Nebraska Extension has numerous field days that agronomists, conservationists, and farmers can attend during the summer across the state. Locally, we have two upcoming regional field days at the end of June and early July. Please learn more about each of the field days and consider attending. First up is our Weed Management Field Day on Wednesday, June 26 from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm at the South Central Ag Lab near Clay Center. This field day will include on-site demonstrations of new technologies and herbicides for weed control in corn, soybean, and sorghum. The field day is free to attend, but ..read more

The U.S. Drought Monitor map shows parts of the U.S. that are in drought, how intense it is, and short-term and long-term impacts. As the Water & Cropping Systems Extension Educator for Gage, Jefferson, and Saline counties, I contribute reports for this area directly to the weekly authors in Nebraska through our internal Nebraska drought discussion group email listserv or online meetings. I regularly communicate my observations and those shared with me by local stakeholders, which can help justify moving areas into higher or lower intensity classifications. The map uses intensity classifi ..read more

I hope you enjoyed my previous 5-part series on basic cation saturation ratio concept this winter that you can still read online at https://croptechcafe.org. I ended that series with a call to action to focus on soil acidity and its management using soil pH, buffer pH, and lime to increase soil pH. To that end, this will be a 6-part series on soil acidity management including: 1) soil pH, natural factors, and crop production, 2) impacts of soil acidity, 3) buffer pH and lime quality, 4) lime application, stratification, and tillage, 5) site-specific management, and 6) economics and other cons ..read more

The Nebraska Soybean Board and Nebraska Extension would like to invite you to attend your local Soybean Management Field Day being held this Friday, August 11, from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the following location: August 11th – DeWitt, NE – Randy and Blake Huls farm – Google map: http://go.unl.edu/googlemapsmfd4 The 2023 Soybean Management Field Day will begin with registration at 9 a.m. and conclude at 2:30 p.m. Free registration will be available on the day of the event. Each stop on the field days tour will feature demonstration plots, opportunities for questions, lunch, and a ..read more

The U.S. Drought Monitor map shows parts of the U.S. that are in drought, how intense it is, and short-term and long-term impacts. As the Water & Cropping Systems Extension Educator for Gage, Jefferson, and Saline counties, I contribute reports for this area directly to the weekly authors in Nebraska through our internal Nebraska drought discussion group email listserv or online meetings. I regularly communicate my observations and those shared with me by local stakeholders, which can help justify moving areas into higher or lower intensity classifications. The map uses intensity classifi ..read more

Happy holidays from your land-grant university, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) and your outreach arm of UNL called Nebraska Extension. As you wrap up your holiday plans and 2022, it is already time to start thinking about attending some winter educational programs offered by Nebraska Extension. If you are a landowner, farmer, or agricultural professional in Gage, Jefferson, and Saline counties, I encourage you to register and attend two upcoming Nebraska Extension programs in early January. The first program is a workshop covering agricultural land management and leasing considerati ..read more

Nebraska Extension released results from the 2022 surveys on farm custom rates, cash rent rates, and real estate values. Jim Jansen, Extension Educator for Agricultural Economics, led the 2022 Nebraska Farm Real Estate Report, and Glennis McClure, Farm and Ranch Management Analyst Extension Educator, led the 2022 Nebraska Farm Custom Rates Report. These are two highly sought publications because they provide farmers and landowners baseline information to help facilitate discussions and make decisions around land sales, cash rent, and custom farm operation rates. The 2022 Nebraska Farm Real Est ..read more

The Lower Big Blue Natural Resource District (NRD), in partnership with Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy (NDEE) and Nebraska Extension would like to notify landowners in Turkey Creek watershed that applications for conservation work are now being accepted.  Turkey Creek is one of two priority watersheds through the National Water Quality Initiative (NWQI). The goal of this initiative is to improve water quality in impaired watersheds located in eastern Nebraska. Participants have until July 15th to apply at the NRCS in ..read more

Chemigation is the process of applying chemicals to land/crops with water from an irrigation system. Chemical is broadly defined as any fertilizer, herbicide, fungicide, or pesticides mixed with the irrigation water during application. In southeast Nebraska, the most common chemigation process is applying liquid nitrogen fertilizer through a center pivot. Applying nitrogen fertilizer through pivots during the growing season can match corn hybrid nitrogen uptake demand and can improve nitrogen use efficiency. The Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy (NDEE) requires certified chemigati ..read more

What do you think about when you hear or read the word weather? In my role as an agronomist or more specifically as the Water and Integrated Cropping Systems Extension Educator for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, I think of complexity and integration. Of the over 500 stakeholder calls I have received this year, weather or climate was something that I had to consider when answering most of them. New weather station being installed near Wilber. Photo credit: Stonie Cooper, Applied Meteorologist, with the Nebraska Climate Office. The Nebraska Mesonet (https://mesonet.unl.edu) is a statewide w ..read more