April 28 is the 4-H National Day of Service. Last year, 4-H groups in the Panhandle Extension District organized Dollars for Doughnuts to help raise funds for families affected by the Ash Hollow Fires. This year, Panhandle 4-Hers are focusing on Finders Keepers, a Panhandle-based children’s outreach organization that specializes in providing essentials to children and families in need, which often include families involved in foster care.
Nebraska Extension’s Tractor Safety & Hazardous Occupations Courses will be offered at Gering and Gordon in June 2018, as well as and 10 other Nebraska locations this year for teens 14 or 15 years of age who will work on a farm.
Federal law prohibits youth under 16 years old from using certain equipment on a farm unless parents or legal guardians own the farm. Certification received through a course provided by Nebraska Extension grants an exemption to the law, allowing 14- and 15-year-olds to drive a tractor and work with certain mechanized equipment.
By: Jessica Groskopf and Jim Jansen, Extension Educators
Preliminary results from the Nebraska Farm Real Estate Market Survey released by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln revealed that Nebraska Panhandle agricultural land declined in value for the reporting year ending Feb. 1, 2018.
The average farmland value in the region is estimated to be $720 per acre. This is 5 percent lower than the prior year. This is the fourth consecutive year of market value decline.
The eight major types of land reported in the survey declined in value from 2017-18 across the state. In the Panhandle, gravity irrigated cropland saw the largest declines in value, dropping 8 percent. These losses however, were less than those experienced from 2016-17.
A Nebraska 4-H Shooting Sports Leader Certification Workshop is scheduled for April this spring. It will be held April 21-22, 2018 at the Panhandle Research & Extension Center in Scottsbluff. The early bird registration deadline is April 11th.
Nebraska Extension will be offering the ServSafe® Manager Training Program for food service managers and employees April 10-11, 2018 from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. at the Panhandle Research and Extension Center, Bluestem Room, 4502 Ave I, Scottsbluff.
Registrations are due by March 23, 2018. Find the registration form and more information at https://extension.unl.edu/statewide/dawes/ or contact Nebraska Extension at 308-432-3373 or Jamie Goffena at jgoffena2@unl.edu.
The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is now law, but there are still questions regarding the implications of this legislation. A tax reform workshop is scheduled for March 14 at the Panhandle Research and Extension Center in Scottsbluff from 6 p.m. until 7:30 p.m.
The workshop is free to attend. Registration is requested by calling Jessica Groskopf at 308-632-1247.
This workshop will help area farmers and ranchers understand the impacts of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on their 2018 tax liability. Topics will include:
