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Monday, February 08, 2010
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Local Ag News »
Sugar beet growers pleased with 2009 results
What a difference a year makes. Just ask area sugar beet growers who are nearing the end of the 2009 campaign and have just returned from the annaul Western Sugar Cooperative shareholders meeting in Casper, Wyo. Last year's meeting featured bad weather and disgruntled farmers. This year, shareholders were treated to good weather, received exciting financial news and are looking forward to a very prosperous year. — Full Story »
Toohey Drain sale
Farmers Irrigation District water users are being asked to approve a land sale that includes the North Platte Natural Resources District and Platte River Basin Environments, Inc. The proposal would transfer 12.4 acres to the NPNRD, but the spill water would still be available to irrigators during the growing season, and the FID would continue to maintain the structure. PRBE would build another structure to divert the spill water onto the wetlands where it would spread out across the property before eventually making its way to the river by way of Dry Spotted Tail Creek.
— Full Story »
Young rural residents urged to become activists
The 200 plus audience at the Farm Bureau Young Farmers & Ranchers Conference Jan. 22-23 in Scottsbluff were encouraged to step out and start telling their story. Bruce Vincent, a former Montana logger turned activist, said the 1960s awakening to environmental issues has veered off course and is now a run away. New adherents to the message are mismanaging the environment in their own way. Vincent cited the current pine beetle infestation as one of the results of the new environmental philosophy. He said Lodgepole Pine tree cones are spread when fire pops them open. The trees have a life span of about 100 years, and rely on fire to pop the cones open in order to spread a new generation. Without proper management, pine forests become disasters waiting to happen, which is what we see now when millions of acres burn at will. Proper management would allow forests to burn as nature intended, to keep new growth constantly cycling through. However, with man's misguided assistance, the forests explode into flames that cannot be controlled for weeks, months or years. "The problem is we have too many trees, the wrong size, and it's going to take an ice age to cap it for our kids," he said."
— Full Story »
Statewide Ag News »
More change orders OK'd on Kings Hydro project
Change orders for the Kingsley Hydro rehabilitation contract keep adding up as engineers are able to see and test parts and equipment in need repairs. — Full Story »
Dawson County 4-H Market Beef Weigh Day
Only a few days remain prior to the Dawson County 4-H Market Beef Weigh Day, Saturday, February 13. 4-H’ers that haven’t located all their project animals should be wrapping up their search for calves in the 700-1,000 pound range, said Dawson County Extension Educator, Bruce Treffer. Some sources 4-H’ers use to find their calves are relatives’ herds, neighbors, local sale barns, feedlots, etc. — Full Story »
Platte program more than halfway to goal of 10,000 habitat acres
More than $8.8 million has been committed so far for land in Dawson and Buffalo counties that will be managed as wildlife habitat under the three-state Platte River Recovery Implementation Program.
Program Land Committee member and Central Platte Natural Resources District Biologist Mark Czaplewski gave an update at Thursday's CPNRD board meeting in Grand Island on progress made toward the first 13-year increment goal to protect 10,000 acres of habitat in the Central Platte Valley.
The program's overall goal is to enhance river flows and protected habitat used by threatened and endangered species - least terns, piping plovers and whooping cranes in the Central Platte - and allow projects in Colorado, Wyoming and Nebraska with federal permits or funding to comply with the Endangered Species Act. — Full Story »
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Extension News »
Granola
Granola can be full of nutrients or a minefield of hidden calories, fat and sodium. Making your own granola lets you control what goes in the finished product.
— Full Story »
Risk Management Tools for Farmers and Ag Managers
Several new risk management tools have been developed for use by farmers and agricultural managers to help better position themselves for 2010. — Full Story »
Food Safety Training Course Offered
ServSafe for Employees Food Safety Training Course will be offered on Thursday, March 18, at the Red Willow County Fairboard Community Building, West 5th and O Streets, McCook, from 1:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. with registration beginning at 1:15 p.m; and Friday, March 19, at the Dawson County Extension Office Meeting Room, Fairgrounds, 1002 Plum Creek Parkway, Lexington, from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. with registration beginning at 8:15 a.m.
— Full Story »
USDA News »
Nebraska 2008 Organic Production Surevey Highlights
The 2008 Organic Production Survey counted 162 Nebraska farms and ranches that were either USDA certified organic or exempt from certification because their sales totaled less than $5,000, according to USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, Nebraska Field Office. These operations comprised 146,188 acres of land, of which 51,015 acres were harvested cropland and 69,866 acres were pasture or rangeland. — Full Story »
Biomass Crop Assistance Program to Spur Production of Renewable Energy, Job Creation
As President Obama announced earlier today, the U.S. Department of Agriculture today issued a proposed rule for the new Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP) that intends to spur the expansion of dedicated non-food crops for renewable energy and biofuel production. A public comment period will continue for 60 days after the rule is published in the Federal Register. — Full Story »
U.S. Cattle Inventory Down 1 Percent
All cattle and calves in the United States as of January 1, 2010, totaled 93.7 million head, 1 percent below the 94.5 million on January 1, 2009. — Full Story »
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