Wheat harvest has mostly wrapped up and temperatures have increased, so take a few days and cool off at Kansas Wheat’s Annual Meeting and High Plains Journal’s Wheat U on Aug. 4 and 5 in Wichita. Wheat board meetings will be held on Monday, August 4, beginning at 11 a.m., at the Sedgwick County Extension Office and will include separate and joint meetings of the Kansas Wheat Commission and the Kansas Association of Wheat Growers. The Commission meeting is open for interested parties to attend.
Tuesday, the Kansas Association of Wheat Growers will hold its annual resolutions session at the Wichita Hyatt Regency, beginning at 7:30 a.m. The Wheat U conference will follow, with registration at 8:30 a.m. The eight hour conference will have industry experts from extension to meteorology on hand to give keynotes and to lead small group rotations. The Kansas Wheat Growers Research Foundation will also be hosting a silent auction throughout the day.
Participants will hear from Vince Peterson, vice president of overseas operations for U.S. Wheat Associates; Michael Bahr, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) expert; Lucas Haag, assistant professor at K-State and northwest area agronomist; Dr. Dorivar Ruiz Diaz, associate professor of soil fertility at K-State and Mark Bogner, a former meteorologist at KSN news.
The small rotations will focus on the UAV, agronomy and soil fertility topics. Bahr will cover the types and uses for UAV’s, how they can impact the agricultural industry and the regulations on UAVs. Haag will talk about optimizing operations, both from an agronomic and machinery management standpoint, and how to maximize profitability of participants’ wheat operations. He will also cover issues on emerging technology and conducting on-farm research. Dr. Diaz will focus on fertility considerations within the soil, with particular emphasis in macronutrients and soil pH for wheat in Kansas.
“We are excited to have producers attend Wheat U and have the opportunity to learn how to boost profits while making their operations more efficient,” said Dalton Henry, director of government relations for Kansas Wheat. “It’s a great opportunity for us to partner with this first annual event, and we hope that producers take a lot out of this quality time in these educational sessions.”
Kansas Wheat Commission is sponsoring Vince Peterson, of U.S. Wheat Associates, who will give an outlook for the U.S. wheat export markets and how they will affect Kansas farmers in the years to come. The morning keynote will be given by Darrell Holaday who will focus on wheat marketing. Mark Bogner will be discussing weather trends in Kansas and how they affect area farmers in the afternoon keynote session.
The conference is a free event hosted by High Plains Journal and is sponsored by Bayer CropScience and Wolf Trax. Registration will be capped at 200 people, so participants are encouraged to pre-register at www.wheatu.com.
“High Plains Journal is committed to our readers and their success,” said Sarah Farlee, marketing director at High Plains Journal. “We want to assist farmers by providing educational opportunities that tackle issues or challenges they face, and provide them with events that help facilitate learning more about trends in technology, management practices, and marketing. Partnerships with companies like Bayer CropScience provide expertise in specific areas. When farmers are successful, the Journal is successful.”