University of Minnesota Extension offers educational seminars on hot crop topics

The University of Minnesota Extension is offering weekly online seminars for producers in an effort to cover hot and important topics prior to the spring planting season.

The online seminars, called Strategic Farming: Let’s Talk Crops, cover an array of topics where research-based information is given to farmers. The producers can then take the new information and apply it to their operations.

According to Liz Stahl, University of Minnesota Extension educator for crops, the weekly seminars have become a popular resource among farmers. Attendees are from all over the United States, as well as from other countries. While the program is in its fifth year, this is the third year it has been held online, which has helped it reach a wider audience. The one hour seminars are held every Wednesday.

“This has been a great way to get our research-based information out to people on a wide scale,” Stahl said. “We want to be providing quality resources and information to people as well. It’s been a great way to get that information out to growers.”

Each week the seminar will cover a different topic. Some topics include weed management, insect management, diseases, cover crops and carbon sequestration. Stahl is confident that there is something for every agriculturalist to enjoy and learn from among the topics.

Stahl said farmers have a lot on their plate with an abundance of stressors impacting their livelihood. She hopes that these seminars will help them navigate the murky waters as planting season approaches.

“It is a turbulent time right now in the agriculture industry. We have supply issues right now, prices, the tariff issue before that, and of course weather, which is always an issue,” Shel said. “Climate change certainly is a big factor too, which is driving a lot of the extremes we are seeing right now.”

The seminars will be held through March 30 over Zoom. Visit https://blog-crop-news.extension.umn.edu/2021/12/reminder-strategic-farming-lets-talk.html to see a full list of speakers and topics, as well as to sign up.