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Husker Food Connection is Tuesday

April 8, 2013 By Leave a Comment

The second annual Husker Food Connection takes place tomorrow (Tuesday, April 9th) on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s City Campus.

Project coordinator Alissa Doerr, a communications intern with A-FAN, says UNL agricultural students stage the event to help raise agricultural awareness on campus.

“The purpose of the Husker Food Connection is to educate our peers who don’t know as much about agriculture and about where their food comes from, as those of us that have our ag majors over on East Campus and have that agriculture background,” Doerr says. “We just want to let them know that agriculture is very important in their everyday lives.”

Doerr says last year’s inaugural event was a success in terms of both student participation and social media exposure.

“I know a lot students that would take a picture of them with the pigs or the big tractor and post it on Facebook and say ‘oh, look what was on our campus today’,” says Doerr. “So I think that was a great way to spread the message as well.”

Located just outside the City Campus Union, Husker Food Connection features live animal displays, games and free food.  It runs from 10:30 to 2:00 on Tuesday.

AUDIO: Alissa Doerr (4:04 MP3)

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Nebraska on-farm research enters second year

April 2, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Nebraska corn growers can take an active role in an on-farm research project sponsored by University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension in partnership with the Nebraska Corn Growers Association and the Nebraska Corn Board.

The goal of the Nebraska On-Farm Research Network (NOFRN) is to implement a statewide on-farm research program addressing critical farmer production, profitability and natural resources questions.  The project kicked off in 2012 with 40 on-farm comparisons conducted in 10 counties.

Growers interested in conducting on-farm research are encouraged to work with UNL faculty on one of three topics related to corn production: irrigation management, nitrogen management or plant populations.

Replicated treatments will be planted and harvested in growers’ fields using their equipment.

Growers wanting to learn more about the Nebraska On-Farm Research Network and how to participate can contact UNL Extension at 402-624-8030 or 402-326-5508 or the Nebraska Corn Growers Association at 888-267-6479 or 402-438-6459.

For more information, visit cropwatch.unl.edu/web/farmresearch.

Filed Under: Crops, Events/Organizations, News Tagged With: , , ,

Renewed interest in grain sorghum in Nebraska

March 28, 2013 By 1 Comment

A combination of dry weather and increased demand from the ethanol sector could have grain sorghum poised for a comeback in Nebraska.

Grain sorghum plantings in the state plummeted from 550-thousand acres in 2000 to just 165-thousand in 2012.  But the associate dean for Extension at the University of Nebraska, Rick Koelsch, says the interest in grain sorghum seems to be on the upswing in 2013.

“Grain sorghum is very efficient about using water for producing grain up to that 90-100 bushels per acre,” Koelsch says. “If we’ve got enough moisture that’s going to carry a crop beyond that, corn probably makes a lot more sense in dryland conditions. But if we’re going to be below that, grain sorghum may make a lot of sense in many circumstances.”

In addition to its ability to withstand drought, grain sorghum is also benefitting from its recent designation as an advanced biofuel under the Renewable Fuels Standard.   Two Nebraska ethanol plants—Abengoa  at Ravenna and Trenton Agri-Products at Trenton—have indicated they want to use more grain sorghum in the ethanol production process.

AUDIO: Rick Koelsch (1:56 MP3)

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Nebraska ranchers prepare for extended drought

March 27, 2013 By Leave a Comment

University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) Extension is helping the state’s farmers prepare for the possible continuation of drought conditions in 2013.

Associate dean for Extension at UNL, Rick Koelsch, says much of the focus has been on range and beef issues—helping cattle producers develop strategies to deal with reduced grass and forage resources.

“A lot of producers are looking at downsizing herds—and they’ve usually got several choices they can consider,” says Koelsch.  “And what are the implications of each of those choices—and more and more what are the economic implications—both short-term and long-term?  So our faculty are helping them think through some of those.”

Koelsch says they have also been fielding questions about growing forages under center pivot irrigation systems this summer.

“What would be an appropriate forage to put under these—how much water is going to be required—those kinds of questions in areas where we’re used to growing corn and we’re maybe not so used to growing forages under those conditions.”

Koelsch says UNL Extension’s range and beef team has held nearly 50 meetings with cattle producers across the state this winter.

AUDIO: Rick Koelsch (4:38 MP3)

Filed Under: Events/Organizations, Livestock, News Tagged With: , , , , ,

New Nebraska regent has ag ties

March 20, 2013 By Leave a Comment

The newest member of the University of Nebraska  Board of Regents has agricultural ties.

Robert Schafer of Beatrice has been appointed by Governor Heineman to fill the Regents’ District 5 seat. That’s the seat vacated by former state senator and now lieutenant governor Lavon Heidemann of Elk Creek.

In addition to being a partner in a Beatrice law firm, Schafer owns and operates a farm in Pawnee County.  The 45-year old Schafer owns cattle and is also involved in a swine operation in Iowa.  He is a member of the Nebraska Farm Bureau Federation.

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UNL names new head of natural resources

March 11, 2013 By Leave a Comment

A professor of wildlife ecology and management at the University of Georgia will be the new head of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s School of Natural Resources. 

John Carroll currently is professor in the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources at Georgia, where he’s been since 1998. Previously, he worked at the Game Conservancy Trust in England, at the California University of Pennsylvania, the University of North Dakota and the University of Minnesota/Crookston. 

Carroll, who replaces Don Wilhite, will assume the position this summer.

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UNL-IANR to add 36 new positions

February 18, 2013 By Leave a Comment

After a decade of budget cuts and stagnant hiring, the University of Nebraska’s Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources (IANR) is now planning to add 36 new positions. 

According to IANR vice chancellor Ronnie Green, the new positions are primarily in the areas of science literacy, stress biology, computational sciences, healthy humans and healthy systems for agricultural production and natural resources. Green says those subject areas will address workforce gaps critical to the global challenges of the future, including expanded and more efficient food production and improved water and natural resources management.  

While this slate of new positions is, in Green’s words, “a big bang,” he emphasized that IANR actually has been steadily ramping up hiring over the last couple of years and expects to embark on a fresh wave of hiring in about 18 months. This follows several years of university budget cuts and holds on hiring.   

Green says IANR is in a good position to expand thanks to eight years of annual enrollment growth in its College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, record levels of research funding and a strong agricultural economy in Nebraska. 

Green also believes the move positions UNL to emerge as one of a handful of land-grant universities that will lead the way in solving the food-production needs of the future.

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The price of corn: What is the ‘new normal’?

November 19, 2012 By 1 Comment

Dennis Conley is a professor of agricultural economics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.  At the recent Ag at the Crossroads conference in Lincoln, Conley discussed “U.S. Economic Policies, Distillers Grains Exports and the Price of Corn—will there be a second new normal?”

After his presentation, Brownfield visited with Conley about that topic.

AUDIO: Dennis Conley (7:07 MP3)

Filed Under: Feature Programs, Rural Issues Tagged With: , , , , ,

A visit with Nebraska’s new director of Extension

November 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Nebraska native Chuck Hibberd has returned to his home state as the new dean and director of Extension at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.  Hibberd has spent the past five years as associate dean and director of Extension at Purdue University. 

At the recent Ag at the Crossroads Conference in Lincoln, we visited with Hibberd about the state of Extension in Nebraska and what he thinks the future holds.  

AUDIO: Chuck Hibberd (4:23 MP3)

 

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University of Nebraska announces Rural Futures Institute

October 8, 2012 By 1 Comment

Partnering with rural communities to help them meet their economic and social challenges in the 21st century. 

That’s the mission of a new Rural Futures Institute being proposed by the University of Nebraska. 

UNL vice-chancellor for agriculture and natural resources Dr. Ronnie Green says the institute will tap faculty expertise across all four NU campuses and involve partner organizations and rural communities across the Great Plains. 

Green says the institute will focus on a range of issues impacting the rural economy and rural life. 

“The need for the development of leaders to go back to rural communities—and leadership development of people in rural communities—not just from the youth coming back,” Green says. “Infrastructure, health care, legal services, transportation services—all of these are issues that need to be thought about heavily.” 

The Rural Futures Institute proposal will go before the NU Board of Regents for formal approval at its October 26th board meeting.

AUDIO: Ronnie Green (5:17 MP3)

 

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