What a soil does

Last week featured an extremely condensed version on the formation of soils. Now let's briefly examine the roles of soil in our world. First, broad definitions of the soil are helpful. Soil can be defined as the skin of the earth or the area of exchange between the earth and the atmosphere. The soil is also defined as a dynamic, living organism consisting of organic and inorganic components. While soil profiles (the vertical extent of ...

Animal health breakthrough: Research uncovers genetic marker that could help control, eliminate Prrs

A collaborative discovery involving Kansas State University researchers may improve animal health and save the U.S. pork industry millions of dollars each year.

What If? Oh My! What Can I Do?

Jenni Carr, CEA Ag & Natural Resources K-State Research & Extension Barton County Are foreign animal diseases (FAD) a threat to Barton County? Have there been any outbreaks of FAD's in the United States within the last six years? The answer is yes. The United States has been hit with Exotic Newcastle in California, West Nile Virus from New York to California and a case of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy in Texas. You may wonder how ...

New laws and Agriculture Week

March has been the month for recognition of agriculture and water awareness. Governor Brownback proclaimed March 4-10 Kansas Agriculture Week."Kansas has a strong agricultural tradition that predates its statehood, and it continues today as a cornerstone of our state's economy," Governor Brownback said. "As we look towards the future, growing agriculture in Kansas is one of my top priorities." Kansas produces nearly $4.0 billion in agriculture exports a year. Kansas farmers provide food for Americans ...

Waiting for rain

By John Schlageck, Kansas Farm Bureau It's becoming an all too familiar refrain among western Kansas farmers, "We need rain." Last year's drought has continued into 2012. The wheat crop was planted late and many farmers doubled the normal planting rate and drilled 90 to120 pounds per acre versus 50 to 60 pounds per acre in a normal year. Because there was little to no subsoil moisture in the ground, the wheat crop started slowly ...

Jennifer Carr - KSRE

Good morning again. With the warm, windy days we have been having the past week or two I am sure everyone has gardening and yard work on the mind. Well I have a short to do list that you can consider for March.

Farm tour highlights improvements for winter livestock feeding options

By Tom Parker When Harry Moser first heard K-State Watershed Specialist Will Boyer's glowing reports on the benefits of feeder pads, he wasn't impressed. "I thought he was nuts," Moser said. Moser, co-owner with his wife, Lisa, of Moser Ranch, Wheaton, was skeptical. Still, past dealings with agents from a mixture of conservation groups had taught him to think outside the box, so he reluctantly gave the okay to construct a raised pad as an ...

Looking for Options?

Jennifer Carr, BT Co KSRE It has been drilled into every farmers' brain that you have to be diversified, you need to plant crops on a rotating basis, do this, do that. Well how do you know what the best options are? Most producers read industry magazines to get ideas, watch what their neighbors do or ask their crop consultant. How about checking out what K-State Research and Extension has to offer for insight. K-State ...

What Makes A Soil?

Last week's column asserted that soil is the foundation of our agricultural industry and a scarce resource. This week let's start to examine why. First, 70% of the surface of the earth is covered with water. Of the remaining 30%, only 11% is considered arable, suitable for farming, or approximately 3.3% of the total of the earth's surface. Of that total, well over half has been degraded to some extent. Often that degradation is due ...

Conserving the Ogallala

Speaking in the heart of irrigation country and the Ogallala Aquifer region, Gov. Sam Brownback signed two bills in southwestern Kansas that are intended to lengthen the life of this region's water resources. Brownback signed the bills March 5 at Garden City High School while students, community leaders, farm organization members and legislators watched.

Blowing in the wind

Whether we know it or not, all of us pay attention to the cost agricultural producers are paying for inputs necessary to produce food, fiber, and fuel. Unless you never purchase food in a grocery section or pay for a meal in a restaurant, it's almost impossible not to notice one of two things. Either the price of foodstuffs has increased noticeably over the last several years or while the price has remained the same ...

Dog heaven

"I wouldn't take any amount of money for that dog," were my dad's most often spoken words when referring to our family dog, Lady.

Dress the part

By John Schlageck, Kansas Farm Bureau If Billy Crystal's Fernando character were to visit a Kansas farm this spring you can be sure he wouldn't be telling too many farmers, "Darling, you look marvelous." You can also bet not too many farmers step into the cab of their tractors wearing any of the high fashions portrayed on the pages of GQ or Esquire. Looking good is great when you go to town, but safety and ...

Safety and agriculture go hand in hand

This past Wednesday, Batron Community College hosted the 13th-annual Barton County Farm Bureau Safety Day for area high school students. Topics ranged from safety around electricity and chainsaws to the potential dangers associated with flowing grain in grain bins. The Farm Bureau deserves credit for this event as do all the presenters for raising the awareness of these students to the everyday potential hazards faced by those is agriculture. Agriculture like any industry has associated ...

Soil –Why is it Important?

Jennifer Carr, Ag & Natural Resources Agent Barton County K-State Research and Ext People walk on it, plant gardens and crops in it and build foundations over it, yet do not give soil a second thought. To most it is just dirt. According to Chuck Rice, distinguished professor of soil microbiology at Kansas State University, "dirt is just soil out of place". "People need to think that soils are important," he said, "just ...

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 ...