Good afternoon,
Yesterday morning was the final Conservation Tillage Club breakfast with guest speaker Elizabeth Hawkins, OSU Extension Agronomist and Paul Ralston, Hardin County cooperating farmer discussing on-farm research with Soybean Populations. If you missed the program, you can read about it in the attached news release. Our next big event in Hardin County will be the Conservation Tillage Conference at Ohio Northern University in Ada March 6-7. This is the largest agronomy conference in Ohio and it will feature about 60 speakers from several land grant institutions, along with state and federal agencies. You won’t want to miss out on this big event in our own backyard, so make sure you register by the early bird deadline of February 24 at ctc.osu.edu. I have attached the mid-February edition of the Ohio No-Till news which features an article about CTC. Monsanto will be providing USEPA required dicamba training both days of the conference for attendees who are planning to apply Xtendimax, Ingenia, or FeXapan in 2018. If you need this training but want to go to another session, go to pested.osu.edu to register. There is also a dicamba training coming up in Lima in the morning and afternoon on February 27 at the Howard Johnsons hotel.
Have you been making plans to attend the livestock banquets? I have attached a news release about the Hardin County Horse Banquet which is Saturday, February 24 at 6:30 pm at the Kenton Moose Lodge. Doors open at 5:30 for a silent auction to raise funds for a scholarship. Banquet tickets this year are $10.00 for adults and $8.00 for youth under 18 years of age. Children age 6 and under are admitted free.
Tickets are available through February 21 from the following Hardin County Horse Club Advisors or committee members: Jonda Cole, Wendy Hooker, Ashley Gossard, David Faulkner, Brieanne Sullivan, Alesia Martin, as well as the Extension office. The menu for the horse banquet will include a salad bar and pizza buffet.
The Hardin County Sheep Improvement Association will hold their annual Lamb Banquet on Saturday, March 3 at St. John’s Evangelical Church in Kenton at 6:30 pm. Tickets for the banquet can be reserved from the Extension office by calling 419-674-2297 and paid for at the door the night of the banquet. Adult tickets are $15, Children $7, and 2017 Hardin County Junior Fair Sheep Exhibitors FREE with a reservation given to the Extension office by February 23. Banquet guests are asked to arrive early to participate in the silent auction bidding for various items that were donated to provide funds for the scholarship program. Tickets can be purchased until February 23 from the following county Sheep Improvement Association Directors: Dave Ramsey, Megan Burgess, Scott Elliott, Cory Wagner, Dave Burkhart, Kristie Fay, Max Garmon, Kenny Williams, Jeff Bowers, Bruce Oberlitner, Peter Previte, or Russell Senning. The banquet entertainment will highlight the California Sheep Production Tour Experience as shared by OSU Extension Educator Mark Badertscher. A dinner will be prepared with various cuts of lamb for the banquet guests to enjoy.
I have attached flyers of other upcoming events around our region and beyond including ‘Getting Control of Your Weeds’ in Greenville on February 26; ‘Improving Your Bottom Line With Nutrients and Cover Crops’ in Wapakoneta on March 13; ‘Horse Forage Management Series’ in Mt. Gilead on March 20, 22, and 24; ‘New Pesticide Applicator Training’ on March 22 in Wapakoneta; ‘2018 Darke County Ag Outlook / Chamber Ag Day’ on March 23 in Greenville; and a save the date flyer for a ‘Hops Conference, Bus Tour, and Trade Show’ on March 23-24 in Piketon. Other local events include the Hardin County Dairy Banquet Saturday, February 24 starting at noon at the Plaza Inn Restaurant, the first 2018 Master Gardener Volunteers meeting, Monday, February 26 starting at 7:00 pm at Harco Industries, Farm Succession program sponsored by Ag Credit Tuesday, February 27 starting at 6:00 pm at Masters Building on Wyandot County Fairgrounds, and Occasional Quantity Cooks on the same evening starting at 6:30 pm in the Hardin County Extension office.
- Getting Control of Your Weeds Flyer
- Cover Crop Nutrient
- Horse Pasture Management Flyer
- New PAT Flyer
- Ag Outlook Flyer
- Hops Conference Bus Tour, and Trade Show Flyer
Mark
Reminders about dicamba training – Mark Loux
Following the problems with off-target movement of the new dicamba formulations, XtendiMax, Engenia, and FeXapan, last summer, the USEPA mandated a number of label changes, and also designated these products as restricted use pesticides. The labels now contain additional restrictions on application, and also mandate that anyone applying these products must participate in annual training on their use. ODA will be enforcing the new dicamba restrictions and has sent out a letter to all private applicators with category 1 (grain and cereal crops) on their license to notify them of the new requirements. Dicamba-specific training dates and locations can be found at the OSU Pesticide Education website, pested.osu.edu – the list will be updated frequently. Read more at https://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/2018-02/reminders-about-dicamba-training.
What’s Limiting Soybean Yield? Take Soybean Production Survey and Receive $40 – Laura Lindsey
To participate in this research, please see the online survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ohiosoybean. I am continuing a third year of a State‐Wide Project aimed at generating some baseline producer data on current soybean management practices in Ohio’s production systems. This project is funded by the Ohio Soybean Council and the North Central Soybean Research Program (NCSRP). The project goal is to identify the key factors that preclude the state’s soybean producers from obtaining yields that should be potentially possible on their respective individual farms. The term used for the difference between what yield is possible on your farm each year and what you yield you actually achieve is called a “Yield Gap”. Go to https://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/2018-02/what%E2%80%99s-limiting-soybean-yield-take-soybean-production-survey-and for more details.
2017 eFields Research Report Highlights OSU Efforts to Improve Decision Making for Farmers – Elizabeth Hawkins
Article submitted by Elizabeth Hawkins on behalf of the Digital Ag Team and contributors to eFields. eFields is an Ohio State University program dedicated to advancing production agriculture through the use of field-scale research. Investigations are designed to answer questions that matter to farmers and insights from these studies are used to help farmers and their advisors understand how new practices and techniques can improve farm efficiency and profitability. Projects focus on precision nutrient management strategies and technologies to improve efficiency of fertilizer placement, enhance placement of pesticides and seed, automate machinery, and to develop analytical tools for digital agriculture. For more information about eFields, go to https://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/2018-03/2017-efields-research-report-highlights-osu-efforts-improve.
Crawford Agronomy Night March 1st – Jason Hartschuh
The Crawford County Agronomy night with pesticide and fertilizer recertification will be held on March 1st, at the Wayside Chapel Community Center 2341 Kerstetter Rd Bucyrus Ohio 44820. The program will start at 3:30pm and run until 9:00pm. We will have special guest speakers, Dr. Pierce Paul covering corn and wheat diseases; Tunsisa Hurisso with the OSU Soils lab covering Soil carbon, microbes, and nitrogen; Poet will also be providing a corn market update; Other topics coved by local educators: Weed management programs for your farm, Managing herbicide drift and carry over, and Toxic plants and Livestock. All pesticide categories can be covered if needed. Attendees who need credits can attend for $50, you may also attend for education only for $20 Supper is included. For more information visit crawford.osu.edu or call 419-562-8731.
Conservation Tillage Conference: New Topics for Changing Ag – Mark Badertscher
So what is the relationship between healthy soils and healthy water? How can you manage inputs and planting date for high economic corn yields? Which soils should respond to sulfur applications? What are some opportunities and considerations with subsurface placement of nutrients? How can you build soil health and organic matter with cover crops and no-till? How can you use economics in the choice between growing corn and soybeans? What will the revised P index look like? How can you get started in honey bees, barley, or hops production? What are some methods to manage invasive plants around the farm? If you would like to find out more regarding the CTC, go to https://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/2018-04/conservation-tillage-conference-new-topics-changing-ag.
Mark A. Badertscher
Agriculture and Natural Resources Educator
OSU Extension Hardin County
1021 W. Lima Street, Suite 103, Kenton, OH 43326
419-674-2297 Office
hardin.osu.edu
