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Agricultural economist David Kohl will be the first speaker in the 2019-2020 Farmers and Ranchers College Series.

Our stretch of relatively dry weather is coming to an end, with three storms now forecast to roll through Nebraska in the next two weeks. Rain and snow are likely in some areas so stay informed and prepared for winter weather.

Free clinics with an agricultural law attorney and an agricultural financial counselor are being offered for farmers and ranchers at five sites across the state in December. The clinics are confidential, one-on-one meetings.

Based on November 1 conditions, Nebraska's 2019 corn crop is forecast at 1.77 billion bushels, down 1% from 2018. Soybean production is forecast at 282 million bushels, down 13%.

Two new guides from the Midwest Cover Crops Council and Nebraska Extension offer key "how to" information for growers interested in integrating cover crops into their traditional corn-soybean rotation.

Female agriculture landowners, farmers, and ranchers looking to increase their business management skills are encouraged to register for the 2019 Women Managing Agricultural Land conference.

Figure 1. Study of irrigated chickpeas at Grant (left) and harvesting irrigated chickpea plot in 2019. (Photos by Strahinja Stepanovic) Research in southwest Nebraska looks at potential water savings of adding field peas and chickpeas into corn and soybean rotations where irrigation water is limited. Both crops efficiently used early season precipitation to produce good dryland yields.

Low temperatures in western Nebraska may have caused some sugarbeets to start decaying, making them unacceptable for sugar production for human consumption but an economical source of feed for cattle.

Thursday, November 7, 2019 In this webinar, Dr. Amy Millmier Schmidt discusses manure transfers from permitted concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs).Spanish: 

Thursday, November 7, 2019 In this webinar, Dr. Rick Koelsch discusses ways to minimize odor nuisances associated with manure application. Spanish: 

Nebraska 4-H is now accepting nominations for the Salute to Excellence Volunteer Awards. Nebraska 4-H will recognize one volunteer from each of the two categories:

• The Volunteer of the Year Award (VOY) is for currently serving 4-H volunteers who have served as 4-H volunteers less than 10 years at the local, county, district, or state level. 
• The Outstanding Lifetime Volunteer Award (OLV) is for current or former 4-H volunteers who have served 10 or more years at the local, county, district, or state level. 

Nomination packets must be submitted by a nominator by December 18, 2019. Packets should be submitted to Cathy Johnston at cjohnston1@unl.edu. A complete nomination packet must include a resume of the nominee's 4-H and relevant community volunteer experience, three (3) letters of recommendation, and a high-quality headshot of the nominee. Nominators should use the application template when developing the nomination packet. 

Download Nomination FormReview Full Nomination Procedures

Figure 1. ARS scientists have discovered genes in sorghum that can double the amount of grain that the plant produces. (Photo by Robert Klein, USDA ARS) ARS scientists have discovered genes in sorghum that can double the amount of grain the plant produces.

This week the USDA Farm Service Agency announced that payments now are available to eligible producers in Nebraska who lost stored commodities due to natural disaster in 2018 or 2019.