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Ag and Extension

Japanese beetles

It is interesting that we have two pests that are metallic green that cause so much widespread problems in the gardening world. They are also both invasive pests too. For the purpose of this column today, I am not going to go into any detail about Emerald Ash Borer except that the Minnesota Department of Ag is keeping an eye on it. We know that for Lyon County the closest place that has it is Sioux Falls. It is also in Stearns County and Martin County, with all of Iowa being also quarantined for it. This week the metallic green insect that we are focusing on is Japanese beetles. If ...

Ag and Extension Briefs

Nominations open for the 2020 County Committee elections The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) encourages all farmers, ranchers, and FSA program participants to take part in the FSA County Committee election nomination process. FSA’s county committees are a critical component of the day-to-day operations of FSA and allow grassroots input and local administration of federal farm programs. Committees are comprised of locally elected agricultural producers responsible for the fair and equitable administration of FSA farm programs in their counties. ...

Ag and Extension Briefs

CLEAR30 pilot program offers 30-year enrollment FOR CRP contracts The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) will open signup this summer for CLEAR30, a new pilot program that offers farmers and landowners an opportunity to enroll in a 30-year Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) contract. This pilot is available to farmers and landowners with expiring water-quality practice CRP contracts in the Great Lakes and Chesapeake Bay regions. The program signup period is July 6 to Aug. 21, 2020. The pilot is available in Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, ...

Master Gardener volunteers

The Lyon County Master Gardener program is always looking for area residents to join our group and volunteer as a University of Minnesota Extension Master Gardener volunteer. We will soon be taking applications for the program. We can really use your skills that you have as a gardener or even as someone who is learning how to garden. There are so many ways to volunteer within your own neighborhood or city and especially within our county. I started with the Master Gardener program after watching PBS’s show, “Prairie Yard and Garden.” I watched the show and pointed the program out ...

Ag Briefs

SDA announces loan maturity for Marketing Assistance Loans now extended to 12 months Agricultural producers now have more time to repay Marketing Assistance Loans (MAL) as part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s implementation of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act of 2020. The loans now mature at 12 months rather than nine, and this flexibility is available for most commodities. Effective immediately, producers of eligible commodities now have up to 12 months to repay their commodity loans. The maturity extension applies to nonrecourse loans for ...

National Pollinator Week

Have you ever seen a huge bumblebee searching through a yellow peony flower looking for pollen? Or have you ever seen a swarm of bees on white or purple clover? The sound that they make is hard to describe yet very fascinating! Last week was the National Pollinator week in the United States. This is the time for those of us who garden and those of us who do not garden to consider the habitat and potential loss of our pollinators and what it could do to the food sources for humans and animals alike. As many of us know, the numbers of native and domestic pollinators is at risk from ...