms in Northern Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, each known for their farm markets, seasonal festivals, u-cut flowers, u-pick fruits, hayrides, and more.
Guests will enjoy guided tours at each farm, gaining an inside look at daily operations and learning helpful tips and strategies that contribute to their success.  The tour will be visiting the following operations: Duffield’s Farm & Market in Sewell, NJ, , Linvilla Orchards, located in Media, PA,, Mood’s Farm Market in Mullica Hill, NJ,  and Ramsey’s Farm in Wilmington, DE,  Tickets are $20 per person and include lunch provided by one of the host farm markets. Seating is limited and available by reservation only, so early registration is encouraged. Attendees can choose from two bus pick-up locations: Amtrak Parking Lot, 10 Mopar Dr, Newark, DE, 19713, at 7:30am or Dover Mall Parking Lot by Boscov’s on the Frontside (closest to Route 13), 1365 N Dupont Hwy, Dover, DE 19901, at 6:30am
For more information and to register, visit https://defb.org/agritourism-bus-tour/.

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Drones in Agriculture
The workshops will be held in two separate locations from 9:00 am -1:30 pm: 

  • August 21, 2025-- Harford County Extension Office in Street, MD
    August 26, 2025- Charles County Soil Conservation Office in Waldorf, MD

Description: Join UME educators and specialists to learn about the use of drones in agronomic production systems. This course will give you an intro to drones, equipment overview, data from seeding cover crops and spraying pesticides with drones, learn what you will need to operate legally, and live drone demonstrations. 
Registration or more information: https://go.umd.edu/dronesinag

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Event: Summer Vegetable Twilight Tour
Date: August 27, 2025  |  Wednesday
Time: 5;00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.  |  Cost:  The event is free to attend, but registration is required.
Description: A twilight tour at Wye Research and Education Center. Featuring an insecticide study on tomatoes, weed management on watermelon test plots, ginger production, and drone work in a sweet corn field.
Registration: https://tinyurl.com/Vegetable2025

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Event: Pasture Walk at Twin Cedar Farm
Date: August 27, 2025  |  Wednesday
Time: 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.  |  Cost: free
Location: Twin Cedar Farms - Grass Fed Beef, 31440 Blades Road,East, Cordova, MD 21625.
Description: Join University of Maryland Extension, NRCS, and Webb Dulin Jr. for an educational pasture walk at Twin Cedar Farm in Cordova, MD (Talbot county). Twin Cedar Farm raises grass-finished beef that is marketed directly to the consumer while also utilizing the cattle to regenerate the soil and improve the environment. In addition to focusing on frequent rotations and building soil health, the farm is also doing some experimenting with summer annual cover crops interseeded into perennial pasture to boost summer forage production. This pasture walk will cover grazing management, finishing cattle on grass, and integrating annual forages into the grazing rotation.
For more information or to register: https://go.umd.edu/pasture-august

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Event: Pasture Walk at Porch View Farm
Date: September 9, 2025  |  Tuesday
Time: 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.  |  Cost: free
Location: Porch View Farm LLC, 2790 Florence Road, Woodbine, MD 21797
Description: Join University of Maryland Extension, NRCS, and Keith Ohlinger for an educational pasture walk at Porch View Farm in Woodbine, MD (Howard county). Porch View Farm is a family farm dedicated to raising heritage breed livestock on a silvopasture system. The farm currently raises Irish Dexter cattle and honey bees but has previously had pigs, goats, sheep, rabbits, chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, and guineas. Our host, farm owner Keith Ohlinger, will share his experience implementing practices like silvopasture, rotational grazing with mixed species, and using amendments like biochar and compost to build soil health on the farm.
For more information or to register: https://go.umd.edu/pasture-september

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Event: Pasture Walk at Wilson Dowell Farms
Date: October 15, 2025  |  Wednesday
Time: 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.  |  Cost: free
Location: Wilson Dowell Farms, 8210 Cattle Run, Owings, MD 20736
Description: Join University of Maryland Extension, NRCS, and Jason Leavitt for an educational pasture walk at Wilson Dowell Farms in Owings, MD (Calvert county). Wilson Dowell Farms is a multi-generational, family farm that produces high quality, pasture-raised meats and grass-fed beef. The farm raises and sells beef, pork, and goat and focuses on growing premium quality forage that the cattle and goats graze for a majority of the year. Join us to hear from Jason and discuss topics like grazing management, maximizing grazing days, and multi-species management.
For more information or to register: https://go.umd.edu/pasture-october

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Event: The Mid-Atlantic Ag & Resource Law Conference
Date: October 28-29, 2025  
Location: National Conservation Training Center, Shepherdstown, WV.
Description: Virginia Tech, West Virginia University, North Carolina State University, Penn State University, Ohio State University, and the University of Maryland are proud to announce the Mid- Atlantic Agricultural and Resource Law Conference, scheduled for October 28–29, 2025, at the National Conservation Training Center in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. This annual event brings together legal professionals, policymakers, academics, students, and agricultural stakeholders from across the region to explore the latest developments in agriculture, energy, land use, and natural resource law.
For more information or to register: https://extension.wvu.edu/conferences/agricultural-and-resource-law-conference

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Event: Pasture Walk at University of Maryland - WMREC
Date: November 13, 2025  |  Thursday
Time: 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.  |  Cost: free
Location: WMREC, 18330 Keedysville Road, Keedsyville, MD 21756
Description: Join University of Maryland Extension and NRCS for an educational pasture walk at the Western Maryland Research and Education Center in Keedysville, MD (Washington county). Extension educators are working on an ongoing mixed-species grazing management study utilizing annual forages as a means to extend the grazing season and will discuss grazing and parasite management, mixed-species grazing, and strategies for working annual forages into a pasture system. Join us to hear preliminary findings and learn about winter annual forage options for late fall/early spring grazing, stockpiled forage for winter grazing, and managing a mixed-species grazing 'flerd' with sheep and cattle.
For more information or to register: https://go.umd.edu/pasture-november
 

ANMP remains fully operational and committed to meeting your needs.

We are hiring!

Position available: Manager, Wye Angus Program
Apply at go.umd.edu/JR102031

Download Agronomy News, August 2025, Volume 16, Issue 5 (PDF)

Agronomy News is a statewide newsletter for farmers, consultants, researchers, and educators interested in grain and row crop forage production systems. This newsletter is published by the University of Maryland Extension, Agriculture & Food Systems Agronomy Team every month during the growing season and will include topics pertinent to agronomic crop production. The subscription is free. 

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