Nebraska Women in Agriculture “Take Charge of Change”

A crowd of almost 300 gathered together Feb. 21 and 22 in Kearney, Nebraska for the 34th Annual Nebraska Women in Agriculture Conference, with the theme “Take Charge of Change.” The conference is one of the longest-running women\u27s conferences of its kind in the country. The goal of the Nebraska Women in Agriculture Conference is for women to build relationships with each other while gaining valuable knowledge about managing risk on their farms and ranches. The event featured 4 general session speakers and over 30 workshop sessions. The keynote speaker this year was Marji Guyler- Alaniz, President and Founder of FarmHer. FarmHer’s goal is to update the image of agriculture by showing women in farming and ranching, through a photography project that has exploded into an award-winning television show, podcast and radio show. Marji shared stories of the women that she has photographed across the country and highlighted the struggles that “farmhers” are facing with regards to mental health and the current financial hardships of farming and ranching. The FarmHer team sheds light on all areas of production agriculture and empowers those to embrace the spirit and grit of being a woman in agriculture

Potential Economic Impact of the Goshen/Gering-Ft. Laramie Tunnel Collapse

Goshen and Scotts Bluff Counties reside in the High Plains and receive less than 16 inches of average annual precipitation. This low precipitation makes surface-water irrigation a critical component of modern agriculture in this area. Farmers in these counties produce irrigated alfalfa hay, corn, sugar beets, and dry edible beans, as well as other hay and crops. Surface-water refers to water derived from melted snow that is delivered through a series of dams and canals from the mountains of Colorado and Wyoming along the North Platte River. This infrastructure, often referred to as “The North Platte Project,” was built by the Department of Interior and Bureau of Reclamation in the early 1900s. The North Platte Project has supplied surface-water to 368,433 acres of farmland in Nebraska and Wyoming for over a century

Are You a Farmer or Rancher Over 18? It’s Time for an Estate Plan

Often, the risk of failure for a farm or ranch caused by the death or disability of a young person is much greater than the loss of an older member of the operation. The loss of a young person is usually unexpected. Young people are often not as financially stable, have young families, and provide the bulk of manual labor. Estate planning is something anyone over the age of 18 should do, regardless of how little or how much they have in assets

Conference Educates, Uplifts Nebraska Women in Agriculture

Women in agriculture are business partners, owners and operators; they oversee financial and human resources and keep farms and ranches running. This was the message more than 250 women heard at the 33rd annual Nebraska Women in Agriculture Conference February 22 and 23 in Kearney

The Evolution of Nebraska Corn Basis

In 2018 Nebraska farmers planted 9.7 million acres of corn, the most of any crop in the state. The primary uses for corn in the state are cattle feed and ethanol production. Nebraska currently has 25 ethanol plants producing around 2 billion gallons of ethanol annually. This capacity consumes approximately 40% of Nebraska’s annual corn production