Terrace maintenance can save soil

Now is a good time to evaluate and perform maintenance on terraces in wheat stubble or fallow ground, saids Greg Bauer Barton County Supervisory District Conservationist

Some random thoughts presented

Rather than beat a dead (dry) horse this week, let's change course a bit as quite a bit is happening soon and some other issues are popping up. If the forecast is correct, by the time you read this we will have received some beneficial rain and temperatures will be a chilly 80 instead of over one hundred.

Funding available

This July the Barton County Conservation District received approval for funding under the Non-Point Source Pollution Management Plan. The programs approved for cost-share funding by the board of supervisors for this plan are plugging of abandoned water wells and upgrading failed sewage systems.

Winter Wheat Woes

Dr. Victor L. Martin This is the article where we would discuss a change in the weather, as in plentiful rains and normal temperatures, providing optimism as producers head toward fall planting season with hope for a bumper wheat crop in 2012. Unfortunately that's not exactly what happened. While scattered storms have delivered much appreciated rains, as of August 22 Barton, Pawnee, and Rice Counties were under a drought warning, Stafford was under a drought ...

Back to school with good food

By John Schlageck, Kansas Farm Bureau With school starting across Kansas this unfortunately can mean the return of unhealthy lunches which can certainly be labeled as fast food, most of which come to schools shipped in already prepared packaging. If you have or have had children in school, you know what I mean. Beanie weenies, chicken nuggets, high-carb mac and cheese, fried snacks and sugary soft drinks are popular fare served at school cafeterias across ...

Hispanic and/or women farmers or ranchers can request claims package

Eric B. Banks, state conservationist for the Natural Resources Conservation Service, reminds hispanics and women farmers and ranchers about an announcement made a few months ago by U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

Happenings

Dr. Victor L. Martin Before we get to fall planted crops, let's take a week off and see what's going on that may be of interest to producers in the area. This is the time of year when K-State is hot and heavy into the season of Fall Field Days, even if it is August. While none are in Barton County, some are close enough to have some benefit. · South Central Experiment Field, ...

Family farm

By John Schlageck, Kansas Farm Bureau It seems people outside agriculture routinely try to define the family farm. In our contemporary society this means people one or two generations removed from the land live in sprawling suburbia. Today, men and women whose great grandfathers or grandfathers worked the fields with mules and horses, progressed to tractors and are now using GPS, sit behind desks and computers serving a public they rarely, or never, see or ...

Ag secretary announces grants for energy-saving measures in Kansas

TOPEKA –Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack Wednesday announced grants for more than 900 agricultural producers and rural small businesses across the country to implement renewable energy and energy efficiency measures in their operations, including two area farmers. Vilsack made the announcement as part of President Obama's rural economic bus tour in the Midwest where today he highlighted efforts underway to reduce our country's dependence on foreign oil, which will increase the economic competitiveness of rural America ...

Our Climate and Crop Production

Dr. Victor L. Martin Instructor/Coordinator Agricultural Program Barton Community CollegeIf you have followed along the last several columns, you have a basic understanding of the climate in our area. Actually, you probably already knew much of what you read just by living here. Let's try to briefly address two items today. First what does our climate tell us as farmers and ranchers? Second, what are the dangers in confusing weather and ...

Sept 1 is NAP application closing date for certain crops

Adrian J. Polansky, State Executive Director of USDA's Farm Service Agency in Kansas, reminds producers that Sept. 1, is the application closing date for certain crops under the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP). Crops eligible for NAP benefits are limited to those not insurable in the county and are produced for food or fiber.

Farm production expenditures climb slightly in 2010

WASHINGTON – After a brief reprieve in 2009, last year farm production expenditures resumed an upward trend. In 2010, U.S. farmers reported spending $289 billion to produce agricultural products, up from $287.4 billion in the prior year. The Farm Production Expenditures 2010 summary released on Aug. 2 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) provides national, regional and Crop and Livestock farm expenditures.

Our climate discussed

First a correction from last week regarding double-cropping called to my attention by a reader of the column.. I referred to fall planted wheat after corn or beans as double-cropping. A better description is continuous cropping. Double cropping would be soybeans or milo planted after wheat harvest. For the purpose of this column it's not a huge deal but if you're in government programs or need crop insurance, it's important. Generally, double-cropping isn't an "accepted" ...

Out of the mouth of babes

Ever have an 11-year-old farmer's daughter give you a tour of their farm? I did and it was top notch. Last week I traveled to Dickinson County to meet with Jeff and Charity Bathurst. The young farm/livestock family have six children ranging in ages from 11 to three weeks old – four girls and two boys. As I pulled up to the farmstead, Jeff and I shook hands and he told me he had to ...

More emergency CRP haying and grazing announced

MANHATTAN – Adrian J. Polansky, state executive director of USDA's Farm Service Agency in Kansas announced this week that emergency haying of Conservation Reserve Program acreage has been approved for Elk, Ellsworth, Greenwood, Scott, Sumner, Wilson and Woodson counties; and CRP emergency grazing has been approved for Butler, Chase, Chautauqua, Cherokee, Cowley, Elk, Greely, Greenwood, Labette, Lyon, Montgomery, Morris, Neosho, Sedgwick, Sumner, Wilson and Woodson counties. "We are extremely concerned how the intensifying and expanding ...

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 ...