Feature stories/news
Local Interest
New Nebraska ag labor guide available
By Ryan Evans | UNL Communications Specialist
Hiring and managing a team of employees is one of the toughest parts of running a farm or ranch today. To help navigate those hurdles, Nebraska Extension has published the Nebraska Agricultural Labor Guide to support employers through every stage of the employee relationship.
Developed by a team of extension educators and specialists, the guide is designed to give agricultural employers in Nebraska a practical starting point for thinking through labor decisions before problems arise. The guide also helps employers identify areas where clearer communication, stronger systems, and better planning can improve the workplace for both managers and employees.
It breaks down the employment process and best practices in the following areas:
- Recruitment and hiring: How to define a role and find the right fit
- Onboarding: Getting new hires started on the right foot
- Development and Operations: Managing day-to-day training and safety
- Retention: Strategies for keeping your best workers on board
- Termination: Navigating the difficult process of ending employment
"In agriculture, your people are often the biggest factor in long-term success," said Shannon Sand, an extension agricultural economist and one of the guide’s authors. "But managing well takes intentional planning, and this guide is meant to help ag employers think through those decisions in a structured, practical way."
The Nebraska Agricultural Labor Guide is now available on the Center for Agricultural Profitability’s website at https://cap.unl.edu/labor.
This material is based upon work that is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under agreement number 2021-38640-34714 through the North Central Region SARE program. USDA is an equal opportunity employer and service provider. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and should not be construed to represent any official USDA or U.S. Government determination or policy.
Calculating Annual Cow Costs Webinar Series
Input costs are challenging producers to examine production costs and identify opportunities to adjust the production system. Knowing annual cow costs is the foundation for evaluating and making management decisions to improve profitability in a cow-calf enterprise. Calculating costs and breaking them into categories provides insight into where there may be opportunities to make changes.
Nebraska Extension will host a webinar series on November 9, 10, and 12 to explain the fundamentals of knowing and calculating annual cow costs.
Topics to be covered will include:
- Understanding economic unit cost of production for the cow-calf enterprise.
- Recognizing the value and cost of both grazed and harvested feed.
- Calculating cow depreciation and replacement development costs.
- Figuring the cost of equipment and labor utilized in the cow-calf enterprise.
- Examining breeding expenses and evaluating the value and cost relationship.
- Reviewing benchmark cost and production data to see how you compare.
The webinar series is $70 per person and includes a resource workbook. The course will be limited to 40 participants. To register, go to https://go.unl.edu/cow_costs. Registration is requested by October 30 to ensure meeting materials have time to be mailed to participants.
For questions about the webinar series or for more information, contact Aaron Berger, Nebraska Extension Educator, at 308-235-3122 or aberger2@unl.edu.
Upper North Platte River Basin Reservoir Water Levels Remain Low
By Gary Stone | Nebraska Extension Educator
Low snowpack levels and runoff in the winter/spring of 2025-2026 left producers in the North Platte Valley with only 30 to 40 days of irrigation water for the 2026 growing season.
On November 5, the water in the reservoirs on the North Platte River in Wyoming are at very low levels. Pathfinder Reservoir, part of the North Platte Project, is the main irrigation water source for the North Platte Valley in the Panhandle of Nebraska and eastern Wyoming. The reservoir is at 18 percent capacity or approximately 197,700 acre-feet. This project delivers full-service irrigation water to approximately 226,000 acres and supplemental irrigation water to approximately 109,000 acres.
Seminoe Reservoir, part of the Kendrick Project, is at twenty-one percent capacity or approximately 218,200 acre-feet. This project delivers irrigation water to approximately 24,000 acres in Wyoming.
Glendo Reservoir, part of the Pick-Sloan Project, is at 176,300 acre-feet, with a designed storage capacity of 800,000 acre-feet. This reservoir can provide up to 40,000 acre-feet of irrigation water annually for Nebraska and Wyoming. This reservoir also provides storage capacity for flood control. All of these reservoirs provide hydroelectric power.
During the 2026 growing season, producers faced tough decisions about crop production in the valley. Many acres went into prevent plant. These acres were planted to varieties of sorghum, sudangrass, and other annual forage crops that required less water. If producers had irrigation wells with sufficient water allocations, corn, sugar beets, and edible dry beans were grown, but overall, these acres were down.
Currently, the North Platte River Basin is 46 percent of normal, and the South Platte River Basin is 37 percent of normal. But it is early in the water year, and good snowfall levels in the mountains are needed to bring those numbers up. An average annual snowpack runoff is approximately 800,000 acre-feet. A runoff at this level or above would be required to fill Pathfinder reservoir.
To watch a short video clip illustrating the low level of the Pathfinder reservoir on September 18, 2026, visit https://mediahub.unl.edu/media/27674
