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Historical crop progress data for Nebraska is available at USDA. With just 6% left to go, dry edible bean planting is significantly ahead of last year's pace. Sorghum planting was at 8% remaining, as of June 16.

Monday, June 17, 2024 The chute slides shut with a thud, not a clang, safely catching the steer so it can be vaccinated. The steer behind him waits quietly, looking ahead at the alleyway that will take him back to his pen. The only sounds are cattle shifting against the alleyway and the quiet voices of the workers vaccinating the cattle. Spanish: 

Monday, June 17, 2024 Check out the latest episodes of the BeefWatch podcast, hosted by Nebraska Extension educator Aaron Berger. Spanish: 

Monday, June 17, 2024

Lincoln, Neb. —With a third successful prescribed burn completed at Barta Brothers Ranch on April 21, researchers are seeing what fire can and cannot do about invasive redcedars.

“Burning isn’t a panacea for tree invasion, but it kills younger cedars,” Craig Allen, director of the project, said. “Older trees can escape fires, and have to be removed by other means, and after fire, young cedars can germinate in large numbers, so it usually takes follow-up fires to kill new young trees, until the seed source in the soil is depleted.”

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Next week will bring more severe weather to Nebraska, with chances of up to six inches of rain for the central and northeastern regions. Precipitation may also lead to flooding across the eastern half of the state.

Figure 1. A wheat field day at the High Plains Ag Lab in Cheyenne County on June 13. As of this week, stripe rust has been observed in all wheat-growing regions of Nebraska. Leaf rust has expanded range as well but is not expected to significantly impact yield.

Friday, June 14, 2024

The stocker/yearling sector of the cattle industry offers flexibility and an opportunity for new producers to get started in the business. 

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Rural Prosperity Nebraska and the Heartland Regional Food Business Center, a multi-state organization focused on strengthening farm and food enterprises, are kicking off a summer-long series of market-ready webinars, beginning June 20. The MarketReady Advanced Topic Webinar Series will explore a range of topics, from insurance to packaging, aimed at aiding producers interested in expanding their businesses into retail, wholesale and restaurant markets.

Extension Weed Management Specialist Amit Jhala goes into depth on the advantages of the new John Deere precision sprayer's dual tank system.

Extension educators share their observations in Nebraska fields this week.

Thursday, June 13, 2024

Weather conditions in several areas of Nebraska in the past few years been favorable to create grasshopper outbreaks. The fall grasshopper survey is a good indicator or possible grasshopper issues the following summer. The 2023 fall survey identified 15 counties (Fig. 1)  in Nebraska with adult grasshopper numbers averaging over 15 per yard, which suggests grasshoppers may be a problem this summer.

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Center for Agricultural Profitability webinars are free to attend and recorded for viewing at any time. For a list of upcoming webinars, visit the CAP website. This webinar provides benchmarking data for producers regarding Nebraska farm and ranch incomes, ratios and family living data.

Jordyn Bader discusses her work with the ag-tech startup Marble Technologies during the Heuermann Lecture on May 29. She was part of a panel of ag-tech entrepreneurs that also included (from left) Shane Forney of Sentinel Fertigation; Chad Johnson of Grain Weevil; Jacob Hansen of ALA Engineering; and Jessica Korinek of Nave Analytics. (Photo by Cara Pesek, IANR Media) The lecture highlighted Nebraska’s strengths in ag tech, including diverse startups, increased venture capital, and large-scale strategic investments enabling research innovations.

Jay Parsons was selected in April as the new director of the Center for Agricultural Profitability at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, following the retirement of Larry Van Tassell, who served as the center’s director since its inception in July 2021. Parsons has been with the Center for Agricultural Profitability since 2014, serving as an associate professor and extension program area leader.

With a third successful prescribed burn completed at Barta Brothers Ranch on April 21, researchers are seeing what fire can and cannot do about invasive redcedars. Throughout the project, researchers have observed increased vigor in the grasses, increased gains in cattle, differences in grassland bird communities and minimal changes in wind erosion across burned areas.

This new webinar features insights on building effective communication skills from Lisa Kaslon, professional development coordinator with Nebraska Extension. Learn how to express yourself clearly, listen actively, and navigate diverse communication styles to find more personal and professional success.

Thursday, June 13, 2024

In late May and June we frequently see both native and non-native forbs begin to flower in range and pasture. This is a good time of the year to be on the alert and look out for these “pretty flowers” and for other plants that you may not recognize. Seeing something you haven’t seen before?  Go check it out. Those “pretty flowers” or plants you don’t recognize may be an invasive species.  Early detection and rapid response is critical to helping to keep noxious weeks at bay.

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Thursday, June 6, 2024 Research studies by Kansas State University have shown that late summer and fall fires provided significant reductions of Sericea lespedeza and old-world bluestems which are both invasive species impacting rangeland across Kansas.Spanish: 

Pivots are damaged in Nebraska nearly every year, causing high dollar losses, a great deal of extra work, and most of the time, crop loss for delayed irrigation. (Photo by Steve Melvin) Through this new survey, producers have the opportunity to assist Nebraska Extension with identifying factors that may contribute to increasing or decreasing storm damage to center pivots.