The 2013 Nebraska Dry Edible Bean Day….sponsored by the Nebraska Dry Bean Growers Association…is Tuesday at the Gering Civic Center.
The program and trade show run till about 3:00 with practical advice for producers, reports on cutting-edge research, and updates on marketing and ag policy.
Registration and the trade show begin at 9 a.m., and the program begins at 9:30 with welcomes by Bean Growers president Jeff Nichols and Linda Boeckner, director of the UNL Panhandle Research and Extension Center.
Nichols says weather will be a hot topic with two special speakers: Nebraska State Climatologist Al Dutcher and Bureau of Reclamation Wyoming Area manager Coleman Smith.
Dutcher will give the latest outlook on this year’s weather in Nebraska while Smith will focus on the snowpack and irrigation status in the North Platte River drainage.
Also speaking will be U-S Dry Bean Council Executive Director Jeanne Worton, who will talk about federal legislation and the recently extended Farm Bill. A number of Nebraska-Lincoln specialists will also make presentations in the morning and afternoon.
Bean Day also features a report from the Nebraska Dry Bean Commission and the annual meeting of the Nebraska Dry Bean Growers Association.
Nichols says the association has board openings in District 3 – which covers the Banner, Kimball, Morrill, Cheyenne, Garden, and Deuel Counties – and District 4, all of the counties east of the Panhandle.
Nebraska ranked 3rd in the country in dry edible bean production last year at nearly 3.2-million pounds with numbers from the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service showing the state increased both acres and overall production over 2011 despite the drought.
Average yield in Nebraska was 2,400-pounds per acre…second in the nation behind Oregon…while the 133,000-acres harvested was the 4th-largest in the country. North Dakota remains the top state for dry bean aces and overall production, followed by Michigan.
A complete schedule of the day’s events:
9 a.m.—Registration and display area opens
9:30 a.m.—Welcome, Craig Henkel, President, NDBGA, and Linda Boeckner, Director, Panhandle Research & Extension Center
9:45 a.m.—Update on alternative harvest systems used in western Nebraska; 9:45 a.m.—Results from alternative harvest demonstrations in 2008—John Smith, UNL; 10 a.m.—Use of stripper header in dry edible beans—Daniel Morris, Shelbourne Reynolds; 10:15 a.m.—Use of Pickett Double Master combine in dry edible beans—Steve Pickett, Pickett Equipment Co.
10:30 a.m.— Producing dry edible beans for seed; 10:30 a.m.—Factors to consider growing bean seed in Nebraska—Bob Harveson, UNL; 10:45 a.m.—What do you have to do to produce bean seed?—Randy Mattson, Treasure Valley Seed Co.
11 a.m.—Break for trade show — Industry booths and equipment displays. Break sponsored by Gowan Company
11:30 a.m.—Nebraska Dry Bean Growers Association annual meeting; Association Update; Election of directors
11:45 a.m.—Nebraska Dry Bean Commission update
Noon—Lunch—Sponsored by Northern Feed and Bean, the Farm Credit Services of America and Pepsi
12:30 p.m.—U.S. Dry Bean Council update—Jeane Wharton, U.S. Dry Bean Council
1 p.m.—Wind energy development in Nebraska—Graham Christensen, Nebraska Farmers Union
1:30 p.m.—Progress on development of new dry bean varieties, including ‘Coyne’—Carlos Urrea, UNL
1:45 p.m.—Opportunities to reduce dry bean production costs; 1:45 p.m.— Breakeven prices for regional crops—Paul Burgener, UNL; 2 p.m.—Ways to reduce fertilizer costs—Gary Hergert, UNL; 2:15 p.m.—Using deficit irrigation to reduce production costs—Dean Yonts, UNL
2:30 p.m.—Trade show and sixth annual cookoff sponsored by Nebraska Dry Bean Commission