- [Announcer] "Montana AG Live" is made possible by the Montana Department of Agriculture, the MSU Extension Service, the MSU AG Experiment Stations of the College of Agriculture, the Montana Wheat and Barley Committee, Cashman Nursery & Landscaping, the Northern Pulse Growers Association, and the Gallatin Gardeners Club.
(upbeat country music) - Good evening, and welcome to spring and a new season of "Montana AG Live" originating tonight from the studios of KUSM on the very dynamic campus of Montana State University.
I'm Jack Riesselman, retired professor of plant pathology.
I'm honored to be your host this evening.
Before we get into the nice panel, I'm gonna give you a little bit of information about this spring series.
We're gonna feature women in agriculture this spring.
We often have a slight theme, and we decided since women are playing such a prominent role in agriculture throughout the state of Montana, we're gonna have a lot of them as guests this year and they're gonna come from all aspects of agriculture.
So if you join us this spring, watch the program.
You'll see a lot of very interesting people and a lot of different topics.
So please join us.
Tonight, we're gonna start off this season with President Cruzado.
And I know she's loved agriculture, but before we get to visit with her, let me introduce the rest of the panel.
On my far left is Mary Burrows.
Mary is an extension plant pathologist and spends part of her activities as associate dean in the College of Agriculture.
And of course, President Cruzado.
Thank you for taking time.
I know it's been a very hectic weekend for you.
I'm glad to have you here, and we'll get to you to get your views on agriculture in a few minutes.
Laurie Kerzicnik, Laurie is our bug lady.
She's our insect diagnostician.
If you have insects around Montana, and I know most of you do, whether it's in your garden, house, crops, or whatever, here's a good chance to to ask the question and Lori will give you the answer.
And, of course, next to me this evening is Jane Mangold.
She likes to be called invasive plant specialist, but in reality, she's a weed scientist.
And I like to call her a weed scientist.
Answering the phones this evening is Cheryl Bennett here in the studio, and remotely is Judge Bruce Loble.
And we're always happy to have the judge answering phones because he can really pick your brain when it comes to these questions.
With that, President Cruzado, tell us why you love agriculture in Montana so much.
(Waded laughs) - Well, Jack, thank you so much for having me.
As you said, it's been a fantastic year for Montana State University.
And why do I love agriculture so much in Montana?
It goes back to my, quite honestly, adoration for the land-grand university and the purpose it serves.
When we go back in our history, when we were first founded in 1893, almost 130 years ago, agriculture was one of our two foundational colleges.
And ever since, it's clear, to me particularly, working here for almost 13 years now, that the people in the College of Agriculture, the people in MAES, the people in Extension, understand every day the value proposition that Montana State University has to fulfill on a daily basis to the people of the state of Montana.
So anything and everything, from preparing the next generation of scientists, agricultural professionals, economists, to making sure that we have the best youth development programs, the best wheat varieties, all of that tells me that agriculture is the number one industry in the state of Montana.
And not only because of the numbers, the numbers are there and speak for themselves, but because of the devotion of the people of the College of Agriculture and Montana State University.
- And I'll add to that.
I've been around Montana a long time.
The growers in this state are above any other state that I've ever been associated with.
And we have to give the growers of this state a lot of the credit for supporting Montana State University, and agriculture in general.
it's a great group to work with.
Before we get into agricultural topics, I gotta let you say a few words about MSU athletics this year.
It's been a pretty good year here in Bozeman.
- I'm telling you, we call it the year of the Bobcat.
- [Jack] (laughs) Okay.
- It is a fantastic year, and we have painted in blue and gold every college athletic sport that we can think of, from a spectacular season with our football team, to, needless to say, just this last weekend with our men's and women's basketball teams.
Glory to them.
They have done a wonderful job.
But it doesn't stop there, right?
Our men's tennis, our rodeo team is doing a fantastic job, skiing, volleyball.
So it is a fantastic thing to see how hungry for excellence our student athletes are.
And let me tell you one anecdote, Jack, when I was in Boise last week for the Big Sky Conference tournament, more than one fan approached me and told me we're doing it the right way at Montana State University, right?
It's excellence in athletics, but it's also excellence in the classroom.
And, again, I could not be any prouder of our wonderful teams.
I just want to send a great message of gratitude to Coach Binford, Coach Danny Sprinkle, our wonderful athletic director, Leon Costello.
The parents of those kids are just amazing.
And one last thing, at the Big Sky tournament, Montana State University had more fans than all the other schools combined.
So thank you to the wonderful people of Montana for joining us.
- Well said.
Okay, now we're gonna move into- - Even Grizzlies were they're rooting for us.
(all laughing) Good job.
- And you know what, we root for them too in the right situation.
- Absolutely.
- Being Montana proud is what it comes down to.
- Montana first.
- Switching over to a couple questions that we didn't get to last fall, and then we'll get to the questions that are coming in tonight, for Laurie from Missoula, they had a maple tree with small, round dots on the leaves that are about a quarter-inch in diameter.
Any clue what it is and does it do any damage?
- Yeah, that might be, sounds like that could be eriophyid mites.
There are a small, microscopic mite that you basically need a hand lens to see if you open it up.
But they're a little bit different than spider mites.
It's mostly just cosmetic damage and it's nothing really to worry about, if that's what it is.
But feel free to send me a picture when that shows up again and we'll try to figure out what it is.
- Okay, we can do that.
And also left over from last fall, again from the Missoula area, this person thinks they have beggar lice in a subdivision next to them.
Do they need to control it or can they call the county weed district to have it controlled?
- Well, there's several different species that get the nickname beggar's lice, so depending on which species it is, it may or may not be an noxious weed.
So I definitely think they should reach out to the county weed district or the extension office and, this spring, get that identified and then we can figure out what the best course of action is in terms of whether they need to control it.
- What's another name for it?
- Well, the noxious weed that sometimes gets called beggar's lice is houndstongue.
- [Jack] And if you have longhaired dogs?
- Yeah, yeah, that's not fun.
- Not fun, I agree having had that experience.
An email, President Cruzado, from Connie and Conrad, she would like to congratulate you and the staff at MSU for cultivating large grants to develop specific programs at MSU.
And I assume she's referring to Engineering, Nursing, and College of Business.
What she would like to know, "Is there anything similar in the works for the College of Agriculture?"
- Absolutely, well, thank you, Connie, for your question.
The way I have approached fundraising at Montana State University is to make sure that we have a balanced approach and that we do our best to reach out to donors and benefactors that can make an impact and transform each of our colleges.
And I think that we have been able to do that.
In the College Of Agriculture, I'm very proud to say that we have our wonderful opportunities with new endowed chairs.
We have had extraordinary donors.
Even Norm Asbjornson, who gave us the wonderful gift of $50 million for the College of Agriculture, he has been a very generous donor to the College of Agriculture because he understands the importance of agriculture to Winifred, to his native Winifred, and also to the entire state.
So, yes, we have a number of projects.
We work collaboratively with the deans.
The deans have identified their top priorities.
And then of course, Jack, there's always the unexpected surprise, right?
Like, that's what happened to us a year ago.
Literally a year ago, I did not know who Mark and Robyn Jones were.
They reached out to us because of a particular circumstance.
They were building a home here in Montana, the contractor got ill, they wanted to name a scholarship after him, and that's how the conversation started about how do we take care of our people in Montana and what difference can they make in healthcare?
And that translated into a wonderful gift of $101 million for the College of Nursing.
I'm sure that there are other opportunities for the College of Agriculture, and we have our eyes peeled for those as well.
- That's a great answer.
Thank you.
Mary, from Conrad area, this person would like to know whether or not they need to apply a seed treatment on their spring crops.
I assume they're talking both pulse and spring wheat.
What's your opinion in this dry environment that we're in right now?
- Well, I always default to a seed treatment because you never know if you're gonna get some rain after planting, especially true for the pulse crops, and especially for chickpea where Pythium and Aphanomyces in the northeast part of the state can be particular problems in a wet spring.
So growers have been talking to me and they say they wish they were calling me more often 'cause they wish they had some water and had some disease.
But right now, pretty low disease risk across the state.
- I've always thought seed treatments are one of the cheapest forms of crop insurance that you could buy.
- Yeah, but, you know, people are trying to cut back everywhere, but it's- - Well, with fertilizer costs and chemical costs like glyphosate being way up, yeah, I can understand that.
But comparatively so, seed treatments are a bargain.
- They're an easy investment, yeah.
- Exactly.
Back to Laurie.
From Hot Springs, this viewer has a cabin full of stink bugs.
They wanna know how to get rid of them.
- Ooh, well, we have several native stink bugs in the state, and we also are looking out for, the brown marmorated stink bug was just detected in the state in Billings in January of last year.
So I would love to have a sample of that to see what type of stink bug that is.
And in Hot Springs, what county is Hot Springs?
I can't remember now.
- It's over by Anaconda, I believe, isn't it?
No, it's way up north.
- I think it's Sanders, Sanders County.
- Yeah, Sanders County.
- So it's on the west side of Flathead Lake.
- Okay.
Yep, that would make sense.
So we found the stink bug, the invasive stink bug in Kalispell.
And, also, it's suspected in Bigfork.
So if you could contact me at 994-5704 or send me a picture.
I think my email will pop up here and maybe we take it from there, but we do have a bunch of invasive stink bugs that will come into the cabins or come into our homes.
And there's no great way to get rid of them except to try to seal up your structures as best you can.
- Do they cause any damage?
- Not really.
So we do have some of the ones that, if it is one of our predatory stink bugs, they're beneficial and they actually will feed on a lot of pest insects.
But if it's the brown marmorated stink bug, we're trying to assess what type of damage they're gonna do across the state.
So we're starting to do a bunch of monitoring and trying to figure out what their economic impact's gonna be.
- Does that insect feed on a lot of different trees and shrubs?
Am I correct, the brown marmorated?
- It does, yeah.
It caused a lot of impact on the apple industry in the Atlantic states.
And here, so far, we've just found it as a home invader.
It comes in by the dozens in the fall.
But it feeds anything from small fruits to vegetables.
And so we don't know what it's gonna do here yet.
- Okay, President Cruzado, from Glendive, this person would like to know if MSU has any programs in agriculture for the people that are interested in trades, like construction, welding, and so forth and so on.
- We do, well, again, greetings to our wonderful people of Glendive.
I was there about five years ago.
It's time for me to go back.
We do all offer extraordinary programs in construction, in welding, and what we call two-year programs through our Gallatin College.
So we offer an array of extraordinary programs that prepare people in record time, in a year, two years, so that they can enter the workforce immediately.
So to the wonderful person from Glendive, please reach out to us.
Stephanie Gray is the dean of Gallatin College, and she will be more than happy to help you.
Stephanie Gray at Gallatin College.
Wonderful to have an opportunity to serve you.
- You know, that's becoming more of a common practice, to have people being trained in the trade issues.
And I haven't followed Gallatin College very much.
Is they're a pretty good-sized enrollment there at the current time?
- The story of Gallatin College is a fascinating one, Jack.
We got approval from the Board of Regents in 2010 to establish Gallatin College.
And it has grown by leaps and bounds.
It's one of the fastest colleges at Montana State University.
It is so large, actually, that we don't have enough space on campus.
We need to offer our programs in Gallatin College through four different venues in Bozeman because we just don't have enough space to meet the incredible demand.
So the that's one of the projects that we have been in conversations about isn't this a right time for us to build a home for Gallatin College so that then we can offer, not only the incredible programs that we offer now, but also to expand that offer?
You're right, our students don't have the time sometimes to think about a four-year program.
But when they think about a can-do, hands-on, limited commitment coming to Montana State, then they're ready to enter the economy immediately.
And then what happens is, once they come here to Montana State and they're successful with that program, then their horizons expand.
And, many times, they translate that into a four-year program with us.
- Okay, that's great answer.
Thank you.
Mary, this is a little bit out of your bailiwick, but I do know you like to grow raspberries.
(all laughing) And this viewer in Missoula wants to know how to keep their raspberries producing.
They aren't bearing fruit anymore.
And I have a theory, but I'll let you go ahead and answer it first.
- I think cultivating a healthy plant and making sure they're thinned so they get enough water.
Also, there's just a decline over time.
If it's a very old bed, it may have accumulated a number of viruses and cane borers.
And, sometimes, you just wanna take a break for a year and then start over.
But don't use your neighbor's raspberries.
Get some certified disease-free raspberries.
- I agree, and make sure you prune out the right canes.
- That too.
Yes.
(all laughing) Unfortunately, the last two years in Bozeman, we've had freezes in the spring.
And I've just basally pruned everything.
So I'm ready for a good raspberry year this year.
- So am I.
That's my favorite fruit.
Jane, from Cascade, this person has problems with downy brome.
And they've heard about Rejuvra.
I've not heard of that.
You want to tell us what it is?
And they say it controls cheat grass.
Is that true?
- Yeah, so Rejuvra, the active ingredient is indaziflam.
It's sold as Rejuvra, and it's a really promising new active ingredient for annual grasses, including cheat grass.
And then I would also mention Ventenata, which is increasing in Montana.
So it's an interesting herbicide, 'cause it's a different mode of action than what we've typically used in rangeland settings.
It's actually a pre-emergent, so you apply it anytime from like mid-summer to late summer before our annual grasses germinate.
And what's interesting about it is that it has that activity on the germinating seeds, but it does not have any activity on established perennial plants.
So if you think about rangeland settings where we wanna preserve those long-lived perennials that we have, this herbicide is taking care of the annual grasses without impacting our perennial species.
- That could be a game changer here in a state like Montana.
- It really could be a game changer.
I just came from the Western Society Of Weed Science conference a week ago, and, of course, there are a lot of papers being presented about this herbicide.
They're looking at non-target impacts, and just effectiveness against annual grasses.
And it continues to look to be a very effective new tool.
- Good.
All right.
A question for the president from Malta.
"Are there programs addressing agriculture at other MSU programs, like Northern and Billings, et cetera?"
Do we have any agricultural programs there?
- We do.
We do, and before we move to that one, I just wanted to send the email for Stephanie Gray.
- [Jack] Okay.
Do it.
- Our person from Glendive, it's Stephanie, S-T-E-F, I mean S-T-E-P-H-A-N-I-E .gray, Gray is G-R-A-Y, 2, number 2, @montana.edu.
We do have agricultural programs in our other campuses, particularly in Northern.
We have great programs in Northern, and more opportunities.
Actually, we have been thinking about, isn't it time for us to think about bringing back something about agricultural engineering and collaboration between Northern and our College of Engineer here in Montana?
With Billings, we have been thinking a lot about what other opportunities can we develop in terms of agricultural agribusiness?
Since they have a college, an accredited College of Business at MSU Billings, that would provide a great opportunity as well.
And there are some conversations for two-year programs in our Great Falls College in Great Falls.
- Just outta curiosity, are there any courses that could be offered at MSU that students have or could take online or via Zoom or things like that in today's world?
- This an excellent question, Jack, and I really like the opportunity to address that.
About four years ago, we created this concept that we called Seamless MSU.
And we thought that the important thing is for students to enter the portal of Montana State University.
And once they are admitted in one of our four colleges, or one of our four campuses, let's provide those students with the opportunity to take classes in any of the campuses.
So the answer to that is, absolutely yes.
You can take a course at any campus of Montana State University, either in Bozeman, Billings, Great Falls or Havre.
Happy to help with that.
- Okay.
Thank you.
Let's move over to Laurie, from Helena, this viewer thinks she has elm leaf beetle last season.
Do you think they need to apply a dormant oil to control that?
I don't think that works.
- Yeah, actually, maybe you can contact me at insects@montana.edu.
I have to look at their lifecycle.
I don't remember when the best time to control them is.
And I know they do come in sometimes as a home invader as well.
But, yeah, get in touch with me and we'll figure out a good time to control that.
And you might not need to do anything.
I'll just have to look into that.
- You know, the elm leaf beetle generally comes in, I think, late enough in the spring or early summer that, by that time, I don't think they do that much damage.
But I could be wrong.
I'm basing it on what I've seen on the elms I've been around.
- Yeah, they have a lot of pests, so I just have to remember what time of year that one is active.
- Okay, I wanna have you, another question from out of East Miles City, this person wants to know when ticks start to appear.
- Hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm.
- Ooh, yeah, we usually don't get a lot of our tick questions until the end of April or early May, but they can come out time of the year when it's above 50.
So if you're out in any tall vegetation, they do this behavior called questing where they'll go up to the top of the vegetation and then they'll wait for a warm-blooded mammal to come by and kind of leech on and get get a nice blood meal.
So, next week, when we have these warm temperatures, we could definitely have some ticks out.
And we have two main species, the American dog tick and the Rocky Mountain wood tick.
And they're pretty similar looking.
And they don't have Lyme disease, but they do spread Rocky Mountain spotted fever and Colorado tick fever.
- You know, we had a caller from Glendive, and actually, two years ago, I was fishing out at Glendive.
And the amount of ticks that attacked us, I mean, it was incredible.
You know, you'd get 10 or 12 ticks just being in short grass in no time at all.
Are these a problem on humans?
Do you need to get rid of them right away?
If one penetrates, what do you do?
- Well, it's a myth that you take the match and you try to get them off that way.
You're supposed to take some fine forceps and pull them out really fast, because if they're it's their mouth parts that are actually spreading the bacteria.
So try to grab them as hard as you can and pull them out that way.
- All right.
Thank you.
Back to Mary, a question from the Vida area.
It might be the first call we've had from Vida in a long time.
- It's been a while.
They're interested in knowing the condition of the pulse seed available, and that would be chickpeas and lentils, peas.
Is it readily available, and is the condition of the seed good this year?
- So I'm not sure about availability.
I know a lot of growers saved their seed because they couldn't ship it last year.
We've had a lot come through the lab, especially lately.
We tend to get a surge at harvest, and then in the spring when people are thinking about planting.
It's certainly been smaller than normal, but it's been germinating just fine and disease free.
That's what a couple years of drought will do for you.
- I have to put a plug in for the pulse industry.
You know, 10, 15 years ago, it was basically in its infancy.
And right now, in the state of Montana, the pulse crops we produce are world-class.
- They are.
- And we're producing a lot of them.
And as you mentioned, the price of almost all commodities are up significantly.
- And they fit super well with our cropping systems.
And now, with federal emphasis on carbon sequestration, they have a good fit there.
They're gonna help save on fertilizer prices.
And there's a lot of benefits to pulses.
- I agree.
And they taste good.
- And they taste good.
(all laughing) - Okay, interesting Facebook question that I copied before the program.
Connie, a lot of Connies tonight, in Great Falls, is curious as to where do you see agriculture in the future?
And this is for you, President Cruzado.
And they say this because they feel that Montana is being invaded by wealthy outsiders, and will this affect agriculture?
- Well, that's an excellent question.
And it's the same crisis that almost every country's facing nowadays, right?
And that is what is the smart way for us to think about agriculture?
How are we going to feed the future population of the world?
In the case of Montana, I'm very happy to say that we do have good policies to keep in place and to protect agricultural lands.
And that it's something that, even with the terrible situation that we have with housing in Bozeman, every time that people say, "What is Montana State University doing for it?"
it's important for us to stay the course and to think about how do we protect the agricultural lands for the future?
Because easy answers are not available now, but I need to think about what's going to be the future of agriculture 50 years from now, 100 years from now, 200 years from now.
That is the lens through which we anticipate that we need to sort out these questions.
One fascinating opportunity that we have in front of us is the future of precision agriculture.
Internally, for the Colleges of Agriculture and Engineering, it's a great opportunity for collaboration.
How do you bring the best of engineering, the best of technology, the best of agricultural science, combine it and put it at the service of feeding the future, but also maximizing profit for the producers, reducing costs?
And that is something that, thanks to our vice president for agriculture, Sreekala Bajwa, we brought her from North Dakota State because she's one of the preeminent individuals in the nation that has built extraordinary precision agriculture programs in North Dakota, and now in Montana.
We are very optimistic about the future of agriculture, of precision ag as a way to start addressing some of the important questions about the future of agriculture here in Montana and in the world.
- Yeah, and I'll add to that, we're gonna feature a couple programs on precision ag.
- Excellent.
- Of course, the dean will be here one time.
And I have a young lady, not so young anymore, but I knew her when she was very young, she started a program and a business in Fort Benton on precision agriculture.
And she will be a guest later on this spring discussing how that came about.
So I like your answer.
It's very, very- - That's excellent.
- And, Jack, precision ag, also, on the question of what opportunities for collaboration there are between Bozeman and some of our affiliated campuses, the opportunities for precision agriculture between Bozeman and Havre are also fantastic.
- Okay.
Thank you.
While I have you up and talking of about combinations, this person from Columbia Falls has always felt that timber industry should be in agriculture.
But yet, it's handled at the University of Montana.
Does MSU have any involvement in that, they would like to know?
- Not in the College of Agriculture formally.
That's in the College of Forestry at University of Montana, but through Extension, we do.
We have extraordinary experts in forestry that can help.
If people have questions, if they comments and recommendations, they can reach out to Peter Kolb who's our expert in forestry, K-O-L-B.
- And he's located in Missoula at the University of Montana.
- He's located in Missoula.
- But is a faculty member at Montana State.
- [Waded] Exactly.
- Okay.
Thank you.
Laurie, (chuckles) this is a standard question, we're only gonna answer it once this spring, when do you put out wasp traps?
- Around the Bozeman area, It depends on where you live, but I usually shoot for Memorial Day.
- I think that's true.
I always put them out when they start attacking my steak on the plate.
- That's a little too late, Jack.
(all laughing) You wanna try to trap the queens when they're coming out, and it's usually mid to late May.
- I agree.
- Now, Jack, are we really only going to address that question once this season?
- Probably not.
(all laughing) - I'll hold you to that if I'm on again.
- Okay, Jane, from Missoula, this person would like to get rid of creeping bellflower, suggestions?
- Yeah, creeping bellflower, very problematic.
I'm assuming it's in like a lawn/garden setting.
That's usually where it's most problematic.
If it's been around a long time and you would think of it as well-established in your lawn and garden, probably never going to completely get rid of it unless you would excavate your lawn and start over again.
You have to hit it with about every tool possible, you know, hand pulling, wiping glyphosate on leaves.
2,4-d and dicamba will work, trying to keep your lawn and other vegetation, you know, healthy, watering well, fertilizing.
But that's one of those pests that probably this won't be the last time we address it this season, kinda like the wasp traps.
But you gotta hit it with everything available.
- It's a tough one.
- Yeah, and it is really pretty, so maybe you could just culture it as a ornamental.
- Well, now wait a minute, you always say watch out which ornamentals you bring into the state because they become noxious weeds.
Does that still hold true?
- Yeah, it is.
It doesn't pose any problems other than some people just don't like it 'cause it becomes pretty aggressive, but it doesn't have any toxicity.
So it doesn't pose issues that way.
It's more just what you like to have growing in your yard or not.
- Okay, thank you.
From Billings, this caller would like a definition of precision ag.
And I'll have Mary, since she's in the dean's office, answer that one.
(all laughing) - Well, we've made some pretty good investments in precision agriculture.
And so we have two engineers and two agronomists, two men and two women, that were just hired.
And part of their duties is starting a minor in precision ag and a precision ag farm at the Lutz Farm.
So what they're doing is applying technology to agriculture, and whether that's for profit, for environmental concerns, it could be managing your water, whatever your need is.
They can use all the technologies available, sensors, and then combine them with traditional cultural methods and planting date and all the different measurements and manipulations that we can do.
And one of the key parts is making the case that whatever decision the grower makes is going to be economical or meets their goal, whatever their goal is, and documenting that and helping the grower along the process.
And so two of them do have Extension appointments to help with that.
- I will mention, and I'm of the era where precision ag wasn't commonplace, but what I've read about precision ag is that, if you're an environmentalist, you wanna be using precision ag because you can save an awful lot of pesticides that are being applied.
- You can.
- Probably unnecessary.
And using the new technology, it will benefit the environment also.
- Irrigation also.
So you're going to just administer the right amount of water, herbicides, fertilizer.
- And we have a big problem with soil acidity in the state now because of over-application of... And, you know, it affects the water that we drink and use.
So that should help with that as well.
But managing the data and helping people understand the data that they have has been a major barrier.
- Okay, before I go back to President Cruzado, I'm gonna let Laurie talk about her pets.
She always brings pets in.
And then, I have a real interesting question for you.
- Okay, I'm gonna try to see if she's gonna show up here.
I think she is showing up.
(Jack laughs) So this is a cat-faced spider.
And I'm just gonna try to rotate her a little bit.
- [Jack] That's a great picture.
- Yeah, so this is a native spider for Montana.
And we usually see these in the fall.
They're usually a bright orange, kind of a Halloween spider, and get to be about the size of a quarter.
Their abdomen, their second segment gets to be about the size of a quarter.
And, usually, this time of year, they're in an egg sac form.
So we got pretty lucky that my partner found this in his garage and was able to kind of nurse her back to health.
And so it's kind of rare to have a spider.
She must have just been a sub-adult that didn't quite get to where she needed to be to mate and made it through the winter.
So we're gonna keep her as a pet for a little while.
She eats flies and lots of other things too.
So she's a harmless spider, but one of the most beautiful spiders that we have here in Montana.
- Does she bite?
- I've never met a beautiful spider.
(all laughing) - Well, I should be careful what I say.
She does not bite unless she was trying to protect her egg sac or something like that.
But otherwise, unless provoked, she wouldn't bite at all.
- So you're speaking about spiders, and I've seen in the news and read in various different magazines that there's some big, invasive spider showing up in the Southern part of the United States.
Are you familiar with this?
- Yeah, that the spider's been making the news.
Yeah, so this spider actually showed up, it's called the Joro spider.
And it made it to Georgia several years ago, but recently, it's just been several.
As an adult, it gets to be about three inches long.
- [Jack] That's a biggie.
- It's a biggie, and a harmless spider, but it creates a lot of webbing.
And the spiders can spread through a process called ballooning where they release a little bit of silk and you can have lots of little spiderlings around with lots of webbing.
And I think it's kind of become a nuisance for people around the Southeast area.
And they're worried that it's gonna keep moving up the coast.
And I think some people worry that it's gonna make it here too.
- So say it moves here, you say they're not a problem.
- [Laurie] They're not a problem.
They're beneficial.
- Okay.
Let's invite them in.
- Yeah, well, and I think the only issue that you'd have to worry about is that they might displace some native species.
And, so far, that hasn't been a concern.
But, yeah, I say bring it in.
I don't think it would do very well in Montana because they need a lot of moisture.
- Where is it native to?
- You know, I think it's native to Japan.
That's a good question.
- Oh!
- But I can't remember exactly.
- Okay.
- Did you share that your spider prefers live food?
- Yeah, the spider prefers live food, so yeah, we have to put a, it'll get a live fly later.
(all laughing) There are some things flying around in there, but it's not eating any of them.
It's shy.
- It's shy.
It doesn't wanna eat in front of the audience.
- You're right.
Yep.
- Okay, I've learned enough about spiders for the present time.
(all laughing) Let's move on.
This question came from John in Dylan.
And I have a sneaking suspicion I know who this is.
(Waded laughs) It has to do with the wool lab here at Montana State University and the current status of the wool lab.
So I'm gonna let the president take over on this, because I know you've been actively involved and working with that.
- Absolutely.
And I have a very good friend by the name of John in Dylan, John Hellie.
- [Jack] That where it came from.
- And he's a great partner of Montana State University.
So the wool lab, needless to say, is a great source of pride for us at Montana State University.
Nowadays, there are only two wool labs left in the nation, and one of them happens to be here at Montana State University.
The other one is in Texas.
The third one that close recently was in the state of New Mexico, actually, at New Mexico State University where I used to be before coming to Montana State.
Needless to say, the importance of the wool lab for our growers, for our producers, and actually for the future.
For the future of clothing, for the future of fiber, it is absolutely essential.
And we want to continue to support and to expand the operations of the wool lab.
Last legislative session, thanks to our wonderful legislators, we received an appropriation of $5 million that we promised that we were going to match with $1 million that we were going to fundraise.
We are about 40% of that goal.
We have also started some important conversations with the vet diagnostic lab and with the livestock department about opportunities for collaboration and partnerships between the wool lab and the vet diagnostic lab.
The vet diagnostic lab will also be building a new facility, so there might be opportunities there for synergies, for collaboration, for economies of scale if we can tackle some spaces together or some shared services.
And those conversations are ongoing.
So we're very excited about the future of the wool lab.
We are in the process of identifying a possible location for it in the campus of Montana State University.
So it's a great opportunity for the future of wool in the state.
- And I'll add to that a little bit.
I know they process around 15,000 samples a year, which is a lot, to give you the quality of the wool and what people that utilize the wool want.
They also, that wool lab is kind of an innovative, for a industry called Duckworth Wool.
- Yes.
- And that's been one of the offshoots of the wool lab here.
So it's a pride of Montana State University.
It has been for years, and I'm glad we're expanding that.
- It is, it is certainly a source of pride.
And the 15,000 samples are going up.
Last year, we had a record year, so that bodes well for the future of wood production in the state.
And again, we want to be there.
We want to partner with the producers and to make sure that they are as successful as we can be because it's high-quality wool.
- It is.
- That's what we produce in Montana.
- Along with a lot of other high-quality crops, like barley, and wheat, and so forth and so on.
And we do a good job here in Montana.
Jane, the interesting question from McCone County, this caller wants to know if paraquat is dangerous.
His memory is that paraquat was a component of Agent Orange used in Vietnam.
And I don't think that is correct.
I think it was 2,4,5-T. - Yeah, I agree Jack.
- He is receiving advertisements for paraquat as being widely touted and used throughout the world.
And he's quite concerned about crop dusting with it.
I don't think we're using much paraquat anymore, are we?
- You know, the best person to talk to about this would be Cecil Tharp, he's our pesticide safety and education specialist.
But the viewer is correct.
It's one of the most dangerous herbicides, if not the most dangerous herbicide that we use in kind of the weed control industry.
And I'm not gonna remember the details, but recently and really ongoing, we see different regulations, safety regulations surrounding the use of paraquat.
So that's why I think talking to Dr. Cecil Tharp would be the best.
- And we'll get his phone number.
Maybe not right now, but we'll have it.
- Do you think there's more ads because of the lack of glyphosate availability or?
- Possibly, I mean, paraquat is a burndown herbicide, and it's used with herbicide-resistant weeds, like Kochia and wild oat.
So some of these weeds we have that have developed resistance to multiple modes of action, paraquat is one of the last herbicides we have available to use on some of these.
So I think that could be why he's hearing more about it.
- I think there's some lawsuits, class-action lawsuits being advertised with paraquat.
And I suspect that creates some...
I think diquat, which is safer, has kind of replaced paraquat as a burndown in a lot of situations.
But anyway, we'll have more information on that.
It's a great question, and thanks for asking it.
President Cruzado, this is a Facebook question from John in Dylan.
And I think it's J-O-N and not J-O-H-N.
The person, he is interested in majoring in ag at MSU.
He would like to know if a career in international agriculture is feasible if he gets a degree here at MSU.
And he'd also like to know is MSU involved internationally, and how could students become involved there?
A lot of questions there.
- Wow, that is fantastic.
So the the answer to Jon, to many questions is yes.
We have a great Office of International Programs at Montana State University.
We just hired a new wonderful dean.
His name is Kristof Zaba, Z-A-B-A.
I think his, well, easier for me to give you my email address, wcruzado@montana.edu, and I will refer you to Kristof Zaba.
Before I go specifically to that, we would welcome, of course, more students in the College of Agriculture, although I need to say, in the last few years, our College of Agriculture has been experiencing incredible growth.
For example, this last fall, we were less than 80 students short of crossing, for the first time, a mark of 2,000 students in the College of Agriculture.
That is good news, not only for Montana State University, that's great news for the nation.
This spring semester, actually, student enrollment has grown by an additional 4% when compared to last spring.
So there is great interest in agriculture.
We have fantastic programs.
The faculty have done an incredible job making sure that our programs are up-to-date and actually very exciting in responding to the needs of the industry and to the interest of our students.
Our vice president and dean of the College of Agriculture, her name is Sreekala Bajwa.
Sreekala is originally from India, and I'm sure that Sreekala would welcome an opportunity to talk directly with the student that's interested in this, in international agriculture.
Last but not least, our Department of Ag Econ is world renowned.
It has spectacular faculty members who are fantastic instructors and teachers, but also fantastic researchers.
So I'm sure that the prospective student or students will have many options available in international agriculture at Montana State.
Happy to help too.
- I agree, if you get a degree in agriculture from MSU and if you have an interest in international agriculture, there's really nothing holding you back.
- There's nothing, there's nothing holding him.
- Okay, from Billings, this is an interesting one for Laurie, "Whatever happened to the bed bug pre-COVID scare that was around a couple years ago?
Do we still have a problem with them?"
- We do still have a problem with them.
I actually didn't get very many samples in the last couple of years, 'cause we didn't have, obviously, as much travel.
But especially in low-income housing, we still have quite a bit of an issue with bed bugs.
And we didn't get a lot of people in to be able to inspect bed bugs.
So, yeah, they're still around.
And they can survive a good solid year without any food.
So we still have bed bugs, unfortunately.
- Okay, thank you.
I'm gonna read a comment from Glasgow, and I appreciate comments.
We always enjoy getting comments, and also criticisms, if you have them.
From Glasgow, this caller notes, "Ag Week is approaching.
Now is a good time to recognize strides that the ag community has made in avoiding dirt clouds," and I agree with that entirely, "during high winds.
Ag practices of crop rotation of cereal, pulse, and other crops should be noted and applauded."
And I appreciate that comment 'cause I can remember when I moved here, in the last ice age, we had a lot of dirt clouds.
And we also had a lot of tumbleweeds and kochia in the fence lines.
You'd get across the border to the Canada, you didn't see the kochia in the fence lines.
And that's because we were doing recreational tillage instead of using some of the current technology that we now have.
So bottom line, that's an excellent comment and we appreciate it.
And I wanna throw a tough one at the president here.
This person would like to know what MSU and the state of Montana can do to help Montana dairy farmers.
Idaho has a good program.
We used to have a dairy program here.
We don't anymore.
Any comments on that?
- Not off hand, but that's something that I would welcome an opportunity to expand that conversation with the dean and the vice president of agriculture.
As I said before, part of the mission of Montana State University is making sure that we address the needs of our producers, that the partnerships that you mentioned before, Jack, are there in place.
And if there's areas where we need to reconsider, what do we need to do with the dairy industry, happy to expand on that area as well.
Absolutely, this is the right time for us to consider that.
Montana State University is in a very solid place where now we can look at the horizon and say, "So what's in the future for us?"
As I said before, what's in the future in the next 10, 20 years for the state of Montana and how can the land-run university, your university make sure that we realize that potential?
- I'll just mention real quick that Extension is doing a needs assessment of the state right now.
And that would be a good opportunity for them to provide some feedback.
- Good, good answer.
You mentioned that, tell us about the ag bus tour.
This is a good chance to talk about that a little bit.
And you're involved with that every year or every other year, or whenever you do it.
So do you wanna explain what's going on with that?
- Absolutely.
We started the ag bus tour back in 2011.
Actually, the first one was Follow the Beef.
We always do, (laughs) we always have an ag-related theme to it.
We have Followed the Beef, Followed the Wheat, we have Followed, goodness, the Energy as well.
So we have been able to cover, actually, 53 out of the 56 counties in Montana already.
We had to take a pause because of COVID and we haven't been able to have our bus tour for two years now.
But, this summer, we are resuming the ag bus tours and we are going to Beaverhead County, actually.
And the theme of this year is Follow the Water, such an important resource.
For those folks that have not been able to join us in the past, what we do is, for three days, we take all the upper administration of Montana State, all the vice presidents, all the deans, directors of unit, we take student leaders, we take faculty leaders, we take alumni in one bus, and off we go to have an opportunity to meet with the people of the state of Montana.
I think it's very important for us to leave Bozeman and to go to Montana, to sit down in cafes, in bars.
- Oh, absolutely.
- (laughs) To have breakfast with our legislators, to listen to the people that make this wonderful place happen, to thank personally the parents who believe in the promise of Montana State University.
So that's what we're going to do this year.
It's always the third week in June.
We like, when possible, to make it coincide with Field Day if we happen to have a Field Day in close proximity.
But we're in the process of organizing our alumni, our legislators in Beaverhead, and I look forward to seeing everybody there.
- Great, great.
And that's a beautiful county.
- [Waded] It is a gorgeous county.
- Absolutely, there's a lot of wool being produced down there.
- Well, what a coincidence, right?
- That it happened?
(all laughing) All right, a quick question from Hamilton for Laurie.
She'd like an on the giant hornets that were found in Washington.
"Are they moving closer to Montana?"
- That's a good question.
I haven't heard anything.
I know we haven't, as far as I know, we don't have any reports here in Montana.
But I don't know if we've had any other reports in Washington and if it's spread.
So, definitely, you can email me at insects@montana.edu.
I'll look into that for you to see where we're at with that.
I know we're monitoring for it, the Montana department of ag is monitoring for it, but where it's at, I'm not sure.
- Okay, a question from Missoula.
"Are there any new noxious weeds of concern moving into Montana?"
And that's you're... - Well, the one I would say that everybody should be on the lookout for is Ventenata.
It's another annual grass like cheat grass.
I've talked about it before on the show, but that's probably the species we have moving the most rapidly across Montana.
There's a handful of other invasive, broad leaves, rush skeletonweed.
Yellow starthistle we're always on the lookout for.
Montana's done a great job of keeping that out of the state.
Occasionally it shows up.
But go to the noxious weed list and look at those a top priority species, priority 1A and 1B.
And those would be the ones that you really wanna keep your eye out for.
- Ventenata, I do not know what it looks like.
So your assignment, next time you're on the program, is to bring a sample to show me and to show the audience what it looks like, because that's a relatively new one for us.
- It is.
Yep, I will do that.
I'll at least bring a picture, 'cause it's not gonna be mature for a couple months yet, so.
- Okay, well, when it's mature... You're gonna be back in June, I'm sure.
(all laughing) - That's true, it's about in its glory in mid-June.
- Well, then you bring it in mid June.
Okay.
- Okay.
You know, it's been a fun program this evening.
In about 30, 40 seconds, President Cruzado, anything else you'd like to add about agriculture in the state of Montana?
- I just need to say, well, first of all, thank you for the invitation, Jack, and for the incredible opportunity to share this panel with these extraordinary women who are experts in their field.
I just want to close by reaching out to the wonderful people that do the work of agriculture in Montana just to say thank you.
Montana State University is thriving, and it's because of you and that incredible opportunities that you afford this university, the incredible people that you send to us, the many contributions.
And I am just in awe and in admiration of agriculture in Montana.
So thank you so much, and go Cats.
- I agree with you.
(all laughing) Folks, glad you joined us this evening.
We'll be back next week.
Interesting program next week, we'll have Hannah Turner from the craft brewing and malting lab here at Montana State University to share what they're doing for a big industry in the state.
Thank you again, and we'll see you next week.
Have a good week and stay safe.
Good night.
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