James Coover
Crop Production
Cover Crops
Soil Testing
for Wheat
Wheat Seeding Rate
n October and November as the leaves turn and the prairie grasses prepare for their winter slumber, extension is just getting started into the agricultural education season. Soon the soybeans will be harvested, the trucks and combines cleaned, and it will be back to school for farmers and ranchers. Farmers, finish up your harvest and then grab your pens and notepads, because K-State Research and Extension agricultural education season is about to start.
October has been a month of event planning. It has involved phone calls and emails to event speakers, event sponsors, facility managers, and all the other little pieces to an event. The two main crop production events coming up in next couple of months. The Profitable Precision and Yield Data Workshop will be in Parsons on November 27. The speakers will be Dr. Terry Griffin and Dr. Gretchen Sassenrath as they advance the agriculture technology knowledge of participants. The next event will be the yearly Agronomy Night in Independence on December 17. Speakers will be Dr. Roger McEowen from Washburn University covering lease and fence laws and Dr. Doug Jardine covering updates in crop diseases, specifically soybeans. Some other future events are two crop schools that will be held in Parsons. Soybean Crop School will be held on January 15 and Corn Crop School will be held on February 11.
Also last month I meet with the Crawford NRCS and FSA team to begin planning for this year’s Bankers’ Conservation Award. Finding the producers who are doing the right things for conservation involves knowing not only conservation, but also all the operations of the producers in the county. Fortunately some of the NRCS and FSA team members know just that. Brandon Poland of Girard National Bank is our sponsor this year.
Currently farmers are dealing with wet soils which has dramatically slowed down soybean harvest and wheat planting. As I write this, right now southeast Kansas only has a little over half of the expected wheat planted and I suspect some of this might not make the crop rotation this year. Soybean harvest for the state is around 50 percent while the average should be around 80 percent. We are getting there but it taking a little longer this year.
Producer phone calls have changed from questions about crop problems to more land rental rate questions. With changes in leases needing to be done by the end of January, now is a good time to start thinking about contract changes.
Annual conference on October 16 through 18 gave some great ideas on programs, increasing our reach through media technology, and even a little about hemp production too. November is looking like finishing the final planning on Agronomy Night and some awesome Wildcat Extension events towards the end of the month.
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