On Wednesday, January 31st nearly 50 students from eight Nebraska schools participated in the first annual Haskell Agronomy Career Development (CDE) Invite. Pleasant temperatures and sunshine made travel easy for schools as far away as Ord and Boyd County, Nebraska to attend. The event was hosted as a collaboration between the Haskell Ag Lab facility and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication Department. The focus of the contest was to prepare students for upcoming district and state level Agronomy competitions and help them understand opportunities within the agronomy field and explore agricultural-related careers throughout Nebraska, but especially northeast Nebraska.
The Agronomy CDE is designed to challenge students with plant, seed, insect, machinery, and equipment identification, as well disease/disorder determination, soils knowledge, soil map interpretation, and a team problem-solving component involving production yield, break-even yield, fertilizer management, population counts, and irrigation management. The goal for the HAL Agronomy CDE Invite was to have an engaging, hands-on, problem-solving contest designed to gauge student interest in agronomy as well as determine their skill level in several different soil and crop production categories.
The top team was Ord FFA, second place was Boyd County FFA, and the third-place team was Winside FFA. The top five individuals were as follows: 1st Place, Adam Knapp, Ord; 2nd Place, Will Skibinski, Ord; 3rd Place, Ethan Wadas, Ord; 4th Place, Jamison Meyer, Wayne; and 5th Place, Deegan Johnson, Boyd County.
The team at HAL and the UNL ALEC Department are looking forward to more collaboration and competitions with area schools to capitalize on UNL faculty and facilities to plan for future events and contests.
If you are a business or individual who would like to sponsor awards or prizes for contests such as this in the future, contact Monty Larsen at monty.larsen@unl.edu or by texting 402-340-1967.
Our next Coffee & Conversations will be on Tuesday, February 20th at 9 AM. Our featured presenter will be Karen Longe with KEL Physical Therapy speaking to attendees on "How to Get Rid of Hip & Knee Pain and Other Tips & Tricks from Your Local Physical Therapist." Mark your calendars and invite other family and friends to come on Tuesday, February 20th.
The March date for Coffee & Conversations will be Tuesday, March 12th at 9 AM.
There are still dates available to get your initial or recertification for Land Application Training. See dates and locations in flyer below.
Soil Health Conferences
Registration is open for the Soil Health Conferences that will be held in two locations. The Eastern Nebraska Conference will be held in West Point on February 29th and the Central Nebraska Conference will be in Hastings on March 5th. Registration details at: https://go.unl.edu/2024soilhealthconferences
Great Plains Heifer Development Program at Haskell Ag Lab
The Heifer Development Program at HAL is moving along. Currently, there are 45 head of cattle entered in the program with another 60 head expected in the very near future.
Retirements
Mitiku Mamo, Assistant Extension Educator for Dixon, Wayne, Cedar and Knox counties retired from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln/Nebraska Extension on February 8th. An in-house celebration to honor him was held on February 7th. We wish Mitiku all the best in his retirement.
Mary Jarvi, Office Associate, will be retiring from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln/Nebraska Extension on February 29th. A retirement reception to honor her will be held on February 16th. Best wishes to Mary on her retirement.
REGISTER NOW AND JOIN US SOON!
Extension to host multistate emergency preparedness workshop series for rural families
Emergency Preparedness for Rural Families is a 4-part series that will be held at the Haskell Ag Lab in Concord, NE. It is geared toward women in agriculture.
The series will focus on farm and ranch emergency management, first aid, fire protection, and hazardous materials. Workshops will be held from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. central time on March 5, 7, 12 and 14. Dinner will be included. A keynote speaker will speak at every workshop in addition to a local presenter with some hands-on activities and demonstrations. Come and learn CPR basics, practice using a fire extinguisher, learn how to create an efficient farm emergency plan, and what to do when disaster hits.
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.
Discounted 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.
This project was supported by a grant from NCRCRD through funding from USDA NIFA Award #2022-51150-38141.
Suggestions/Requests
Do you have a suggestion or a request for a program at the Haskell Ag Lab? We want to hear from you.
Click this link and complete this form and submit. We will look at all suggestions and requests. The form is available at: https://go.unl.edu/halsuggest
You can also reach us by phone at 402-584-2261 with your suggestions/requests for programs.
