Upcoming events:
Jan. 14: Farmers/Ranchers College: “Partners In Progress – Beef Seminar”, 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m. (Reg. 9:30 a.m.), Fairgrounds, Clay Center. RSVP: (402) 759-3712
Jan. 14: Webinar: Palmer Amaranth Resistance Mgmt, 7-8 p.m., https://go.unl.edu/2019_rmws
Jan. 15: Crop Production Clinic, Lavista
Jan. 16: Cover Crop Management Day, Ag Park, Columbus. RSVP: 402-563-4901
Jan. 16: Crop Production Road Show, Registration 12:45 p.m., Program 1 p.m., NCTA Auditorium, Curtis, RSVP 308-345-3390
Jan. 16: Chemigation, 1:30 p.m., Fairgrounds, Central City. RSVP: steve.melvin@unl.edu
Jan. 17: Crop Production Clinic, York
Jan. 17: LBNRD Operator Training, 9 a.m., Community Center, Davenport
Jan. 17: Three State Beef Conference “Reducing Cow Feed Costs Using Cropland”, 6-9 p.m., Syracuse, RSVP: (402) 269-2301
Jan. 18: Prescribed Burn School, 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m., Polk Co. Fairgrounds, Osceola. RSVP: (402) 747-2321.
Jan. 18: Successful Farmer Series: Spray Technology, 9-11:30 a.m., Extension Office, Lincoln
Jan. 18: Chemigation, 1:30 p.m., Community Center, Davenport. RSVP: steve.melvin@unl.edu
Thank you to all the committee members, sponsors, exhibitors, presenters, attendees, and media coverage of the York Ag Expo last week! Great to see so many turn out for the educational sessions as well!
Packed room for chemigation training at York Ag Expo.
Farm Bill: I was extra pleased with the excellent questions and discussion with the afternoon educational sessions at the York Ag Expo. The following are the major changes that Dr. Brad Lubben, Extension Farm Policy Specialist, shared during the Farm Bill 
presentation. Farmers will have the opportunity to make a new election for either ARC-CO or PLC for the years 2019-2020 (a two year decision), after which the decision will be a yearly one (beginning in 2021) until the end of the farm bill period. There’s more changes to the ARC program than PLC. For ARC, the primary source of yield data will most likely be RMA crop insurance data instead of NASS survey data. The 25% factor used to establish ARC-CO coverage by irrigated or non-irrigated practice is no longer in effect. Instead, a farmer can make a request to the FSA committee if not less than 5% of the acreage was irrigated or not less than 5% was non-irrigated during the 2014-2018 crop years. Coverage is now tied to a physical county regardless of administrative county. The plug yield in ARC-CO increased from 70% to 80% of the transitional yield. There will also be a trend yield adjustment similar to the Federal crop insurance trend-adjusted yield endorsement. When Brad showed what this looked like if applied to the previous farm bill, it increased the bu/ac in all the examples he showed. Thus, he speculates it should improve the ARC-CO benchmark. Regarding PLC, producers will have the opportunity to consider updating yields on farms. There’s a specific equation that will be used and because it’s focused more on the 2008-2012 period to help those farms most effected by drought, it may not provide a benefit to all farms. It would still be worth working through the equation just to make sure for your individual farms. The other change to PLC is the equation for the effective reference price. In 2014, several of us in Extension worked individually with you to help you through these decisions using decision support tools. Money was not provided in this farm bill to support the computer tools so we’re still waiting to see if they will be developed. We’re assuming they will be. Yet the decisions this time may be more straightforward with making a decision for the first two years followed by annually vs. the life of the farm bill like what happened in 2014. All resources and information can be found at http://farmbill.unl.edu. Regarding ARC vs. PLC decisions, Brad shared the following points:
- Under stable, lower price levels, PLC support will kick in before ARC support for downward price movement.
- Under modestly increasing price levels, ARC and PLC support may quickly disappear.
- Under substantially higher prices, moving average price in ARC benchmark and moving average price in PLC effective reference price could rachet up support to near equivalent levels.
Survey: Every year in Extension we write annual reports to justify the work we accomplished during the year. Last week I shared a survey link to provide me feedback regarding 2018 efforts. Thank you for those who have responded; I appreciate it!!! The survey truly is anonymous. For those who haven’t responded, I would greatly appreciate your feedback on this short survey at: https://app2.sli.do/event/q2p1sedv/polls. A year ago I changed the way I did my email list and news columns. My hope is that the format is more beneficial for us all in spite of the extra time it takes me each week. I’m genuinely open to and desirous of your feedback. Also, if you’re reading this and would like to be added to my email list, please email me at jrees2@unl.edu and I will add you.
Crop Production Clinics and Nebraska Crop Management Conference: Thank you to all who requested via surveys, emails, or phone calls in 2018 that you wanted to see the Crop Production Clinic back in the area! You were heard and one will be held in York at the Holthus Convention Center on January 17th! You can see the full schedule at http://agronomy.unl.edu/cpc. The Nebraska Crop Management Conference in Kearney on Jan. 28-29 has the same topics as Crop Production Clinics with additional topics and out of state speakers. You can view the registration for that conference at: https://agronomy.unl.edu/NCMC. While I realize many of you attend CPC for specific reasons, there is an opportunity this year to participate in a university research study and be paid for your time. Simanti Banerjee, an assistant professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics, is studying producer behaviors in response to farm bill programs. The study will take up to two hours. Average earnings from participating in the study are expected to be up to $100, depending on your decisions and those of other participants. All information collected is confidential and your responses are anonymous and will not be connected to your name. You can read more and register to participate in this study at this site: https://agronomy.unl.edu/crop-production-clinic-study-consent. Looking forward to seeing those who attend the upcoming CPC and NCMC!
