November 16, 2007

Sustainable Crops and Livestock Systems Workshop set for Dec. 1

The workshop will be held at Western Nebraska Community College in Sidney, 371 S. College Drive, from 8:45 a.m. until 3:45 p.m. It is sponsored by the University of Nebraska, Nebraska Sustainable Agriculture Society (NSAS) and Organic Crop Improvement Association (OCIA) NE Chapter No. 2.

Speakers will include ag producers, UNL researchers and Extension educators and USDA experts. They will describe practical approaches to diversifying operations by integrating crops and livestock into a system that provides crop diversity, produces livestock feed and improves soil health. Specific topics will include grazing goats, establishing dryland crop rotations, using annual forages, marketing a diverse operation, conserving water with no-till cropping systems and making the transition to organic production.

Keynote speaker Don Tanaka, USDA/ARS research soil scientist, will explain how diversity helps overcome agricultural and environmental problems and ensures productive and profitable agriculture for the future. His talk, titled “Sustainable Crops and Livestock Systems for High Plains Agriculture,” will explain how integrating crops and livestock into a system is just one way of adding diversity. He’ll discuss Northern Plains research on a system that provides feed to meet the nutritional requirements of dry-bred cows during the winter and provides crop diversity for sustainable crop production.

Topics of concurrent sessions will include:

• G.O.A.T.S (Grazing Operation Attuned To Soils): Michelle and Angela Wendell believe all health begins in the soil. Their goats help control and harvest noxious weeds and, in turn, use the nutrients and return them back to the soil. Mob grazing techniques and how to rent the herd and make it pay also will be covered.

• Marketing Goats: Mel and Doris Uphoff of Elwood will join the discussion to talk about their breeding herd and marketing strategy.

• Tried and True Diversified Operations That Work: Rick Larson of Potter and Dean Lerwick of Lyman will discuss their diversified dryland cropping and livestock operations.

• Opportunities for Using Annual Forages: Aaron Berger, south Panhandle extension educator, will discuss how annual forages can meet livestock production goals, fit in a crop rotation and provide production value for livestock when perennial pastures or crop residues are deficient.

• Capturing Market Diversity: The Benefits of Crop and Livestock Combinations: Paul Burgener, UNL ag economics research coordinator, will discuss the farm management and marketing benefits of the crop/livestock diversified farm.

• Direct marketing: John and Sarah Fehringer will talk about their direct meat marketing strategy.

• No-till Cropping Systems for Stretching Limited Irrigation Supplies: Gary Hergert, UNL extension nutrient management and soil quality specialist, will discuss irrigated crop production for western Nebraska no-till and new cropping systems and irrigation techniques to adapt farm and livestock operations to manage with less water.

• Organic Transition: What Farmers Need to Know to Transition into Organic Production: Tom Tomas, who has more than 15 years experience working with organic certification, and Liz Sarno, organic project coordinator and extension educator, will talk about steps to transition to organic production.

• The Reality of the Transition: Dennis Demmel, organic farmer from Ogallala, will talk about his transition experience, the EQIP program that helped with transitioning costs, his cultural practices, record-keeping and marketing.