Agriculture all over the world
Happy Holidays! It is hard to believe another year has gone by already. We have had another challenging farm year, and most of you are still harvesting. Late planting, late harvest, rain and more rain, fluctuating prices, wet corn, bin space shortage, and so on. Good luck with the rest of harvest, and I wish all of you a safe finish to this farming season. At the Extension office, we have a busy educational year planned for our agricultural community, and there has been an unintentional overlap in programming and harvest. Our agricultural committee and Unit Council work hard to assess needs and address current local issues in order to provide useful educational opportunities to our county residents.
A Soil and Water Management Workshop – “The Future of Soil and Water Management” will be held at the Extension office on Feb. 10. This distance education/latitude bridge program will include a live speaker from the Princeton location. Biochar and its effect on soil, water quality in the Gulf, cap and trade issues, the latest research in soil and water management, and practical information on managing these resources will be covered in this workshop.
This will be the fifth annual Northern Illinois Crop Management Workshop, to be held again in Malta on Feb. 17-18. This popular all-inclusive workshop will cover a large variety of topics related to crop management and production issues. CCA credits will be available at most workshops. Plan on attending this excellent two day workshop.
There will be a Pesticide Safety Education Program training and testing program given on Feb. 25 in Princeton at Wise Guys. There will also be a test only given in our Bureau County office on March 11. If you need to re-certify, call our office at (815) 875-2878 to register.
During a recent personal vacation, I had an amazing opportunity to make a quick trip to Agritechnica, which is a huge bi-annual farm show held in Hanover, Germany. This farm show has a largely technical slant, and all of the most recent advances in farm machinery and components were on display in 18 exhibit halls over 80 acres with more than 2,000 exhibitors. Needless to say, I did not see it all, but there was some very interesting equipment with adaptations for many crops that do not exist in the Midwest. What I found most interesting was the emphasis on tillage equipment. There were buildings full of plows and tillage implements. Some of the plows were so large that I could easily walk under the tines. I guess maybe the rest of the world is not so concerned with their topsoil?
At the time of my trip, they were harvesting sugar beets in Germany. Sugar beets are like the corn of Illinois, a major crop with many by-products and lots of acreage devoted to the crop. The big piles of beets and the equipment used for harvest was so unique, and it gave me a whole new perspective of farming.
During a young farmers’ panel discussion at Agritechnica, Germany, Russia, Spain, New Zealand and the United States were represented. It was enlightening to listen to their presentations. They discussed the challenges on their farms, and some were so different than what an average Illinois farmer might face, such as employee issues (Spain – olives – more than 300 migrant workers), pervasive political corruption affecting profit margins (Russia), and unusual land usage (New Zealand). But many of the issues were the same, such as increasing land prices (high already in all countries), rising input costs, and wild fluctuations in markets. While this was a small representation of farming worldwide, it illustrated that farming, while so different among nations, still has recurring themes. What was most encouraging was the attitudes of the farmers. They were all generational farmers with a love of the land and a passion for farming. It was a very positive and lively discussion that demonstrated that although farming on separate continents has so many differences, it is a career that also shares many of the same difficulties and joys that Illinois farmers face every year.
Please keep us in mind as a resource for various farm-related information, such as custom rate sheets, lease forms, farm record books, etc. Commercial and private pesticide training calendars and study materials may also be obtained at our office.
I would like to bring attention to the excellent Web site farmdoc.uiuc.edu. I know many of you are familiar with this site, but if you haven’t taken a look, this would be a great time. This extremely useful Web site provides comprehensive and integrated risk management information and analysis. Subject matter sections include finance, marketing and outlook, management, law and taxation, crop insurance, FAST tools, prices and weather, and policy. This Web site has been a valuable tool for many Illinois producers and agricultural professionals and is constantly updated to provide current and relevant economic farm information.
If you have any questions about any of our scheduled offerings or need further agricultural information, please contact the office. If you have specific needs and/or recommendations for future programs, call us at (815) 875-2878. Your feedback provides valuable information to our office and allows us to better serve the local agricultural community. Thank you and I look forward to seeing everyone this winter.
Sherry Hockings is the agricultural program coordinator for the University of Illinois Extension — Bureau County.
