No Till notes: 'Educational events'

I would like to wish everyone a very happy and prosperous new year! I thought I would inform everyone on some upcoming regional conservation agricultural events that I’m sure will provide excellent educational opportunities to producers.

I have been attending these regional meetings for several years and I always feel that this has been time well spent. You get to listen to educators speak about all kinds of topics relating to conservation agriculture and network with like minded producers from around our region. I’ve learned a lot over the years and have taken concepts from these meetings and applied them to our own farming operation.

The first regional educational conference is also the largest. No-till on the Plains is hosting the 20th Annual No-till Conference Jan. 26-27. The conference is held in Salina, Kan., and each year well over 1,000 producers from all around our region attend this conference.

I’m looking forward to this year’s conference as No-till On the Plains is inviting all the speakers who have spoken at their conference to this year’s conference. There will be speakers joining the conference from all across the United States as well as many other parts of the world. The conference will definitely have an international feel this year. The theme for this year’s conference is “Celebrating Our History, Transforming Our Future.” This year I will be presenting as part of a producer panel on water conservation and agriculture. I will be the representative from Nebraska on the panel and will be joined by producers from Kansas and Oklahoma.

There are discounts being offered through the Nebraska No-till Cadre for producers from Nebraska for this conference. Be sure to check with No-till On the Plains to see if you qualify for these discounts. To register for this year’s conference go to the No-till On the Plains website [www.notill.org] or call 785-210-4549. If you would like to carpool to the conference give me a call at 308-760-5259 and we’ll get a carpool organized.

The second regional educational event is the 28th Annual High Plains No-till Conference in Burlington, Colo., on Feb. 2-3. This conference is hosted by the Colorado Conservation Tillage Association. I’ve always enjoyed this conference as it is a more intimate setting for an educational event. The attendance is around 500 producers each year with a similar format as the NTOP winter conference. The smaller setting and smaller group makes networking with producers and speakers much easier. This conference also has producers that work in lower rainfall areas similar to ours so it’s easier to discuss production problems and benefits in conservation agriculture with these producers and speakers.

I will be speaking at this conference on water conservation and there is also a producer panel on irrigated no-till crop production. Water conservation is a topic we can all benefit from so I’m looking forward to talking about how we conserve water on our farm. To register for this conference go to their website at highplainsnotill.com or call Becky Ravencamp at 719-740-0715. Call me at 308-760-5259 if you would like to arrange a carpool to this event and we’ll see what we can put together.

I hope to see many producers from our area at these no till conferences. I really believe continuing education has an important role in moving forward with agriculture. I know from my experiences that much has changed in conservation agriculture over the past several years and I fully expect much more change will take place in the future. Hope to see you at the conferences.