The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service will be offering two days of educational programming events during the Amarillo Farm and Ranch Show. The events will be held on Nov. 28 and Nov. 29 at the Amarillo Civic Center Grand Plaza Ballroom, 401 S. Buchanan St., Amarillo.

Amarillo Farm and Ranch Show Continuing Education Units Workshop

A man in a blue shirt is scouting pests in a sorghum field. Sorghum pest scouting is one of the topics at the Amarillo Farm and Ranch Show
Scouting for sorghum and wheat pests will be one of the topics that will be discussed during the Nov. 28 continuing education units workshop. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Laura McKenzie)

The Amarillo Farm Show CEU Workshop will be held on Nov. 28 from 8 a.m.-4 p.m. with registration at 8 a.m., and the program beginning at 8:45 a.m.

Registration cost is $40. An RSVP is requested, but not required, to Megan Eikner, AgriLife Extension agriculture and natural resources agent in Potter County, at megan.eikner@ag.tamu.edu.

Checks need to be payable to Potter Ag Committee and participants are required to bring their current Texas Department of Agriculture applicator cards during registration. Breakfast and lunch will also be provided to those registered.  

A total of five TDA continuing education units will be available for those completing the workshop, including two general units, two integrated pest management units and one laws and regulations unit.

The program will feature a laws and regulations update from Cheryl Goswick, TDA inspector, Amarillo, and a scout school basics of field scouting and pest control decisions.

The scout school topics will include:

  • Sorghum and wheat scouting tools and pests – Jourdan Bell, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension agronomist, Amarillo.
  • Scouting tools at various stages of growth and pests in cotton – John Thobe, AgriLife Extension integrated pest management agent, Muleshoe.
  • Sorghum, corn and cotton pest entomology – José Santiago-González, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension entomologist, Amarillo.

Beef Quality Assurance Training

A beef quality assurance training program with Jason Smith, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension beef cattle specialist and Department of Animal Science assistant professor, Amarillo, as guest speaker will be held from 1-5 p.m. Nov. 28 in the Hospitality Room. The program is for those who need certification or re-certification on the best practices in beef quality assurance, including:

  • Residue avoidance.
  • Vaccine handling.
  • Proper injection handling.
  • Genetic selection.
  • Environmental stewardship.
  • Cattle handling and welfare.

 To RSVP, contact education@tscra.org or call 817-916-1753.

Nov. 29 educational programming

The Texas Wheat Symposium and Amarillo Ag Appreciation Luncheon, hosted by the Texas Wheat Producers Association and the Amarillo Chamber of Commerce Ag Council, will be held from 10:30 a.m.-1 p.m.

The free symposium begins at 10:30 a.m. The agenda includes a wheat market outlook presented by Mark Welch, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension grain marketing economist, and a farm policy outlook presented by Joe Outlaw, Ph.D., co-director of the Agricultural and Food Policy Center at Texas A&M University and AgriLife Extension economist. Both are professors in the Texas A&M Department of Agricultural Economics– in Bryan-College Station.

The Amarillo Ag Appreciation Luncheon will begin at noon. The keynote speaker will be Vance Crowe, founder, Legacy Interviews, St. Louis, Missouri.

A man cuts brush on land. Brush control is one of the many topics discussed at the Nov. 29 program.
Participants will learn how to properly control brush on their land during the Grassland Management and Grazing Decision Aids for Landowners seminar. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Laura McKenzie)

AgriLife Extension will immediately follow the luncheon with the Grassland Management and Grazing Decision Aids for Landowners seminar at 1:30 p.m.

Laura Goodman, Ph.D., associate professor, Natural Resource Ecology and Management and Extension specialist, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma, will be one of the featured speakers. Goodman will speak on brush control, stockpiling for drought and improving forage quality with patch-burn grazing.

Also on the agenda is a panel discussion with local ranchers Mike Turner and Clint Hoelting. The panel will discuss the pros and cons of management practices implemented on farms and ranches in the Texas Panhandle region.

The program will adjourn at 4 p.m.

Blue Jean Drive

Eikner said AgriLife Extension is also leading a Blue Jean Drive in cooperation with America’s Cotton Producers and Importers. Participants will be able to donate old a denim items during a denim recycling event at the show. The Blue Jeans Go Green project is designed to keep old denim from going to landfills. The donated jeans will be taken and used to make eco-friendly denim insulation for communities in need.

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