Cooperative Extension Service Communications and Technology Department 3354 1000 E. University Ave. Laramie, WY 82071 (307) 766-6342 • fax (307) 766-3998 • www.uwyo.edu

 

For Immediate Release

Story Contact:

Jim Gill: (307) 347-3431

 

Contact: Steven L. Miller, Senior Editor

Phone: (307) 766-6342

E-mail: slmiller@uwyo.edu

Archived News Site www.uwyo.edu/agadmin/news/news.htm

 

Date: Jan. 12, 2006

 

WESTI Ag Days features sessions for farmers and ranchers

            Livestock and crop production experts will present concurrent sessions at the ninth annual Wyoming Extension's Strategically and Technologically Informative (WESTI) Ag Days Jan. 31-Feb. 1 in Worland.

            Thomas Dorr, U.S. Department of Agriculture undersecretary for Rural Development, is the featured speaker the first day of the session. Jim Schwartz, deputy director of the Wyoming Department of Agriculture, is the featured speaker the second day.

            The conference is at the Worland Elks Lodge, 604 Coburn Ave.

            “I think we’ve got a power-packed program put together,” said Jim Gill, University of Wyoming Cooperative Extension Service educator for the Big Horn Basin Area. “What we are proud of about WESTI is that it offers sessions for both farmers and ranchers. That’s not easy to do. With the concurrent sessions, farmers and ranchers can pick and choose what they want to attend.”

            Sessions include information about the national animal identification program, managing rangeland in the Big Horn Basin, growing corn for ethanol production, cropping opportunities for oilseed production, Wyoming solar and wind stock water pump initiative, the economic importance of livestock grazing on the Bighorn National Forest, rhizoctonia and fusarium yellow in sugar beets, grazing strategies for crop residues, applying for value added producer grants, agricultural inputs increases or decreases, practical applications of genetic predictors, labor laws, the importance of agriculture in rural Wyoming communities, remote sensing and how it can benefit Big Horn Basin agriculture, landscaping in the basin, soil testing for reduced tillage, and the effectiveness of the Packers and Stockyards Act in protecting ranchers.

            Complete schedule information can be accessed at http://www.uwyo.edu/UWAG/  or http://www.uwyo.edu/UWces/ by clicking on the WESTI Ag Days link under Upcoming Events.

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