Weekly Events & Opportunities in Sustainable Farming & Foods

Adding Value to Farm Products Webinar

March 17. Farm Commons delivers fast-paced webinars that help farmers move forward on the legal issues that affect their farm operation. This webinar focuses on value-added products. Employment laws, liability potential, state/federal regulations, and tax factors all change when a farm begins to process product. Farms relying on cottage food laws should make sure to attend; the webinar will talk about what these laws do not do to protect farms. http://farmcommons.org/webinars/

Organic Weed Management Webinar Series: Different Approaches to Weed Management

March 17. Organic Thinking presents a free webinar series on organic weed management on four Mondays in March, led by organic farmers and specialists from across the United States. In this webinar three organic farmers will discuss the strategies they've developed for managing weeds, their reasons for selecting those practices, and the conditions necessary for those methods to be successful. http://www.ydae.purdue.edu/oarei/webinars.html

Dairy Reproduction: Identifying Problems and Solutions for Your Herd

March 17th. 12pm. Presenter: Ray Nebel, Senior Reproductive Specialist for Select Sires, Inc. Many dairies experience difficulty in their reproduction programs, and a wide range of factors can affect reproductive success in a herd. In this session, Ray Nebel will take a look at some of the factors that affect reproduction on dairies, including: labor, nutrition, environment, and the cow herself. He'll also discuss how you can find and fix problems that could be affecting the success of your reproduction program. https://connect.extension.iastate.edu/dairexnetwebinar/

Managing Rootworms on the Fringe: Determining If You Have Bt Resistant Rootworms on Your Farm

March 17th. 6pm. Growers, consultants and agribusiness professionals are invited to participate in a series of six online programs highlighting field crop production and pest management on Monday evenings beginning Feb. 24 through March 31, 2014.  Participants will learn how to enhance their field crop production systems in the coming season and have an opportunity to ask questions of MSU agriculture experts. The live webinar presentations will begin at 7 p.m. EST each Monday evening and run until 8 p.m. EST. One MDARD Pesticide Recertification Credit will be available through each webinar for application to one of the following categories:  Private Core, Commercial Core or Field Crops. Participants can view the programs independently online free of charge. However, pre-registration is required to access connection information. http://events.anr.msu.edu/event.cfm?folder=fieldcropswebinars2014

Tree Care Workshop

Tuesday, March 18. Hastings. Wednesday, March 19, Ord. For public works employees, landscape managers, tree board volunteers, arborists, nursery and green industry professionals and landscape enthusiasts, these full-day workshops cover emerging issues in tree and landscape care. See http://bit.ly/13pjC46 for more info.

Basic Prescribed Burn Workshop

Wednesday, March 19. Wayne. Guidance and instructions for people with or without prescribed burning experience.  Seewww.NebraskaPF.com for more info.

Community Gardens

March 19th. 11:30am. Community Gardens - More than Just Food, Community Transformation. This webinar will highlight the role of community projects and programs, like community gardens, as tools for youth leadership and engagement as well as community transformation. We will define terminology in order to create a shared language around community transformation and highlight a few examples of the work that the Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS) does in partnership with community and youth groups from around the state. We will also emphasize the opportunities that these projects and programs can create for all kinds of communities. The Wayne County Public Library Community Garden will serve as an example of an effort that has helped transform the community. http://goo.gl/fQKN7

Conventional and Organic Weed Control in Sweet Corn, Pumpkin and Winter Squash

March 19th. 12:00pm.  Penn State and Cornell University have teamed up to present a series of webinars on critical production issues. This series provides timely updates in commercial and small fruit production for commercial growers, extension educators, and industry representatives in Pennsylvania, New York, and surrounding states. $10 per webinar or $35 for entire series; includes access to handouts and webinar recordings. Dr. Robin Bellinder (Cornell) and Dwight Lingenfelter (Penn State) will discuss how to control weeds in conventional and organic production systems in three important vegetable crops.

“Cost Analysis: Are You Making Money?”

A Niche Meat Processor Assistance Network webinar. March 19th. 12pm. Go to https://connect.extension.iastate.edu/nichemeat a few minutes before start time and log on as a guest. All NMPAN webinars are free and open to the public. Many meat processors watch their checkbook balances and hope for the best. Some wade through P&L state­ments looking for answers and often come up short. Most small processors don’t fully understand why they are or aren’t making money and what they can do about it. Learn how to develop systems that will give you the financial information you need to make decisions that improve your business’ performance. Our speaker for this webinar is Arion Thiboumery of the Niche Meat Processor Assistance Network and Vermont Packinghouse. Disclaimer: You don’t need to be a math whiz, but this webinar will involve math.

Nebraska Crane Festival

March 20-23. Kearney. Witness tens of thousands of Sandhill Cranes and millions of waterfowl migrating through central Nebraska during March, culminating in a festival hosted by Audubon Nebraska to celebrate their arrival. The Audubon’s Nebraska Crane Festival has been celebrating this wildlife phenomenon for 44 years! Join fellow enthusiasts to learn more about the cranes, waterfowl, and other bird species by attending our concurrent sessions, visiting a crane viewing blind, and participating in one of our field trips. http://nebraskacranefestival.org/

Legal and Financial Clinic

Thursday, March 20. Lexington. Call the Farm Hotline at 800-464-0258 to sign up.

Webinar: Cover Crops Seed Selection and Planting

Thursday, March 20. Cost is free but registration is required for each webinar and must be done at least one hour prior to start time.  More info at bit.ly/ASAedprog. 

Legal and Financial Clinic

Friday, March 21. Norfolk. Call the Farm Hotline at 800-464-0258 to sign up

Wild Experience Room

Saturday, March 22. 10am - 3pm. Kearney Holiday Inn Convention Center. Visit numerous activity stations including live animals, nature crafts, and hands-on activities. The festival is free and open to the public. Come and go as you please! 

News

Neighborhood Gardens Create Community Food Security

For 10 years, I obsessed about the threat of climate change on an intellectual, theoretical level. But it wasn’t until the personal implications of climate change began to dawn on me — how it would disrupt my daily routine and the world I took for granted — that the full horror of our situation finally sank in. And in early 2009, a realization hit me, right in the stomach: I didn’t have the first clue about my food supply. I didn’t know where it came from or how it was grown. Isn’t that a way of life that’s just asking for trouble? I decided to make a change. Or, rather, many small changes. Inklings of a Neighborhood Garden Plan. Read the rest, http://www.motherearthnews.com/homesteading-and-livestock/neighborhood-gardens-zm0z14amzsor.aspx#axzz2w4b5rjc2

Opportunity

Egg Incubation

Is anyone hatching eggs that has space to fit in several dozen more?  Or someone that has an incubator we could rent/barter?~Crystal & William, darbysprings@gmail.com

Laying Hens Wanted

I'd like to buy 4-6 laying hens that are laying or will be laying soon.  Thank You! Jon Yoachim, 402-309-4088,jkyoachim@gmail.com

Upcoming

Webinar: Food Safety Liability and Regulations

March 25. 6pm. We’ve been hearing all about the upcoming regulations under the Food Safety Modernization Act. But, as important as it is, farm liability for food safety goes beyond this new law. Learn all the latest on how farms can comply with the FSMA as it goes into effect and how they can protect their operations from liability in general. Register and learn more,http://www.farmcommons.org/webinars

Holistic Grazing Planning

March 27-29, 2014 (3 Days), 8:00 a.m.—5:00 p.m. All workshop fees include lunch and refreshments. There will be a minimum enrollment of eight per class. If the minimum enrollment is not met five days prior to the class, the class will be canceled and the participants notified and refunded. To register go to: www.cccneb.edu/conferences For further information about the workshops contact Bob Shields at 308-379-1361 or Bob.Shields01@gmail.com. For Registration information contact Betty Kooy at 402-461-2441 or bkooy@cccneb.edu