Crop, land stewardship clinics set
IOWA?FALLS – The North Central Iowa Crop & Land Stewardship Clinic will be held from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., on Jan. 16, at the Ellsworth Community College Ag and Renewable Energy Center, south of Iowa Falls.
Registration begins at 8 a.m. A free blood pressure screening and blood glucose test will be offered from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. by Ellsworth Municipal Hospital. An eight-hour fast should precede the blood glucose test.
The kick-off speaker for this year’s crop clinic is Ken Ferrie, field agronomist for Farm Journal magazine and RFD-TV’s Corn College.
Ferrie will speak on nitrogen management to maximize profit.
Other speakers include ISU Extension specialists Elwynn Taylor, Alison Robertson, Greg Tylka, Mark Hanna and John Holmes; plus Dean Lemke from Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship; Gary Hillmer, of Natural Resources Conservation Service; and Mark Tomer, from the National Lab for Ag and the Environment.
Topics include managing Goss’s wilt in corn and sudden death syndrome in soybeans, wetland provisions of the Food Security Act, managing the carbon penalty, reducing energy costs in cropping operations, corn yield response to sulfur and zinc applications, controlling nematodes in corn, nutrient reduction strategies to reduce fertilizer cost, impact of soil erosion on area watersheds, and managing weather risk for 2012.
Producers will have the opportunity to complete their annual two hours of training to maintain private pesticide applicators certification.
There is no registration cost for the clinic, but there is a statewide charge of $20 for private pesticide applicator training for recertification.
The program and lunch is provided by area sponsors. For more information, contact Darwin Miller, Hardin County ISU Extension administrator, at (641) 648-4850, or toll free at (888) 648-5005.