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Ag and Extension

Farm programs during COVID19: Making government programs work for you

The I-29 Moo University webinar series continues with a presentation by Minnesota Extension Ag Business Management Specialist, Megan Roberts, on Wednesday, Nov. 4. The webinar will be live from noon to 1 p.m., and there is no registration. This presentation will dive into what we do and don’t know about COVID- 19 government programs, including PPP forgiveness application changes, tax considerations, and the upcoming Dec. 11 CFAP 2 deadline. COVID-19 brought farms many challenges, as well as several new governmental programs to decipher — from the Paycheck Protection Program ...

Farm and ranch stress assistance clearinghouse available

ROCHESTER — Midwest farmers and ranchers are facing unprecedented stressors and uncertainly imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, weather related concerns, and the derecho storm that impacted parts of the Midwest. As a result, mental health experts are predicting an increase in deaths by suicide due to social isolation, economic stress, and related factors. “That is why it is so important for farmers, ranchers and the agribusiness community have quick access to available programs and materials,” said David Brown, behavioral health specialist with Iowa State University Extension and ...

Lighting for plants

As we are moving our gardening indoors, it may be necessary to provide some better or more lighting for some of our plants. Due to space, most of my house plants will be sitting near windows in the basement of my home and they seem to do just fine with some exceptions. The first is that the basement is probably little bit cooler than the plants appreciate and the second is that there are a couple of houseplants that need more light than what they will get from the windows. This brings up the idea of whether or not LED lighting will work for houseplants and what bulbs you would need to ...

Lilacs

Lilacs are often a staple of our groves and yards here in southwestern Minnesota. In the past year or two, the growing conditions have been difficult for these prized plants and they have been suffering through some different problems. There are several different varieties of lilac but the most common one that we have planted in our area is the common lilac, which its Latin name is Syringa vulgaris. If you happen to have a tree lilac, then you may have seen some trouble with these plants as well. These are often mature plants and you may have never seen a problem with them in the ...

Ag and Extension Briefs

UMN Extension releases operations contingency plans for livestock producers By Emily Krekelberg University of Minnesota Extension The University of Minnesota Extension Livestock Team has released a set of customizable forms that can be used to create an operations contingency plan for their farm. The contingency forms are meant to provide livestock owners a starting point to outline essential livestock care if they and/or their managers become sick with COVID-19 or another emergency occurs. In these situations, care would likely need to be administered by a non-household member. The ...

Cleaning up gardens

Old Man Winter is giving us a little taste of what is soon to come in our area. If you have not started to work on cleaning up in the garden, it may be wise to start planning for that to happen now. The wintery weather that will be upon us will soon have many of the tender plants needing to be dug up, potatoes to be dug up and also there will be lots and lots of leaves to rake up. The great thing about leaves from trees, as long as they are not diseased foliage, is to use them as mulch or to place them into your compost pile. The fragrance of decomposing leaves on the ground mixed with ...