Airing January 18 - 23, 2006

Ag Lease Meetings

This is Ag Outlook 2006 on 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte, Geary County, K-State Research and Extension Ag & Natural Resources Agent. I've spent a lot of time talking about agricultural leases lately, so now I want to follow up with a meeting opportunity specifically on ag leases. Monday and Tuesday, January 23rd and 24th there will be four half day programs around the area on land lease issues. The closest ones will be in Manhattan on Monday the 23rd and in Clay Center on Tuesday the 24th. Both of these are from 9:00 til noon. The one in Manhattan is at Pottorf Hall at Cico Park and the one in Clay Center will be at the 4-H Conference Room at the Clay County Fairgrounds. There will be four speakers on the agenda - Jerrod Westfahl, an attorney with Arthur-Green LLP in Manhattan will be speaking on the Kansas Farm Lease Law. Jerrod just rewrote our bulletin on the Kansas farm lease law and knows the subject very very well!. The rest of our speakers are all K-State Research and Extension Ag Economists that many of you may know. Kevin Dhuyvetter will be talking about many of the issues that tenants and landlords are facing today. These include the impact of technology on rental agreements, think Roundup Ready here as well as other similar issues and how farm programs might affect rental rates. Terry Kastens will be talking about How land values affect rental rates. Contrary to what many people think, crop prices do not set rental rates, land values set rental rates and not vica versa - and Terry can prove it very effectively. Finally Rodney Jones will talk about generation transitional issues and how leases can be a part of that process. If you are interested in going to one of these meetings or need more information, give me a call!! This has been Ag Outlook 2006 on the Talk of JC, 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte.

Profile Nitrogen Soil Test

This is Ag Outlook 2005 on 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte, Geary County, K-State Research and Extension Ag & Natural Resources Agent. Let's talk some more about how to deal with these rising fertilizer prices. Just as I don't think any of us really expect we're ever going to see buck and a half gas again, I think high fertilizer prices will soon become the norm, so we have to learn to live with them. More than likely, the majority of the fertilizer dollar is spent on nitrogen. As we've talked before, simply applying less fertilizer can often end up raising your per bushel cost of production. So to make sure that you aren't putting on more nitrogen than you need, it becomes critical that you start doing a profile nitrogen soil test, every year. How deep is a profile test? 24 inches or the limit of rooting, whichever is less. We all know that nitrogen is highly mobile in the soil. We also know that roots of most crops are usually going to go much deeper than the 6 inches we frequently sample. If there is usable nitrogen below 6 inches, but we are overapplying surface nitrogen, then the crop often won't even go deeper for that nitrate, unless it has to for water. By taking the extra time to probe down 18 to 24 inches, you can more closely tailor your nutrient application plan to what's really there. Next we also need to take into account nitrogen mineralization rates from the organic matter. One last thing to keep in mind on your nitrogen tests, is to try to get the sample dried down as soon as possible. Putting wet soil in a zip lock bag for 3 or 4 days can really mess up your test as mineralization and bacteria breakdown of N can occur. If the soil is wet, spread it out and dry it down. But most importantly, it's time to start doing that profile N test every year, well, except on soybeans! This has been Ag Outlook 2005 on the Talk of JC, 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte.

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