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Educational Programs : Dakota Center for Technology-Optimized Ag
Dakota Center for Technology-Optimized Ag
Third year complete for the Dakota Center for Technology-Optimized Agriculture
Left to right: ND Dept. of Commerce Commissioner Scott Goette; Dr. Paul Gunderson, Dakota Center for Optimized Agriculture director; LRSC President Dr. Sharon L. Etemad, Gov. Hoeven, Rep. Dennis Johnson, Rep. Charles Damschen, SBHE member Dick Kunkel, Mark Nisbet, chairman of the Joint Committee on Economic Development Centers of Excellence, Dakota Center for Optimized Agriculture partners Neil & Patty Power of Total Crop, and Lanny & Lisa Faleide of Agri ImaGIS, Dakota Center for Optimized Agriculture partners
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Partnership with LRSC
The Dakota Center for Technology-Optimized Agriculture is a partnership between Lake Region State College located in Devils Lake, ND, the NDSU-Langdon Research Extension Center and a group of private sector partners including Agri ImaGIS of Maddock, and TotalCrop Farming systems of Langdon. The Center's main focus is technological applications in agriculture and their effectiveness on the plains of North Dakota. Currently, the Center is conducting trials of variable fertilizer application on four different farms in the Rolla, Rock Lake, Langdon.
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Answer farms
During 2008, the Center's cooperative farms seeded canola to test the impact of variable fertilizer and zone management on their operations. "On the Langdon area farms, we saw some good yield results on the canola" said Center coordinator Melinda Martin. As far as quality goes, there was very little difference in 2008's test weights, oil content in canola.
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Manure Initiative
Lake Region State College also submitted a new proposal to the Center of Excellence Commission to design methods for the precise variable-rate application of liquid manure. Center director Dr. Paul Gunderson and his staff have begun design work on a prototype of a direct injection tool that will be capable of varying the rate of flow, which will have a positive impact on the environment and could reduce the possibility of ground and surface water contamination.
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Second annual Kermit & Glenna Garske seminar
In 2009 the second annual Kermit and Glenna Garske Endowed Seminar was held in conjuction with the Lake Region Extension Round-Up. The seminar title was "Mega Trends in the World of Agriculture" featuring Mike Krueger, financial adviser, founder, and president of Money Farm.
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Cellulosic research
The Center has also taken a look at cellulose as an ethanol source. Lake Region State College chemists have an ongoing study with the Dakota Center to analyze different enzymes that could possibly convert biomass into ethanol production.
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New partners join
The Center of Excellence program is funded by the state of North Dakota to incentivize job growth within the state as well as promote institutions of higher education. Newly added partners are J.R. Simplot, Grafton ND, Farmers Edge, Manitoba, and AgVise, Northwood ND.
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