Air December 29, 2006 - January 5, 2007

Coming Events

This is Ag Outlook 2006 on 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte, Geary County, K-State Research and Extension Ag & Natural Resources Agent. One year ends and another begins and yet Mother Nature shows no such abruptness - one day becomes another and the changes that she chooses to reveal are of a much more subtle nature occurring over weeks and months, not days. Over the next several months there will be lots of opportunities around the region for farm shows, indepth schools and update meetings. These are great opportunities and are often exceedingly cheap compared to what similar events in other fields would cost. The Topeka Farm Show is coming up January 9th, 10th, and 11th at the Expo Center in Topeka. This one is close and always worthwhile, lots of vendors and numerous educational programs planned by K-State Research and Extension. Then at the end of January, the 30th and 31st, we have the No-Till on the Plains at the Bicentennial Center in Salina. This one isn't cheap, but it's lots of world class speakers. Early bird registration is $150, if you wait until after the 16th of January to register, it's $200. There's also a bunch of meetings coming up in the local area over the next 3 months - look for a newsletter in your mailbox soon with all of those dates. I will be going to some of these as my schedule allows, so call me if you want to ride along, expect a big increase in local programs starting next year! The Chemical Weed Control book still isn't out - but usually is for the Topeka Farm Show - K-State always closes between Christmas and New Year's so that slows down delivery of some of these, but they should be out just any day now! This has been Ag Outlook 2006 on the Talk of JC, 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte.

No-till's effect on crop growth

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 been intrigued with the research results that have been coming out of K-State from on-farm research. These are plots that are not on research farms but what I call "real" farms. They are true replicated studies but being done on large field basis. Some of these are being done by county agents working on advanced degrees and others are being done by regular research specialists just looking for different locations to do this research. One study was looking at the impact of conventional tillage, strip till and no-till on corn growth and production. These studies were done over three years at a total of four lcoations in east central and south east Kansas. They weren't done in every field every year, but statistically we can do some valid comparisons here. Data was taken on corn plant populations, early season growth based on plant weight at the 6 - 7 leaf growth stage and ultimately yields. Conventional tillage and strip till had higher plant populations, but significantly higher in only 2 of the 7 total tests. We would expect colder soils under the no-till system to have slower emergence and more seedling stand loss from insects and diseases because of the slower emergence and development. Sure enough, there was significant differences in plant dry matter weight at the 6 to 7 leaf stage in 4 of the 7 tests - but it wasn't always no-till with the smaller plant growth, but usually it was. Strip till often had the heaviest plant weight. Yield was significantly higher in strip and no till in 3 of the test, no difference in 3 and the last was a split.

This has been Ag Outlook 2006 on the Talk of JC, 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte.

Maintenance around the farm and at home

This is Ag Outlook 2006 on 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte, Geary County, K-State Research and Extension Ag & Natural Resources Agent. I receive a lot of newsletters from a lot of sources just about every week in the mail. Some of these people are trying to sell products or services, some are trying to inform me and some, the really valuable ones, are from Extension folks reporting on studies and research. A recent newsletter from the Ag Engineering specialists caught my eye because it was talking about water conservation. I grew up on a farm with our own well so I know what it's like when the well runs dry - or just quits working. I also know that our growth in the US is putting a strain on water resources and while we may not think we have a shortage of water, water conservation is going to be a necessary and growing thing in the coming years. Anyway, the point of this newsletter was how we can save water in the home and around the farmstead. The average home uses 74 gallons of water a day, much of which is wasted. Simply installing low flow faucets and showers can reduce that to 52 gallons per day. But what really caught my eye was how much water a dripping faucet wasted. Over 10% of all indoor water use in this country is from leaking toilets and faucets. How much water does one leaky faucet waste? If you have a faucet leaking at one drop every second, that amounts to seven gallons a day, 210 gallons a month and over 2,500 gallons per year. To help city water users compare that to there water bill, one cubic foot of water is roughly 7.5 gallons. Those loss rates equate to 28 cubic feet per month, or over 300 cubic feet in a year. Don't you think it's about time to get that leaky faucet fixed? This has been Ag Outlook 2006 on the Talk of JC, 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte.

Return to Radio Home Page

Return to Ag Home Page