Coming Events
- Jan. 9, 2014 – Crop Production Clinic, Hastings; Register at: http://cpc.unl.edu/
- Jan. 14, 2014 – Hamilton County Ag Day, Fairgrounds, Aurora, 8:30 a.m.
- Jan. 14, 2014 — Heuermann Lecture, East Campus Union, 7:00 p.m. “Regaining the U.S. Lead in Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education”
- Jan. 15, 2014 – Crop Production Clinic, York; Register at: http://cpc.unl.edu/
- Jan. 23, 2014 – 9:00 a.m. Land Application Training, Extension Office, York
- Jan. 23, 2014 – Private Pesticide Training, Heartland Community School, Henderson, 6:30 p.m.
- Jan. 24, 2014 – Private Pesticide Training, York 4-H Building, 9:00 a.m.
- Jan. 24, 2014 – Private Pesticide Training, York 4-H Building, 1:30 p.m.
- Jan. 28, 2014 – Cow/Calf College,US-MARC, Clay Center 9:30 a.m.; Register: Webster Ext. Office
- Jan. 29, 2014 – Precision Ag Workshop, Fairgrounds, Clay Center, 8:00 a.m.
- Jan. 30, 2014 – Precision Ag Workshop, 4-H Building, York, 8:00 a.m.
- Feb. 3, 2014 – Private Pesticide Training, York 4-H Building, 6:30 p.m.
- Feb. 11, 2014 – Center Pivot Irrigation Conference, Fairgrounds, Clay Center, 9:00 a.m.
- Feb. 11, 2014 – Master Gardner Connect Session, Integrated Pest Management Options in Landscapes – Wayne Ohnesorg, 6:30 p.m., Extension Office York; Info at:   http://york.unl.edu/water-environment
Happy New Years!
It’s hard to believe, but another year has come and gone! I hope you and your families have a great New Year! As we start the New Year, I hope you’ll contact our office if you need cropping, horticulture or have other questions that I or the staff at our office can address. We have access to many different resources and specialists on a wide variety of topics.
As I have indicated in previous columns, don’t hesitate to contact our office located at 2345 Nebraska Avenue for information. Our phone number is 402-362-5508 and my email is gary.zoubek@unl.edu. You can see by our list of coming events that we’ve got many educational opportunities for area residents to participate in.
Featured Website of the Week UNL Food Website: http://food.unl.edu
As I mentioned last week I’m going to focus on several of our UNL website the next few weeks! It’s really hard to choose one, but with this being the holidays, I’m selecting one that’s kind of out of my area of expertise other than I do like to eat and probably too often and too much especially during the holidays. The website I’m share this week is the UNL Food Website which is packed full of useful information. The address is: http://food.unl.edu.
Some of the key topics include: food & nutrition, health & fitness, food safety, food allergies, local foods/urban ag, meat products, home food preservation (canning, freezing & drying), food processing /business development, youth /4-H, Nebraska research, and graduate & undergraduate programs.
I was surprised to learn the “Big 8” most commonly allergenic foods on a worldwide basis or trouble foods are: peanuts, soybeans, fish, crustacea, milk, eggs, tree nuts, and wheat. These 8 food groups account for approximately 90% of all IgE-mediated food allergies. The Big 8 actually involves many more than 8 foods because several food groups are included.  I was also surprised to learn that over 160 other foods have been documented in the medical literature on one or more occasions to elicit food allergies.
The food safety section includes information about the “4 Day Throw Away†app that’s available for download from the app store. This app features hundreds of individual food items which can be easily searched by food categories or keywords. Listed under each food item are storage recommendations, reheating instructions and special considerations. The application also gives information on related foodborne illnesses, with details on symptoms, duration, complications and prevention.
The app developers wanted to provide as many details as possible for this application, and the team pulled together much great information from the USDA and compiled it into an easy-to-use format. I hope you’ll check-out this app as well as the many sections of this website like the Nutrition & Health Issues link which has information about “Control Diabetes For Life†with some excellent videos, or the Health Eating Section that is packed full of useful information!
Some of the other websites (in case you want to check them out now) that I’ll be sharing information about in future columns include:
UNL Crop Information:Â http://cropwatch.unl.edu/
UNL Water Information:Â http://water.unl.edu
UNL Beef Information: http://beef.unl.edu/
UNL Acreage Information:Â http://acreage.unl.edu/
UNL 4-H Information:Â http://4h.unl.edu/
UNL Extension in York County:Â http://york.unl.edu/
UNL Extension Publications:Â http://ianrpubs.unl.edu/epublic/pages/index.jsp
Crop Production Clinics Planned
The series of 2014 Crop Production Clinics will be beginning January 7 with the first one in our area on January 9 in Hastings. The one in York will be on January 15. Cost for the clinic will be $60.00 if you enroll ahead on line at: http://cpc.unl.edu/. Cost the day of the program will be $75.00 so it’s important to go on line to register. These Crop Production Clinics will be a way to renew your license in any of the following Commercial Pesticide categories: Ag Plant (01), Regulatory (REG) or Demonstration/Research (D/R). If you are a Private Pesticide Applicators, you can also renew your license.
Precision Ag Workshop
We’re hosting Precision Ag Workshops in Clay Center and York on January 29 and 30 respectively! Registration begins at 8:00 a.m. with the program from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. This program is for anyone interested in precision ag and cost is $45 for the first person in an operation or $10 to cover lunch if the second person in an operation is willing to share a computer. Computers, software, and data will be provided, but you are welcome to bring your own yield monitor data card to work on if you wish.
Our goal is to have the participants learn: best management practices to improve data quality and collection, how to use YieldEditor software to clean data, creating yield maps, how to interpret differences between raw and clean data, and quantifying yield within zones. Please register for January 30 session at the York Extension Office at 402-362-5508 or gary.zoubek@unl.edu or for the January 29 session at the Clay County Extension at 402-762-3644 or jrees2@unl.edu. We’re limited to 20 individuals per location.
Hamilton County Ag Day
Todd Whitney wanted me to share the agenda for the annual Hamilton County Ag Day program that is planned for Tuesday, January 14, 2014, on the Fairgrounds in Aurora. The program looks like this:
8:30: Registration – Coffee and Rolls
8:40: Welcome from the Nebraska Corn Board – Curt Friesen – President Hamilton Corn Association
8:50: Farm Bill Provisions update – Kathy Jennings – Hamilton County FSA
9:00: Corn Growers Update – Brandon Hunnicutt – Co-Chair Government Relations NeCGA
9:10: NRD Water Policy Provisions – Rod DeBuhr – Upper Big Blue Natural Resources Director
9:30: Dectes Stem Borer / Soybean Sudden Death Syndrome – Kevin Keller Monsanto Agronomist
10:15: BREAK – View Exhibits
10:30: Corn Rootworm Resistance and Management – Lance Meinke UNL Entomology Professor
11:15: Weed Resistance (HPPD Resistant Waterhemp) – Stevan Knezevic – UNL Weed Specialist
11:45: Sponsor Updates and Door Prizes
12:00 Lunch – Sponsored by Aurora Cooperative
12:45: Flaming Technology: Weed Management – Steven Knezevic – UNL Weed Specialist
1:15: Irrigation Soil Sensors/Remote Compensators – Suat Irmak – UNL Irrigation Engineer
2:00: Marketing Outlook Strategies – Jim Engler – Senior Hedge Broker – Ag West Commodities
2:45: Break
3:00: Irrigation Corn Stages and Management – Roger Elmore – UNL Extension Corn Agronomist
3:45: Wrap up and Door Prizes – Todd Whitney – UNL Extension Educator – Hamilton
Looks like it should be a great program!
Horticulture Webinars and Master Gardener Training Planned
We’re again hosting the Master Gardener Training sessions that will be open to the interested public on Tuesday evenings from February 11, 2014 to March 15, 2014. The sessions will run from 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. each evening. We’ve got some great topics this year.
Topics this year are:
Feb. 11 – Integrated Pest Management Options in Landscapes – Wayne Ohnesorg
Feb. 18 – Disease Identification of Herbaceous Landscape Plants – Amy Timmerman
Feb. 25 – Turfgrass Care and Management – Zac Reicher
March 4 – Pollinators in the Landscape and “Pollinator Friendly Plant Material – Natalia Bjorklund
March 11 – Plant Propagation Concepts and Tomato Grafting – Nicole Stoner & David Lott
March 25 – Landscape Weed identification and Herbaceous Update – Lowell Sandell
Cost for initial training to become a Master Gardener is $150 for training, notebook, and other materials. Cost for Master Gardeners to attend the series is $15.00. Cost for the general public is $5.00/session or $20.00 for the series. For more information about the Master Gardner program, these training sessions, or to register, go to:  http://york.unl.edu/water-environment. You can also email me at gary.zoubek@unl.edu or call at 402-362-5508.
