Spring Garden Tips for Drought Preparedness Many simple gardening practices can significantly impact the drought preparedness of your lawn and garden for the rest of the year. Here are six quick tips for preparing for drought: Core Aerate Your Lawn: this will help improve soil health and allow moisture to reach deeper into the soil.

Start Monitoring for Alfalfa Weevils Degree day accumulations for Kansas alfalfa weevils are well ahead of normal for the entire state this year. A similar trend occurred in 2024.

Do I Need to Test My Garden’s Soil? Most gardeners think soil testing only determines nutrient deficiencies, but the tests also help gardeners understand whether the soil contains adequate nutrients. Basic tests check the soil’s pH, as well as the phosphorus and potassium levels.

Financially, making cents doesn’t make sense. A recent presidential directive to stop minting pennies aims to solve the problem that could only befall a government — losing money by making it.

ARC/PLC Elections with Farm Service Agency Producers have until April 15, 2025, to make their farm program selections for crops to be harvested in 2025. Both Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) are offering higher price benchmarks this year, as historical prices setting these guarantees have been higher. chart PLC will make payments if the national Marketing Year Price (MYA) falls below these reference prices. Producers will receive a payment calculated as the difference between the reference price and the MYA, times their individual farm's established program yield with FSA, then paid on 85% of their base acres in that commodity. This program will pay on losses in price unless the MYA gets below loans rates established in the 2018 Farm Bill, which means large payments will occur if commodity prices are low.

Grassroots consensus Glenn Brunkow, Pottawatomie County farmer and rancher Not too long ago I had the privilege of representing Kansas Farm Bureau at the American Farm Bureau Federation Convention in San Antonio. For any of you who have never attended an annual meeting, it would be my hope that someday you might get that opportunity. If you do you should jump on it as fast as you can.

Mud–Impact on Cattle Performance There are very few issues, outside of health, that can wreck cattle performance and decrease cattle comfort more than muddy pen conditions. Some regions of Kansas have seen record amounts of snowfall this winter, and although we are getting closer to spring, we still have a lot of winter left.

More homes than one Jackie Mundt Pratt County farmer and rancher Recently, a work trip prompted a quick trip to Fresno, Calif., where I attended college to earn my undergraduate degree. The trip was past due; it had been nearly 10 years since my last visit.