Air February 27, 2002

Thank you Mark, and good morning everyone. Well, Sunday brought us back to the reality that we are still in the winter season. There’s been a few questions about whether the wheat has started to come out of dormancy enough that there will be damage. Well, there’s no doubt that the wheat is starting to come out of dormancy. Heck, it was never that deep into dormancy. And temperatures into the single digits may cause a little bit of damage. Is it enough to worry about. No. Not in my opinion. I think a far greater concern is what happens if we don’t get normal March and April precipitation. And for that, we’ll just have to wait!

This Friday, March 1st is the 89th annual K-State Cattleman’s Day. If you would have asked me a year ago at cattleman’s day what I thought the topics of this year’s Cattleman’s Day would be, I don’t hink I would have come up with the list they have for Friday. What a difference a year can make! There are two talks that I think are of key importance for producers. Ken Parnell of Wal-mart corporation will be talking about the changing face of retail beef sales. I don’t know if you are aware of this, but WalMart is now number one in the country in food sales as well as the nation’s leading retailer of fresh meat. What does this change mean to the food industry, what does this change mean to you, the cattle producer. The complexion of food, food production and marketing and especially the changing face of retail beef sales is bringing a lot of surprises to tradition minded cattle producers. It is becoming more and more important to make sure that you are not producing the kind of cattle that you want, but rather the kind of cattle that the buyers and ultimately the consumers, want. The second interesting topic on the morning program is biosecurity and food safety issues for cattleman. Senator Pat Roberts is scheduled to attend and I hope he can make it. A year ago, when you mentioned food safety, most people were more than likely thinking about chemical residues in their food. But after the terrorist attacks of September 11th, the concerns have changed. How do we continue to have a safe and wholesome product that the consumer trusts and will buy? Senator Roberts is in a pivotal spot in Washington DC and should bring us some interesting insight. So show up Friday morning at Brandenberry sports complex in Manhattan. Registration starts at 8 and the speakers at 10. Call me if you need more information.

This is Chuck Otte, Geary County Extension Agent, with Ag Outlook 2002.

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