Lubbock Economic Risk Management Program

LUBBOCK – Seeking Solutions: Managing Economic Risks will be hosted by the North Region of the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service on Jan. 23 in Lubbock.

The program will begin with registration at 8:30 a.m. at Cagle’s Steaks and BBQ, 8732 4th St. To insure a seat, preregistration is requested to the AgriLife Extension office in Crosby County, 806-675-2347. There will be a $30 fee at the door.

“This program is designed to provide producers from the Panhandle and South Plains with information regarding economics, budgets, farm bill, projections, risk management issues and timely production issues,” said Danny Nusser, AgriLife Extension North Region program leader for agriculture and natural resources in Amarillo.

“Hopefully we’ll give producers information to help with decisions related to the upcoming crop season and the opportunity to ask questions of some of the agriculture experts,” Nusser said.

Three Texas Department of Agriculture continuing education units will be offered for private, non-commercial and commercial pesticide applicators. Additionally, license holders and applicators can receive the training necessary to meet the new auxin certification requirement in order to apply new formulations of dicamba in the future.

Morning agenda items and speakers will be:

— Farm Bill Update and Potential Decisions – Dr. Joe Outlaw, AgriLife Extension economist and co-director of the Agricultural and Food Policy Center at Texas A&M University, College Station.

— Profitability Panel: Dr. Jackie Smith, AgriLife Extension economist, Lubbock, Budgets and Risk Management; Dr. John Robinson, AgriLife Extension economist – cotton marketing, College Station, Market Trends and World Supply; and Shawn Wade, Plains Cotton Growers director of policy management, Lubbock, Insurance Policy and Cotton Farm Bill Progress.

— Dicamba Litigation: What to Avoid – Tiffany Dowell Lashmet, AgriLife Extension agricultural law specialist, Amarillo.

The afternoon program will offer a series of breakout sessions, and attendees can select two of the three concurrent sessions listed below:

Cotton Session – led by AgriLife Extension agriculture and natural resources agents Wade Howard, Lynn County, and Gary Roschetzky, Dawson County.

Potential Disease/Virus Issues – Dr. Jason Woodward, AgriLife Extension plant pathologist, Lubbock.

Nematode Microscope Evaluation of Participants – Woodward.

Pre-plant Decisions – Seed Preparation, Fertility, Soil Temperature, Disease Control, Planting Rate – AgriLife Extension integrated pest management agents Tyler Mays, Terry, Gaines and Yoakum counties; and Tommy Doederlein, Dawson and Lynn counties.

Feed Grain/Small Grain Session– led by AgriLife Extension agriculture and natural resources agents Curtis Preston, Bailey, and John Villalba, Swisher.

Advances in Sugarcane Aphid Technology – AgriLife Extension integrated pest management agents John David Gonzales, Castro, Bailey and Parmer counties; and Blayne Reed, Hale, Swisher and Floyd counties.

Sugarcane Variety Tolerance – Dr. Calvin Trostle, AgriLife Extension agronomist, Lubbock.

Virus Management in Small Grain Crops – Trostle.

Best Management Practices with Corn Mycotoxins – Dr. Jourdan Bell, AgriLife Extension agronomist, Amarillo.

Weed Management Session – led by AgriLife Extension agriculture and natural resources agents Caitlin Jackson, Crosby, and Kendra Bilbrey, Cochran.

Dicamba/Auxin Certification – AgriLife Extension integrated pest management agent Kerry Siders, Hockley, Cochran and Lamb counties.

How Effective Were the New Tools? — Siders.

For more information, contact any AgriLife Extension office in the Panhandle or South Plains districts.