The Great Bend Farm and Ranch Expo is back for its fifth anniversary. As in past years, in Expo 3 at noon, there will be programs for Agriculture Producers brought to you by K-State Research and Extension. This year, there will be programs on Wednesday, April 6 and Thursday, April 7.
The first noon program on Wednesday, April 6, will highlight insects and how to control them in your fields. Sugarcane aphids have already been spotted in Kansas, and could be a major issue for Sorghum producers. Dr. Sarah Zukoff will show you how to identify the sugarcane aphid and what you can do to manage them. She will also go over other topics such as “What’s that corn bug” and how well do you know your insecticides?
Dr. Wendy Johnson will round out the program with a discussion on myFields.info. The myFields program is a new approach of customizing the KSU Extension experience for crop managers. The myfields.info site is being developed as an application to house multi-disciplinary crop management information such as entomology, plant pathology, and agronomy that is “pushed” to the site user based on field location and what crop is being grown. This year, they are promoting a collaborative effort with Texas and Oklahoma to monitor sugarcane aphid movement in sorghum using a network of specialists, agents and crop managers that will drive alerts to users if sugarcane aphid is detected nearby.
On Thursday, April 7, Mark Wood will be joining us to present a program called “Finding Profitability”. Using NW Kansas data, Mark will take a look at drivers in profitability and where producers should be looking as margins tighten. 2007-2012 analysis years demonstrate income and equity accumulation beyond historic proportions. The recent and projected declines return producers to a longer term income and financial norm. Who will find success in times like these and who will simply hold on until better times return? These questions and more will be discussed.
Following the presentation at 1:30 p.m. you are invited to a wheat plot tour at the Great Bend Coop wheat plot located north of the Expo grounds at NW 50th Ave and Barton County Rd. Lucas Hagg, K-State Research and Extension NW Agronomist will be on site to talk about the current wheat crop, the varieties in the plot, and issues facing this year’s crop. The event is in conjunction with The Great Bend Farm and Ranch Expo, K-State Research and Extension, and the Great Bend F.F.A.
If you would like any more information about these opportunities for learning, please contact the Extension office for more information by calling 620-793-1910 or email me at aboor@ksu.edu
Alicia Boor is the Agriculture and Natural Resources agent for Barton County K-state Research and Extension. One can contact her by email at aboor@ksu.edu or calling 620-793-1910