Ag Agent
Brian Rees
Saturday, July 19, 2008
The Flint Hills Beef Fest will be held Aug. 15-17 in Emporia, with most of the events taking place on the Lyon County Fairgrounds.
For many years there has been a Friday morning breakfast and educational seminar following an hour-long live WIBW radio broadcast.
This year, the Anderson Building on the Lyon County Fairgrounds will be the site, and the educational seminar looks to be the best ever.
Speakers and topics for the Friday morning seminar will be: USDA Undersecretary Bruce Knight speaking about the Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling – what will be required?; Chandler Keys, Senior Officer, JBS-Swift speaking about JBS and the US Beef Industry; and Darrell Holaday of Country Futures with the Corn and Cattle Outlook. The Flint Hills Beef Fest will take place during the middle of what I understand will be a comment period on the COOL requirements, and who should be in a better position to discuss the requirements than the USDA Undersecretary? And with the announcement a couple of months ago about the JBS acquisition and JBS becoming the largest beef packer in the United States (and the world), Chandler Keys should be able to provide a unique insight on the JBS philosophy on the beef industry in the US and worldwide.
The seminar will be a little different this year, in that there will be no tickets required. However, reservations need to be made by calling the Lyon County Extension Office at 620-341-3220 by Wednesday, Aug. 13. Be sure to call in, tell your friends and let’s get a big crowd at the Anderson Building for breakfast and some great information.
Time to change pace a little. It’s finally summertime in the area, and with it comes hay season, shipping time for double-stocked cattle, and some concerns for field crops.
One corn disease that has been identified to our north (and is probably here) is gray leaf spot. This plant disease can have a serious impact on corn yields, especially if it infects corn plants and spreads early in the pollination and grain filling period. Yield losses can be substantial — and the potential return from fungicide application can be great — if lesions appear on the upper half of the plant two weeks either side of tasseling. Based on 110 bushel corn, estimated $22/ac for fungicide and application, and a selling price of $7 per bushel, a 5 percent loss to disease would yield around a $16 net return; a 20 percent loss could result in about a $130 net return. You can fill in your own prices and yields and do the math. Please remember that if the upper leaves are free from lesions within six weeks of tasseling, the chance of substantial yield loss is minimal. When considering the use of fungicides, always consult the label for appropriate application rates and timing and be sure to follow any harvest restrictions.
Gray leaf spot is likely to be most severe on no-till corn following corn with high residues. And with the recent temperatures in the 80’s and 90’s and high moisture and humidity, the conditions have favored many diseases on corn and soybeans.
Again this year, Lyon County is the site of a sentinel plot for Asian Soybean Rust and soybean aphid. The aphid populations have not built yet this year, but the moisture and temperatures prior to this week should have been favorable. Soybean rust has not progressed north from the Gulf Coast as early as it did the past couple of years, but we are a long ways from being able to forget about the potential for this disease.
I would like to remind you that the Lyon County Fair starts July 31 and runs through Aug. 9. Come out to the Fairgrounds and look around — it will be a great time for all!
Comments
Post a comment
We allow registered users to post comments on this Web site. Our goal with this feature is to encourage thoughtful discussions about the news stories. Using the comment feature to make random attacks on people is not acceptable. Emporiagazette.com neither endorses nor guarantees the accuracy of any user contribution. Responsibility for what is posted or contributed to this site is the sole responsibility of each user. To learn more about our posting policies please read our User Poster Agreement Policy.
(Requires free registration.)