BOZEMAN, Montana — Nearly 70 people gathered under tent-covered trailers on the morning of July 7 on a sprawling experimental farm off Huffine Lane in Bozeman to listen to presentations from Montana State University faculty about new research in agriculture.

Orange tractors towed the trailers to different fields on the farm that morning, as audience members sat on the wooden benches atop the trailer floors.

For part of the morning, professors from the Winter Wheat Breeding Program spoke into a microphone in front of the sprawling wheat fields on the Post Farm, battling noise from cars whizzing by on Huffine. White papers with the name of each wheat variety were stuck to the posts delineating the fields.

The lecture focused on how different wheat varieties — some with hollow stems, others with solid ones and still others a combination — could adapt to changing weather and pest infestations, and what variables would affect yield. It gave an overview of the most efficient winter wheat varieties to grow in Montana: Warhorse, Yellowstone and Keldin.

The presentation was just one part of the latest session of MSU College of Agriculture’s annual series of Agricultural Research Center Field Days. July 7 marked one of this summer’s seven field days, which take place at MSU agricultural experiment stations across the state.

Meaghan MacDonald-Pool, spokesperson for the College of Agriculture, said the purpose of the field days is to share MSU research with ag producers and collaboratively discuss best management practices.

“We want to do research that’s important to Montanans,” MacDonald-Pool said.

Another presentation at 11 a.m. — led by professors Paul Nugent, Jasmine Neupane and Shirin Ghatrehsamani — discussed how precision agriculture can increase efficiency for producers.

Precision agriculture uses technology to gather data that can make field management more efficient — helping producers determine the exact right amounts of input and when, where and how to apply them. Programming drones to take overhead imaging of fields to better see variation in crop health is just one example of precision ag.

Neupane spoke to the audience about how drone imaging can create prescription maps for a field, displaying which areas of a crop need more or less inputs.

“We want to see the story the data tells us,” Neupane said.

The field days feature tours, presentations and updates about the agriculture research conducted by MSU. The sessions are well-attended by researchers, ag producers, grad students, department heads, Extension officers and other people interested in sharing the knowledge unearthed by research on experimental farms.

Presentations throughout the day discussed research on barley and winter wheat breeding, soil acidity and sulfur, precision agriculture, crop protection and weeds. There was also a luncheon talk by Mary Burrows, associate director of the Montana Agricultural Experiment Station.

The Post Agronomy Farm is a 254-acre site west of Bozeman on Huffine Lane. Research at this farm emphasizes the development of new wheat and barley varieties and plant breeding programs.

There are four more agriculture field days left this summer, which are all open to the public. They will take place at MSU ag research centers in Sidney, Creston, Conrad and Corvallis. People who are interested can find out more information by calling 994-3681 or emailing agdean@montana.edu.

Isabel Hicks can be reached at 406-582-2651 or at ihicks@dailychronicle.com.