Poultry Litter Forum in Owensboro

For those that were not able to join us for the poultry litter forum "Managing Poultry Litter Lessons From The Delmarva and Ohio Valley", it can be viewed at the link below. This was part of the AgExpo in Owensboro on January 25th, 2017 and was sponsored by the Kentucky Soybean Board and Kentucky Corn Growers Association. Thank you both for supporting this effort and special thanks to the producers on the panel for sharing their stories.

Poultry Litter Forum Video

2017 UK Wheat Science Service Award

Don Halcomb was the 2017 UK Wheat Science Service Award recipient. Sam Halcomb accepted the award for Don at the 2017 UK Winter Wheat meeting in Hopkinsville.

Conducting research trials in grower’s fields is an essential component of agricultural research. Don has hosted numerous on-farm research projects ranging from soil fertility to Ag Engineering, including two decades of continuous wheat breeding and variety trials. He has also hosted multiple small grains research field days at his farm.

He has consistently challenged the research group to find innovative solutions to current and future issues to ensure that KY remains a progressive leader in Ag. The UK Wheat Science group has received much recognition for implementing many of Don’s forward thinking ideas and direction for high impact research.
As a leader of agriculture in the state, Don has been an advocate for UK Ag research and has been instrumental in the success of this group as well as UK Ag as a whole.

UK forum to discuss poultry litter BMPs

LEXINGTON, Ky., (Jan. 17, 2017) – Producers face challenges and opportunities when applying poultry litter to cropland. The University of Kentucky College of Agriculture Food and Environment will host a forum to help producers learn best management practices to apply poultry litter.

The forum, titled Poultry Litter Lessons from the Delmarva and the Ohio Valley, will begin at 1:30 p.m. CST Jan. 25 at the Owensboro Convention Center and again at 9:30 a.m. CST Jan. 26 at the Christian County Extension office. They are sponsored by the Kentucky Soybean Promotion Board and the Kentucky Corn Promotion Council.

The forums will feature Kentucky producers who use poultry litter as well as two producers who face strict environmental regulations like those in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

“The management practices a producer uses will determine the economic, agronomic and environmental impact that poultry litter has on their operation,” said Jordan Shockley, UK agricultural economist. “We hope the producer panel generates audience participation and discussion on ways Kentucky producers can best use poultry litter in their operations.”

For more information on the program, contact Shockley at jordan.shockley@uky.edu; Edwin Ritchey, UK soil extension specialist, at edwin.ritchey@uky.edu; Clint Hardy, Daviess County agriculture and natural resources extension agent, at chardy@uky.edu; or Jay Stone, Christian County agriculture and natural resources extension agent, at jstone@uky.edu.


Writer: Katie Pratt, 859-257-8774

UK College of Agriculture, Food and Environment through its land-grant mission, reaches across the commonwealth with teaching, research and extension to enhance the lives of Kentuckians.

Yield Penalty from Second Year Soybean

John Grove, Agronomic Soil Scientist and Director, Research and Education Center, University of Kentucky

Growers are considering planting soybean after soybean, especially full season soybean after full season soybean, over some acreage in 2017. Many growers have little experience with second year full season soybean, having kept with their existing crop rotations. Other growers, experiencing problems like soybean cyst nematode in some fields, have avoided soybean after soybean on all acres they manage. I observed two extension agricultural economics presentations modeling profit/loss to different crop rotation options, and where second year soybean yield loss relative to first year soybean was set at either 5 or 10 %, in the absence of field data.

New Dicamba Products Receive Approval for Use in RR2Xtend Soybean

J.D. Green , Extension Weed Scientist, University of Kentucky

Two dicamba formulations, XtendiMax^TM (Monsanto) and Engenia^TM (BASF), received federal EPA approval in December for use with RoundupReady2Xtend soybean. In addition to federal registration, a pesticide must also be registered and approved within a state before it can be sold. The XtendiMax^TM product received state approval in early January for applications in Kentucky. The Engenia^TM product is still pending state approval, but is anticipated in the near future. These products can be applied before or immediately after planting Roundup Ready 2 Xtend Soybeans or as an in-crop application from emergence (cracking) up to and including the beginning bloom (R1 growth stage of soybeans). The RoundupReady2 Xtend soybean technology provides another tool for targeting weeds that have developed resistance to other herbicide chemistries, but should be combined with other herbicide options and weed management tools for best herbicide resistance management. Because of the chemical characteristics of dicamba, good stewardship by applicators will be required to lessen the potential for off-target movement and damage to sensitive crops and other plants.