Northwestern Ag Research Center

We are just TWO WEEKS away from our NWARC Field Day happening on July 9th and we wanted to take a moment to thank our wonderful sponsors who help up make this event happen each year!

CHS Mountain West Cooperative Kalispell - Committed to delivering value and helping farmer-owners and customers grow through quality products and the latest innovations.

AgWest Farm Credit - A leading financial institution serving the agricultural industry.

RDO Equipment Co. - Discover a wide-range range of John Deere & Vermeer equipment at one of their RDO store locations, offering top-notch machinery solutions for agriculture.

Creston Seed - Seed Dealer for farming large or small acreage from wheat to grass to alfalfa seed that can be applied with fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides without concern.

Whitefish Credit Union - Provides Montana members with personal and business banking solutions including a variety of accounts and loans.

Lake Seed Inc - Family owned and operated for over 35 years. They offer a full line of certified grain, lawn and pasture seed, custom mixes, and crop protection products.

Montana Farmers Union - A grassroots, non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the agricultural way of life.

We hope to see you at this year's Field Day. RSVP by June 30, 2026 on our website: https://agresearch.montana.edu/nwarc/events.html
You can also email us at [email protected] or call 406-994-4312

Happy Friday from our research teams!

Here we have Dr. Marilyn Dalen explaining how to measure intermodal length on spring wheat for our DIAL study to our Research Assistants, Wyatt and Ellie. The DIAL study will be one of the stops during our NWARC Field Day. Join us to learn more!

Last week, we executed the first alfalfa plot harvest of the year at early bud stage treatment. Saurabha Koirala, Dr. Torrion's Ph.D student, timed harvesting perfectly with our Farm Manager, Jordan Penney, to beat the rain!

This project is funded by USDA-NIFA (www.nifa.usda.gov)

You are invited to NWARC’s Field Day on Thursday, July 9th. Come learn about practical research in the field! This event is free and open to the public! Registration will begin at 8:30 am. Starting at 9:00 am, we will tour the fields and hear presentations from MSU researchers and collaborators. Then, we will return to the station and wrap up with lunch around 12:00 pm.

RSVP by June 30, 2026 on our website: https://agresearch.montana.edu/nwarc/events.html
You can also email us at [email protected] or call 406-994-4312

Topics will include:
Alternative Crops
Short Stature Spring Wheat
Irrigation Management
Grazing Cereal Forages
Hessian Fly Monitoring
Nano Fertilizer Technology
Irrigation & Technology Panel

Yesterday, a few members of our advisory committee stopped by the farm to discuss plans for field day. We greatly appreciate their input on field day topics and logistics!

We are excited for this year's field day and hope you are too! Don't forget, this year's NWARC Field Day is scheduled for Thursday, July 9th from 8:30am to 1pm. We hope to see you there!

Our new Zurn 150 plot combine arrived a couple of weeks ago. We wanted to thank the Montana Wheat and Barley Committee and the Montana Agricultural Experiment Station (MAES) for their financial support in purchasing this machine. This piece of equipment should enable us to expand our research capabilities while streamlining data collection. Keep an eye out for it this fall or come take a closer look during our NWARC Field Day on July 9th!

Yesterday, Dr. Marilyn Dalen and one of our Research Associates, Emily McGarvey, got to participate in “Power Your Future STEM Day” hosted at the Flathead Valley Community College. They had several groups of middle school students with various workshops relating to agriculture, soil science, seed identification, and more. It was great to spend a day with the future of STEM!

This past weekend our Research Associate, Emily McGarvey, took advantage of the beautiful spring weather and got out into the fields for a boron application in spring wheat. This project is funded by the Montana Fertilizer Tax Committee.

Happy Earth Day! 🌎 🌱 🌸 ⛰️

NWARC consists of 200 irrigated and dryland acres and is well-equipped with modern field plot equipment, laboratory equipment, facilities, and greenhouse space. The research center is located 10 miles from Flathead Lake, the largest fresh water lake in the western U.S., and 45 miles from Glacier National Park. We are honored to be stewards of this land and will continue to take pride in conducting and promoting studies, scientific investigations, and experiments relating to agriculture, natural resources and rural life.