By Gary Stone, Extension Educators, Panhandle Extension District
Early Detection and Rapid Response (EDRR) is a concept to identify potential invasive species prior to or just as the establishment of the invasive is taking place. An Integrated Pest Management plan (IPM) can be developed to manage, contain and eradicate the invasive species before it can spread further. This will avoid costly, long-term control efforts.
Tammie Ostdiek has accepted an offer to serve as Extension Educator in Food, Nutrition and Health for Nebraska Extension, based in Morrill County.
Her acceptance was announced by Dr. Jack Whittier, Director of Research and Extension for the Panhandle. She is scheduled to begin her duties June 6, 2018, after completing her duties as a teacher in Goshen County, Wyo.
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.
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.
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.
Twenty-seven percent of respondents to the 2023 Nebraska Rural Poll indicated they are worse off than they were five years ago, up from 21% last year and 11% in 2021.
In Nebraska, ag land values are up about 14 percent over last year, mirroring a nationwide rise in ag real estate prices. Click through to watch Jim Jansen, an agricultural systems economist with Nebraska Extension, talk with RFD-TV about the impact of valuations.
