Author: Raul Villanueva
Major Program: Grains
The title of my presentation for this zoom prerecorded event was “Management of Bean Leaf Beetles, and an Update of Potential Soybean Pests in 2020”. This was a VIRTUAL CORN AND SOYBEAN FIELD DAY due to COVID-19 restrictions. The audience was appreciative, there were some positive comments about the presentations. There were about 60 people for my session
The Kentucky soybean board provided some funds to study these beetle species in 2020 and as a result I presented this information to an online audience du to the pandemic restrictions. The event was organized by Dr. Bessin and there were many speakers on filed crops in the morning and vegetables and fruits in the afternoon. The audience was thankful, there was a great feedback about the presentations. There were about 90 people for the morning session and about 50 for the afternoon. For my
I participated in the Kentuckiana pre-recorded video conference event in December 2020. This event is multi-state meeting with participants from Kentucky and Indiana. The event had presentations recorded and at least 197 people registered for this event, however they were available on demand for a couple of months. The topic I covered was on “The Biology of the Soybean Stem Borer, its Natural Enemies, Effects on Yields and Management”. These presentations were conducted using digital
The Kentucky soybean board provided some funds to study these beetle species in 2020 and as a result I presented this information to an online audience du to the pandemic restrictions. The event was organized by Dr. Bessin and there were many speakers on filed crops in the morning and vegetables and fruits in the afternoon. The audience was thankful, there was a great feedback about the presentations. There were about 90 people for the morning session and about 50 for the afternoon. For my prese
Author: Sam McNeill
Kentucky grain farmers produced a total of 376.5 million bushels of corn, soybeans and wheat in 2020 and generated over $2.4 billion in gross income (nass.usda.gov/ky). Most of the production area lies in the western half of the state, where the UK Grain and Forage Center of Excellence is housed at the Research and Education Center in Princeton. The CAFE maintains a core group of extension and research specialists from five departments at this location to provide unbiased scientific information
The USDA Rural Development Office in Kentucky and the Kentucky Agricultural Development Board made cost-share funds available in 2020 for energy efficiency projects on farms and small rural businesses. Both programs required an energy assessment as part of the cost-share application. Cooperative Extension Service engineers from the UK Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Department were asked to provide technical assistance in the form of energy assessments for potential program applicants. T
The Kentucky Agriculture Training School this in person event on May 20, 2021. Extension specialists offered trainings on a diversity of topics. In this opportunity the training was directed to help the clientele in scouting techniques for field crops pests or recognize growth stages of corn and soybeans as well as the ID of weed. Presenters included in this event were Drs. E. Ritchey and J. Grove (Soil, nutrients, and crop growth), C. Knott (Soybean growth staging), C. Lee (Corn growth staging)
Author: Patrick Hardesty
Cereal rye in Kentucky is known as a cover or silage crop. On-farm research through the Kentucky Commercial Rye Cover Crop Initiative is being conducted to test agronomic practices to demonstrate if Kentucky can be a reliable source of rye for distillers, millers and bakers. Temperature and humidity are two climate parameters which greatly affect quality and yield during pollination and grain fill. To record these parameters, the Taylor County Extension Service purchased a wea
I participated presenting at the 2020 (July28) and 2021 (29 June) Pest Management Field Days. These two events were organized by Dr. Legleiter, the first was virtual while the second was in person. They were successfully completed considering the COVID 2019 for the first and as first in person field day at the UKREC since 2019 fro the second. In 2021 there were 67 attendees at the event and and collected surveys from 33 individuals at the conclusion of the event. 83% of the participants consider
I conducted two webinars delivering information on the management of the sugarcane aphid for Mexico and South America. Webinars were delivered in Spanish and they were broadcast via Microsoft Teams Meeting (MSTM) and Facebook. The audience for each of these events reached to >200 on MSTM whereas Facebook audience was not tallied. Audience included growers, consultants, chemical industry workers and students. The counties involved in South America were Colombia and Bolivia, places that sugarca
Taylor County ranks 35th in the state for grain production. Due to previous successful fungicide application trials using a drone, some producers are adopting drone application instead of application with helicopter in corn. With some of our small tree lined fields with poor air drainage where disease pressure his high, a drone is a more effective application method. Of the approximately 13,500 acres of corn, approximately 9,000 acres are on books to be sprayed with a fungicide
Author: Chad Lee
The Kentucky Corn Growers, Kentucky Soybean Board and Kentucky Small Grain Growers organized a series of farm visits with Rebecca Goodman, Secretary of the Energy and Environment Cabinet for Governor Andy Beshear. They invited several faculty with the Grain and Forage Center of Excellence to meet with farmers and Secretary Goodman at the Hardin County Extension Office. Dean Cox's office organized a short introduction of our college and how we support agriculture and the environment. The foll
After the introduction of glyphosate in the mid 1970’s, it was primarily used as a burndown herbicide in corn and soybeans. Since the introduction of Roundup Ready crops in 1996, glyphosate has been used widely for burndown and in-crop weed control with the increase in use and many dropping pre-emerge herbicides from their weed control program weeds have become resistant. Two weeds, palmer amaranth and waterhemp, were identified as resistant in 2005. These pigweeds are v
People from a farm supply company had a farmer who had corn that appeared to be nutrient deficient in specific patterns across fields. The patterns appeared to be consistent with the GPS map of the fertilizer applications. We walked the fields, I examined the corn for other potential problems, such as restricted roots, weeds, etc., and we pulled plants for tissue analysis. There was one area in one field where weeds were a problem. They had been controlled recently, but had affected the corn cro
Author: Chuck Flowers
Producers are striving to improve yields and profitability. In the four river counties 20,445,125 bushels of corn are produced each year. Producers need information from UK crop, weed, insect and economic specialist to increase yields. They also receive information from seed, crop and chemical representatives. Taking all this information into play and plugging in data to increase yields is a must to stay in the game. Farmers strive to increase yields to help feed the worl
Author: Colette Laurent
Screen-time fatigue and lack of engagement became an issue over the course of the year. Engaging stakeholders during events is critical for disseminating new information and addressing any concerns or questions. To overcome this obstacle, the Wheat Science Group teamed up with the Dirt 2 Dollars Podcast Crew made up of County Extension agents to produce a Wheat Webinar to help facilitate a more relaxed and freer flowing program. Extension Specialist discussed and answered audience qu
How do we get pertinent and timely Grain Crop information to our stakeholders in the absence of in-person field days and county meetings? The Grain Crops Group and Wheat Science Group are interdisciplinary groups of scientist and researchers who work collaboratively to address this need. 2020/21 became a “meet them where they are” year. To accomplish this goal, we produced Virtual field days and meetings which reached more than 350 participants. We provided YouTube
Author: Carl Bradley
Foliar fungicide use in agronomic field crops has increased greatly over the last decade. This increased use of foliar fungicides has resulted in an increased risk of development of fungicide resistant strains of important plant pathogens. With support from the United Soybean Board, the Kentucky Small Grain Growers’ Association, and industry partners, Dr. Bradley’s program evaluates for fungicide-resistant pathogens of soybean and wheat in Kentucky and across the U.S. Working wi
