Sweet Potato Field Day takes place Oct. 13

N.C. State University scientists and Extension specialists will share the latest research related to sweet potato production, marketing and more at a field day scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 13.

The 2011 North Carolina Sweet Potato Field Day will start with registration from 1 to 1:30 p.m. at Burch Farms Inc. in Faison (for a map, see http://tinyurl.com/burchfarms). Farm owner Jimmy Burch and engineers with TechMark Inc. will discuss technical design and practical aspects related to commercial bulk storage facilities, and two food scientists will discuss the sweet potatoes potential as a healthy food.

The program continues at 3 p.m. at the Horticultural Crops Research Station in Clinton, where university experts will lead field tours related to a variety of topics, including breeding, weed control, insect management and stand establishment. A 7 p.m. dinner concludes the field day. A map to the research station is online at http://www.ncagr.gov/research/MapHortCropsResearchStationClintonNC.htm.

Event sponsors are N.C. State University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and its N.C. Agricultural Research Service and N.C. Cooperative Extension Service; the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services; the N.C. Sweet Potato Commission and the Golden LEAF Foundation.

The full field day program is available online at http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/agcomm/news-center/wp-content/uploads/sites/31/2011/09/Sweetpotato_11_program.pdf.