The Tuesday Letter
Agricultural Experiment Station & Cooperative Extension Service
Tuesday, February 08, 2011
(Vol. 17 No. 14)
IN THIS ISSUE...
WORD FROM THE ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR - EXTENSION AND APPLIED RESEARCH
Super Bowl XLV is in the history books. For many K-State fans, this was a special treat to see Jordy Nelson make 9 catches and 1 for a touchdown. Not bad for a 3rd year professional out of Riley County High School and Kansas State University! Now we're changing sports and moving into March madness before we know it. Great teamwork is the name of the game! I used this analogy a few years back, and I think it works pretty well. So, here goes...
Whether it's football or basketball, when
performing at the highest level it's all about individuals with great
creativity and capacity playing the game with a selfless attitude. It's
about giving it your all for the success of the team. Teams can be very
good, but fall short of greatness when the success of the team is deemed
of less importance than the personal interests or success of individual
players.
I wish it were easier to measure the
success of great teamwork. The intended outcome isn't so easy to
identify in much of what we do, unless the critical steps in a process
of completing a complicated set of objectives or goals can be
identified, and measurable indicators agreed upon by the entire team. Team planning and preparation are necessary for each step on
the road towards that ultimate outcome. And, if the team falls short of
accomplishing the steps towards that ultimate goal, it then becomes even
more compelling to adjust the planning and preparation in order to
continue working towards that ultimate set of goals, as long as the
goals represent what the team believes it must achieve.
As Fred Cholick said many times,
"Creativity comes through individuals, productivity comes through
teams." Stay the course, and do what you can to build your network of
team players towards a shared set of goals that will make a difference
in the quality of life and standard of living for people of Kansas and
ultimately the world. Thanks for all you do in furthering great teamwork.
Have a great week! --Daryl Buchholz
dbuchhol@ksu.edu
EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS FOR FARMERS, RANCHERS, RURAL RESIDENTS WITH DISABILITIES WEBINAR
February 24, 2011, 2:00 p.m. CST; 1:00 p.m. MST
Farmers/ranchers, family members, and rural residents
with disabilities are especially vulnerable to emergencies and disasters
because of restricted physical abilities and greater physical isolation from
neighbors and emergency services. This one-hour webinar provides an overview of
the topic and serves as part of a larger, ongoing dialog on emergency preparedness
for rural residents with disabilities.
Topics include: Developing emergency
preparedness plans and support network; sheltering and dealing with severe
weather; fire emergencies in homes, out-buildings, and machinery; mental health
and stress issues in emergencies; other resources available for emergency
management.
Presenters are Gail Deboy, Ph.D., Project Engineer for the
National AgrAbility Project; and Steve Wettschurack, Certified Farm Accident Rescue
Instructor at Purdue
University.
To participate in this free webinar, e-mail agrability@agrability.org before
February 18 and simply put the word "Webinar" in the subject line. If
you need captioning for a hearing impairment, please note that in the body of
the e-mail. Instructions for accessing the session will be sent to registrants
by February 22. Contact AgrAbility at 800-825-4264 if you have questions. --Kerri Ebert kebert@k-state.edu
STRATEGIC PLANNING FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: OFFICE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT INVITES COMMUNITY APPLICATIONS
The Office of Local Government is offering a new Strategic Planning and Visioning program entitled ‘Envisioning Economic Prosperity for Your Community’ for rural Kansas communities with population of approximately 1,000-10,000. The core of the Envisioning program is a series of interactive sessions surrounding presentations, brainstorming and group discussions, each organized around a central theme: Where are we now? Where do we want to be? How are we going to get there?
During this process, the participants use critical local economic and demographic data, a broad understanding of the global, national and state economic environment and information about community assets, capacity and strengths and to create a vision, identify high-priority goals for economic development, develop a workable action plan, and organize to execute action strategies, all aimed at creating a more resilient and thriving local economy and a better quality of life.
The Envisioning program has a nominal fee to defray costs of travel and other expenses incurred for conducting the workshops. For additional information, please call or e-mail the contact listed below or visit our website.
Request for participation can be sent by e-mail or telephone to Biswa Das, Research Assistant Professor, Office of Local Government, Department of Agricultural Economics, 10E Umberger Hall, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506, Tel: 785-532-1514, Fax: 785-532-3093, e-mail: bdas@agecon.ksu.edu, www.ksu-olg.info. --Biswa Das
MARIE'S PICKS . . .
My picks this week are outcomes reported by Cade Rensink, Central Kansas
District; and Stacie Minson, Watershed Specialist.
Situation:
Over the next two years, 1.1 million acres of Conservation
Reserve Program (CRP) land will be expiring in Kansas. In the Central Kansas
District alone, 14,000 acres will be coming out of contract. Many of these
acres have been enrolled for more than 20 years. While a large percentage of
these acres have a crop production history, some do not. Producers have been
and will be faced with some difficult decisions as to whether these acres
should be returned to crop production or left in grassland to be hayed or
grazed.
***Outcomes:
A large number of landowners have contacted their local FSA
offices about the possibilities of signing up in alternative farm programs.
There has also been an increase in the number of producers who have requested
farm visits to evaluate their grass stands and make recommendations for future
usage.
While the initial assumption was that many of the acres would be broke out or
used for crop production, the responses and discussions that followed this
program has led many to believe that landowners will be more conscientious
about the soil types and the environment leading to a majority of the acres
being left in grassland.
***Outcomes:2010 Roll Out the Rain Barrel Project: Activities were held in Russell,
Ellsworth, Wilson, Hays, Ellis, and WaKeeney. In addition, 33 rain barrel kits
were shipped to several states. A total of 1,613 rain barrels were built and
distributed in 2010. In 2009 and 2010, 2,813 rain barrels total with 48
partners and $117,271 leveraged (8:1 cash or in-kind match).
TMDL Load Reductions Realized Annually:
125,000 gallons of storm water diverted per storm event, 24 lbs. Nitrogen, 6
lbs. Phosphorus, 4,400 lbs. Sediment (based on 15 storm events, > ¼” rain,
March 1 to October 1). --Marie Blythe mblythe@ksu.edu
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