Farmers and ranchers of Kansas Farm Bureau to meet in Manhattan

MANHATTAN – More than 1,000 Farm Bureau members in Kansas will gather in Manhattan Monday through Wednesday for their organization's 94th Annual Meeting.

Taking a break

What would you think are the hardest transitions students must make when moving on to college after graduation? Take a second and think about it. This is purely anecdotal but here are the observations and how they relate to working in the world of agriculture:

Drought conditions intensify

If the dry conditions we experienced in Ellis County on the opening weekend of pheasant season are any indication of what's to come, we're in for a lot of trouble. We walked several miles on Nov. 10 and 11 and drove across much of the county and into northern Ness County.

Jobs that don’t exist yet

This past Tuesday at the regular meeting of the Barton Community College Board of Trustees, members of the various advisory boards assisting the various technical programs spoke to the Trustees. They discussed their service on the appropriate advisory board, how programs at Barton have benefitted their industry, and what they saw as the future needs in their area. Agriculture was well represented by Andrew Murphy from ILS and Marvin Rose from the Great Bend Coop. ...

Something To Be Thankful For

As Thanksgiving is this week, it's a good idea here to think of what we can be thankful for in agriculture.

Why it’s called ‘Turkey Day’

How did the turkey reserve its place on our traditional Thanksgiving table? That bird is what the pilgrims feasted upon according to fact and fable. You've all heard how our ancestors hunted this bird. But here is the real story – the turkey scoop. Seems our forefathers remembered to take their muskets that day, but forgot to take their ammunition. As the men marched toward the woods, they took one addition, an Indian scout. You ...

I Know It When I See It

First, let's list the questions readers were asked to think about last week regarding animal care.

Three Sides to Every Story

One course agriculture students take is titled "Agriculture In Society", a class mentioned before in this column. This class exposes students to the role agriculture has played in the development of civilization; the way agriculture is viewed in today's society; the challenges agriculture faces now and as it moves forward; and misconceptions the 98% not involved in the production of food, fiber, and fuel have about the industry. A large area of conflict and misconception ...

Cargill grant introduces students to careers in ag, business and engineering

MANHATTAN – Cargill recently renewed its support of the Cargill Project Impact Diversity Partnership at Kansas State University with a gift of $1.2 million. Through this program, K-State works to recruit and retain qualified, multicultural students in its agriculture, business administration and engineering colleges. The program was first introduced in 2008 through a Cargill contribution of $1 million.

EQIP provides opportunities for rangeland concerns

Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) State Conservationist Eric B. Banks, announced that the application evaluation cutoff date will be Friday, Nov. 16 for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP).

84th Kansas FFA Convention

Potential crops – workers and wheat

Today, let's focus on two potential crops for 2013, students graduating from Barton to join the workforce and wheat. This past Wednesday was Barton's College to Community Day. Starting at 8 a.m., students visited various businesses calling Great Bend home. These are students pursuing degrees areas as diverse as criminal justice, early childhood, automotive, and computer networking to agriculture. Agriculture students visited Great Bend Feeding, Northview Nursery, and Straub International. These businesses each spent about ...

EQIP application evaluation cutoff is Friday, Nov. 16

Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) State Conservationist Eric B. Banks, announced that the application evaluation cutoff date will be, Friday, November 16, 2012, for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP).

And So It Blows

Thursday was Jack Kilby Science Day at Barton with hundreds of area high school students in attendance. After the main presentation, students attended two different sessions from 10 a.m. until noon. When the morning started it was bright and sunny without a cloud in the sky. At first glance, looking out a window at noon indicated it must have turned cloudy. Going outside, it only took seconds to realize there weren't any clouds in the ...

KFAC, KFB to host 6th annual Be Ag-Wise educator training workshops this winter

Kansas Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom (KFAC) and Kansas Farm Bureau (KFB) will host the sixth annual Be Ag-Wise educator training workshops in early 2013.

Divide remains in Congress over Farm Bill, food stamps

WASHINGTON (AP) - The House and Senate Agriculture Committees laid the groundwork this week for reducing the size of the federal food stamp program, approving farm bills that would shrink food aid and alter the way people qualify for it.

Kansas CRP meetings for landowners prior to signup hosted by PF

Pheasants Forever is hosting fifty-one informational meetings across Kansas for landowners and agricultural producers in advance of the USDA Farm Service Agency's Conservation Reserve Program general sign-up that runs May 20 through June 14. Led by Pheasants Forever Farm Bill Wildlife Biologists, landowners can learn how to increase their farm or ranch income while creating wildlife habitat in the process.

Even Animal Lovers Prefer No Rabbits in the Garden

This week, I found a column from K-State's Mary Lou Peter about the rabbits that are out and about. They may be cute hopping around in a field, but when they get into your garden, their cuteness wears a little thin.

MILC, SURE, and NAP will restart on May 8

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Farm Service Agency (FSA) Administrator Juan M. Garcia announced today that farm payments, which had been temporarily suspended due to sequestration, are scheduled to resume today, May 8th. This includes payments for the 2011 Supplemental Revenue Assistance Payments Program (SURE), the Noninsured Crop Assistance Program (NAP) and the Milk Income Loss Contract Program (MILC).

Why Does It Matter?

This is finals week at Barton and many of the other colleges around the state. For instructors it's time to evaluate what students learned over the last semester. For students it's time for that one last push to maintain or raise their grades. While faculty see testing as a method to evaluate learning and adjust accordingly, students often see testing as a way to be tortured. Students focus on the grade while faculty focus on ...

Play safe on the farm

The dream of many young farm boys and girls is to ride on a tractor. For a youngster, the mammoth tractor epitomizes raw power, responsibility and coming of age.

FFA officers installed at banquet

Soil Stewardship Week

In 1955, the National association of Conservation Districts began a national program to encourage Americans to focus on stewardship. Stewardship Week is officially celebrated from the last Sunday in April to the first Sunday in May. It is one of the world's largest conservation-related observances.

Small raised garden

Do you have a small backyard? Do you wish you had the space for a garden, but don't want to sacrifice your entire yard to be able to grow your favorite vegetables? Well, an option for you is to garden is a small raised bed. When you garden in a raised bed system, one of the most important things to consider is the soil that you are going to use. One of the major reasons ...

The Law of the Minimum

There isn't much to say regarding the wheat crop right now but to wait so let's go in a different direction this week. First, the Crop Protection class at the college toured the area south of the college this past Wednesday travelling as far south as the Hudson area. Normally they can examine wheat, alfalfa, and newly emerged corn. Since the weather went south pretty quickly, the tour was a bit abbreviated. It's safe to ...