Jan. 20-30, 2015

Farm Management

• Farm Bill FAQs: Yield Update
• Farm Bill FAQs: Base Acre Reallocation
• Farm Bill FAQs: Price Loss Coverage Program
• Farm Bill FAQs: County Agriculture Risk Coverage Program
• New Blog Post:  Simplification and Accuracy in Texas A&M Farm Bill Decision Tool  (including how to analyze program options)
• Related Blog Post: Inputting Data into Texas A&M Farm Bill Decision Tool
• Cornhusker Economics: What to Consider When Fertilizing Nebraska Sandhills Subirrigated Meadows for Hay Production
• February Farm Finance and Legal Aid Clinics
• How Much Will Dropping Fuel Prices Affect Your Bottom Line?
• Landlord Tenant Lease Workshops Scheduled for February and early March

Corn Production

• Strategies and Tactics for Rootworm Management in Bt Corn via an online university-based seminar,  "Corn Rootworm Management in the Transgenic Era," and a segment on this week's Market Journal.

Soybean Production

• Researchers Show Climate Change is Suppressing Soybean Yields. UNL's Jim Specht, emeritus professor of agronomy, was among a team of researchers who tracked monthly rainfall and temperature changes from 1994 to 2003 and found that soybean yields declined by about 4.3% for every degree Fahrenheit rise in average growing season temperatures. Some states gain, some lose yields due to the changes.

Pesticide Management

• DriftWatch Updated, Improved to offer expanded services to applicators and producers wanting to identify fields where commercial specialty or pesticide-sensitive crops are grown.

Extension Programs

• Weed and Insect Resistance Workshops Feb. 3-6. Learn about methods and tools you can use to reduce the development of weed and insect resistance at these workshops.
• Register Now for Precision Ag Data Management Workshops starting Jan. 29 and continuing into March. Learn how to extract more value from your yield monitor data.
• Nebraska Ag Technology Conference Feb. 4-5. Learn about the latest technologies, products, practices, and services for farming.
• Center Pivot Irrigation Management Short Course in February — 4th site added
• Nebraska On-Farm Research Updates at 3 Sites. Learn from other producers and see how this program could help you answer your crop questions.
• UNL High Plains Ag Lab Research Update Jan. 27
• UNL Spring 2015 Agronomy-Horticulture Series. Timely topics, great speakers. Attend on East Campus or view via the Web.
• Women in Agriculture Conference: Making Better Ag Business Decisions. Workshops, funshops, and speakers at the 30th anniversary of this conference.
• Genetically Engineered Animals Could Help Ease World Hunger, yet regulatory hurdles keep them off the market -- see more on this recent Heuermann Lecture.
• Crop Scout Training for Pest Managers March 5. In-depth training from university specialists.

Weather

• 30- and 90-day Weather Outlook Uncertain for Nebraska, but be on the alert for storm potential as we move into spring.

Market Journal

• View segments on corn rootworm management, range and pasture management, cattle market analysis, genetically engineered animals, and the forecast for the coming week.

UNL_CropWatch on YouTube

Check out UNL_CropWatch on YouTube for 40 videos on using new technologies, identifying and managing crop diseases, conducting on-farm research, and topics in ag climatology. New this week, Nebraska Extension Soil Fertility Specialist Charles Wortmann discusses:

• UNL's Nitrogen Loss Assessment Tool (N-LAT)
  (Learn more about this new tool to assess nitrogen loss in the new NebGuide, Nitrogen Loss Assessment Tool for Nebraska: Background and Users Guide, and in the Soil Management section of CropWatch.)
• Land Application of Novozyme Spent Biomass

Crop Reports

• USDA Reports Confirm Big Corn and Soybean Harvests. The 2014 corn harvest came in at 1.6 billion bushels, down 1% from 2013,  and the soybean harvest came in at 289 million bushels, up 13% from 2013. See numbers for sorghum, alfalfa, proso millet, sunflower, sugarbeet and dry edible bean.
• Nebraska Grain & Hay Stocks Up From 2013. Corn up 3%; soybeans up 27%; wheat up 23%; and sorghum up 36%. Nebraska grain storage capacity at 2.08 billion bushels, up 41.8 million bushels since Dec. 1, 2013.