Nebraska women will celebrate 25 years of empowering women in the agriculture industry Feb. 25-26 at the Kearney Holiday Inn.

The theme for this year’s University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension Women in Agriculture conference is “Celebrating Our Heritage, Exploring Our Future.” Nebraska women will find dozens of workshops, “funshops” and networking to them help cultivate their dreams and learn new information to harvest profits, said Megan Voss, Women in Ag coordinator.

The two-day conference begins Feb. 25 with 9 a.m. registration followed by a 10 a.m. welcome and keynote speaker Michele Payne-Knoper.

One of two keynote speakers, Payne-Knoper, a professional speaker, consultant, agriculture expert and author, will inspire participants to celebrate their unique role, what’s special about rural America and share that celebration with others.

On Feb. 26, keynote speaker Yvonne Hollenbeck will address participants. Hollenbeck is an award-winning cowgirl poet who, along with her husband, Glen, raise Angus beef cattle and quarter horses.

Participants will be able to choose from more than 30 workshops spread out over five sessions throughout the two-day conference. Topics range from resources for business growth, estate planning and being an advocate for agriculture to computer and software information, how to be a better communicator and stress control.

Evening “funshops” are one-hour, optional sessions offered with a goal of networking and fun.

Early bird registration of $90 per person is due by Feb. 12. After Feb. 12, the fee is $100. The fee includes workshop materials, registration, breaks, lunch and dinner on Feb. 25 and breakfast and lunch on Feb. 26.

To register or for more information about the conference, including a complete list of workshop and speaker bios, conference sponsors, booths and lodging information, visit the Women in Ag Web site at http://wia.unl.edu and click on WIA Conference in the left column or call (800) 535-3456, fax (402) 472-0776 or mail Women In Agriculture, UNL Agricultural Economics, 304 Filley Hall, Lincoln, NE 68583-0922.

Five scholarships to cover the registration fee are available for full-time, UNL College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources students, and 10 scholarships to cover half the registration fee are available for non-CASNR students. All student scholarship recipients are responsible for their own travel, hotel and any additional expenses. Applications also can be found on the Women in Ag Web site. Applications are due Feb. 3.

UNL Extension is in the university’s Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

Grand Island will be one of five cities hosting a series of outlook and management conferences offered by University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension across the state in February.

The first two conferences will Feb. 15 in Norfolk during the day and in Lincoln in the evening. Other conferences will be Feb. 16 in Grand Island, Feb. 23 in Alliance and Feb. 24 in McCook.

The Grand Island meeting will be Feb. 16, Hall County Extension Office, College Park, 3180 W. Highway 34; contact Mark Hinze, (308) 385-5088, mhinze2@unl.edu

Each session is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., except the Lincoln meeting which will be from 4:30-9 p.m. The conferences will cover a number of key topics affecting farm management and production decisions for 2010.

This year’s conferences will feature several specialists from UNL Extension and the Department of Agricultural Economics discussing the relevant outlook and management topics. In addition, Dan O’Brien, extension agricultural economist and grain marketing specialist from Kansas State University, will join the conference to share his insight on the grain market and marketing decisions for producers.

The opening Morning session at each meetings will focus on the agricultural outlook, covering livestock, crops, inputs, land and policy. Specialists also will discuss analysis and decision tools that can help producers make better management decisions for 2010.

Darrell Mark, livestock marketing specialist, will present the livestock outlook and focus on market prices and risk management decisions. O’Brien and Paul Burgener, agricultural economics research analyst, will provide the crop outlook, focusing on market prices and risk management decisions. Roger Wilson, farm management budget analyst, will cover the outlook for input costs, input decisions, and tools to manage input and crop decisions. Extension educators Tim Lemmons and Robert Tigner will present an update on land markets, cash rents and leasing arrangements. Brad Lubben, public policy specialist, will discuss the policy outlook in Washington and the major policy developments that could affect agriculture in 2010.

The closing afternoon session will focus on risk management decision-making in the current volatile economic environment. Extension educator Allan Vyhnalek will address the fundamental nature of risk in agriculture and will discuss how producers can make sound risk management decisions to protect their operations in risky times. Lubben and Mark will discuss risk management decision-making that incorporates farm programs, marketing tools, and crop insurance products in an overall risk management strategy. A panel of local agricultural risk management professionals will cap off the day with their perspective on risk management strategies and decisions producers can make in 2010 to be successful.

Registration cost is $25 and advance registration is necessary. Contact Lubben at (402) 472-2235 or any one of the extension educators listed below with locations for more information. Conference information and a link to online registration is also available at the conference Web page at http://www.agecon.unl.edu/resource/cemoc.html.

New technologies are changing the way of agriculture. Producers will learn how to benefit from these advancements at a January agricultural technology conference.

The 10th annual Nebraska Agricultural Technologies Association Conference and Trade Show will be Jan. 27-28 at the Midtown Holiday Inn in Grand Island.

“Conference attendees will learn to use the latest technology to improve their production efficiencies,” said University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension Educator Dave Varner. “Participants will glean insights from national and international precision agriculture experts regarding future precision agriculture technology applications,” said Varner.

General session topics and speakers at the 2010 conference include: Adoption of Precision Agriculture by Australian Grain Growers and Global Perspectives of Site-specific Weed Management, Australian farmer Sam Trengove; Precision Nutrient Management on Site-specific Management Zones, Raj Khosla, Colorado State University; Mapping EvapoTranspiration with High Resolution and Internalized Calibration, Gary Hergert, UNL; Monitoring irrigation water application with computerized controllers, Bill Kranz, UNL; and Broadband: Who Needs It?, Sandra Scofield, Nebraska Rural Initiative, Carol Farnham, Signa Solutions.

Participants may choose among 12 concurrent sessions that address topics such as using active crop canopy sensors for in-season nitrogen management, powering pivots by solar and wind energy, hands-on Excel and irrigation efficiency workshops, irrigation water management technologies, precision manure management, regional RTK networks, smartphone capabilities, and online networking.

Special pre-conference workshops will focus on Optimizing Pivot Irrigation Management and Social Media Applications in Agriculture. Both workshops will be offered on Jan. 27 beginning at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Registration is $120 for NeATA members and $145 for non-members. Those planning to attend can register by sending their name, address, phone number, e-mail address and payment to the Nebraska Agricultural Technologies Association, 1206 W. 23rd St., Fremont, Neb. 68025-2504. Conference brochures are available at University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension Offices, at the http://neata.org Web site, or by calling (800) 830-4855.

Eight Certified Crop Advisor continuing education credits are available for conference participants. Additional CEUs may be available for pre-conference programs.

Reservations at the Midtown Grand Island Holiday Inn Hotel and Convention Center can be made at (800) 548-5542.

A nation cattle organization has expressed concern to the U.S. Department of Justice (Justice) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) about a deal that would impact competitive cattle markets.

According to R-CALF USA, an agreement between National Beef Packing Co. (National Beef) and Hitch Enterprises (Hitch) “demonstrates the rapidity with which beef packers and concentrated feedlots are eliminating competition in the U.S. fed cattle market.”  

According to R-CALF USA, Hitch entered into an agreement in January to sell National Beef 100 percent of the cattle fed in Hitch’s feedlots. Hitch reportedly ranks among the 15 largest U.S. cattle feedlot operations with a 160,000 head one-time capacity, according to R-CALF USA.

 “The effect of this agreement is that the hundreds of thousands of cattle fed each year by Hitch will give National Beef the same anticompetitive market leverage that National Beef would have if all these cattle were owned and fed outright by National Beef,” said R-CALF USA Marketing Committee Chair Dennis Thornsberry. “Because National Beef knows that all of Hitch’s cattle are solely committed to it, National Beef will be able to further restrict the timely access to the marketplace by the remaining independent cattle feeders whose marketing options already are severely limited.

 Thornsberry also said that the agreement will mean there will be even fewer cattle in the ever-shrinking competitive fed cattle cash market, where the base price for the entire nation’s cattle is determined.

 R-CALF USA told government officials that “this fed cattle market is the final cattle market and is the portal through which reduced competition permeates the entire U.S. live cattle industry.”   

 “If the Packers and Stockyards Act and our antitrust laws are to mean anything, they must prohibit this type of market capture that directly eliminates competition in our cattle industry,” said Thornsberry.

 R-CALF USA is calling on Justice and USDA to “take immediate action to halt the swift, wholesale capture of our industry by the highly concentrated beef packers working in concert with the highly concentrated feedlot owners.”

According to R-CALF USA, “…time is of the essence if the new Administration is to reverse the wholesale contraction of the U.S. livestock industry before our industry loses the critical mass of participants necessary to maintain economic viability.”

 “Our industry is fast mimicking the U.S. hog industry that, just since 1980, lost 90 percent of its participants as a direct result of the corporate capture of their markets,” said Thornsberry. “The United States’ rural economy will continue its rapid decline if Justice and USDA don’t immediately intercede to preserve for U.S. cattle farmers and ranchers an open and competitive market for domestic cattle.”