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Statewide field day to be held Aug. 5 at Great BendBy Richard C. Snell Barton County Extension Ag Agent Kansas Wow, has farming changed in the past few years. What used to be considered space-age technology is now being used routinely by today's agriculturalists. But, as we will find out this Aug. 5, at the Kansas Ag Technology Field Day, west of Great Bend, we still have a lot to learn to perfect that technology that we refer to as precision agriculture. We have been talking about it for several weeks now and it is finally here. K-State Research and Extension is teaming up with the Kansas Agriculture Research Association, to hold this field day dealing with several aspects of precision farming. It will be held at the Expo Complex, west of Great Bend, from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. Participants will learn from individuals who have developed, evaluated, and used these technologies including yield mapping, automated guidance, variable rate applications, data logging, data analysis and other automation and precision application technologies. There will be booths and a special demonstration area where participants have an opportunity to operate many of the premier technology systems available today. If you are considering precision agricultural technologies for your farm or application business or are ready to upgrade, you should attend this event. The program has been designed to be 'hands-on' and very applied in nature. A limited number of special educational programs will run throughout the day to support the technology on display. Tractors and sprayers equipped with the latest guidance and auto-steer technology (auto-turn) will be available for test driving. Additional technologies for boom leveling, boom section controllers and variable rate application for both sprayers and seeding will be available. General topics will include: 1) Variable rate N and P at $1 per pound by Randy Taylor, former ag engineer with K-State and now with Oklahoma State. He will team up with Dave Mengel, agronomist from K-State. 2) On-the-go sensors with Eric Lund, Veritas Technology. 3) Row and nozzle control by Dietrach and Terry Kastens. Registration is $50 at the door, with no guarantees on handouts.
State 4-H Wheat Show coming to Great Bend Each year, 4-Hers from across the state come to a central location to learn more about wheat, flour and bread. This year, that will occur on Aug. 8 at Barton County Community College, 5 miles northeast of Great Bend. The program gets underway at 8:30 a.m., with registration at the Technology T Building. Beginning at 9 a.m., there will be 3 different tours that will be going on. Tour #1 will be to the Stafford County Flour Mill at Hudson. Tour #2 will actually be a hands-on fun activity back at the college with Joyce Esfeld on Bread Art. The third tour will be to the Ellinwood Tunnels and the Dozier Winery. Lunch will be served on the campus at 11:45 a.m., to those who pre-registered. The afternoon will have educational activities such as viewing of photography of wheat scenes, judging of bread and judging of wheat. At 1:30 p.m., there will be door prizes, award presentations and educational comments from judges. The program ends at 2:30 p.m. This is an outstanding event and we are fortunate to host this event. Call 620-793-1910, if your 4-H family would like to be a part of this. K-State to hold risk and profit conference Input costs such as fertilizer, herbicide and fuel for crops are on the rise and chasing the good commodity prices we have. While it is true that grain and hay prices are quite good, that isn't good news if you are a cattle feeder, hog producer or dairyman. What are we going to do? Let's at least talk about it. On Aug. 14 and 15, K-State Research and Extension will hold their 2008 Risk and Profit Conference and Trade Show. The theme for this year's annual event will be: Sky High: High Prices, High Energy, High Risk. Featured speakers will be Jason Henderson, regional economist for the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City and Troy Dumler, K-State Extension Southwest Area Agricultural Economist from Garden City. Henderson will focus on the economic outlook and Dumler on the 2009 farm bill. What I like about this event is that we get to hear from some of the teaching and research faculty as well as the extension economists. Break-out sessions will include: Fertilizer supply risk, labor efficiency and productivity, cover crop economics, cost of gain and death loss trends, credit scores of Kansas armers, global supply and demand, managing their threat of $3 corn and financial planning. Registration fee is $195 if received by Aug. 6. Each additional attendee from an operation such as from the same farm, same bank or same company, is $175. After Aug. 6, it goes up to $220 per person and $200 for each additional member. Registration includes all sessions, 4 meals, conference proceedings on a CD and a conference parking permit. If you want a hard copy notebook with handouts, it is an additional $90. We have brochures with registration at our office. You can contact me if you would like a ride. The conference will be held at the K-State Alumni Center on campus and begins at 10 a.m., Aug. 14 and ends at 4:10 p.m., Aug. 15. 8/4/08 Date: 7/31/08
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