Cover Crops, Farm Bill and Thoughts

I ended the title of this post with thoughts but I'll start there and mention that I'm multitasking from the Indiana Livestock, Forage and Grain Forum. This is a great annual event and this year's theme is Big Data and Agriculture. There's been plenty of discussion of what to do with/how to manage ag data and I think one of the interesting questions is how much data is useful for farmers, where does overload come in and how much value is there in paying someone to manage and make recommendations based on data?

Most farmers have tackled these questions, at least a little. Many use a commercial service to pull soil samples, look at yields and soil types and make recommendations based on this. GIS has introduced producers to a new realm of digital information. This may be the next area where we need to look at how best to manage and use information and how to make judgments about diminishing returns - when is there too much data and how do we avoid letting data run farms rather than using data as a tool to help run farms? Information overload is real and has been documented. We aren't there yet in farming (I don't think so anyway) but eventually we'll need to be able to make those decisions.

Since startling in Boone County I've had conversations with several people who are interested in learning more about cover crops. I'm planning to do some programming this summer and programs and field days are already taking place in other parts of the state. The National Cover Crops Conference was held February 17-19 in Omaha. The recordings from that program are available at the National SARE (Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education) site. If you have the time and are interested in this, I encourage you to listen to some of these.

National Cover Crops Conference Recordings.

Finally, there's an Extension organization from the Western United States, Ag in Uncertain Times, which has developed a webinar series on the Farm Bill. I viewed the first program on March 3 and it was pretty good. They have four additional webinars scheduled, as follows:

• March 17 - Livestock Disaster and Dairy Programs
• March 24 - Commodity Programs
• March 31 - Environmental Programs
• April 7 - Food and Nutrition Programs

The March 3 and 17 programs are both scheduled to run from Noon to about 1:30 p.m. so I expect the others will be set for the same time. To view the live webinars or recordings, click on the link below.

Ag in Uncertain Times

2014 Boone County Breeders and Feeders Awards Banquet and Fish Fry

This blog is mostly for the purpose of providing another avenue to share information of interest to farmers. But every now and then I think it's important for those involved in Agriculture to take a step back and remember their heritage and where the business, industry and lifestyle of farming came from.

One of the first meetings I had after starting in Boone County was with a group known as the Boone County Breeders and Feeders. This is a group of farmers and one of their main "jobs" (I'm using quotes because they're all volunteers) is to plan and conduct their annual Awards Banquet and Fish Fry. On March 6 I had my first opportunity to attend this event.

There was a nice crowd in attendance for the 77th version of the Awards Banquet (for those who don't want to do the math, this was first held in 1938). Nobody does a head count but 520 chairs were set up and there weren't a lot of empty spaces plus there were quite a few helpers who, as far as I could see, never sat down. I would guess that attendance was somewhere between 450-500. And while we didn't run out of fish - the fish was excellent BTW - we had almost none left over.

The crowd at the 2014 Awards Banquet and Fish Fry. The entertainment for the evening was provided by two of the specialty groups from The Purduettes; The Trio and The Treblemakers. They gave a great performance which everyone seemed to enjoy.

The Trio (above) and The Treblemakers (right) from the Purduettes. Abby Everett, whose grandfather was an honoree, is third from the right on the Treblemakers.

However the real focus of the evening was the three Distinguished Agriculture Career Awards Recipients; Aaron Everett, Bob Lamb, and Stan Rader. I won't provide the full bio of these long-time Boone County Farmers and Agribusinessmen, but I would like to offer a few highlights.

The 2014 Boone County Distinguished Agriculture Award winners and their wives. From left to right: Stan Rader, Beverly Rader, Bob Lamb, Diana Lamb, Carolyn Everett, Aaron Everett.

Aaron Everett

Aaron started farming in Perry Township in the 1940's by renting farms owned by his grandparents and aunt and expanded by renting some neighborhood farms. In addition to farming, he was a founding member of the Perry Township Fire Department in 1961, has been a 4-H Leader and a member of various organizations including the Boone County Pork Producers, Boone County SWCD and Boone County FSA. He is currently a Boone County Farm Bureau Board member. He and his wife, Carolyn, live on the family farm with his son Doug, Doug's wife Nanette, and their four children. One of Aaron's grandchildren, Abby Everett, is a Purduette Member and performed at the banquet. Aaron continues to be active in the farming operation and in the community.

Bob Lamb

Shortly after leaving the Air Force, Bob and his wife Diana began farming, in 1963. Bob had no farming experience but he started by managing a farm owned by Cecil Bennington, then managed the Robert Nash Farms in Tipton. In 1969 he and his family moved back to Boone County and started their own farming operation on 430 acres of rented ground. The operation expanded from there and today Lamb Farms has three business entities. The farm grows corn, seed beans, seed wheat, popcorn, and waxy corn. Ag Recycle concentrates on mulch, composting, and recycling organics. Lamb Farms Agronomy focuses on crop input sales and technical support.

Bob is actively involved in Boone County and serves and has served on a variety of boards and committees, both in and outside of agriculture. Some of these include being a founding member of the New Hope Christian Church, a member of the Lebanon School Board, The Boone County Extension Board and 4-H Council, and the SWCD Board. He has been involved in doing missionary work in Panama for the past 10 years and he and Diana have created a non-profit charitable organization, Agri-Stewards, which is involved in spreading improved farming techniques and God's word throughout the world. Bob and Diana have 5 children and 11 grandchildren.

Stan Rader

Stan Rader's farming career really got its start in 1943 when his family purchased 80 acres near Mechanicsburg in Boone County. On graduating from high school Stan began working for Dick Lenox as a mechanic working on Oliver tractors. In 1969 he and his father-in-law, Monte Jones, founded R&J Oliver Sales. Over the next thrity years Stan owned and operated he dealership. While sales were obviously important, Stan's true love was in the customer service aspect of the business. He enjoyed talking to farmers about their equipment and equipment needs and helping them meet challenges and solve problems. Stan has been active in the community as a member and chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Centenary United Methodist Church, and UMCOR where he and Beverly travel to Louisiana for two weeks each year to help with disaster relief. Stan and his wife Beverly have three children, 16 grandchildren and, so far, 10 great grandchildren.

The was a great evening, the fish was fantastic, and I had a lot of fun. I didn't pull my camera out until about halfway through the program. I'll know better next year. I also didn't get a picture of the twelve Breeders and Feeders Directors whose hard work makes this event happen. I'll have to settle for naming them: Chris Branaman, Don. M. Gibbs, Jeff Jackson, Craig Kouns - President, Danny Lawson, Tim Luse - Vice President, John Michalke, David Mitchell, Allen Mohler, Buddy Padgett, Gerald Shelburne - Secretary/Treasurer, and Mark Starkey. A big thank you also goes to Tom Dull for serving as Master of Ceremonies and all of the extra help who pitched in the night of the banquet. If you want to see more pictures, you can find them on the Facebook Page for Purdue Extension - Boone County Agriculture. I'm not sure if you need to like the page to see them or not.