Nebraska Extension - Gage County

• Office closed for Labor Day

• Big Give Gage Co. Sept 8, 2022

• Heat Stress and Harvesting the Garden By; Nicole Stoner
  
• Current Garden Problems

Water and Integrated Cropping Systems- Nathan Mueller

• 2022 Survey Results for Farm Custom Rates and Cash Rent
• Defoliating Insects in Soybeans
  

Food, Nutrition & Health - Tara Dunker

• Food For Thought
• 4-H families model great habits
  

4-H & Youth Development - Jacie Milius

• Gage Co. Fair Wrap up

The summer is always hot in Nebraska, but some years can be more difficult on our plants than others. This year we are seeing slow ripening of many of our crops and some of our plants show the heat stress more than others.

Our gardens have been unusual this year. We went from quite chilly soil temperatures through most of the spring to 100 degrees in very early June. This has slowed the progression of many of our vegetable gardens. And, now, we are facing many different pests and environmental issues. But don’t worry, your plants will pull through and produce, it will likely just be a little later than usual

Nebraska Extension released results from the 2022 surveys on farm custom rates, cash rent rates, and real estate values. Jim Jansen, Extension Educator for Agricultural Economics, led the 2022 Nebraska Farm Real Estate Report, and Glennis McClure, Farm and Ranch Management Analyst Extension Educator, led the 2022 Nebraska Farm Custom Rates Report. These are two highly sought publications because they provide farmers and landowners baseline information to help facilitate discussions and make decisions around land sales, cash rent, and custom farm operation rates.

It is that time of year when Japanese beetles (Figure 1), grasshoppers, or various caterpillars consume the soybean leaf canopy. It is very easy to overestimate the amount of defoliation that has occurred. Many do not like scouting several locations within a field this time of year either but is it important. We should tolerate some low level of defoliation simply because there is a low probability of return to the application and insecticide cost. For all these reasons, we are going to discuss economic thresholds, scouting guidelines, training, and a new scouting app to help us determine the current level of defoliation in a soybean field.

Oops. We forgot to eat the bananas, again.

Almost every week for as long as I’ve been buying my own groceries, I mess up the banana math. Either I’m wishing I had a couple more for my grab-and-go breakfast, or I’m tossing that last sad, mushy banana in the freezer.

It’s Gage County Fair week, which means two things: 1) I’m crunched for time, and 2) I’ve been seeing and tasting a lot of foods prepared by our community’s youth these past couple days.

4-H families already know the value of getting kids in the kitchen, but here is a refresher from a column I previously wrote that still holds true—as I’ve been reminded this week.

According to healthychildren.org, here are five ways to enjoy cooking with your kids.

Congratulations to exhibitors, families, and participants. Your many hours of hard work, sportsmanship, and teamwork throughout the week did not go unnoticed! We hope you got to celebrate and enjoy all that the 4-H and FFA youth have learned and achieved this year.

4-H and FFA youth exhibited over 1300 livestock, poultry, rabbits, small animals, and horses and nearly 2,100 static exhibits.

Big thanks to the Riverview Jr. Stockmen 4-H Club for presenting Championship Row and Gerlach Inc. Commodity Futures and Options Brokerage and Gerlach Show Pigs for sponsoring. This is such a special way to showcase all of the 4-H and FFA livestock exhibits.

The support of award donors is vital to the recognition of the success of 4-H and FFA youth. Our thanks to over 150 businesses and organizations in the county who give so generously. Thanks for believing in the value of rewarding youth for their accomplishments.

We would also like to thank all of our club leaders, superintendents, and volunteers for helping in various capacities throughout the week of fair. This was a team effort and we sincerely appreciate all of your help!

A big thank you to the Gage County Ag Society and the Gage County 4-H Council for all of your help leading up to fair and your behind the scenes work. Your dedication to Gage County youth helped make this fair beyond successful.

See you next year at the 2023 Gage County Fair and Expo, July 26-July 30!

Email: Gage-County@unl.edu
Website: https://extension.unl.edu/statewide/gage/
Location: 1115 West Scott Street, Beatrice, NE, USA
Phone: 402-223-1384
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UNLExtensionGageCo/
Twitter: @GageCoExtension