Panhandle Extension District News
Answers about crop varieties, fertilizer, irrigation, pest control, harvest, and many other issues are a click or two away on the University of Nebraska’s expanded and reorganized CropWatch web site. Click below to go directly to sugarbeets, dry edible beans, wheat, or potatoes. Learn about the reorganized CropWatch web site. The search for alternative crops for the High Plains Continuing to develop improved varieties of proso millet and looking for new uses for the crop, such as making ethanol, are among the top priorities of the alternative crops breeding specialist at the University of Nebraska Panhandle Research and Extension Center. But it’s also important to keep looking for other alternative crops that will fit in farmers’ rotations in the northern High Plains, according to Dr. Dipak Santra, who has been at the Panhandle Center about 1 ½ years.
Ag land values: Panhandle crop land up, grazing, hay lands down According to preliminary results for the year ending Feb. 1, 2010, of the Annual Farm Real Estate Values Survey, authored by University of Nebraska Agricultural Economist Bruce Johnson, Panhandle cropland prices, both gravity and pivot, increased by more than 8 percent from the 2009 survey. Grazing lands and hay lands decreased. These results follow several relatively strong crop income years and relatively low income years in the cattle industry.
Crop production budgets for western Nebr. updated Panhandle farmers who need to find their bottom line have a useful planning tool in the annual Crop Production Budgets published by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The budgets help producers calculate what it costs to raise a crop by the acre, or by the bushel (or other unit of production) in a wide variety of circumstances.
Consider wheat in irrigated crop rotation More farmers in the irrigated North Platte Valley ought to consider fitting winter wheat into their crop rotation, says Drew Lyon, Dryland Cropping Systems Specialist at the University of Nebraska Panhandle Research and Extension Center. The vast majority of winter wheat acres in the Panhandle and elsewhere in Nebraska are grown under dryland, also known as rain-fed, conditions. Lyon listed several reasons that winter wheat fits well in an irrigated crop rotation.
You can’t have your cover crop and eat it, too Cover crops are getting a good deal of attention in the media and at various educational events this season. Dryland crop producers in the Nebraska Panhandle should be skeptical about the feasibility of growing cover crops in this semiarid and highly variable climate. With little or no direct economic return from cover crops, the water they use is difficult to justify from an economic perspective. In certain situations, some forage crops may be able to produce sufficient income to justify their water use and the typically negative effect on the subsequent crop. To paraphrase an old economics axiom, you can’t have your cover crop and eat it too. Read the full article by By Drew Lyon, Extension Dryland Cropping Systems Specialist, and Paul Burgener, Ag Economics research Analyst. Extension Highlights
Adopting precision agriculture requires a substantial investment. University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension’s Precision Agriculture Practicum will assist participants in navigating precision ag technologies and utilizing data collected to the fullest potential. The practicum consists of 3 multi-day sessions starting August 31 at UNL's Agricultural Research and Development Center with weekly intersessions via web conferencing. Each session will be taught by University and industry professionals. For more information, click on Precision Agriculture Practicum. |
Upcoming Events
Jul 31, All Day ,
Scotts Bluff County Fairgrounds
Aug 1, 6:00 PM ,
Saunders County Fairgrounds
Aug 9, All Day ,
Sheridan County Fairgrounds
Aug 10, All Day ,
Agricultural Research & Development Center, near Mead
Aug 17, All Day ,
Panhandle Research & Extension Center
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