Extension Update by Jenny Rees

This week, sharing more regarding certification trainings for ag professionals and master gardeners. Meeting in ‘hubs’ has been our vision in the midst of covid to reduce the number of people attending any one location for larger programs such as Crop Production Clinics and Nebraska On-Farm Research Updates. Example: instead of one day where 200+ people meet in York for Crop Production Clinics, attendees have the option of attending one of 6 days of central or eastern-focused Crop Production Clinics hosted by several local county Extension Offices each of those days, or they can attend virtually. As of current recommendations, if the risk dial is in the Red, we can only meet virtually.

Pesticide Training: For commercial and non-commercial pesticide applicators with the ‘ag plant’ or ‘demo/research’ categories, the Crop Production Clinics are your option for recertification. They will be virtual this year (and in person via ‘hubs’ if risk dial isn’t Red) https://agronomy.unl.edu/cpc. Initial certification is still via testing: https://pested.unl.edu/certification-and-training#commercial.

For private pesticide applicators, our goal is in person training first. Should the risk dial be in the ‘Red zone’ at the time a training is scheduled, the training will be moved to a virtual option and those registered will receive the connection information. We also have a self-study option again which is an option provided by the local Extension office for those who are uncomfortable attending in person and/or have difficulty with using computers for virtual programming. Depending on the risk dial, and also depending on the town, there may be a mask requirement in place. To follow directed health measures on meeting capacities, Pre-Registration is Required. Not all county Extension Offices are publicizing their meetings. You will need to call the County Extension Office where you’d like to attend a meeting to Pre-Register. My preference is to share my meeting dates:

York County: Jan. 7 at 9:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. and Feb. 8 at 6:30 p.m. all at the Cornerstone Event Center at the Fairgrounds in York. RSVP to (402) 362-5508.
Seward County: Jan. 18 at 2 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. and Feb. 10 at 9:30 a.m. all at Harvest Hall at the Fairgrounds in Seward. RSVP to (402) 643-2981.

Chemigation Training: For those desirous to apply pesticides and/or fertilizer through irrigation systems, a chemigation license is necessary. If this is your first time, it’s helpful to have the books ahead of time and you can contact the York Co. office if you’d like them. Training for our area will be conducted by Steve Melvin on January 8^th at 9:30 a.m. at the Cornerstone Event Center at the Fairgrounds in York. Pre-Registration is Required to (402) 362-5508.

RUP Dicamba Training is no longer being conducted by Extension. Nebraska Department of Ag is leaving training up to the Registrants, and if I understand correctly, they will no longer require those trained to be listed on the NDA website.

Master Gardeners: If you have a strong interest in gardening and enjoy helping others, you are invited to become a Nebraska Extension Master Gardener volunteer. This program will increase your knowledge and understanding of best cultural practices for growing flowers, vegetables, turf, plant disease and insect pest identification, and much more. One area training option is through Lancaster Co. Extension beginning in Feb. 2021 via Zoom during the day. The fee is $190.00. Application deadline is Jan. 15, 2021 at: https://ssp.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_08OngDRFkSOJIRT. Please call Mary Jane Frogge at 402-441-7180 for any questions.
Current Master Gardeners can plan on recertification training via zoom on Feb. 16, 23, Mar. 2, and 9 from 6:30 – 9:00 PM.