Farmers Invited to Submit Proposals for SARE Grants

The North Central Region of the Sustainable Agricultural Research and Education (NCR SARE) program has issued its 2014 call for proposals for Farmer/Rancher Grants. NCR-SARE expects to fund about 45 projects in the twelve-state North Central Region with approximately $400,000 to be awarded overall.

Farmers and ranchers submit grant proposals to explore sustainable agriculture solutions to problems on the farm or ranch.  Proposals should show how farmers and ranchers plan to use their own innovative ideas to explore sustainable agriculture options and how they will share project results. The deadline for grant proposals is November 14.

 

As a single farm, you can apply up to $7,500; 2 farms together up to $15,000 and 3 or more farms applying together up to $22,500.

Debi Kelly, the Missouri State SARE co-coordinator, says Missouri leads the NRC in the total number of awards since 1988 and usually receives on average 10 grants per year.

Kelly will be conducting workshops throughout the state to help producers with grant-writing basics, choosing a project, what to expect, and the keys to having a successful application. For the first time this year grant proposals can be submitted entirely online.

“I’m going to work with participants on using the new online submission,” says Debi Kelly, Missouri State SARE co-coordinator. “We’ll also look at previous grants in the SARE database and explore ways to make stronger proposals.”

The workshops are listed below with time, location and contact information for registration.

September 9 – Webinar – 7-8:30 pm
Log onto univmissouri.adobeconnect.com/debikelly and sign in as a guest with your name

September 12 – Lincoln University’s Carver Farm, Jefferson City – 4-9 pm

Contact to register – BohnertC@LincolnU.edu

September 17 – Warren County Extension Center, Warrenton – 10 am to 3 pm

Contact to register – Janet Hurst, 660-216-1749

September 19 – Ray County Senior Center, Richmond – 7-9 pm

Contact to register – Susan Jaster, 816-589-4725

October 2 – Sikeston – 4-9 pm

Contact to register – Catherine Bohnert, 573-681-5174

October 25 – Southwest Research Center, Mt. Vernon – 4-9 pm

Contact to register Shon Bishop, (417) 846-3948

Interested applicants can find the call for proposals online as well as useful information for completing a proposal at http://www.northcentralsare.org/Grants/Types-of-Grants/Farmer-Rancher-Grant-Program. You can find more information about sustainable agriculture at http://www.sare.org/ .

 

Poultry Fest

The Silex Fall Poultry Fest will be held September 14, 2013 starting at 7:00 a.m. at Silex R-1 School on Hwy UU in Silex, MO.  Silex is just minutes off of Hwy 61 and about 30 minutes North of I-70 from Wentzville MO.

 

The day’s events include:

• A large farmers’ market featuring rare and heritage poultry and small stock.  Several large lots of rare and heritage poultry will be there that day.
• A jackpotted show to select the best breeding rooster in the River Hills region.  There will be a $2 entry fee per bird with half of the entry monies going to the winning bird.
• Egg Show 3 eggs are an entry display on a small plate $1 entry fee. Winner gets half of the entry monies.
•  Raffle – tickets $1 each or 6 for $5
• A county auction with a simple 10% commission on all items sold
• No admission fee to the grounds
• No setup fee for market members, market memberships will be available that day. Non member’s $10.00 set-up fee.
• Event will run rain or shine
• Lunch available on site
• Poultry supply will be there.

For more information about this show, please call us at one of these numbers - 573-485-7261, 660-456-7565, 636-697-3447.

 

 

September Ag Opportunities

The September 2013 issue of Ag Opportunities is now available.  Topics include:

Building a Low Cost Cold Room

Preventing and Diagnosing Ailments on Vegetables and Small Fruits

What Motivates Beginning Farmers?

Monthly Beginning Farmer Webinars - Grant Writing, IPM, Irrigation and Cold Storage

Growing Growers Workshops (Kansas City)

EarthDance Workshops (St. Louis)

Regional Grazing Schools for 2013

Grants and Assistance

In Print/On-Line/In The News

On The Calendar

Past Issues

The Dreaded SWD Now Causing Extensive Fruit Damage in Missouri

Why do I keep blogging about this "bug" you ask?  If you have it on your farm, you know why.  If you don't have it on your farm, you're lucky.  I visited with a peach/cherry producer at a farmers' market last weekend.  The couple both work on the farm and have been farming all their lives.  They told me that the economic loss from the SWD has been devastating this year.  They also said that if next year is the same as this year, they'll get out of farming.  Needless to say that caught my attention.  So any chance I get, I will post about this invasive insect.  Here is a picture from the peach/cherry producers that they took of a female SWD positing eggs into a peach.

What is Spotted Wing Drosophila?
Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD) is a small vinegar fly (about 0.1 inches in length) that for the last two years has been causing economic damage to berries, grapes, and softer-fleshed fruit such as peach in several areas of the US including the Midwest. It is native to Japan, so this insect is invasive to the US. SWD was detected in Missouri in late June through a monitoring system that was deployed by the LU Integrated Pest Management Program.

Why Should I be concerned about SWD? Is it that bad?
SWD very quickly became a devastating pest of berry crops in Missouri. Adults were first detected in monitoring traps in late June, 2013. By early August, infestations to blackberry fruits had already been reported. By mid August, SWD was reported infesting crops state-wide. In addition to small fruit crops, this invasive insect pest also attacks some stone fruits (cherry, nectarine, peach), high tunnel tomatoes, and wild hosts (including pokeweed, autumn olive, crabapple, nightshade, Amur honeysuckle, and wild grape). Raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, elderberries and grapes are at the greatest risk. Picture 1 shows larvae leaving out blackberry fruits.

 

How can I monitor for this pest?

It is very important that you learn how to monitor for this invasive pest. To determine whether SWD is present, the most effective and economical trap can be prepared using a clear plastic deli-type cup baited with a mixture of water (6 oz), dry active yeast (1/2 tablespoon), and sugar (as shown in Picture 2). Note the small holes that are made on the sides of the trap which allow flies to enter. A small yellow sticky card can be placed inside the cup so that flies that are attracted by the bait and enter the trap are retained by the card. This allows for easier fly identification.

 

How do I know whether flies trapped or active on fruits are SWD?
SWD flies look similar to the small vinegar flies that are typically found around or on fermenting fruits and vegetables. SWD males have one black dot on each wing and females do not have dots in their wings; they have a serrated egg-laying device called an ovipositor, to cut a slit into the skin of intact fruit to lay their eggs (Picture 3). This makes SWD a more significant pest.

 

How can I manage SWD in my farm or yard?

Below are some IPM options that can help reduce larval infestations by SWD: (i) Exclusion: For small plantings, one option is using a fine mesh screen with openings less than 0.98 millimeter (0.039 inches) wide (18 mesh or finer). Keep in mind that mesh screens will exclude pollinating insects, so it is best to cover your plants once fruit is set. Other SWD management options include (ii) Canopy Management: Thin the plant row to 3-4 strong canes per square foot, eliminating weaker shoots and opening the canopy.  Consider a trellising system that similarly opens the canopy. This may make plantings less attractive to SWD and will improve spray coverage and (iii) Sanitation: Removing over-ripe fruit from production areas as soon as possible can minimize SWD egg lay and larval development. Growers in other regions of the country have sent pickers through fields with one container to collect good fruit and another container to collect over-ripe fruit, again, to minimize egg-laying and larval development sites.

This article does not discuss insecticide options. A Fact Sheet on IPM options for SWD including effective organic and conventional insecticides is being developed by the LU IPM Program.

(by Dr. Jaime Pinero, LU IPM Specialist)

 

Intensive Grazing on Pastures

Management-intensive grazing, intensive grazing, short-duration grazing, and holistic-management grazing are all variations on the same theme. They all make use of short paddock grazing periods, high stocking densities, and planned pasture-recovery periods designed to optimize forage quality, diversity, and longevity. Combined, these three components enable ranchers to improve forage production and harvest, thereby maximizing net profit. All intensive grazing schemes are defined by:

•     Paddock grazing periods of one to four days
•     Stocking densities of 50,000 to 500,000 pounds per acre
•     Pasture-recovery periods of 20 to 35 days

Advantages of Intensive Grazing Over Continuous Grazing or Haying

•     Double your stocking rate, compared to continuous grazing.
•     Harvested forage dry matter costs several to 10 times less than haying ($4.85 to $6.50/ton vs. $50/ton).
•     Produce and harvest stockpiled forage for $60/ton vs. $100/ton.
•     Control parasites without wormers by maintaining a 5-inch stubble.
•     Increase your control of pasture species, resulting in greater legume populations, more diverse stands, and less fertility inputs.
•     It is easier to predict forage inventory at any given time during the grazing season.
•     Provide stockpiled least-cost forage for winter.
•     Grass uses 25% less water than alfalfa over the crop season.

Considerations

•     Requires slightly more planning and management than other grazing systems or haying.
•     Increases labor. You are harvesting your crop (i.e., moving livestock) every day or two instead of every week or two.
•     Uses more temporary fencing than continuous or conventional rotational grazing.
•     Requires more fertility (mostly nitrogen) than conventional grazing systems because of higher forage production.

Will It Work for Me?

•     Am I willing to devote a little more time each day to management? Use of ATTRA's new Grazing Calculator will greatly simplify pasture and irrigation management.
•     Am I willing to allocate labor to move stock every one to four days?
•     Always maintain a grass gradient. Look ahead. Use the Grazing Calculator to estmate how many pounds of dry matter per acre your grass produced over the last week? How many pounds per acre are currently in the paddock where the stock will be one week from today? At the present growth rate, will there be enough forage to meet the grazing unit's daily dry matter intake?
•     Plan ahead to integrate irrigation with grazing. Know the available water-holding capacity of your soils; apply that moisture in a timely manner, using evapo-transpiration rates as a guide. Dust off your Paul Brown soil moisture probe and use it!

Bottom Line

In the long run, intensive grazing will decrease forage harvesting costs by a factor of several to 10 times. It diverts investment capital from high-cost forage-harvesting equipment to livestock. Over time, livestock reproduce and appreciate in value. Haying machinery will only break down.  The cost is your management time and labor. Are you allocating your time to its best advantage?

(Adapted from ATTRA's new publication, Why Intensive Grazing on Irrigated Pastures? by Dave Scott, NCAT Livestock Specialist)

Thermal Banking Greenhouses

Farmers who can extend their growing season have a distinct advantage in the marketplace: By offering a product outside the “normal” growing season, they can often receive a higher price. That’s what Steven Schwen (Earthen Path Organic Farm) has done with his greenhouse, starting earlier in the year with seedlings of warm-season vegetables, and continuing production into the fall and even the winter months when he grows cold-tolerant crops. Part of what makes Schwen’s operation so unique is the added innovation of thermal banking, which significantly reduces the energy costs of running a greenhouse for cold-season production.

 

Read more, see a diagram and view a video of this type of greenhouse here.

 

 

 

Pumpkin Field Day

A Pumpkin Field Day is scheduled for September 6^th from 10:00 am - 2:00 pm at McVeigh's Pumpkin Patch, 956 E. County Rd – 1800, Hamilton, IL (just across the Mississippi River from Hannibal).  Rick McVeigh has been raising pumpkins for over 25 years and has over 50 different varieties this year.

Join pumpkin growers for this field day to view and discuss pumpkin and gourd varieties.  Find out which pumpkin varieties will do well at your own farm and market.  Variety trials can be of help by allowing one to compare many different varieties grown under similar conditions.  This way, a grower can decide which one may work for your particular market. 

Join us for a field day in Hancock County, Illinois to learn about pumpkin variety selection, pumpkin disease and insect identification/control and fertility issues. This will also be an opportunity to meet with industry representatives.

Speakers: 

·       Dr. Mohammad Babadoost, Extension Specialist, Plant Pathology, Univ. of IL Dept. of Crop Sciences

·       Dr. Richard Weinzierl, Extension Specialist, Entomology, Univ. of IL Dept. of Crop Sciences

·       Dr. Patrick O'Malley, Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Commercial Horticulture Specialist

This field day is co-sponsored by the U of I Extension with Iowa State University Extension, Louisa, Lee, Henry & Des Moines counties.

The event is free but registration is required because a lunch is being served.  To register, click here.