EXTENSION SERVICE STARTING PANHANDLE COMPUTER COURSES IN FEBRUARY

AMARILLO — The popular “have computer, will travel” software training workshops sponsored by the Texas Agricultural Extension Service will be returning to the Panhandle next month. Area farmers and ranchers can start registering now for upcoming courses.

The Extension Service uses its “traveling laptop computer laboratory” to teach farm and ranch operators records management and the use of futures and options in marketing agriculture commodities. Each shortcourse will be taught by Dr. Steve Amosson, farm and ranch management economist.

This year’s series will feature Quicken 2000 for Windows, a convenient, easy-to-learn financial management tool widely used by producers, offered in two-day workshops. Also offered are one-day workshops for BUDPRO for Windows. The BUDPRO program aids producers in making key management decisions for profit in their operations.

“There’s always a high level of interest in these particular programs,” Amosson said. Each session will begin at 9 a.m. and end by 3:30 p.m. The software applications are powered by the WINDOWS 95 operating system.

The two-day Quicken 2000 course fee is $75. The one-day BUDPRO course is $50 which includes the software, a $100 value. All fees cover teaching materials for the courses and computer lease payments. Payment must accompany the registration form to be accepted. Forms are available through Amosson or any county Extension office in the Panhandle.

“We also encourage couples to come as a team; they can pay one registration fee when sharing a computer,” Amosson explained.

Registration will be limited to 14 to provide hands-on experience for all participants.

The Quicken 2000 workshops begin in Dumas on Feb. 2 and 3, then moves to Perryton on Feb. 14-15, and to Dalhart on Feb. 17-18. Amarillo will be the site of the final two-day session on Feb. 21-22.

“Quicken is an inexpensive, easy to use record-keeping program that is now widely used by agricultural producers,” Amosson said. Participants will use a case study to learn in a hands-on setting. No prior computer experience is necessary.

The BUDPRO series starts in Dumas on Feb. 4, and moves to Clarendon on Feb. 7, then Dalhart on Feb. 8, Perryton on Feb. 16 with a final session slated in Amarillo, Feb. 23.

“BUDPRO is a stand-alone, menu-driven package, containing six ‘user friendly’ programs to project budgets for corn, wheat, sorghum, cotton, stocker cattle and cow-calf enterprises. It also addresses the question of ‘to make or not to make money.’

“This program calculates break-even prices, provides sensitivity analysis for varying prices and quantities produced,” he said. Among the software’s many capabilities is an irrigation cost calculator.

Send a check with the registration form to reserve a place in the workshop. Checks should be made payable to Texas Agricultural Extension Service and sent to: Steve Amosson, Texas Agricultural Extension Service, Texas A&M Research and Extension Center, 6500 Amarillo Boulevard West, Amarillo, Texas 79106

Information about these and future classes with the Extension Service traveling computer lab is available through any county agriculture agent in the Panhandle, or by calling Elizabeth Cagle at the Extension Service District Office in Amarillo at (806) 359-5401.

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