California agriculture is mind-blowing big

Huge and nearly impossible to comprehend are words that best describe the economic impact of California agriculture as viewed through the eyes of nine Kansas farm families who toured the state beginning on March 25.

Spring Is Finally Here

How do you really know spring has arrived? Beyond the obvious signs like wheat greening up, daffodils blooming and springing forward, the Great Bend area has its own particular way. Next week from April 10-12 at the Expo Center the second annual Great Bend Farm and Ranch Expo takes place and promises to put an exclamation point on the start of the spring farming season. Farmers and ranchers love looking at new technology, state of ...

Soil sample column

When you are trying to grow a garden, the more information you have at the beginning of the growing season, the better potential your garden will produce well during the year. One piece of information that is easy to investigate is a soil test. A soil test is an inexpensive method to determine how healthy your soil is, and what you can do to improve it to help your plants be healthy also. A gardener ...

Loose Ends

First, here's wishing a very Happy Easter to everyone. Rather than go deeply into a topic when many of us are enjoying well-deserved family gathering, let's tie up a few loose ends.

Pasture and range evaluation and recovery planning workshops set for April

Cattlemen across much of Kansas are in a quandary. As grass managers, they are asking themselves how many cattle will their ranges and pastures support after twenty to thirty months of drought. What steps can be taken to protect the grazing resources while maintaining enough cattle numbers to be financially viable? Will we get enough runoff to fill the ponds?

It’s twister time again

If you've ever heard the stampeding sound of a tornado or been close enough to see fence posts, the side of a building or the steel of a grain bin twisting furiously as the dreaded black monster gobbles up the countryside, you'll remember it always.

Kansas Farm Bureau leaders take their message to the nation’s capital

More than 150 farmer and ranchers from across Kansas participated in Kansas Farm Bureau's County Presidents Trip to Washington, D.C., March 18-21.

The Drought Is Over – Right?

We all know the answer to the title of this article is no. However, the reaction of some media outside of Kansas and other drought stricken areas implied that at the very least the worst is over. While that isn't true, things are a bit better. Our area has moved from the worst rating, exceptional, to the second worst rating, extreme. This is true of much of central Kansas. Much of the eastern third of ...

Prescribed Burn Association informational meetings scheduled

Pheasants Forever and their regional partners are hosting four informational meetings for landowners to discuss the benefits of forming a local Prescribed Burn Association (PBA). Prescribed Burn Associations are landowner-led cooperatives that bring people together to assist each other with prescribed burns in rangeland and CRP. This allows individual landowners to overcome obstacles to safe burning, such as a lack of experience, equipment, or manpower. Safer burns mean reduced liability risks to landowners, less risk ...

USDA Announces General CRP Sign-up for 2013

When the 2008 Farm Bill was given a stay of execution in the "fiscal cliff" deal in January, those of us outside of the Beltway were given few details about how the extension would impact producers and conservation programs. Conservation Title programs were supposed to be back-though some would be receiving limited funding.

The Drought Is Over – Right?

We all know the answer to the title of this article is no. However, the reaction of some media outside of Kansas and other drought stricken areas implied that at the very least the worst is over. While that isn't true, things are a bit better. Our area has moved from the worst rating this week, exceptional, to the second worst rating, extreme. This is true of much of central Kansas. Much of the eastern ...

Are you ready?

Kansas farmers, ranchers and landowners the deadline to file a Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasures Plan (SPCC) looms just around the corner. As of May 10, any farmer, rancher or landowner who has petroleum products of 1,320 gallons or more, in above-ground tanks 55 gallons or greater, must have a spill prevention and countermeasures plan in place as required by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Kansas NRCS renewing commitment

The Kansas Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is renewing its commitment to help Kansas farmers build healthy soils. Our vision is to improve soil quality and build healthy productive soils in order to sustain life, resources, and communities.

Kansas Wheat Commission seeks two farmers to fill at-large positions

Few wheat farmers are given an opportunity to shape the future of their industry by engaging in research, marketing and promotion efforts. The Kansas Wheat Commission, however, has an opportunity for wheat farmers to do just that.

Safety First and Safety Last

This past Wednesday, the Barton County Farm Bureau held their annual Farm Safety Day at the College for area high school juniors and seniors. Hopefully, you have read the article in the March 7th edition of the Tribune. Anyone around farming or ranching understands the potential dangers inherent in the industry, but just how dangerous is it?

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.