Coming Events
Nov. 18, 2014, Cornhusker Economics Outlook Meeting, 9:00 a.m., Central Community College, Columbus
Nov. 19, 2014, Climate Resilient Agriculture: Tools and Resources for Agricultural Decisions, 9:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m., Phelps County Ag Center in Holdrege Register by calling 308-995-4222, or by emailing Tyler Williams at tyler.williams@unl.edu
Nov. 19-20, 2014, Midwest Corn Bean Expo, Lancaster Event Center, Lincoln
Nov. 21, 2014, York County Corn Grower Annual Meeting & Banquet, 6:30 p.m., Chances R, York
Nov. 25, 2014, Cornhusker Economics Outlook Meeting, 9:00 a.m., Adams Fairgrounds, Hastings
Dec. 9, 2014, York Farm Bill Informational Mtg, 1:30 p.m., Cornerstone Event Center, York Fairgrounds
Upcoming Educational Meetings
Last week I mentioned the series of upcoming Cornhusker Economics Outlook Meetings. The final one in our area is planned for November 25th in Hastings.
Topics will include:
Crops—What are the markets telling us?
Livestock — Excitement and uncertainty?
Policy — Should I sign up for ARC or PLC?
Finance – Managing cost of production through a time of “minimizing lossesâ€.
The meeting will go from 9:00 a.m. to noon. You still have time to register, no cost for registration, however it’s important to contact the host educators so that adequate materials can be on hand. Complete details and registration information can be found at: http://york.unl.edu/crops-future. Then click on the Outlook link. I hope you’ll have a chance to attend.
The York County Corn Growers Annual Banquet is planned for this Friday November 21st at Chances R Restaurant, I want to remind those involved in corn production that the annual York County Corn Grower Banquet is planned for Friday November 21st at here in York. Tickets are available for $10.00 from any of the York County Corn Growers Board of Directors as well as at our office. Social at 6:30 p.m., meal at 7:00 p.m.
They have a great program planned, with an excellent LEAD trip presentation, updates from both the Corn Growers and Corn board and I’m working on a short presentation related to the history of irrigation in York County. It should be a fun evening, so if you’re interested, get those ticket purchased by November 19th! Call me at 402-362-5508 or email me at gary.zoubek@unl.edu if you’d like some tickets!
Finally, I want to again mention the several Farm Bill Education Meetings planned. The meeting in our area will be December 9th from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Cornerstone Ag Event Center here in York. The University of Nebraska Lincoln Extension and the Farm Service Agency (FSA), are teaming up to provide educational meetings about the 2014 Farm Bill.
All farm operators and land owners are invited to attend.  FSA will inform participants about the sign-up process for the Farm Bill including the documentation needed and the deadlines for sign-up. UNL Extension will provide information about the decisions that will need to be made for base acre reallocation, yield updates, and for the Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC) vs. Price Loss Coverage (PLC) program selection.
It should be helpful to attend one of the meetings to get insight on the options everyone has with the 2014 Farm Bill. Farm Operators and Land Owners will have three main steps to signing up. One is to review their current base acre allocations which is occurring at this time. Secondly, a decision about re-allocation of base acres will need to be made. Finally, the program selection will involve the ARC or PLC program. ARC is the revenue safety net program similar to the recent ACRE program and PLC is the price safety net program. With ARC, the options will be an Individual ARC coverage vs. a County ARC coverage. With PLC, the available Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO) will be discussed. Decisions made for this Farm Bill sometime in 2015 will be final for the duration of the Bill.
If you cannot make the Dec. 9th informational meeting, others planned in our area include:
Nov. 21 – Saline county — (Saline Center) – 9:00 a.m.
Nov. 25 – Hamilton county – Leadership Center (Aurora) – 9:00 a.m.
Nov. 25 — Hall county – Central Community College (Grand Island) –1:30 p.m.
Dec. 3 — Seward county — Fairgrounds (Seward) – 9:00 a.m.
Dec. 8 – Hamilton county – Leadership Center (Aurora) – 1:30 p.m.
Dec. 16 – Fillmore County Fairgrounds (Geneva) – 9:00 a.m.
Dec. 16 – Clay County Fairgrounds (Clay Center) – 1:30 p.m.
Dec. 19 – Polk county Fairgrounds (Osceola) – 1:00 p.m.
Climate Resilient Agriculture: Tools and Resources for Agricultural Decisions
If you’re interested in learning about actions ag producers can take related to our changing climate a day-long workshop planned for Wednesday November 19th from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Phelps County Ag Center in Holdrege may be for you.
Topics will include:
- Overview of Climate Services in Nebraska and High Plains Region – Martha Shulski, Director of High Plains Regional Climate Center
- Climate outlooks for agricultural decision making – Al Dutcher, Nebraska State Climatologist
- Mobile tool to monitoring soil temperature – Kenneth Hubbard, Professor and Climatologist
- Panel Discussions
- U2U: Climate based decision support tools for the US corn belt – Tapan Pathak, Extension Educator in Climate Variability
- Agri tools – Nebraska specific climate tools for smartphones – Tyler Williams, Extension Educator in Phelps County
- Cover Crops – Management Option to minimize climate risks – Roger Elmore, Professor and Agronomist
- How could weather & climate information be used in making farming decisions? – Steve Hu, Professor in School of Natural Resources
- Drought Resources – Mike Hayes, Director of National Drought Mitigation Center
- Crop Climate – Web based decision support system                                                 Guillermo Baigorria, Assistant Professor
They are predicting that severe weather events associated with climate change are forecast to increase in number and intensity, this workshop is an opportunity to learn more about medicating these severe events. Register for this workshop by calling Phelps County Extension office at 308-995-4222, or by emailing Tyler Williams at tyler.williams@unl.edu or Pathak at tpathak2@unl.edu.
York Extension Centennial Notes
Last week I share information about Extension Activities from 1926 to 1938. This week I want to continue and share a few more of the things I’ve found in our Annual reports.
In 1938, York County had a total of 4 irrigation wells.
The 1939 report included a historical appraisal of Agricultural Extension Work:
In compiling a history of extension work in York County it seems fitting and proper to make note of some of the developments which were forerunners of agricultural extension work. One of these was the organization of boys’ and girls’ clubs and the other is the activities of Farmers’ Institutes in the county.
The first boys’ and girls’ club was organized by Alice Florer, county superintendent, and E. C. Bishop, state superintendent. Mr. R. L. Kaliff of York was a member of this club and it is his recollection that this club was organized in 1907. Frank Lancaster now living at Edgewater, Colorado, was also a member of this first organization. Each club member was given one thousand grains of corn. Informational material was given the members relative to preparation of seed bed, planting, and cultivation. It is the recollection of Mr. Kaliff that the club had about three meetings each year. The club members kept records relative to preparation of seed be, date of planting, number of culitivations made, and a record of the development of the corn such as date when the corn first came up, date of tasseling, and date of maturity.
The club members were to take part in a corn contest.  The first year the contest was limited to the best ten ears grown from the thousand grains of corn, and a yield contest.  The first year R. L. Kaliff won first prize which was a trip to Lincoln to the state corn show or extension short course, which lasted a week. At the state show, Mr. Kaliff won first prize of $5.00 in the state corn judging contest. The second year, a team composed of R. L. Kaliff and Frank Lancaster represented York County at the state corn show/short course. These boys won first prize which was a Duroc gilt. Mr. Kaliff reports that he paid Frank Lancaster $15.00 for his half-interest in the gild and the gilt was retained by Mr. Kaliff. It is the opinion of many people that this was the first organized boys’ and girls’ club in the state of Nebraska.
Mr. Kaliff reports that the York County corn club adopted the four-leaf clover as its emblem and it is his recollection that each leaf of the clover embodied an “Hâ€. If this is correct, York County had not only the first boys’ and girls’ club in the state, but it may have been the originator of the four-leaf clover as the emblem of boys’ and girls’ clubs and also the cause of these clubs being called “4-H clubsâ€. Mr. Kaliff reports that the corn clubs were continued in the county as long as Miss Florer was county superintendent, and records at the county superintendent’s office indicate that Miss Florer was superintendent from 1907 to 1915.
As a result of these clubs, the York County corn show developed which became an annual affair and the show assumed large proportions in 1908 and 1909. These shows were held during the latter part of November each year. In 1908, 775 boys and girls brought exhibits to the corn show.
In the 1940 annual report, they indicated that the future for extension work in York County is the brightest that it has ever been. It is the opinion of the agent that the extension program must continue to emphasize the importance of roughage-consuming livestock on York County farms for livestock to build up feed reserves.
A new problem confronts the Extension Service in York County; namely that of irrigation. A large number of irrigation wells have been dug during the past year and more will be dug during the next year. It is the opinion of the agent that the irrigation in the county should neither be encouraged or discouraged. However, the Extension Service can perform a service by helping them solve problems with irrigation.
It is the observation of the agent that the Extension Service can secure the adoption of more acceptable practices in a field that is entirely new to the farmer than can be obtained when the farmer has had experience in that particular field. The most opportune time to reach the new irrigator is before he has had a great deal of experience.
The 1940 Annual Report showed that York County had 18 irrigation wells.
