Agriculture and Natural Resources

On February 29th, Purdue Extension is hosting the Pulaski Crops Update at Bethel Bible Church (6968 IN-14, Winamac, IN 46996) at 9:00 AM EST. Private and Commercial applicator credits will be available at this event.

The program will start with Dan Quinn, Purdue Corn Specialist. He will present information on corn production and increasing yields. John Obermeyer, Purdue IPM specialist, will discuss different strategies to prevent crop losses due to insects.  Phil Woolery, Purdue Extension, will give an update on the Worker Protection Standards and what that means for your operation.

Additionally, There will be a presentation o the first steps to take when considering passing on the farm to the next generation. It will include topics that need to be considered and who you need to help make this transition.

The PARP fees are being sponsored by the Indiana Corn Marketing Council and the Indiana Soybean Alliance. Please RSVP to this free event by calling 574-946-3412 or emailing pwoolery@purdue.edu.

If you have questions, contact Phil Woolery at 574-946-3412 or pwoolery@purdue.edu.

On March 7th at 8:30 AM at the Knox Community Center (55 E Lake St, Knox, IN 46534) the Starke County Soil and Water Conservation District will host there annual meeting. Breakfast will be served, and they will go over district activities from 2024. Supervisors for the District will also be elected.

Following this there will be PARP meeting. Speakers for this include Lyndon Kelley, MSU Irrigation educator, presenting information on using irrigation for disease control. Phil Woolery, Purdue Extension Starke County, will discuss worker protection standards and results form the SWCD test plots. PARP credits are being sponsored by the Indiana Corn Marketing Council and the Indiana Soybean Alliance. Commercial applicator credits will also be available at this meeting.

To register for this free meeting, please contact the Extension office at 574-771-9141 or by email pwoolery@purdue.edu

Family businesses, like farms face many challenges when they are passed along to the next generation. Less than one third of first-generation family businesses survive into the second generation, and only 13% make it into the third generation. There are several reasons for these low rates including no plan for management succession.

Purdue Institute for Family Business (PIFB) has created a new program, Keeping the Business in the Family: A Roadmap to Successful Succession. This program takes a holistic approach to succession in farm and family businesses; delving into strategic management, relationships, conflict management, managing stress, and ending with creating a timeline and roadmap for the ownership and management transfer process. The training will cover three modules with a total of six hours of educational materials.

“As educators and specialists, we understand that relationships between family members and business members are critical for succession planning,” said Renee Wiatt, Family Business Management Specialist for PIFB.

Purdue Extension is hosting this class at the Marshall County Extension Office (112 W Jefferson Street, Rm 304, Plymouth, IN 46563) from 9 am ET to noon on February 20 and 21st.

The cost of the program is $50 per person. To register you can contact, Phil Woolery at 574-772-9141, pwoolery@purdue.edu or the Marshall County Extension office at 574-935-8545.

Purdue On The Farm is designed to connect Purdue Extension with our clientele and partners to build and enhance relationships, to understand perception and practices, to observe, to generate data to underpin recommendations, and to build professional capacity within our Extension network. We are building the program through four tiers: (1) Survey, (2) Field Monitoring (e.g., disease, pest, challenge v. successes), (3) Demonstration, and (4) On-Farm Research. Relationships will be built throughout this continuum while serving, providing education, troubleshooting, discussions of latest products, and data generation to be aggregated for larger impacts. Each one of these tiers meet the farmer (and Educator) where they are at (from simple survey to on-farm research). Some individuals take time to gain confidence and to gain understanding before they can advance to on-farm research that can be aggregated for broader impact. A tiered program offers many different entry points for any grower or Educator to participate. Ultimately, we want to help farmers adopt practical, research-based applications to address farm management challenges.

A first tier to becoming more engaged and “in the know.” Purdue Extension looks to connect with farmers and crop professionals to better understand the needs and interests. We want to serve the farm and the people in a fully engaged and cooperative manner so we can provide resources, train people, and research topics for your decisions. 

A second tier to provide extension educators, specialists, and farmers throughout the state an understanding of what pests, weeds, nutrient deficiencies, diseases, and any additional issues may be occurring. Crop scouting provides an additional layer to Purdue On The Farm to connect with and serve farmers and crop professionals, and to better understand what issues are occurring in many fields and environments around Indiana. In addition, crop scouting will help us understand how various issues may be addressed now and in the future. 

Many farmers are curious by nature. This often leads to field testing of products, Hybrids, management practices, and other factors that producers want to explore On their ground. Purdue on the farm Demonstrations are meant to assist farmers in this area. The demonstration’s conducted are often
farmer created and Driven with support from their local educator and Purdue specialists. Purdue extension supplies unbiased evaluation of the demonstration and can help interpret and understand its value working closely with the farmer through in season visits and post season analysis. This resonates with extensions directive to transform lives and livelihoods. If you’re evaluating new ideas, products, or anything else and you want to partner Please reach out to your local Extension educator to start conducting an On the Farm demonstration.

On-Farm research aims to develop protocols with extension and farmer input, in order to improve data research and recommendations.  This is accomplished using the technology that farmers already have and adapting to their field’s methods refined through years of research experience.  Statewide, we help farmers answer their questions on seeding rates, fertilizer use and other farming practices.  Knowledge gained helps our farmer cooperators directly and improves Purdue’s overall service to Indiana Agriculture. 

You local educator has worked with local farmers on these projects in the past. If you are interested in doing a demonstration or on-farm research this year, you can contact me at pwoolery@purdue.edu or 574-7729141 or 574-946-3412.

An upcoming four-part extension workshop for women in agriculture will focus on emergency preparedness for rural families.

The program will be a 4-part series, held at numerous locations across Nebraska and Indiana. The series will focus on farm and ranch emergency management, first aid, fire protection, and hazardous materials. Workshops will be held from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Eastern time on March 5, 7, 12 and 14.

The program is a collaboration between extension women in Agriculture programs at Purdue University and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, agricultural occupations have high rates of work-related injuries and deaths. While not all emergencies result in bodily injury or death, they also may cost rural families in other ways.

“Women play a critical role in ensuring the safety of their homes and rural communities,” said Jenna Nees, Purdue Extension Educator Ag & Natural Resources in Putnam County. “In many farm and ranch families, safety is an important topic, but it sometimes gets overlooked because it does not directly impact profitability.”

Each state’s workshop sites will be hosted by local extension personnel. Keynote speakers will be simulcast to each location, and each site will provide additional speakers and hands-on activities. Dinner will be included.

Nees said the program’s structure is intended to strengthen networks of women in rural areas, which can provide opportunities for building trust and sharing information. “Connections are so important to rural women,” she said. “We have seen the benefits that come from knowing your peers, having a place to share difficulties, and mitigate the isolation that so many of us in agriculture often feel.”

The workshops seek to help participants initiate preventative practices, set up a plan to deal with emergencies before they occur and be more comfortable reacting to emergency situations.

There is a registration fee of $50 per person before Feb. 20. The fee increases to $60 per person after Feb. 20. Participants should plan to attend each session. A virtual option is available for those unable to attend a workshop site, although in-person attendance is highly encouraged to better network with other attendees and interact with speakers. The virtual registration fee is $75 before Feb. 20 and $80 after Feb. 20. Registration may be completed on the Nebraska Women in Agriculture website, https://wia.unl.edu/prep.

Those with questions or concerns can contact Jenna Nees at smith535@purdue.edu or 765-653-8411.

Disaster Preparedness for Rural Families Indiana Workshop Sites

• Angola Steuben — County Community Building, 317 S. Wayne St
• Columbia City — Purdue Extension - Whitley County, 524 Branch Court
• Columbus — Purdue Extension- Bartholomew County, 783 S. Marr Rd
• Greentown — Howard County 4-H Fairgrounds - Lead Center, 610 E. Payton St
• Plymouth — Marshall County Building - Extension Office, 112 W. Jefferson St.
• Valparaiso — MAAC Center, 4203 Montdale Park Drive

Purdue Extension is proud to announce the upcoming Ag Women Engage Conference, a dynamic event aimed at celebrating women in the agricultural sector. The conference will take place at the Grand Wayne Convention Center in Fort Wayne, Indiana on February 22nd, 2024.

The AWE conference is designed to bring women together involved in various aspects of agriculture, including farmers, researchers, educators, and industry professionals. Attendees will have the opportunity to network, share experiences, and gain valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities facing women in the agricultural field.

Participants will have the option to participate in four breakout sessions throughout the day which focus on the various areas of risk management. Keynote speaker Amanda Radke, fifth generation rancher and author, will discuss navigating dynamics of multigenerational family agricultural businesses.

Registration is now open and available until February 13th. To register and learn more about the Ag Women Engage Conference please visit:

https://purdue.link/AWE2024.

For questions or concerns regarding the AWE conference, please contact Jenna Nees at smith535@purdue.edu or 765-653-8411.

People own forests and woodlands for a variety of reasons; including wildlife viewing, hunting, recreation, and income from timber. However, poor management, invasive plants, insects, and diseases can threaten these activities. To help woodland owners, Purdue Extension is hosting a Forest Management for the Private Woodland Owner; this class will provide knowledge and resources to help landowners make informed decisions in the care and management of their forests.

Topics covered include tree identification, forest history and biology, forest management planning, forest management practices, considerations for selling timber, forest investment and taxation, wildlife habitat management, and resources and assistance for private woodland owners.

The Class will be held at the Purdue Extension Starke County Office (108 N. Pearl Street, Knox IN 46534) on Thursday evenings from March 7 to May 2 (excluding March 28) from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. CT. There will be two Saturday field tours to local forests as well.

Registration cost is $50 per person and includes: in-person time with forestry specialists, all course materials, a thumb drive of all publications, a tree measuring stick and snacks. Guest registration (in addition to initial registration) is $30 and includes all learning sessions and handouts at the sessions.

To register visit https://cvent.me/xrQLOr or you can contact the Starke County Extension Office at pwoolery@purdue.edu or 574-772-9141. Please register by February 29th . Class size is limited

The Purdue Center for Commercial Agriculture Crop Basis Tool is a web-based tool that provides access to weekly historical and contemporaneous corn and soybean basis data for local market regions in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, and Ohio. The tool is updated weekly to keep grain industry participants up-to-date on current market information.

 The Crop Basis Tool is populated using cash and futures price data purchased from DTN. Data represent approximately 3,000 buyers across Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, and Ohio. The number of buyers varies by week, depending on how many buyers report cash prices. Daily cash price data from individual grain elevators and processors are averaged to create average cash price series. The average cash price data is used to compute weekly basis (cash price minus futures price), using Wednesday cash and futures prices. To facilitate comparisons across years, a crop-marketing year is defined as having 48 weeks, with four weeks per month. When a month has five Wednesdays, prices from the fourth and fifth Wednesdays are averaged and reported as the fourth week. As a result, Week = 1 is the first week of September (beginning of the crop-marketing year), Week = 5 is the first week of October, and so on.

You can access the tool  on the Purdue Center for Commercial Agriculture Website:

https://ag.purdue.edu/commercialag/home/