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.
