PARP and Breeders and Feeders Banquet Information

Greetings Boone County!

There's some decent content on this blog which I hate to lose so rather than start an entirely new blog now that I've moved to Boone County I decided to just change the title even though the web address still has Clinton County in it. If, after a while, I find this doesn't work, particularly with searches, I may have to start from scratch but I'll go with this for the time being.

There are two upcoming events you may be interested in:

Ag Outlook and Pesticide Applicator Training Program

On Monday, February 24 we'll be having an Ag Outlook and Pesticide Applicator Recertification Program at the Farm Bureau Community Building at the Boone County Fairgrounds in Lebanon. The schedule for the day is as follows:

10:00 a.m. - 12:00 Noon - Ag Outlook with Purdue Ag Economist Chris Hurt
Noon - 12:45 p.m. - Lunch
12:45 p.m. - 1:45 p.m. - Palmer Amaranth Strategies with Purdue Weed Scientist Bill Johnson
1:45 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. - Insect Control Update with Purdue Entomologist Chriatian Krupke
2:30 - 3:00 p.m. - Reducing Pesticide Drift with Curt Emanuel, Boone County Extension


As usual, there will be a $10 fee for those receiving Pesticide credit. CCH's have been approved for Commercial Applicators.

I'll be sending out a letter with more details, including registration information, to all Boone County Private Applicators. Call the Boone County Extension Service at 765-482-0750 by Friday, February 14 if you plan on having lunch.



Breeders and Feeders Fish Fry and Awards Banquet

The Boone County Breeders and Feeders annual Fish Fry and Awards banquet will be held on Thursday, March 6 at the Witham Health Services Pavilion at the Boone County Fairgrounds. Tickets are available at the Extension Office or from Breeders and Feeders Directors. The cost is $7.50 for adults and $4 for children.

The Purdueettes will be the entertainment for the evening.

I'll have additional information on the banquet as we get closer.

Managing Your Ag Business Webinar and an Announcement

Purdue University is hosting a webinar, "Managing Your Agricultural Business in 2014" on Thursday, December 19, 2:00 p.m. Purdue Economists Chris Hurt, Mike Boehlje, Michael Langemeier and Jim Mintert will lead the webinar and address the following questions. What’s the crop and livestock outlook for 2014? What are the expected returns for corn and soybeans in 2014 and what are the implications for cash rental rates and farmland values? Are there key strategies farm and agribusiness managers should focus on in the year ahead? There is no cost for this program.

For additional information and to register, follow this link: Managing Your Agricultural Business in 2014

Also, for those of you who haven't heard, my last day working in the Clinton County Extension Office will be Friday, December 13. Beginning on Monday, December 16 I will start my new position as Extension Educator for Agriculture and Natural Resources and County Extension Director in the Boone County Extension Office in Lebanon.

I've very much enjoyed my last 21 years working in Clinton County and am looking forward to new challenges and opportunities in Boone County. I'd say I'll miss working with Clinton County farmers but Boone County isn't too far away so hopefully I'll still see some of you from time to time.

This blog will continue but with a different title. I expect the content will be similar though with a focus on Boone instead of Clinton County.

Ag Outlook Webinar

Purdue Extension Economist Corinne Alexander will be presenting an Ag Outlook Webinar on Friday, September 13 at 8:30 a.m. I won't be able to host a session here as I'll be at the Land Lease Program in Logansport that morning but anyone with a good internet connection should be able to view it.

The link to view it is: Ag Outlook Webinar. You may find additional information on the program at this link.

I will likely have an Ag Outlook program here later this fall as we've done for the past few years but I haven't scheduled it yet.

March 1 Ag Outlook Breakfast and Meeting

The Clinton County Extension Service will be hosting an Ag Outlook Breakfast on Friday, March 1 at 7:30 a.m. at the Clinton County Extension Office, 1701 South Jackson Street, in Frankfort. Purdue Ag Economist Chris Hurt will be presenting his Outlook for 2013 including crop and livestock prices, the overall US Economy and farm business management strategies.

A breakfast, sponsored by The Farmers Bank and Regions Bank, will be provided. Please contact the Clinton County Extension Office at 765-659-6380 or 765-296-3511 or e-mail me at cemanuel@purdue.edu by February 26 if you plan to attend. There is no cost for this program.

Ag Outlook Breakfast & Pesticide Applicator Training

This will be along the lines of a "save the date" post however I want to mention that we've scheduled the Ag Outlook Breakfast for Friday, March 1, 7:30 a.m. at the Clinton County Fairgrounds 4-H Building in Frankfort. Purdue Ag Economist Chris Hurt will be on hand to provide his Outlook for 2013. The program is free and designed to help farmers, land owners, input suppliers, and those interested in agriculture make better business decisions in the coming year.

The breakfast and program are sponsored by The Farmers Bank and Regions Bank. Now there's a lot of time between now and the program but because we are serving a meal and need to know attendance numbers, pre-registration for the program is required. Please either call the office at 765-659-6380 or 765-296-3511 or e-mail me at cemanuel@purdue.edu if you are planning to attend. The registration deadline is 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday, February 26. And don't worry, I'll have additional information as we get closer.

Later that same morning, from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. we'll have a Private Applicator Recertification Program(PARP), also at the Fairgrounds. Christian Krupke from Purdue Entomology will present an Insect Control Update and Bill Johnson from Purdue Botany and Plant Pathology will provide a Weed Control Update. The regulatory topic will be on Indiana’s New Fertilizer Rule. The cost for this program will be $10. All Clinton County Private Applicators will be mailed additional information as we get closer. I also intend to request CCH's for commercial applicators.

Outlook, PARP and Category 14 Test on Friday, December 16

I think it's time for me to provide more details about the December 16 programs which will be taking place at the Clinton County Fairgrounds, 1701 South Jackson Street, Frankfort, IN. Because there are three programs taking place that day, and because some require pre-registration and some do not, I'm dividing this post into three parts. You can click on the link below to get to whatever portion you're interested in without having to scroll through the entire post - the whole thing will be pretty long.

Ag Outlook Breakfast

Private Applicator Recertification Program
(includes CCH's and CCA's)


Category 14 Fertilizer Applicator Exam

Ag Outlook Breakfast

The annual Clinton County Ag Outlook Breakfast will be held on Friday, December 16, 7:30 a.m. at the Clinton County Fairgrounds 4-H Building. A free breakfast, sponsored by The Farmers Bank and Regions Bank, will be provided.

Purdue Ag Economis Chris Hurt will be on hand to provide his Outlook for 2012. The program is free to the public and is designed to help farmers, land owners, input suppliers, and those interested in agriculture make better business decisions in the coming year.

The volume of corn used for ethanol is expected to continue to be near record levels. In addition, China continues to excite the corn market with corn purchases for a second year with prospects for longer-term buying relationships. The program will review potential pricing strategies for corn and soybeans.

Increasing attention is being given to the growing fears of a double-dip recession. This program will outline why the economy is growing slowly and make predictions for future growth, interest rates, and inflation.

The livestock sector faces another year of high feed costs. Yet some animal product prices have also risen sharply over the past year. This means some animal species can afford these record feed prices. Regardless, consumers are experiencing the highest costs ever to feed their families.

Crop prices are up, but so are input costs for 2012. This program will outline which inputs are headed higher and how that may affect margins for 2012 and 2013. The battle for 2012 acres is already underway and the expected economic returns to various crops will be discussed.

Land values and cash rents are expected to move higher again in 2012, but by how much and what are the driving factors to watch? These and other topics will be covered.

Because we are serving a meal and need to know attendance numbers, pre-registration for the program is required. Please either call the office at 765-659-6380 or 765-296-3511 or e-mail me at cemanuel@purdue.edu if you are planning to attend. The registration deadline is 4:00 p.m. (Eastern) on Monday, December 12. Again, this program is free and open to the public.

This is always an interesting and informative program so I encourage you to attend. And thanks again to The Farmers Bank and Regions Bank for their sponsorship of this program.

Private Applicator Recertification

Following the Ag Outlook Breakfast we will be holding a Private Pesticide Applicator Recertification Program, or PARP. This program is scheduled to run from 9:30-Noon though I always caution people that if Chris is covering something very interesting at 9:25 I don't cut him off in the middle of it. I promise that it will begin at 10:00 a.m. at the latest.

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, Christian Krupke from Purdue Entomology will present an Insect Control Update and Glenn Nice from Purdue Botany and Plant Pathology will provide a Weed Control Update. Also, I know of a couple of people putting in some bulk fertilizer storage so the regulatory topic will be on bulk fertilizer and pesticide containment rules in case anyone else is thinking of going this route.

I have received CCH approval for commercial applicators and I am able to request CEU's for Certified Crop Advisors after the program so I always have the forms there in case any CCA's attend.

There is a cost of $10 for Private Applicators taking this part of the program. If you are paying by check, please make it out to, "PUCES." You must bring your current license with you as we need that to register you. If you don't have your license on hand we can register you with your social security number but it takes a separate form. Since we aren't feeding you, you don't need to pre-register for this program.

Also, this is not a program for people looking to get their pesticide license for the first time. The program is for people with an existing license who want to receive credit toward their renewal requirements.

There is no cost for Commercial Applicators or CCA's (unless you're also receiving PARP credit). However you will need to have their licenses with you to register.

Clinton County Private Applicators who need recertification credit will receive a letter about a week before the program. I do not send letters out to those of you who have already completed your recertification requirements or are unable to complete them - if you have taken no recertifications and your license expires at the end of this year. Hopefully everyone understands how tight budgets are and why we don't spend the $.44 on mailing letters out to those who don't need them.

If you need additional PARP credits, The Purdue Private Applicator Page keeps a calendar of all approved PARP's in the state. They also keep a page where you can check on your recertification status. As a reminder of the recertification rules, you must attend three PARP Programs before the expiration date on your license, with no more than two programs in the same calendar year. There is an online PARP you can take which will count as one program.

Finally, if you are interested in what Christian and Glenn have to say but don't have a pesticide license, feel free to attend. Much of what they discuss will be relevant to everyone, not just licensed applicators and as you know, not all products are restricted use pesticides.

Category 14 Fertilizer Exam

Beginning at 1:00 PM we will be hosting a Category 14 Agricultural Fertilizer Applicator Testing Session, also at the Clinton County Fairgrounds. If you are wondering whether you need a Category 14 License, I briefly discussed this last spring on this blog and the State Chemist has much more detailed information on the program.

This is a test-only session - no training. This is the link to the online Category 14 Training Manual. This is a very large file so if your connection is slow it may take a few minutes to load. There are programs around the state which include trainings, which you can find at this link. If you're wondering if you need the training, I always tell people that if you go through the manual and you're pretty comfortable with your knowledge of the material, the test shouldn't give you much trouble but if parts of it leave you feeling lost you should probably try to find a training program.

You must register for this program in advance. We must have at least 50 registrants for the State Chemist to come out and administer the test. As I type this on November 16 we have about 35 signed up so I don't think that will be a problem. However our maximum number is 100 which I have a feeling we'll reach before the registration deadline. In any case, the deadline to register is Monday, December 12 or when we reach 100 registrants, whichever comes first. All we need is a name and contact information in case we need to reach you for some reason (for example, postponing due to weather that day).

Please register by either calling the office at 765-659-6380 or 765-296-3511 or e-mailing me at cemanuel@purdue.edu. The program is free but if you haven't pre-registered and just show up, we won't be able to let you take the test.

Rules for those attending the program are as follows:

• Anyone needing Category 14 private and commercial certification
  
• Registration required
  
• No walk-ins accepted
  
• Testing for Category 14 only
  
• Testing limited to 100 registered individuals
  
• Will need a hand-held calculator for the test, but cell phones not allowed
  
• Will need a government issued photo identification to take the test
  

They don't say it in the official rules but please bring something to write with too.

December 16 will be a busy day. If you have any questions about any of the programs, please let me know.

Pesticide Applicator Training Date Set

We'll be holding a Private Pesticide Applicator Recertification Program (PARP) on Friday, December 16, from 9:30 a.m. to Noon at the Clinton County Fairgrounds 4-H Building. Clinton County Private Applicators will receive additional information in a mailing closer to the event.

Christian Krupke from Purdue Entomology will present an Insect Control Update and Glenn Nice from Purdue Botany and Plant Pathology will provide a Weed Control Update. We'll also have a review of the bulk fertilizer and pesticide containment regulations. The cost will be $10 for private applicators. I'll request CCH's for commercial applicators and will have signup sheets for CCA's as well.

This will be part of a full day of programming. At 7:30 that day we'll host our annual Ag Outlook Breakfast, sponsored by The Farmers Bank and Regions Bank. Purdue Ag Economist Chris Hurt will be on hand to deliver the Outlook for 2012. At 1:00 p.m., following the PARP, we'll hold a Category 14 Ag Fertilizer Applicator testing program. This will be a test only session. No training. There will be no fee for either the Category 14 or Outlook breakfast though we will ask people to register in advance so we have an idea on numbers.

UPDATE: I've provided some additional information on the programs we'll be having on December 16 which you can access by clicking on this link.

Ag Outlook 2012 Webinar

The Purdue Ag Economics Department has scheduled a webinar, "Ag Outlook 2012" for Tuesday, September 13 beginning at 8:30 a.m. I will be showing this at the Extension Office so if you have a slow internet connection, or would just prefer viewing it here, feel free to stop by. But do me a favor and call or e-mail me first to let me know you're coming. The room I've scheduled has about 20 chairs in it so if I'd like to know in advance if I need to move furniture.

They didn't put an end time on it but I'd think it would be finished by 10:30 or so. We will be having our Ag Outlook Breakfast this fall. This is not 100% confirmed but I expect it will be Friday, December 16 at the Clinton County Fairgrounds.

The complete program announcement from Purdue follows:

"Purdue Extension Service will present a program titled “Agricultural Outlook 2012” at 8:30 am ET/ 7:30 am CT on Tuesday September 13. For those interested, the link is: https://gomeet.itap.purdue.edu/tuesdays/ The program is free to the public and is designed to help farmers, land owners, input suppliers, and those interested in agriculture make better business decisions in the coming year. The program will be presented by Corinne Alexander an Agricultural Economist.

U.S. farmers are facing disappointing corn and soybean yields this fall as late planting was followed by extreme July heat and dryness. Demand remains strong for grains, soybeans, and food around the world with limited supplies. This means prices will be high. The program will help answer “How high?”

The volume of corn used for ethanol is expected to set new records in 2012, however, some believe there won’t be enough corn this fall to meet all the demands and that EPA should consider reducing government ethanol mandates. In addition, China continues to excite the corn market with purchases for a second year with prospects for longer-term buying relationships with the U.S.

Increasing attention is being given to the general economy with growing fears of a double-dip recession. This program will outline the reasons why the economy is growing slowly and make predictions for future growth, interest rates, and inflation. A short discussion of the Federal government debt situation will also be featured.

The livestock sector faces another year of extremely high feed costs. Yet some animal product prices have also risen sharply over the past year. Some of the animal species can afford these record feed prices, others may face losses in 2012. Regardless, consumers are experiencing the highest costs ever to feed their families.

Crop prices are up, but so are input costs for 2012. This program will outline which inputs are headed higher and how that may affect margins for 2012 and 2013. The battle for acres is underway this fall as producers consider seeding winter wheat. The program will demonstrate the economic implications of that battle by showing which crops are currently bidding most aggressively for the limited acres.

Land values and rents are expected to move higher again in 2012, but by how much and how high can land values and rents rise before they are too high? What are the driving factors to be watching? These and other topics will be covered."

More Category 14, Ag Fertilizer Application Information

Consider this a follow-up to my earlier category 14 post and something of a "save the date" message.

In addition to the training and exam sessions offered, the Indiana State Chemist will be offering exam-only sessions for producers and commercial applicators needing to get their category 14 certification.

To date, two of these sessions are available:

• Sept. 15, 2-4 p.m. Eastern, Wells County Community Center, 1240 4-H Park Road, Bluffton. To register, call 260-824-6412 or by email at horan@purdue.edu.
  
• Dec. 16, 1-3 p.m. Eastern, Clinton County Fairgrounds, Fairground Street, Frankfort. To register, call 765-659-6380 or 765-296-3511 or email cemanuel@purdue.edu by Dec. 12.

You'll notice the second session will be here in Clinton County and you sign up by contacting me. That day, December 16 will also be an Ag Outlook Breakfast and a Private Applicator Recertification Program (CCH's will also be avilable) in the morning. These haven't been "officially" scheduled but I have speakers lined up (we're looking at a weed control and insect update) so I'm pretty confident it'll happen. For additional information you can take a look at the Purdue Pesticide Programs Website.