OLATHE, Kan. - The 2010 Great Plains Vegetable Growers Conference Jan. 7-9 in St. Joseph, Mo., will feature growers, specialists and cutting-edge information from all five participating states: Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and South Dakota.
Conference planners scheduled three day-long, in-depth workshops for Jan. 7. Like the rest of the conference, they´ll be in the Fulkerson Conference Center at Missouri Western State University.
"We´ll be repeating the ever-popular high tunnels and community-supported agriculture workshops, plus introducing a new one on `Growing Your Farm´s Profits.´ The profits and pricing workshop will be a bargain this year, because USDA´s Risk Management Agency is underwriting about half of its cost," said Ted Carey, vegetable crops specialist with Kansas State University Research and Extension.
The trade show will officially open on Thursday, as well, Carey said, with a 4:00 to 5:30 p.m. wine and snacks reception for workshop and other conference participants. More than 32 exhibitors will be there, representing seed companies, equipment and supply vendors, government agencies, and related industries.
The Friday and Saturday progams will both begin with an 8 a.m. registration. Then, except for a keynote speaker early Friday afternoon, it will have four your-choice tracks, running concurrently from beginning to the conference´s end. Friday´s sessions will start at 9:30 a.m. and Saturday´s, an hour earlier.
"This program is so good that growers will want to bring partners, so they can split up and cover more than one session at a time," Carey said. "Friday´s program is packed with all kinds of interesting speakers and topics. If they like, though, participants can really focus in on Saturday. Three of the four tracks will be sort of like one-subject workshops."
Friday´s program tracks will include (1) three small-fruit sessions, followed by two related to GAP (Good Agricultural Practices) auditing and certification; (2) four sessions on organic production and pest control; (3) two on greenhouse production, followed by two about bees; and (4) six on vegetables and integrated pest management.
Keynote speaker Kamyar Enshayan will lead Friday´s general session about his efforts since 1997 to strengthen the local food system in northeastern Iowa. He´ll also address some of the challenges he sees ahead. An agricultural engineer by training, Enshayan is director of
the Center for Energy and Environmental Education at the University of Northern Iowa. Last year, he received the Sustainable Agriculture Achievement Award from Practical Farmers of Iowa.
The state associations of Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri will meet late Friday afternoon. The evening will take conference participants to the St. Joseph Ramada Inn for a "Grower Innovation Hour of Fun."
Those who enter a new idea will compete for a free conference registration in 2011. Three of the subject tracks on Saturday will devote the day to a specialized subject:
(1) advanced farmers market,
(2) cut flowers and
(3) beginning vegetable production.
"If they choose to stay with one track, participants will have a real opportunity to network with others who have similar interests, get new ideas, plus ask lots of questions," Carey said.
The fourth track will be a potpourri of sessions on subjects ranging from universities´ variety trial results to growers´ common mistakes in working toward organic certification.
Conference registration instructions and fee alternatives are available online at http://extension.missouri.edu/buchanan/GPVGC.shtml. Conference planners strongly encourage participants to preregister before Christmas.
The site also has further information about the workshop and conference programs. Plus, Katie Cook and Tom Fowler in the Buchanan County (Mo.) Extension Office are available to answer questions at 816- 279-1691. Ted Carey, who´s based at State´s Olathe Horticulture Research and Extension Center, is at tcarey@ksu.edu and either 913-856-2335 or 913-645-0007.
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MANHATTAN, Kan. - The 14th annual Kansas Precision Agriculture Technologies Conference is set for Jan. 21-22, 2010, in Salina. The conference will be in the Ramada Conference Center at 1616 Crawford Street (formerly the Holiday Inn).
Registration begins Jan. 21 at 8 a.m. with the program starting at 8:45 a.m. Industry and university speakers will update attendees on the latest information about new equipment, methods, economics and research related to precision agriculture. Commercial exhibits will be available for viewing, with time built into the day for producers to interact with researchers, other producers and vendors.
Presentation topics will include:
* Site-Specific Management and the Future of Agriculture.
* Robotics in Crop Production.
* Precision Agriculture with "Normal" Crop Prices.
* Yield Data with Variable Swath Widths.
* Crop Health Imaging: A Seed Company´s Approach to Remote Sensing.
* Delineating Management Zones for Variable Rate Fungicide
Applications.
* Utilizing Statewide RTK systems for Solutions in Agriculture
* Impact of Automatic Section Control on Ag Sprayer Performance
The conference, which ends at 11:30 a.m. Jan. 22, will be immediately followed by a two-hour Kansas Agriculture Research Association (KARA) lunch meeting, with on-farm research reports to follow.
The conference registration fee is $100. More information will be available on the Web site www.ksagresearch.com.
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MANHATTAN, Kan. - Even at this time of year when American farm families are typically looking forward to planning for the new year, some are struggling. A spouse may have lost an off-farm job, a family member may not fully know his place in an operation and others have been hit by low prices for what they produce.
Resources are available through K-State Research and Extension, as well as eXtension, to help families who are struggling or in transition. eXtension is an educational partnership comprised of land grant universities across the country.
K-State and the Kansas Farm Analyst Program will offer "Keeping the Family Farming" Workshops in January for families who are incorporating family members and others into a farm operation or passing the farm business from one generation to the next. One workshop will be in Beloit on Jan. 9 and 23, 2010 at the Zion Lutheran Church at 621 N. Mill St. Another will be in Hiawatha Jan. 16 and 30, 2010 at the Fisher Community Center, 201 E. Iowa St.
Registration and other information is available on the Web site: www.agmanager.info or by contacting Rich Llewelyn at 785-532-1504.
eXtension offers an eight-lesson course, "Investing for Farm Families," which can help family members make strategic decisions while weaving together farm and personal investments. The course, developed by a team of Extension educators, is designed to help families plan for a financially stable future that meets their long-term needs. The online format means families can work at their own pace. More information is available on the Web site: www.extension.org/pages/InvestingforFarmFamilies.
The K-State Farm Analyst Program provides one-on-one educational services to Kansas farm families. Using Finpack computer software, analysts provide business analysis while teaching financial concepts through their application on individual farms. Analysts work with all types of operations as every farm plays a role in the economic environment of rural communities. More information is available by calling 785-636-5462 or email dhund@ksu.edu.
The Kansas Rural Family Helpline is a non-profit, direct service program dedicated to meeting the special needs of rural families in Kansas. The Helpline provides confidential, short-term emotional support, competent advice, and qualified referrals directly to rural families struggling with an unmet emotional, medical, financial or legal need. More information is available by calling 1-866-FARM-KSU (1-866-327-6578) or email farmksu@humec.ksu.edu or www.humec.k-state.edu/fshs/pfws/krfhprogram.html.
The Kansas Agricultural Mediation Service (KAMS), based in K-State
Research and Extension, works with farm families in a confidential manner to find information, connect families with services and help resolve disputes that arise with government agencies, banks, suppliers and others. Two components are key features of its services -- financial counseling through the Farm Analyst Program and legal counseling through Kansas Legal Services. In many cases, KAMS services are free of charge. More information is available by calling 1-800-321-3276 or on the Web at www.ksre.ksu.edu/kams/.
The Kansas Farm Management Association (KFMA), a part of K-State Research and Extension, has economists based in several communities throughout Kansas who work cooperatively with farm families to provide production and financial management information for use in decision making. KFMA economists use on-farm visits, whole-farm analysis, enterprise analysis, and other programs to assist producers in developing sound farm accounting systems; improving decision making; comparing performance with similar farms; integrating tax planning, and marketing and asset investment strategies. More information is available by calling 785-532-1513 or on the Web at www.agmanager.info/KFMA/.
