Day by Day — Space4Ag Tour

August 23rd

Sunday

6:30 PM

Kickoff Dinner at Midnight Shift @ Cotton Court Valencia Hotel (Dutch Treat)

Casual dress — a fun evening to connect before the tour begins. Links to NASA biographies and host biographies.

August 24th

Monday

Be sure to eat breakfast at your hotel this morning!

8:00 AM	Meet the bus at the Cotton Court Hotel; leaving Lubbock (50 min drive) · map
8:50–11:00 AM	Bingham Organic Farms and Bingham Vineyard and Winery at 645 FM-303, Meadow, TX 79345 · map
11:30 AM–1:45 PM	Roundtable Lunch at Farmhouse Vineyard's "The Armory" at 101 Webb St., Brownfield, TX 79316 (Dutch Treat, $20 — receipt provided) · map
2:00–3:30 PM	Peanuts and Processing Tour, International Peanut Group at 1995 County Rd 290, Brownfield, TX 79316 · map
4:30-5:30 PM	Barker Research Farm
6:30–8:30 PM	Individual cars to dinner at Escondido Grill — 701 Regis St, Lubbock, TX 79403 (food served at 6:50 PM; sponsored by Cotton, Inc. — limited seating) · map

"Through a troublesome combination of necessity and inclination, the farmer who evolved on the Plains developed a healthy propensity for innovation. He learned to accept change or he failed. He extolled the doctrine of unending progress and as a matter of practicality kept one eye on his neighbor's crop and cultivation practices and adopted those which proved promising."
— Richard Mason

August 25th

Tuesday

Locations for the day: Ralls, Texas, Swisher County. Breakfast burritos and coffee will be provided on the bus.

8:00 AM	Meet the bus at the Cotton Court Hotel; leave for Barry Evans Farm in Kress, TX · map
9:00–11:00 AM	Visit Barry Evans Farm — hosts: The Sorghum Board and Barry Evans. Background: the dwindling Ogallala Aquifer (Texas Monthly) · map
11:00 AM	Leave for TAMU AgriLife Research Station, Lubbock · map
12:00–2:00 PM	TAMU AgriLife Research Station, Lubbock — lunch, presentations, a tour, and a short and informal NASA presentation · map
2:00 PM	Leave for farm tours
3:00–5:00 PM	Broadview Agriculture tour with Jeremy Brown and Understanding Ag · map
5:00–8:00 PM	Tour Vardeman Farms and roundtable dinner with local farmers at the home of Dean and Lacy Vardeman · map

Barry Evans farm — farmer pointing at field

Texas Agriculture Facts

Key Statistics

230,662

Farms in Texas

125.5M

Acres of farmland

544

Average farm size (acres)

60

Average age of producers

39%

Female producers

38%

Farming as primary occupation

39,998

Military service veterans

18,893

Young producers

129,760

New/beginning producers (avg. 366 acres)

+46%

Growth in Asian farmers

Sources: Texas Department of Agriculture · Go Texan Program · Texas Farm Bureau

August 26th

Wednesday

8:00 AM	Check out, breakfast on your own — depart by 8:15 AM in individual vehicles for TTU Fiber and Biopolymer Research Institute · map
8:30–10:00 AM	TTU Fiber and Biopolymer Research Institute for discussion on translation of research to practice. See cotton from seed to fiber. 1001 E Texas 289 Loop Frontage, Lubbock, TX 79403. Collaboration in Cotton. · map
11:00 AM	Drive northeast into Oklahoma toward Bergen Farms, Sulphur, OK · map
4:00–6:00 PM	Bergen Ranch — guided tour. Meet at the farm gate to board the chartered bus for a tour of the 12,000-acre regenerative ranch, including the wind farm and the pasture and rangeland work behind the 3M project with researchers from the Noble Institute. · map
6:00–8:30 PM	Dinner and roundtable at Bergen Ranch. Joined by representatives of Oklahoma's federal delegation, the National Weather Center, lead researchers from Oklahoma State University, senior NRCS leadership, and industry leaders including the president of the company operating the ranch's wind farm. The discussion is built around a single objective: building lasting working relationships between the NASA Acres system and the people who will use it.
8:30 PM	Depart for The Artesian Hotel, Sulphur, OK · map

Hosts: Dr. Noureddine Abidi, Director FBRI · Shawn Wade, Assistant Director FBRI · Susan Bergen and the Noble Institute

Project Overview

Metrics, Management and Monitoring

An investigation of pasture and rangeland soil health and its drivers. While most soil health initiatives are focused on cropland, they fail to address the hundreds of millions of acres of degrading pasture and rangeland.

There are 655 million acres of pasture and rangeland in the continental United States. This is 41 percent of the land usage in the continental United States, making it the single largest use of land in the nation.

655M

Acres of pasture and rangeland in the U.S.

20%

Of the world's soil organic carbon stock is in pasture and rangeland

Total project cost: More than $19M · FFAR: $9,000,000 · Noble Research Institute: $7,500,000 · Additional funding: Greenacres, Elton Family Foundation, ButcherBox

August 27th

Thursday

8:00 AM	Leave Sulphur, OK for Alva. Kent Martin is coming down to Sulphur to bring the group north himself. Breakfast and lunch on the road.
1:30 PM	Arrive in Alva, OK.
2:00–3:30 PM	Presentations and Q&A. Dr. Karen St. Germain, Earth Science Division Director at NASA Headquarters, followed by Dr. Alyssa Whitcraft, Founding Executive Director of NASA Acres. Open discussion after.
3:30 PM	Farm tour and research farm north of Dacoma, OK. Area farmers and the NASA team on the ground together, looking at the same fields.
6:00 PM	Dinner —
8:00 PM	Travel from Alva, OK to Hutchinson, KS. Overnight at the Hilton Garden Inn, 1715 N Waldron Street, Hutchinson, Kansas 67502.

Hosts: Kent Martin and NWOSU

Oklahoma Agriculture

Oklahoma had a 10.4% decrease in total number of farms, from 78,531 in 2017 to 70,378 in 2022.
Total land in farms also had a 3.7% decrease in 2022, from 34.2 million to 32.9 million acres.

The Cost of Cedar Encroachment in Oklahoma

Lost grass production: 9 billion lbs
Round bales lost: 7.5 million
Lost forage value: $375 million
Feed capacity lost: 728,000 cows / 3.2 million steers
Total negative economic impact: $2.6 billion
Water draw: a single cedar tree draws 30+ gallons/day; dense stands draw 60,000+ gallons/acre/year
Wildfire danger significantly increased

Links: OACD.org · OCC Website

August 28th

Friday

8:00 AM	Load bus at the Hilton Garden Inn in Hutchinson
8:10 AM	Depart for Flickner Innovation Farm · map
8:45 AM	Field tour west of Moundridge — tech demo, combine rides, soil pit, and more
11:30 AM	Depart for the Hilton Garden Inn
12:10 PM	Return to the Hilton Garden Inn
12:30 PM	Lunch and Learn at the Kansas Cosmosphere — lunch, poster presentations, and time to explore the facilities · map
3:00 PM	Event concludes
Departure	Leave for airport as needed — Dwight D. Eisenhower Airport in Wichita is a 1 hr drive from Hutchinson. Safe travels! · map