Seward County News Releases

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Seward County Extension Highlights

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Identifying SCN Problems August 31 at SCN Management Field Day Near Seward

Dr. Loren Geisler, University of Nebraska Extension Specialist in Plant Pathology explains what SCN (Soybean Cyst Nematode) is and the identification of SCN and damage in yield losses that have been ocurring.

 UNL Extension Educator, John Wilson talks about the importance of good management of SCN and how it can be done effectively, potentially increasing yields.   Seward SCN Management Field Day, 8/31/11

Farmers and ag professionals learned to identify and manage soybean cyst nematode (SCN) at the Seward UNL Extension SCN Management Field Day, August 31.

Last year, soybean cyst nematodes cost Nebraska soybean growers over $25 million. This often goes without being detected. That’s more than for all other soybean diseases combined. If you have SCN in your fields and are not managing it, you contributed to that loss. Yield losses of 20-30 percent have been documented in the state with no above-ground symptoms.

If soybean cyst nematode caused holes, lesions, spots or other plant abnormalities, it would be much easier to convince producers to test for and manage it. However, infested plants usually look healthy. The first indication of a problem is soybean yields that have leveled off or even started to drop while corn or other crop yields in the same field continue to improve.

At each SCN Management Field Day site, you will be able to see SCN-resistant and susceptible soybean varieties in infested fields, examine cysts on soybean roots, learn how to identify and manage SCN infestations, receive a kit for a free SCN analysis – a $20 value – and get answers to your SCN questions.

The 2011 Soybean Cyst Nematode Management Field Day in our area will be on Wednesday, August 31, 6:30 p.m. – Don Peterson farm
From Seward: Go 2 miles south on Hwy 15 (or 3.5 miles north of I-80 Seward exit), 1.7 miles east on Fletcher Rd (south side)

Originally identified in counties bordering the Missouri River, soybean cyst nematode has been identified in 52 counties in eastern and central Nebraska as far west as Boyd, Holt, Valley, Buffalo, Kearney and Red Willow counties. As soybean production has moved across the state, so has the distribution of soybean cyst nematodes.

The Soybean Cyst Nematode Management Field Days are presented by UNL Extension with support from the Nebraska Soybean Board. A light lunch will be available.  For more information, contact the UNL Extension office in Seward County 402-643-2981.

MyPlate Nutrional Chart

By now, you have all heard abou the new MyPlate that replaces MyPyramid, a plate divided into quarters for fruits, vegetables, grains and protein with a glass for a dairy product on the side .

If you woul dlike to learn more about it, Alice Henneman, MS, RD, Extension Educator, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension in Lancaster County, just completed a basic Choose MyPlate PowerPoint.

Smart Phone Access to Extension Resources

Smart phones can greatly benefit the farm, business and homeowner. Dennis Kahl, UNL Extension educator suggests connecting your smart phone directly to a number of UNL Extension websites for informational updates, using the social media tools of your choice. Sites such as CropWatch, Food, 4-H, Entrepreneurship, Acreage, Beef, and Water all provide the latest in research based information targeting the residents of Nebraska.  Scroll down on this page and watch the video from UNL Market Journal with Doug Jose's interview with Extension Educator, Dennis Kahl.

Workshops on Leases and Commodity Pricing: Provided Producers and Land Owners with New Information

Area producers and land owners participated in two workshops to help bring themselves up to date with making lease agreements in more volatile corn and soybean markets.

The two workshops were streamed live to Seward from the Learning Center in Norfolk. UNL Extension Educator, Tim Lemmons shared lots of information with participants.

In the Lease arrangements workshop, participants got a chance to look at several types of leases and then concentrating on the various options of flexible leases.  You can follow along with Tim Lemmons, UNL Extension Educator as he visits about Variable Options with Flexible Cash Leases by clicking HERE.

This type of lease provides both tenant and land owner with a more fair cost on leases by allowing the tenant to agree to a minimum and maximum lease amount that results on commodity prices. Producers observed ways to determine what their lease is based on land value. It also allows for the modification of a cash rental lease to account for unusually low or high crop returns, shared risk in the business and unusually low or high crop yields. More information on Flexible cash leases is available at http://agecon.unl.edu or the seward.unl.edu/agriculture website.

The second workshop Managing in the Middle workshop, also taught by UNL Extension Educator, Tim Lemmons, provided up to date information on commodity pricing through 2010 and how to make decisions for 2011. Lemmons suggested that producers develop their marketing plan with goals set to build a plan on marketing dates and specific target prices. Producers will likely not sell at the highest price but rather need to know exactly what their costs of production are. Cost of production will vary depending on lease value, input costs, taxes, equipment, liabilities, etc. Most may find their real cost of producing a bushel of corn at $3.85-$4.30/bushel. More information on this workshop is available at http://ageecon.unl.edu or http://seward.unl.edu/agriculture

To watch this presentation you can click on the following two links.

Managing in the Middle: Marketing Tools & History

Managing in the Middle: Marketing, What Do I do Now?

This workshop series was sponsored by UNL Extension in Seward County, Suhr Lichty Insurance, Jones National Bank and Cattle National Bank.

Source: Seward County Extension 

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