UK winter wheat meeting is Jan. 13

After a boom year for grain prices and a surge in nitrogen costs, farmers might be wondering what 2009 has in store for them. The University of Kentucky Wheat Science Group is prepared to address those types of questions and more at their annual winter meeting in Bowling Green.

The conference, which has sessions that should interest both new and long-time wheat producers, will take place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. CST Jan. 13 at the Bowling Green Technical College's Transpark Center, 221 Commonwealth Blvd. The Kentucky Small Grain Growers Association will provide lunch.

The meeting will cover topics in a variety of areas. UK Entomologist Doug Johnson, will hold a session to update producers on Hessian fly biology and its implications on currently used varieties.

Other topics will include a look at no-tillage, wheat enterprise economics, grain outlook and marketing, dealing with the volatility in fertilizer prices, wheat fungicides and practical lessons from the wheat yield contest.

A session focusing on the results of the latest barley nitrogen trials will be preceded by one that examines the prospects for barley production in Kentucky. Dan Brann, an Osage Bio Energy consultant who retired from Virginia Tech Cooperative Extension, will discuss Osage Bio Energy's plans to use barley as the main feedstock for ethanol production. Their first plant in Virginia could possibly use a small amount of Kentucky-grown barley, but their long term plans are to build a second plant, which would require a significant acreage of barley out of Kentucky.

The UK Wheat Science Group is an interdisciplinary group of specialists working together to address the needs of Kentucky's wheat producers.

Two pesticide general credits and one specific hour in categories 1A, 4, 10 and 12 will be available. Event organizers have applied for certified crop advisor credits, as well.

Pre-registration is not necessary. For more information contact Dottie Call, Wheat Science Group coordinator, at 270-365-7541, ext. 234, or e-mail dcall@uky.edu.

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