Agri-Urban Day on Farm dedicated to longtime supporter

Written by Hillsboro Free Press Wednesday, 08 August 2007 07:00

This year’s Agri-Urban Day on the Farm, the annual event’s 12th, will be missing one of its longtime supporters.

Randolf Flaming, who died earlier this year, worked tirelessly for Agri-Urban and the annual Day on the Farm.

This year’s event, held Aug. 18 at the Maynard Knepp and Carol Duerksen farm (3 miles north, 4 miles east and ¾ mile north of Goessel), is dedicated to Flaming’s memory.

The family event runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and includes animals, activities and food.

The Agri-Urban program began in 1972. The idea was for farmers and cattle feeders to donate labor, facilities and feed or pasture to fatten cattle, and for urbanites to give money to buy the animals and possibly some or all of the feed.

Profits from...

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Moran decries 'hijacked' farm bill

Written by Rep. Jerry Moran Wednesday, 08 August 2007 06:45

Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a farm bill that was hijacked by urban interests, sacrificing rural America in the process. Strong words for certain, but for the first time, rural interests lost the battle of determining what goes into America's farm policy.

Congress works to renew the farm bill just once every five or six years, so when it is considered, it needs to be done right.

Historically, the farm bill has been written by those who work and care for America’s farmers and ranchers with a focus on progress, not politics. This is because those in rural America are not concerned with the partisan bickering of today, but rather about working together to see that their way of life continues in the future.

The...

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No-till residue has value beyond appearance

Written by John Schlageck / Kansas Farm burea. Wednesday, 08 August 2007 04:59

Not too many years ago, most farmers took great pride and pleasure in looking across their recently planted fields and seeing green seedlings emerging against a backdrop of black soil. That looked beautiful—still does.

Today, some farmers look across their land and see residue cover. That looks beautiful too. However, the benefits of residue can far exceed the way the field looks.

Residue cover is developed by not tilling the ground across today’s Kansas countryside.

“It’s this build up of soil structure with residues that can be a farmer’s best friend,” says Paul Jasa, University of Nebraska, extension engineer.

Jasa spoke to nearly 100 ag producers at the sixth annual No-till Workshop in Osage County July 31. Osage...

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Group tours pollution-prevention efforts at lake

Written by Jerry Engler Wednesday, 01 August 2007 09:15

WRAPStourHoltOlsenDCP_4102.jpg Terry Holt, Marion Reser­voir manager, and Mary Olson, mayor of Marion, observe a Kansas Wildlife and Parks developed wetlands on 250th Road before it dead ends on water at the northeast end of the reservoir. Jerry Engler /Free Press. Click image to enlarge

Some one-day rain events this spring put enough pollutants into Marion Reservoir to cause the lake to eutrify into a swamp if there were no natural counter-measures.

That was the assessment of Philip Barnes, associate professor of biology and agricultural engineering at Kansas State University, shared with a bus-tour crowd of county, city and conservation officials Tuesday, July 24, at the Tampa Senior Center.

Barnes told the group, who had boarded a bus at the...

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