Wintertime meetings offer lots of information and opportunities to bounce ideas off of fellow farmers. The West Ohio Agronomy Day annually attracts 200 farmers and dealers to Sidney, Ohio. Speakers from Purdue and Ohio State University Extension share research supported recommendations while gleaning on-farm insight from attendees.

The 2010 event is slated for Jan. 11 in Sidney’s American Legion, with daytime and evening sessions set up for convenience of full and part-time farmers. Even though the first session on grain marketing does not begin until 8:30 a.m., farmers start rolling in before 8 a.m. to grab the best seats, swap stories and hear from a couple of grain marketing gurus. The evening session begins at 6 p.m.

Dr. Larry Brown, OSU Extension ag engineer plans to lay out ideas on subsurface drainage and irrigation, the potential for nutrient export through tile and the effectiveness of biofilters in tile. A related presentation from Jon Rausch, OSU program director for animal manure, highlights the best uses of rear end fertilizer without complaints.

A hot issue in 2009 across Ohio was the use of cover crops. On Jan. 11, OSU Extension’s Alan Sundermeier wants to guide meeting participants through the practical use of cover crops for soil protection, nutrient recycling and compaction resolution.

Ohio State’s corn specialist Dr. Peter Thomison tackles two topics – the cause of abnormal corn ears and proper use of yield trials for hybrid selection. Questions on each topic were prevalent in this year of high yields.

Thank goodness fertilizer prices have dropped a bunch since 2008 highs; however, crop nutrients remain high dollar inputs for maximum economic yields.

Dr. Robert Mullen, OSU’s soil fertility expert, details fertility recommendations that help generate income without breaking the bank.

With little continuous corn in western Ohio, soybeans and wheat have value in many of our rotations. Jonah Johnson, an OSU Extension professional who has earned his CCA status, will validate the practice of rotational crop production during the meeting.
Finally, with one year of ACRE under our belts, OSU Extension’s Chris Bruynis gives the farm management perspective on USDA’s Average Crop Revenue Election program.

Farmers or Certified Crop Advisors interested in attending West Ohio Agronomy Day can check out the complete program at http://shelby.osu.edu or receive registration information via the mail by calling 937-498-7239. Sign up is requested by Dec. 31.
Oh, by the way, another completely different agenda emphasizing crop pest issues runs concurrent to what has already been described.

Purdue experts Dr. Tom Jordan and Matt Roberts really help out in the pest arena. More on that in next week’s Farm World column.
Merry Christmas!

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments for Roger Bender may write to him in care of this publication.