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General Contact: NEWS
RELEASE - February 2, 2012 For More Information Contact:
Mary Fund, 785-873-3431 or ksrc@rainbowtel.net It’s true, you can’t do much
about the weather but you can do something about its impact on
your grazing system. Presented by the National Drought Mitigation Center, the in-depth workshop examined the effects of drought on forage systems as well as strategies to lessen that impact. Drought Center Researcher Tonya
Haigh emphasized that there is not a single plan that works for
every operation but, she said, steps can be taken to significantly
reduce farm and ranch vulnerability to drought. Increased plant diversity in pastures, as well as avoiding over-grazing, results in healthier plants and plant roots and that means a quicker recovery from drought conditions. “What you do today impacts tomorrow. What you do this year impacts next year,” Kraft said. “We have to take advantage of good years to prepare for the bad.” The Emporia-based range specialist suggested that a drought plan focus on efforts to protect vegetation during extreme dry periods. He also advised that producers establish in advance drought management procedures — such as reducing stocking rates — as well as the “trigger points” that put those procedures into effect. University of Nebraska Forage Specialist Jerry Volesky asserted that “forage has never been more valuable” than it is in the current beef industry economy. He discussed a variety of management tools to address forage shortages, including preg-checking and selling open cows earlier, utilizing corn stalks, supplementing with dried distillers grains, stricter culling and early weaning of calves. “It is estimated that about 10 pounds of forage is conserved for each day that a calf is weaned. Ten pounds of forage is about 40 percent of the daily requirements for a cow,” he said, adding that there would be a positive effect on cow weight and body condition as well. Kansas rancher Ted Alexander shared some of the steps he’s taken as part of his drought management plan. He emphasized the importance of measuring rainfall to better understand its effect on forage crude protein content as well as productivity. Alexander’s drought mitigation measures, which are triggered by previously identified conditions, include reducing yearling grazing days, early weaning and reduced stocking rates. Additionally, he has taken steps to “drought-proof” his ranch by installing pipelines and waterers and eliminating non-productive pasture plants such as eastern red cedars. The Sun City rancher’s advice for the attendees was, “Stay flexible. Do the planning and then implement that plan.” Flexibility is an essential component of a drought management plan, said NRCS Range Specialist Dwayne Rice. He advised producers to begin by estimating their average sustainable carrying capacity during average climatic conditions. The manager should then divide — on paper — his or her existing herd into at least three herds. The “A” herd would be the number one priority group, consisting, for example, of the most profitable cows and yearling heifers with high potential value. The “B” herd could include replacement heifers and/or steers nearing their target weight. The “C” herd would include cattle that could be readily sent to market in short-forage situations — older cows, inferior cows, early weaned calves. By prioritizing the herd, Rice said, producers can avoid “knee-jerk” reactions to drought conditions. Pre-established trigger dates — based on rainfall and forage conditions — would then set the producer’s plan in action. Trigger dates should also reflect pivotal periods for forages grown on the farm or ranch. In eastern Kansas, for example, conditions on April 15 would be an indicator of what type of production to expect from cool season grasses. Strategic financial planning is
another important aspect of drought management planning, according
to Barry Dunn of South Dakota State University. Dunn suggested the
producers begin with an inventory of all aspects of their
operations, including balance sheets and risk assessments as well
as physical and human resources. A relatively new tool for dealing with the financial impact of drought was discussed by Amy Roeder of USDA’s Risk Management Agency. RMA is now offering Pasture, Rangeland and Forage insurance through a pilot program that includes Kansas. The policies, Roeder said, are based on a rainfall index that utilizes National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Climate Prediction Center Data. Insurance indemnities, Roeder explained, are based on the deviation from normal precipitation in a given area during a specific time period (or periods) selected by the participating producer. Time periods are in two-month intervals so producers can decide which periods correlate to forage growth in their operations. More information, including an online decision tool, is available at www.rma.usda.gov Drought conditions across much of Kansas are not likely to moderate in the near future, Kansas Climatologist Mary Knapp told the crowd. According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, more than half of the state is rated as abnormally or exceptionally dry, a situation forecast to continue in the southern part of Kansas. A La Nina situation is persisting in the tropical Pacific Ocean, Knapp noted, and that means it will continue to influence drier-than-normal conditions in the Southern Plains. Additionally, she pointed out, fluctuations in sea surface temperatures (oscillations) in the Atlantic and Pacific are weakening which also supports La Nina’s persistence. La Nina conditions are expected
to weaken eventually and be replaced sometime this summer with El
Nino conditions that warm the equatorial Pacific and favor wetter
conditions in Kansas and across the Central Plains. In addition to the National Drought Mitigation Center, the Kansas Graziers Association and the Kansas Grazing Lands Coalition, workshop sponsors included the Kansas Rural Center, the Kansas Farmers Union and the Kansas Center for Sustainable Agriculture and Alternative Crops. Mark Parker is a free-lance writer who provided this article for the Kansas Rural Center.
### NEWS
RELEASE - January 31, 2012 For More Information Contact:
Kansas Rural Center
Announces 2012 Savor the Season program For further information:
### NEWS
RELEASE - December 20, 2011 For More information, contact: Mary Howell, 785-562-8726 or e-mail marshallcofair@gmail.com Managing Drought Risk on the Ranch-- KGA 2012 Conference Set for January 21 The Kansas Graziers Association (KGA) and the Kansas Grazing Lands
Coalition are co-sponsoring an all day conference, "Managing
Drought Risk on the Ranch," presented by the National Drought
Mitigation Center, based at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
The conference will be held Saturday, January 21 at the Harvest
House Meeting Room of the Flint Hills Christian Church, 1836 E.
U.S. Highway 50 in Emporia, Ks. This is the KGA’s annual
winter conference. ### NEWS
RELEASE - November 29, 2011
Rethinking food production
with an eye to the future Agriculture is a fast-moving train and no one knows exactly what’s up around the bend. For Dan Nagengast, reconnecting food production with food consumption is critical to keeping that train on the track. Speaking at the Kansas Rural Center’s recent Sustainable Agriculture Conference in Emporia, Nagengast laid out compelling concerns about the current industrialized approach to feeding the planet in light of a long list of local and global issues. “Can our dominant system cope?” asked the Lawrence farmer who recently stepped down after shepherding the Kansas Rural Center for 20 years as its executive director. “I don’t think (industrial agriculture) will go away for a long, long time but shouldn’t we be looking at different models?” Decreasing fossil fuel reliance, using water more efficiently, reducing waste and understanding that many costs of the industrial food production model are externalized rather than attributed to the system that incurred them are key issues that must be addressed, Nagengast said. At the heart of his concerns, however, are people and the disconnect between food production and food consumption. He noted that global agriculture has 219,000 new mouths to feed every day in a world that is becoming increasingly urbanized. The trend toward fewer and larger farms has reduced biodiversity and dramatically shifted people out of production agriculture, Nagengast said. In the United States, he pointed out, 41 percent of the population was involved in food production in 1900. Today, only about .7 percent of Americans provide the labor to put food on the table. “Why are so few of us engaged in providing the most basic of human needs?” he asked, explaining that the break in the production-consumption link impacts society from its employment to its ecology. Noting that Kansas once had a thriving apple industry, for example, he said few people today have an awareness of how their food is grown or even where it comes from. Nagengast asserted that getting more people involved with food production is elemental to a more productive and sustainable system. He cited a growing public desire for locally produced food and pointed out that the number of farmer’s markets in the U.S. has risen from 1,755 in 1994 to approximately 7,175 in 2011 with an estimated $7 billion in local food sales for the year. Encouraging and enabling more farmers to market directly to the public, he said, is a giant step toward more sustainable agriculture as local and regional food production benefits communities, farmers and consumers. “There is a way to do it,” Nagengast said of transforming our current food production system, “and we are doing it — but it’s a struggle.” Increasing regional and local food production is at the top of Nagengast’s answers for the “What can we do?” question. He advocated efforts to encourage everyone to have some role in the production of his or her food. Streamlining and clarifying regulations that affect direct marketing is important, he said, along with maximizing the nutrient density of foods and encouraging farming practices that promote clean air and water. Partnering with other farmers and regional processors — as well as anyone concerned about their food — can help facilitate sustainable food production. And, he added, protecting highly productive farmland is a must. Regionalizing food production, Nagengast said, can decrease transportation costs and unnecessary processing. Access to locally produced food, along with school-based nutritional and education programs can help improve the health of the next generation of Kansans, he said. Nagengast refused to lay blame at the feet of his fellow farmers who participate in a more industrialized approach to farming, however: “These are good, hard-working people and we can’t begrudge them their success but we have to ask if the current system is sustainable.” “Embedded in our current system is enormous waste and that’s not just the food system,” he told the crowd, adding that runaway waste is inherent in energy, health care and other segments of society. An IBM study, he said, found potential for a 25-30 percent increase in food production and water use efficiency. Arable land, water, fossil fuels, fertilizer and other important resources are either in limited or waning supply while technology and human labor resources are increasing. Developing a food production system that considers those factors is a challenge that faces producers and consumers alike. “There are things we can do every day,” Nagengast suggested. “We don’t have to petition the government to do it. … We can design a system that increases participation as well as productivity.” The Kansas Sustainable Agriculture Conference’s theme this year was “Options, Opportunities and Optimism: Cultivating Our Food and Farm Future. About 120 people attended the event held at Flint Hills Technical College in Emporia. Co-sponsors included the Kansas Center for Sustainable Agriculture and Alternative Crops, Kansas SARE, the Kansas Farmers Union, Kansas Wildlife Federation, Kansas Sierra club, and the Community Mercantile. The conference also received partial funding from the USDA Risk Management Agency for its workshops. The Kansas Rural Center is a grassroots organization committed to economically viable, environmentally sound, and socially sustainable rural culture. For more information, contact KRC by calling 785-873-3431or by visiting the Kansas Rural Center web site, www.kansasruralcenter.org
### NEWS
RELEASE - November 29, 2011
Sustainable Ag Conference
panel takes aim at America’s food system When it comes to making the American food system more diversified, sustainable and family farm friendly, “Happy talk doesn’t get it done,” according to Mike Callicrate, an independent cattleman, entrepreneur and political activist who was part of a panel discussion at the Kansas Rural Center’s recent Sustainable Agriculture Conference in Emporia. “Never before has there been so much money in agriculture — you just don’t get it,” he told a large group of farmers, growers and others gathered for the event sponsored by the Kansas Rural Center. Citing an industrialized agricultural system that stifles diversity as well as the economic potential of independent producers, Callicrate said there’s no doubt that the system is broken. “Caring about your country and caring about the community you live in — that’s how to fix it,” he asserted. Although consumer interest in locally produced food is at an all-time high, there is extreme resistance on the part of big agriculture, Callicrate said, adding that huge sums of money are being spent to promote industrial agriculture “with the family farmer’s face on it.” Much of that money comes from farmer-fed checkoff programs that force farmers to fund their own destruction, Callicrate contended. “The battle,” he added, “is between industrial agriculture and family farm agriculture.” The nation needs a lot more family farms and a lot more diversification on those farms, said Callicrate, who has been the lead plaintiff in two class action lawsuits against major meat packers. Changing the current system will not be easy, he added. It must begin in local communities and with getting involved in making them better places to live. Callicrate urged producers to get engaged in changing food and rural policies. “We need to make it easier to do the right thing and harder to do the wrong thing,” he said. Other members of the panel discussed a wide range of challenges and opportunities facing advocates of a more sustainable food production system. Eileen Horn, director of the Douglas County Food Policy Council, emphasized that the key to encouraging local, sustainable food production is working with other interested organizations and individuals. “Food is a consensus issue for a lot of groups and people so we can really build alliances,” she observed. Formed in 2009, the Douglas County Food Policy Council is made up of growers, food retailers and other stakeholders. After assessing the local food system, the Council’s first recommendation was a program adopted by the Douglas County that leases vacant and under-utilized county land to local growers for a dollar per acre. The program especially helps young growers get a start and it has reduced the county’s investment in upkeep of previously unused ground. “The good news is that these folks are accessible,” Horn said of public officials. She suggesting that people contact their own local officials to let them know that local food systems are important. Chris Wilson, who serves as deputy secretary of the Kansas Department of Agriculture, outlined some of the issues facing agriculture in the state. Protecting and extending the utility of the Ogallala Aquifer remains a priority to the Department, she said. Wilson also emphasized the importance of investing in research and technological development to solve the problems of both producers and consumers. Efforts at both the University of Kansas and Kansas State University to develop renewable fuel from biomass are examples of such research, she noted. Wilson cited several challenges facing the state, including the difficulty of recruiting farm labor and doing a better job of connecting producers and consumers. David Coltrain, Kansas State University Research and Extension agent in the River Valley Extension District, discussed his experiences in growing and marketing vegetables. Coltrain, who had as much as 60 acres of vegetable crops in southeast Kansas, also talked about a north central Kansas specialty crop project that encourages direct marketing of food crops. He noted that there has been an increase in both locally grown food production and farmer’s markets in the region. Meeting the increasing demand for locally grown food requires skills in both production and marketing, he said, adding that there are opportunities for innovative producers. Coltrain said that the tools being used to facilitate the connection between local growers and local consumers are effective but should be intensified: “We need to do a lot more of what we’re doing now.” “The potential to grow is amazing,” he asserted. State Senator Marci Francisco of Lawrence told the crowd that it is important to recognize the importance of agriculture to Kansas. Citing a focus on increasing the quantitative production of farm commodities, she suggested that it’s time to focus on food production with an eye on limited resources in the future. Francisco also emphasized that the state needs to encourage farming practices that protect the state’s reservoirs as well as rural development. She said locally grown food production and food processing could be sources of employment in areas where the development of manufacturing is unlikely due to inadequate infrastructure, resources or work force. Francisco, who is the Ranking Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee, also noted that there are several school lunch programs around the state that are helping connect children with food production. The panel discussion was led by Lecompton market gardener Paul Johnson who statistically outlined the dramatic trend toward fewer and larger Kansas farms. Despite a landscape of huge farms dominating the state, Johnson noted, only about one-half of Kansas communities have a supermarket. The Kansas Sustainable Agriculture Conference’s theme this year was “Options, Opportunities and Optimism: Cultivating Our Food and Farm Future. About 120 people attended the event held at Flint Hills Technical College in Emporia. Co-sponsors included the Kansas Center for Sustainable Agriculture and Alternative Crops, Kansas SARE, the Kansas Farmers Union, Kansas Wildlife Federation, Kansas Sierra club, and the Community Mercantile. The conference also received partial funding from the USDA Risk Management Agency for its workshops. The Kansas Rural Center is a grassroots organization committed to economically viable, environmentally sound, and socially sustainable rural culture. For more information, contact KRC by calling 785-873-3431 or by visiting the Kansas Rural Center web site, www.kansasruralcenter.org
- ANNOUNCEMENTS - ### Tire Tank for Livestock Watering Installation Guide Available Interest in alternative livestock watering options is high around the state. In response, KRC, KSU and several WRAPS watersheds have sponsored tire tank installation demonstration workshops. The tank installations provide cleaner water for livestock and give ponds a longer life, and help protect water quality in area streams and reservoirs. KRC field staff Lyle Kohlmeier has developed an “Illustrated Guide to Tire Tank Installation” based on KSU Watershed Specialist's Herschel George’s guidelines. The Guide is now online here. ###
Douglas County Food System
Report Released ### Loans available for Non-Organic Hoop Houses If organic production is not the strategy that you want to pursue for your farming operation, as is required by the USDA NRCS EQIP Organic Initiative, the Kansas Department of Commerce’s Agriculture Value Added Loan program is an excellent resource for expanding your operation. For those interested in greenhouses or hoop houses to extend their production season, the Value Added loan is available. This loan charges no interest for the first two years and then the rate is locked in at 1 percent over the prime rate for the remainder of the loan. There is no penalty for early payment. If you would like more information about the loan program, contact Mari Tucker at (785) 296-6080 or mtucker@kansascommerce.com
### New Book on Crop Rotation on Organic Farms "Crop Rotation on Organic Farms: A Planning Manual" helps farmers use rotations to build better soil; control pests, weeds and diseases; and develop profitable farms. Consulting with expert organic farmers, the authors share rotation strategies that can be applied under various field conditions and with a wide range of crops. "The purpose of this book is to help growers and farm advisors use crop rotations to build better soil, control pests, and develop profitable farms that support satisfied families," says editor Charles Mohler, a senior research associate at Cornell University. "Crop Rotation on Organic Farms" is most applicable for the Northeast but will also be useful in other regions. Published by the Natural Resource, Agriculture and Engineering Service (NRAES) and funded in part by SARE, the 154-page book includes instructions for making rotation planning maps and discusses the transition to organic farming. Other features include:
Download Crop Rotation on Organic Farms for free at www.sare.org/publications/croprotation.htm. To order print copies ($24.00 plus $5.95 s/h) visit www.sare.org/WebStore call 301/374-9696 or send check or money order to SARE Outreach, PO Box 753, Waldorf, Maryland 20604-0753. (Please specify title requested when ordering by mail.) Discounts are available on orders of 10 or more. Allow 3-4 weeks for delivery. Call 301/374-9696 for more information on bulk, rush or international shipments. The Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) USDA. SARE's mission is to advance - to the whole of American agriculture - innovations that improve profitability, stewardship and quality of life by investing in groundbreaking research and education. SARE Outreach operates under cooperative agreements with the University of Maryland and the University of Vermont to develop and disseminate information about sustainable agriculture. Visit www.sare.org for more information. Who We Are Projects Calendar & News Policy & Advocacy Publications Wind Projects Heartland Network Kansas Food Policy Council Clean Water Farms Project Links Home Page © Copyright
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