Online tool makes in-season plant stresses manageable GREENSBORO, N.C. — With so many stresses at work in fields this season, it is important to understand the solutions that can minimize their toll. For this reason, Syngenta is introducing an online training module to teach corn, soybean and cereal growers how to manage plant stresses with Quilt Xcel fungicide.

The tutorial features a 15-minute interactive presentation that demonstrates the benefits Quilt Xcel provides corn, soybean and cereal crops. A short quiz follows to test participants’ knowledge on the content.

The module shows how Quilt Xcel helps plants better manage water use during times of too little and too much water. It also explains the increase in grain and pod fill for plants treated with the fungicide.

For more information, visit www.Quilt Xcel.com

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Five seconds. That is how quickly a worker can become engulfed in flowing grain and be unable to get out.

Sixty seconds. That is how quickly a worker can be completely submerged in flowing grain. More than half of all grain engulfments result in death by suffocation.

Record death and injuries in 2010 led the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to reach out to the agricultural and grain-handling industries to find ways to prevent deaths and injuries. OSHA also developed a Local Emphasis Program for Grain Handling Facilities focusing on the grain and feed industry’s six major hazards. These include engulfment, falls, auger entanglement, “struck by,” combustible dust explosions and electrocution hazards.

OSHA worked with The Ohio State University to develop a grain safety training session as part of the 2012 OSU/OSHA Safety Day on Grain Safety. OSHA, the Grain & Livestock Assoc. of Illinois (GFAI) and the Illinois Grain Handling Safety Coalition have also developed a Stop-sign decal to adhere to grain bin doors using pictures and short phrases reminding entrants to lockout potentially hazardous equipment, stay clear of waist-high grain, cover floor holes and to follow other best practices.

Individuals or companies can email the GFAI at info@gfai.org to request the decal.

OSHA has also published information related to common grain industry hazards and abatement methods, proper bin entry techniques, sweep auger use and many other grain related topics at www.osha.gov/SLTC/grainhandling

To ask questions, obtain compliance assistance, file a complaint or report workplace hospitalizations, fatalities or situations posing imminent danger to workers, the public should call OSHA’s toll free hotline at 800-321-OSHA (6742).

URBANA, Ill. — Aspiring Illinois farmers, new growers with less than five years’ experience, commodity farmers interested in diversifying to include fruit or vegetable production and high school and community college agriculture teachers are invited to apply now for the next session of a free training program offered through the University of Illinois crop sciences department.

The “Preparing a New Generation of Illinois Fruit and Vegetable Farmers” application period will be open through Oct. 15, or until capacity is reached. Participants can apply for the program at www.newillinoisfarmers.org/new_ generation_app.php

There is no fee for participants who complete the yearlong program. It is offered at three locations in Illinois: the UIUC campus in Urbana, U of I’s Dixon Springs Agricultural Center in Simpson and the Kane County U of I extension office in St. Charles.

Classes will be one Saturday a month at each location from 9 a.m.-4 p.m., running December 2013-November 2014.