News Update
February 27, 2014
Texas AgrAbility Helping Military Veterans, Agricultural Producers
with Disabilities
Tim Smith, who has a degenerative bone disease, is the owner of S&L Farms in Anderson — a 28-acre year-round organic agricultural operation producing a variety of vegetables, as well as laying hens and Thanksgiving turkeys.
For years, Smith, now 54, had to work his land with a 1948 Ford tractor and rototiller or plow with implements either built for the antique tractor or designed to be pulled by a horse. That was before he found out about the Texas AgrAbility Project administered by the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, part of the Texas A&M University System.
“We had to start in January to get ready to plant in March,” he said. “It took two months to do field work that should only take four to five days.”
Along with having to use outdated and uncomfortable equipment, Smith’s condition had been growing progressively worse, partly severing his S1 nerve and making it increasingly difficult to perform daily work activities.
“I have limited to no feeling in my feet and legs,” explained Smith. “Where most people can feel where to put their feet, I have to look down to see where I need to put mine.”
While at their local tractor supply company, Smith’s wife Stacey learned about Texas AgrAbility while flipping through a magazine. She suggested Tim contact Texas AgrAbility to see if they might have some ideas on how to make daily tasks less difficult.
“The Texas AgrAbility program sent an occupational therapist and a mechanical engineer from Texas A&M University to evaluate the operation, look at the equipment and make recommendations,” Smith said.
For more information, please view the full release here.
Iowa State Anticipates Increased
Demand for Food Safety Training
Iowa State University is anticipating an increase in demand for its food safety-training course as new state regulations take effect in Iowa this year.
New Iowa Department of Inspection and Appeals guidelines went into effect Jan. 1 requiring food establishments to designate a Certified Food Protection Manager to oversee the safe handling, preparation and service of food items.
To meet the expected demand, specialists with Human Sciences Extension and Outreach will offer more than 100 ServSafe courses across the state. ServSafe trains employees in food sanitation and instructs them on how to prevent foodborne illnesses.
Barbara Fuller, a nutrition and health program specialist who works in Red Oak and serves southwest Iowa, co-coordinates the program for extension and outreach. She said she has seen an increase in interest in the courses since the new guidelines were announced.
“Already the new licensees are calling,” Fuller said. “They have been told that this is a new requirement when they apply. Others are also starting to send more people to classes.”
Catherine Strohbehn, an extension specialist overseeing Iowa State’s retail food-safety programs, anticipates that more than 1,000 Iowans will take the course.
For more information, please view the full release here.
Pesky Palmer Pigweed Proliferates
There’s a new No. 1 bad weed to watch in Missouri, says Kevin Bradley, University of Missouri (MU) Extension weed specialist.
Palmer pigweed, aka Palmer amaranth, acts badly in more ways than most, Bradley adds.
“The weed pest has been in the state for as long as I’ve been here (10 years),” Bradley says. It was just another weed, not noteworthy. However, three years ago that changed when Palmer became resistant to glyphosate herbicide, the most-used weed control in the state.
Palmer turned aggressive and worked its way from the Bootheel to northwestern Missouri. For now it’s found mainly in counties along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers.
Soybean growers in particular face a challenge from the weed, which brings multiple threats, Bradley says.
For starters, each weed produces about 300,000 seeds. Worse, the herbicide resistance is transmitted by pollen.
Unlike most weeds, male and female Palmer pigweed plants are separate. Pollen must travel through the air to fertilize the flowers that produce the seeds. A characteristic of the pigweeds is the tall flower stalks with hundreds of florets.
There’s more. Palmer germinates from early spring until late in the growing season. “It just doesn’t stop reproducing,” Bradley says. That allows it to outlast the longest-lasting residual herbicides.
The plant grows fast, up to 2.5 inches a day. It grows tall, taking over a soybean field by shading out the crop.
Only 2.5 plants per foot of row can hide a growing soybean crop. Bradley shows slides of soybean fields where you must look close to see a soybean plant.
No other weed has so many bad things going for it, Bradley says. Control requires constant intensive management.
As with most weeds, but especially Palmer pigweed, the days of “one spray one day and done” are long gone.
Palmer resists glyphosate and four other herbicide modes of action. In Missouri, Palmer is resistant only to glyphosate.
In spite of resistance, producers can control the pest. “It just takes lots of work,” Bradley told the MU Crop Management Conference. “When I see growers using crews of choppers with hoes, I know they understand this is one tough weed.”
For more information, please view the full release here.
State Photographer Meinzer to Keynote
Land Stewardship Conference
State photographer Wyman Meinzer has been selected as the keynote speaker for the Bennett Trust Land Stewardship educational program, “Protecting the Legacy of the Edwards Plateau,” to be hosted by the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service April 23-25 in Kerrville.
“You do not want to miss this unique opportunity to hear the state photographer of Texas relate the history and legacy of the Edwards Plateau in a pictorial fashion unlike any other,” said Rick Machen, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service livestock specialist and event co-planner from Uvalde.
“Legacies are formed in all walks of life — history, nature, sports, communities and families,” Machen said. “Every region of Texas has them — from the Panhandle to Gulf Coast and Pineywoods to the Trans-Pecos. Every region is unique. No two share the same legacy. Meinzer will bring the legacy of the Edwards Plateau and Texas Hill Country to life.
“When it comes to Texas natural resources and breathtaking beauty, few have experienced them like Meinzer. With more than 250 magazine covers and 17 photography books to his credit, we could think of none better than Wyman for this task. The pictures will wow you. And when you grow up in Benjamin, Texas, storytelling is second nature.”
In his blog, http://wymanmeinzer.wordpress.com, Meinzer said, “I believe that in knowing our past is to better understand the present and perhaps foresee, to some extent, our path into the future.”
The event at the Inn of the Hills Resort and Conference Center, 1001 Junction Hwy., Kerrville, is designed to “bring the best and wisest accomplished stewards, visionaries and legacy-leavers together as educators,” according to organizers.
For more information, please view the Angus Journal’s Virtual Library calendar of upcoming events here.
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