Summertime -Dr. Victor Martin

It's pretty hard not to notice that summer came hard and fast this year. After several years of what for Kansas were cool, wet summers, Mother Nature has reminded us of what our summers can involve. After a brief respite, we are back under drought conditions and as I write this on July 7, there is a slight chance of rain with 100° temps back by Sunday. So where are we cropwise as we enter July?

Dr. Vic Martin

So What Happened? Well wheat harvest in our area is pretty much over. Some are pleasantly surprised. Some are dealing with the low yields they expected. Many are scratching their heads trying to figure out how things were way, way, better than they expected. Pretty much it's a typical wheat harvest in Kansas. We think we understand why the bad or abandoned fields were the way the were but why were so many ...

Silent sentinels on the High Plains

By John Schlageck, Kansas Farm Bureau Perched atop the weathered wooden posts, the western boots stretched nearly one mile into the horizon. Brown, black, green, gray and blue were the colors. Torn and frayed was their condition. All the boot heels pointed toward the blue, spring sky. Some of the toes still held their shape – jutting out from the fence post. Others dropped toward the grass like the tongues of cutting ...

Funding Available

Non-Point Source Pollution Management funding is available for individuals who are suffering with a failed septic system, or needing to plug an abandoned water well. Sign-up will be until July 31.

“Do You Feel Lucky?”

One of the dangers of writing a weekly column for the Sunday paper is the chance that from the time it's submitted until you read it, things can change, especially when you are dealing with weather and farming. As I write this column, we avoided some very nasty weather in the area and really only had to deal with some very strong winds. Wheat harvest is proceeding rapidly with good test weights and adequate ...

Farmers are not truckers

By John Schlageck, Kansas Farm Bureau Just in case you've been busy cutting wheat, spraying weeds, hauling feed or water to your hungry cattle or selling some of your livestock at the sale barn and you haven't had a spare moment to hear the news &ndash; the Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration (FMCSA) recently released a 30-day request for public comment on a series of transportation issues directly related to production agriculture. <p ...

USDA designates 25 counties in Kansas as Primary Natural Disaster Areas

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Department of Agriculture has designated 25 counties in Kansas as primary natural disaster areas due to losses of wheat and forage crops caused by drought, excessive heat and high winds that occurred from Jan. 1, 2011, and continuing. Those counties are:

USDA announces new recreational, fishing and hunting opportunities in rural areas

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced developments in two popular USDA programs that will support conservation of working lands for the benefit of wildlife, water quality, and recreation. The Secretary announced that USDA will accept 2.8 million acres offered by landowners under the 41st Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) general sign-up. The selections preserve and enhance environmentally sensitive lands while providing payments to property owners. Additionally, USDA has approved eight additional states and one tribal government ...

Dr. Victor Martin Column

Unless the weather decides to turn wet and cold, wheat harvest should be in full swing when you read this. As expected, yields have been all over the place so far in our fair state, ranging from a few bushels to 40 bushels or more per acre. Several fields in Stafford County were in the 50 bushel range. So far test weights have been over 60 pounds per bushel and protein levels over 12%. So ...

Happy as a clam

By John Schlageck, Kansas Farm Bureau As a consumer who enjoys eating a wide variety of fine food, I always relish the opportunity to learn more about where it comes from, how it's grown and the men and women who provide such feasts for our dinner plates. I enjoyed just such an experience last week when I traveled to the Virginia coast and spent four days eating every clam, oyster, blue crab, shrimp and some ...

Oregon meets Kansas

Hello Barton County! My name is Rena Berrett and I am the 2011 summer intern at the Barton County Office of K-State Research and Extension. This fall I will be a senior in Agricultural Business Management at Oregon State University. I just finished a year long exchange for the 2010-2011 school year where I studied at Kansas State University through the National Student Exchange Program.

A field feast

By John Schlageck, Kansas Farm Bureau Mary Mertz raised her hands to her face as she watched the party of 57 sit down at the long row of tables covered with white tablecloths set perfectly with china and glasses in the middle of her family's corn field. A broad smile spread across her face. "It's a dream come true," she said. "It's what I always envisioned. Happy people in our corn field sitting down to ...

County Committee nominations being accepted

Farmers, ranchers and other agricultural producers may begin nominating eligible candidates to serve on local Farm Service Agency county committees, announced Adrian Polansky, State Executive Director of USDA's Farm Service Agency (FSA) in Kansas.

Dr. Victor Martin

The past week was an interesting one for me and for many of us in the technical division at Barton. We were involved in the annual Breaking Traditions two-day event that exposed high school age young women and men to careers that they may not have considered as part of their future. Careers ranged from working on gas pipelines to criminal justice, automotive technician and agriculture. Even in today's world we all tend to assign ...

Dr. Victor L. Martin

Some of us have gone beyond gratitude for much appreciated meaningful rain before Memorial Day to needing a little time to dry out but afraid to complain about too much rain after the last nine months. So is the drought over? While the rains helped a lot, portions of Kansas, especially in the extreme southwest were under an "exceptional" drought and much of our immediate area, primarily south of the Arkansas River in the sandier ...

University team receives $9.6 million USDA grant to help develop solutions for beef cattle grazing s

Drought, flooding, extreme heat, subzero temperatures: All of these climatic events and more in Kansas can threaten the supply and affordability of the nation's beef supply. It's hard to do much about the weather, but a team of Kansas State University scientists will be trying to find solutions so cattlemen can better adapt to any future climate extremes in their grazing operations.

Wandering about wheat

Looking at wheat throughout the central region of Kansas during the first couple days of May, members of the Wheat Quality Council (WQC) labeled the crop in fairly average to slightly above average condition.

Barton County Farm Bureau awards scholarships

Trees need care through dry weather

The question that I seem to get most often right now is why are my trees dying? Most of the time, the answer is the drought. Even though we have had some moisture recently, we are still in a severe drought. Driving around the county, you will even see old, big Red Cedars dying in the tree rows. That is because we have had two summers that were extremely hot and dry which baked the ...

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.