Nebraska Agri-Business Association to meet
The Nebraska Agri-Business Association will be holding its 32nd annual Summer Convention Thursday and Friday at the Holiday Inn and Convention Center in Kearney.
The Nebraska Agri-Business Association represents 600 ag input suppliers across the state who supply, fertilizer, chemicals, seed and other services to farmers in Nebraska.
Headlining the convention will be Glen Buckley, chief economist and director of Agri-Business Analysis with CF Industries, a major fertilizer supplier. Also speaking is Joseph Fund, market and economic analyst with the Mosaic Company, a major potash and phosphate suppler.
Seed corn field day set for Worms
Curry Seed Co., in cooperation with Les Schimmer, will sponsor a seed corn field day at the Curry Seed Show Plot in Worms on Aug. 28. The field day will be from 5 to 7 p.m.
The show plot is located 5.5 miles north of Highway 30 on Worms Road or 1.5 miles from the Chapman Road and Worms Road junction.
Farmers will have an opportunity to see various hybrids and new varieties available for next year's planting season.
UNL irrigation , energy conservation field day planned
The Sept. 3 Irrigation and Energy Conservation Field Day at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's South Central Field Laboratory near Clay Center will help producers save water and money.
Sponsored by the Nebraska Corn Board and the Nebraska Corn Growers Association in partnership with UNL Extension, the program starts with 8:30 a.m. registration and training from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Pre-registrations are requested by Aug. 27.
Participants will learn best management practices for corn production, and learn how to achieve water conservation in irrigated and dryland corn production and reduce energy use production costs, find how to maintain and, in some cases, increase yield and profitability and learn to better manage surface and groundwater irrigation.
Topics include: agricultural water management and corn production with high irrigation costs and limited water; furrow irrigation; sprinkler package selection and evaporation losses; subsurface drip irrigation in Nebraska and water supply and management Issues. A noon panel discussion will include an update on Natural Resource District integrated water management plans.
For more information or to register, call (800) 529-8030, visit the Web site at http://ardc.unl.edu/corngrowers, or e-mail kglewen1@unl.edu.
New FFV club will promote renewable fuels
A new group is calling for more alternative fuel vehicles. The Flexible Fuel Vehicle Club of America is a group of FFV drivers who want to reduce foreign oil imports and increase domestic sources of energy like ethanol.
Flex fuel vehicles can run on any combination of ethanol and gasoline up to 85 percent ethanol. There are currently more than 66,000 flex fuel vehicles and 44 E85 pumps in Nebraska. A list of pump locations is available on the Nebraska Ethanol Board Web site at http://www.ne-ethanol.org/e85/stations.htm.
Burl Haigwood, club founder and president, helped launch the club with the help of the Nebraska Ethanol Board and the Ethanol Across America Campaign. Haigwood has been involved with the alternative fuels industry for 30 years.
Todd Sneller, administrator of the Nebraska Ethanol Board, said that ethanol offers drivers a chance to save money during times of record-high gas prices.
"E85 can save drivers up to a dollar a gallon in some locations when the ethanol is locally produced and marketed," said Sneller.
Directors elected to Nebraska Soybean Board
Nebraska soybean producer Mark Caspers of Auburn has been elected to serve a three-year term as District 5 Director on the Nebraska Soybean Board (NSB).
Caspers was re-elected and will represents the District 5 counties of Cass, Johnson, Lancaster, Nemaha, Otoe, Pawnee and Richardson.
Newly elected to the NSB is Bill Miller of Upland. He will represent District 7, which includes the counties of Adams, Buffalo, Clay, Franklin, Hall, Kearney, Nuckolls and Webster.
Miller has been farming with his brother since 1986. They raise corn, soybeans, wheat and have a cow/calf operation and also help their parents with their farming operation.
The directors' terms begin Oct. 1 and end Sept. 30, 2011.
The nine-member Nebraska Soybean Board collects and disburses the Nebraska share of funds generated by the 0.5 percent times the net sales price per bushel soybean checkoff.
Nebraska Cattlemen disappointed by EPA decision
Nebraska Cattlemen said in a statement that it is disappointed by Environmental Protection Agency's decision Thursday not to grant a partial waiver from the renewable fuels standard (RFS) mandate.
In June, Nebraska Cattlemen sent comments to the U.S. EPA administrator, asking that the annual renewable fuels mandate (RFS) within the Clean Air Act be reduced to 4.5 billion gallons.
Nebraska Cattlemen policy supports a fair market rather than a government-created market, said NC President Larry Smith.
"We have been and are supportive of ethanol production, but the support requires a fair market and we will continue to work for that," Smith said.
Solution Days 2008 explores new trends in ag and field research
Solution Days 2008 will provide practical solutions to the changing agricultural landscape. The annual educational event will be conducted Aug. 26 or 27 at the Syngenta Learning Center site, three miles north of York on U.S. Highway 81.
Farm operators and professionals supporting corn and soybean production will gain realistic solutions for meeting the challenges of higher crop yields while keeping production costs economical. Each day, participants will hear and see the latest information from University of Nebraska-Lincoln faculty and industry crop production and protection specialists.
Solution Days 2008 is sponsored by NK, Syngenta Crop Protection and the Nebraska Soybean Board, in partnership with UNL Extension in the university's Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources. The program is from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. each day with in-field presentations. Registration begins at 9 a.m.
Presentations will include: corn-on-corn management, understanding corn and soybean traits, managing water for profit, and "soybeans + 10" tips to increase yields and profitability by 10 percent. In addition, food technology will be covered during the lunch break.
For more information about Solution Days, call toll free (866) 796-4368, (800) 852-BEAN or visit http://ardc.unl.edu/solutiondays.
