Field of learning: Irrigation system enhances ag program at Sikeston campus

John Byrd, (center) owner of Irrigation Central, explains the operation of a well, which was installed by his company on the field laboratory which will be used by ag students at Southeast Missouri State University's Sikeston campus. Byrd's company also donated a state-of-the-art irrigation system to the program. Pictured with Byrd are Dr. Michael Aide, (left) chair of the University's Department of Agriculture, and Greg Adkinson, director of development. Jill Bock, Staff

SIKESTON -- A new learning tool has sprouted in the field behind Southeast Missouri State University's Sikeston campus.

The 12-acre field now contains a well and center-pivot irrigation system which will be used to teach the approximately 50 agriculture majors taking classes on the local campus. The lessons are essential to the new generation of agriculture producers and agribusiness leaders, according to University officials.

"Irrigation changes everything," said Dr. Michael Aide, chair of Southeast's Department of Agriculture. "It changes the diseases plants may have, the weeds, the soil fertility requirements. ... We are tailor-making this curriculum for the mid-South."

According to Aide, the Missouri Bootheel is the most intensive irrigated farmland in Missouri. Students at the local campus as well as from the other campuses will have the chance to gain real-world production experience as well as the ability to design and implement basic field research as they plant, tend and harvest crops using not only the pivot irrigation system but also flood irrigation and drip irrigation.

Most of the agriculture production classes -- including soils, soil fertility, weed science, plant pathology, water management, crop science and crop physiology -- will work in the field laboratory. The irrigation development will benefit agribusiness students who will have direct experience with irrigation technology and learn how irrigation improves farm profitability, Aide said.

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