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Nutrition Software Used: ESHA Food Processor

Ingredients:

• 1 egg
• 1 apple, scrubbed with clean vegetable brush under running water, grated (about 1 cup)
• 1 pound ground pork
• ½ cup breadcrumbs
• ½ teaspoon onion powder
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 6 whole wheat burger buns
• Sauce of choice (optional)
• 1 tomato, gently rubbed under cold running water, sliced
• 1 ½ cups spring greens or arugula, gently rubbed under cold running water

Yield: 6 servings Serving Size: 1 burgerCalories: 350Total Fat: 9Saturated Fat: 2.5Potassium: 10Total Sugars: 7Iron: 15Vitamin D: 0Calcium: 10Protein: 32Fiber: 2Added Sugars: 3Total Carbohydrates: 36Sodium: 260Cholesterol: 85Photo by Marusa Jonas

Directions:

1. Wash hands with soap and water.
2. Crack egg into a large bowl and beat with fork. Wash hands with soap and water after cracking raw eggs.
3. Add grated apple, ground pork, breadcrumbs, onion and garlic powder. Season with salt and pepper if desired. Mix well.
4. Divide the mixture into 6 parts and shape into patties. Wash hands with soap and water after handling raw meat.
5. Set the air fryer to 400°F and preheat for 5 minutes.
6. Place the patties in an air fryer basket. Make sure they are not touching. Cook for 5 minutes. Flip and cook an additional 5 minutes, or until the meat reaches an internal temperature of 160°F on a food thermometer.
7. Toast buns if desired. Assemble with a sauce of your choice (if desired), cooked patties, slices of tomato and top with spring greens.
8. Store leftovers in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to four days.

Sunday, October 1, 2023

Did you know that Nebraska’s grasslands lose over 419,000 tons of forage production every year due to woody plant encroachment? When woody plants like eastern redcedar spread and take over grasslands, they displace grasses and broadleaf plants and reduce forage production by up to 75%1 (Fig.1). New rangeland monitoring data shows that tree cover increased by over 402,000 acres in Nebraska’s rangelands from 1990-2019 (https://www.wlfw.org/yieldgap/). This means less forage for livestock and wildlife needs.

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Sunday, October 1, 2023

After about 5 years of fall cover crop grazing, one thing became apparent: the amount of grazing achieved when we gave cattle access to the whole field from the start did not appear to be determined by the amount of forage that was in the field. This was because the weather seemed to determine how much trampling loss occurred. In wet years, we harvested less than 15% of the forage, and on average, we captured about 30%.

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To see if you qualify for USDA's new Farm Labor Stabilization and Protection Pilot Program, visit USDA. Ag employers can begin applying for a new pilot program that aims to help address workforce needs, promote a safe work environment, and support expansion of lawful migration pathways for workers.

Featured speakers in this webinar include Marcelo Castillo, USDA research economist, Brian Lisonbee, Lisonbee Immigration Law attorney/owner, Lincoln, Nebraska, and Elliott Dennis, UNL assistant professor and livestock economist. For ag producers interested in hiring seasonal labor, this webinar focuses on the state of ag labor and historical use, an overview of visa requirements, procedures, compliance and employer obligations.

Nebraska Extension Educator Chuck Burr highlights some of the best practices to avoid development of iron deficiency chlorosis, and additional steps farmers can take to manage chlorosis once its been scouted in their fields.

Nebraska Extension Educator John Thomas reviews control practices for farmers battling Palmer amaranth and an emergency measure the Environmental Protection Agency is currently considering to provide assistance.

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Nebraska Extension Agricultural Meteorologist Eric Hunt shares his expectations for precipitation throughout the rest of September, and what effect this year's corn maturity timeframe may have on yields.

Spring pea trials at the UNL High Plains Ag Lab near Sidney, Nebraska. (Photo by Chabella Guzman) The 2023 trials included winter and spring peas from ProGene and Meridian Seeds, winter peas from Seed Ranch and spring peas from Valesco Genetics.

Dave Ostdiek (left), retired UNL PREEC communications specialist, and Bijesh Maharjan, UNL PREEC associate professor, stand with the unveiled Knorr-Holden sign on Aug. 23. In 2021, Ostdiek and Maharjan put in an extensive effort to commemorate the Knorr-Holden plot with a signboard depicting the research land’s significance. UNL faculty members recently celebrated the Knorr-Holden Plot's century-long historical value to agricultural research. Located near Scottsbluff, Knorr-Holden is in the top five oldest continuous field-crop experiments in the U.S.

In week eight of this series, let’s explore the last of the 7 C’s—“citizenship.”

Citizenship is the only community/society value included in the social change model, and it suggests that the individual and the collaborative group both become connected to their local community and broader society through the leadership development activity they are working on.

In its 2023 on-farm research studies, the Nebraska On-Farm Research Network is working with Nebraska farmers to evaluate which dry bean varieties are best-suited for direct harvest.

Timothy Porch, research geneticist at USDA ARS, left, and Carlos Urrea, Nebraska Extension dry bean breeding specialist, scout a plot of dry beans. (Photo by Chelsea Didinger) Researchers at UNL and USDA ARS in Puerto Rico are collaborating on the development of new drought-tolerance dry bean lines using plant genes from tepary beans, a crop native to the southwest U.S. and Mexico.

Vesh Raj Thapa, UNL post-doctoral research assistant, stands behind root samples from the plots at WREEC in North Platte. (Photo by Chabella Guzman) Researchers collaborating in a UNL-USDA NRCS study on cover crops highlight the importance of species selection, as each type of cover crop has a unique root system that contributes differently to soil health.

A session on drones was held at the annual Water and Crops Field Day at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, West Central Research Extension and Education Center in North Platte. (Photo by Chabella Guzman) The 2023 Water and Crops Field Day featured seminars and panels on crop and livestock production practices that align with USDA's new climate-smart agriculture initiatives.

Dipak Santra, left, and other University of Nebraska-Lincoln faculty and graduate students in a plot of field peas at the UNL High Plains Ag Lab Field tour in June 2023. (Photo by Chabella Guzman) The conference will cover a wide range of agronomic topics for field peas, chickpeas, black-eyed peas and other pulses, including management of nutrients and diseases, genetics, crop insurance, policy and more.

Rejuvra™ is a new rangeland herbicide product from Bayer that controls cheatgrass seedlings. It should be applied in early fall before seeds germinate and can provide control up to two years post-application. Management insights on controlling cheatgrass, wild oats and fall armyworms in pastures, and using growing degree days to schedule your final alfalfa harvest.

Historical crop progress data for Nebraska is available at USDA. Sorghum harvest was underway in Nebraska as of Sept. 17, and crop conditions remained unchanged from the previous week.