Decatur will be the site of a regional Extension seminar designed to improve your profitability, on January 20, beginning at 9:30 a.m. Illinois Farm Management 2004 is a computerized workshop for farmers, farm managers, farm lenders and anyone involved with commercial farming operations who wants to improve his management skills. The workshop serves as a follow-up to University of Illinois Extension Farm Income 2004, which focuses on farm income, risk management, and marketing outlook.

These farm management workshops include computerized record keeping and University of Illinois Farm Analysis Solution Tools (FAST) spreadsheets. Prior computer and keyboarding experience are essential for successful participation in the workshop.

The session includes:

1. Crop budgeting and controlling farmland (Leasing or purchasing)
2. Machinery economics
3. Crop insurance

Pre-registration is required because of limited enrollment. The seminar will be held in the Extension Conference Center 2535 Millikin Parkway, beginning at 9:30 a.m. A registration fee of $45 covers all fees, handouts, and lunch. A second person from an operation can attend for a fee of $15. Pre-register through:

Sue Esposito
304 Mumford Hall
1301 W. Gregory Drive
University of Illinois
Urbana, IL. 61801
Phone: 217-333-5506
Fax: 217-265-0538

A follow-up session on: 1) Evaluating your financial health (What's the future of your business?); 2) Crop marketing and storage decisions, and 3) Farm rent evaluator will be held in three neighboring communities:

• Jan. 21: Champaign Co. Extension, 801 N Country Fair Dr, Champaign
• Feb. 5: Morgan Co. Extension, 104 N. Westgate Ave, Jacksonville
• Feb. 12: McLean Co. Extension, 402 N. Hershey Rd, Bloomington

For the seventh consecutive year, University of Illinois Extension specialists will offer Corn and Soybean Classics at Springfield and Urbana in January. Speakers will address critical issues in crop production and crop protection. After a series of 25 minute presentations, panel discussions with the audience will be held. Topics include:

1. Chasing High Corn and Soybean Yields
2. Do You Need Micronutrient Soil Tests?
3. Developments in Agricultural Drainage in Illinois
4. Interactions Between Weather and Crop Disease
5. The Soybean Checkoff Wants to Give Back $$$ That SCN Is Taking Away
6. Methods, Performance, and Price Impacts of USDA Crop Forecasts
7. The Changing Picture in Insect Management: New Tactics, New Invasive Pests, and Unknown Relationships
8. The Wise, the Unwise, and the Otherwise: The Spectrum of Weed Management Practices

The Classic in Bloomington will be held Jan. 13 at the Interstate Center, and the Classic in Springfield will be held Jan. 22 at the Crowne Plaza.

Nutrient Management: 1.0
Crop Management: 1.0
Integrated Pest Management: 3.0
Soil and Water Management: 1.0

You can register on site ($50). On-site registration will begin at 8:15 a.m., and each conference will adjourn at 3:15 p.m. For pre-registration, call (217)333-2880. If you have questions about the program content, contact Bob Hoeft at (217)333-4424.

If you have wanted to try out a new idea, but didn't have the funds to risk for the research, federal and state grants are available to help you. All you have to know is how to write a grant proposal, and a seminar on that will be held January 21 in Decatur at the Extension Conference Center.

Illinois farmers and agriculture professionals can learn how to write grant proposals for two sustainable agriculture programs--North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (NCR SARE) Producer Grant Program and the Illinois Department of Agriculture's C-2000 Sustainable Agriculture Program.

To pre-register for the daytime grant-writing seminar, call the Macon County Extension office at 877-6042.

The 2004 Central Illinois Tillage Seminar, being held in Bloomington this year, will focus on the critical role which soil and nutrients play in making your corn and soybean enterprises profitable. This Tillage Seminar will also highlight the Illinois SOILS (Save Our IL Soils) and Illinois WATER (What Are The Efficient Rates) initiatives. These statewide demonstrations are providing "hands-on" information to assist producers with adopting strip-till, no-till and mulch-till farming systems and for determining the most efficient rates of nitrogen application. The Central Illinois Tillage Seminar will feature Midwestern Extension Specialists, who are nationally recognized in tillage, soils, and nutrient management.

Seating is limited, so registration will be taken on a first-come basis. A $10 fee will be charged to cover materials and the noon luncheon. A grant from the Illinois Department of Agriculture is providing partial support for this program.

For pre-registration, send a $10 check payable to "University of Illinois" and mail to:

Don Meyer
McLean County Extension Unit
402 N. Hershey Rd.
Bloomington, IL 61704

 

The 2004 Illinois Specialty Crop Conference will be held Jan. 23-24 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Springfield. Dozens of practical seminars on fruits, vegetables, herbs, and small crop management will be held. In addition, a pre-conference workshop on organic production and certification is scheduled for Thursday, January 22. Lodging is available at the Crowne Plaza Hotel for $67 plus tax. Please call the hotel directly at 217-529-7777. Information can be found at www.crowneplazaspringfield.com.

For more information or for a conference brochure, Contact:

Illinois Specialty Growers Association
1701 N. Towanda Ave.
Bloomington, IL 61701
Phone 309/557-2107 FAX 309/557-3729
handley@ilfb.org

Soybean aphids, an Eastern Asia soybean pest, was first found in Illinois and nine other Midwestern states in the summer of 2000. Since then the soybean aphid has rapidly spread and now occurs from the Dakotas east to New York and south to Missouri, Alabama and Georgia.

The soybean aphid has a complex lifecycle with as many as 15-18 generations annually. Soybean aphids are parthenogenic, that is, reproduction occurs without fertilization. All young produced during the summer are born alive and are female. Live, young female nymphs are born at the rate of 3-5 per day, mature in approximately 5-7 days, and begin producing their own live young. Populations can double in 2-3 days under favorable conditions.

Aphid infestations that peak at the R1 - R2 growth stage of soybeans may cause stunted plants with reduced pod and seed counts, resulting in lower yields. Later in the growing season, heavily infested plants may have distorted and yellowed leaves.

The soybean aphid is capable of transmitting several viruses that infect soybeans such as soybean dwarf virus and soybean mosaic virus. Other insects may also transmit viral diseases in soybeans.

During the 2003 growing season, soybean aphids created considerable concern for soybean growers because of their numbers in the field and the potential damage they may have done. There were many questions from growers and agri-business on managing this problem and at what level of infestation was a treatment justified. Natural enemies in a field help reduce aphid populations, so natural enemy populations had to be taken into account when a treatment decision was made. Will the problem repeat itself in 2004? That question is on the minds of farmers and researchers, alike.

To help both soybean growers and agri-business gain an understanding of the biology of this pest, potential yield loss associated with this pest, field monitoring (where and when) and making treatment decisions, an in-depth workshop on this insect is planned for Feb. 5. The workshop will be a 4-state effort involving entomologists from Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin sharing research information on field monitoring, treatment thresholds and timing of treatment for maximum benefit.

The program will be held at the Macon Extension Conference Center at 2535 Millikin Parkway, Decatur. Registration for the program is 8:30 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. and the program will run from 9:00 - 3:00 p.m. For more information or to register for the program call Extension at 877-6042. Registration deadline is January 26, 2004.

Pest management is extremely important for individuals involved in production agriculture and can dramatically affect the bottom line at the end of the year. As product selection for controlling pests narrows, it becomes very important to integrate control practices with resistance management tactics.

Pest management tactics should be based upon an integrated system using rotation, resistant varieties, tillage (if feasible), insecticides, fungicides, herbicides, balanced soil fertility and field scouting. The more we rely on one or two pest management options and the more successive times we use a particular pest control practice, the greater the chance that the target pest will develop resistance to the control practice.

Workshops in Decatur will be presented on March 5 and March 12 to address the issues related to resistance and reduced efficacy of our current pest control options. The workshops are designed to help both crop producers and agri-business personnel gain an understanding of pest resistance issues and strategies for managing potential resistance problems. The March 5 session will focus on insect and weed resistance management issues. The March 12 session will focus on resistance issues related to management of diseases and nematodes that affect field crops.

The program will be held at the Macon County Extension Unit, 2535 Millikin Parkway, Decatur. Registration for the program begins at 9:30 a.m. with the program running from 10:00 a.m. - noon and 1:00 - 3:00 p.m. on both March 5 and 12. For more information or to register for the program, contact, Macon Extension Office at 877-6042. Registration deadline for the two workshops is March 1and March 7. Four continuing education credits for Certified Crop Advisers will be available in the category of IPM.