AgriBusiness State of the Agriculture Panel

The Agribusiness State of the Agriculture Panel will be from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 25, at the Lyon County Fairgrounds Hoop Barn.

The even includes a panel of Agriculture experts in different areas to hear about the state of agriculture in 2020.

Joining the panel are:

Paul Lanoue — dean of Agriculture and Business Management at Minnesota West Community & Technical College, Farm Business Management instructor, SMSU Ag Bowl scholarship coordinator, Local beef and crop farmer.

Greg Boerboom — Boerboom, along with his family, are owners of Boerboom Ag Resources LLC which is the name of the family farming operation which raises hogs, corn, soybeans and does feed milling.

Boerboom serves as president of the Minnesota Pork Producers Association, which oversees State and National legislative and public policy interests traveling to both St. Paul and Washington D.C. on behalf of Minnesota pork producers. He is also a member of the Lyon County Farm Bureau board of directors.

Ken Franzky — agronomy services manager at Centrol. He has 26 years in the agriculture industry including the last five at Centrol.

Rep. Chris Swedzinski — farmer and local state Representative for District 16A. He sits on the Energy & Climate Finance and Policy Division, Commerce & Taxes committees.

Eric McVey — plant superintendent at Archers Daniel Midland (ADM).

Prior to the panel discussion, the Lyon County Farm Family of the Year will be awarded at 11:30 a.m.

Please register in advance if you plan to attend. Contact Brad Gruhot at brad.gruhot@marshallmn.org. Admission is $10 per person for Marshall Area Chamber members and $15/person for non-members. The cost includes lunch.

Picnic tables will be spread out. We will encourage social distancing by having four person per table.

U of M Extension to host beef webinar series

The University of Minnesota Extension is excited to host a six part webinar series titled: Key Components of a Successful Beef Operation: Cow/Calf to Consumer. The series will be Aug. 13, 18, 20, 25, and 27 from 6-7:30 p.m. CST. The series will focus on different aspects of raising and managing beef cattle, all while keeping the end consumer in mind. Farmers, 4-H’ers, ag business professionals who work with farmers, and anyone interested in beef cattle production are invited to attend.

Today: “Body Condition Scoring Cows: How, When, & Why,” & “Does Early Weaning Calves Make Sense?” Melissa Runck

“Assessing Nutrition Status of the Cow Herd,” Dr. Eric Mousel

Tuesday, Aug. 18: “Managing Forages for Fall & Winter Feeding,” Troy Salzer, Tarah Young, Emma Severns

Thursday, Aug. 20: “Starting Calves: What Really Matters & When to Leave Cattle Alone,” Dr. Joe Armstrong, DVM

“Initial Days on Feed Nutrition and Implant Strategies,” Dr. Grant Crawford

Tuesday, Aug. 25: “Selecting the Right Animal for Butcher,” Kyle Rozeboom & Dr. Ryan Cox

Thursday, Aug. 27: “Keeping Beef at the Center of the Plate,” Dr. Megan Webb

“Meet the Meat Industry Middle Man — the Main Street Butcher. Bridging the Farmer and Consumer Conversation,” Lindsey Loken, Blondies Butcher Shop

Pre-registration is required. Please register at z.umn.edu/2020beefseries by 5 p.m. CST the day before each event. You will receive a Zoom link after registration closes. You only have to register once and you will be registered for all subsequent webinars. If you are unable to attend the live sessions, you will receive the recordings for all the sessions via email at the end of the series. If you have any questions please contact: Melissa Runck at mkrunck@umn.edu (507-836-6927), or Stacey Caughey at butle269@umn.edu

Melissa Runck is an Extension Educator-Ag Production Systems with University of Minnesota Extension in Murray and Pipestone Counties.

Washington apple crop projected to be larger than 2019

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — This year’s Washington state apple crop is expected to be slightly larger than the 2019 crop.

The Washington State Tree Fruit Association estimates the 2020 crop will total 134 million standard forty-pound boxes of fresh apples. That’s just above 2019’s total of 133.9 million boxes.

Harvest is just getting underway in the nation’s top apple producing state, and will continue into November.

For the second straight year, Gala will be the most numerous variety at 23%. Red Delicious is projected at 17%, followed by Fuji at 14%, and Granny Smith and Honeycrisp at 13% of total production.