NARC holding field day Tuesday

Havre Daily News staff

After holding a virtual event in 2020, Northern Agricultural Research Center has its 2021 Field Day set for 3 p.m. Tuesday at the research center south of U.S. Highway 87 near Fort Assinniboine.

The event is free and open to the public to learn about the latest cattle and crop research being conducted at the Montana State University facility. Attendees can sign up for two separate tours around the station to hear from multiple speakers.

NARC’s field day is the first of eight to be held at MSU research centers around the state through July. The university said all field days will be outdoor events and will follow county and Montana University System COVID-19 precautions at the time of the events.

Registration begins at 3 p.m., the first tour time begins at 4 p.m. and the second at 5:45 p.m. The dinner is at 7:15 p.m.

The Havre Area Chamber of Commerce Agribuisness Committee will present its 2021 Ag Leader and Ag Advocate awards during the dinner.

The center has been in operation for more than 100 years, one of seven Montana State University agricultural research centers.

It was established on the former location of Fort Assinniboine, which was constructed in 1879 after the Battle of the Little Bighorn and the Battle of the Bear Paws, and was decommissioned in 1911.

The state approved creation of a college at the site, but funding was never appropriated, and, instead, the research center was created and began operation in 1915.

Its website says NARC consists of 3,000 acres at the main facility with an additional 3,960 acres of grazing land located in the nearby Bear Paw Mountains. The 3,000 acres on the main facility supports both crop and livestock research activities.

NARC Superintendent Darrin Boss also serves as the department head of Montana State University’s Department of Research Centers that oversees the Montana Agricultural Experiment Station.