he temperature during the month of December in the Wildcat District has been fairly average, despite some oddly warm days in the past couple of weeks, with average temperatures about four degrees above normal. This is following the soybean harvest that was historically late due to unseasonable rains and many double cropped wheat fields that were late as well. The evidence of this are the deeply rutted soybean fields that can be seen throughout the district. Something the farmers sometimes call duck-ruts after they fill up with water but I have never really seen any ducks taking advantage.
On November 27, the Profitable Precision and Yield Data Workshop took place at the Southeast Area Research Station. We had one producer and two other community members participate along with 11 technicians from the sponsoring farm equipment dealers. Part of the reason for the low participation was due to the soybean harvest as the fields had finally dried out a little on the day of the event. Another reason is technology workshops are hard to draw a crowd, but I hope to continue to have ag technology events as this is an important topic for the Wildcat District.
On December 17, the annual Agronomy Night in Independence brought in quite a crowd, probably around 70 people with sponsors included. We heard from Roger McEowen on lease laws and Doug Jardine on soybean diseases. The survey responses from the event were very positive of the topics covered and many said they obtained some valuable information.
Between and after the events there have been a good number of soil samples coming in and needing recommendations as producers are getting ready for next year. December and January are the prime months for lease questions as well as most contracts need to be in place by January 29.
Also, I was on KOAM-TV for the first time this month talking about some current issues in soybeans and putting the word out for the soybean school coming up on January 15. We will also present a pre-plant corn school coming up on February 11, both will be at the Southeast Area Research & Extension Office in Parsons.
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