With a mild winter thus far for much of South Dakota, Im sure many of you have struggled to slow down, instead seeing extra time for more outdoor progress. As someone who does not like to sit still, I understand the feeling; however, I encourage you to take some time to relax and visit with family and friends to enjoy the holiday season.
Children are often the best (and most honest) people to hang around this time of year; my kids view this season as pure magic and find a new gift or reason for excitement with every door we open on the Advent calendar. Maybe we should all be a little more like kids this year! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you and yours!
Crop Hour webinar series
This year, the SDSU Extension Agronomy team is continuing our free, online winter webinar series after having success with it for the past few years. Please join us for a virtual coffee break from 10to 11a.m. CST every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from Jan. 9 through March 7. These webinars are designed with you in mind, focusing on common cropping questions and issues that arise in our growing environment. You may register for the entire event or each individual week, attending only the topics you are most interested in if you wish. The topic schedule is as follows:
- Jan. 9-11: Corn Best Management Practices for South Dakota Corn
- Jan. 16-18: Precision Ag Precision Ag Practices for Farming
- Jan. 23-25: Soybean Best Management Practices for South Dakota Soybean
- Jan. 30-Feb. 1: Small Grains Importance of Small Grains in South Dakota Cropping Systems
- Feb. 6-8: Soil Health Carbon is Key to Biological Diversity for Crop Production
- Feb. 13-15: Sunflower and Pulse Crops Best Management Practices for Sunflower and Pulse Production in South Dakota
- Feb. 20-22: Climate and Business Management Climate, Water, and Economics Information for 2023
- Feb. 27-29: Forages Emerging Information on Blister Beetles, Alternative Forages, and Alfalfa Leaf Loss
- Mar. 5-7: Specialty Crops Best Management Practices for Weeds, Tillage, and Diseases in South Dakota
For a detailed description of each week, and to sign up at no cost, visit extension.sdstate.edu/crop-hour. CEUs for certified crop advisors will be available when attending live sessions or through a virtual training course that will be released after the completion of the webinar. Recordings of each session will be available as the webinar series progresses, located at the crop hour landing webpage and on the SDSU Extension YouTube channel. This webinar is a great opportunity to catch up on research updates and new crop management techniques. We will host many of our SDSU Extension experts as well as invited speakers to ensure we cover a wide range of topics from many perspectives!
Northern Plains Forage Association
When I took on the role of Forage Field Specialist, I noticed that there was no formal place for local forage growers to come together and network; after talking it over with growers and industry partners, we decided to form an association. South Dakota and surrounding Northern Plains states are now home to the Northern Plains Forage Association. The group has officially existed for about a year now and just hosted their first annual meeting in early December.
This association is open to forage growers, buyers, industry partners, and any interested stakeholders in the forage industry. The group intends to grow a forage networking and education community in order to promote sustainable, quality, profitable forage production in our region. This learning community will also promote regional forage research to benefit forage growers in the local area.
The Northern Plains Forage Association will make a few public appearances this winter: find our booth at the South DakotaSoil Health Coalition annual meeting in Rapid City on Jan. 23-24; join the educational seminar [focusing on using alternative forages] during the Sioux Falls Farm Show on Jan. 24 (no charge); find the NPFA booth at the Central Plains Dairy Expo on March 19-21 in Sioux Falls.
If you have interest in learning more or have questions about joining as a regular or associate member, search @NPForage on Facebook or email me at [email protected].
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