Advertising folks tout the value of catchy phrases or titles to entice folks to purchase products or to take part in activities. Leadership in the soybean world has succeeded in capturing the attention of a number of soybean farmers in our area by using a few timely and colorful promotions.

The “What’s soy doing for you” regional meetings have already begun in Ohio, two done and four to go before the middle of March. While you can find out about all of the sessions at www.soyohio.org or by calling the Ohio Soybean Council at 614-476-3100; the one that caught my eye is next Tuesday morning from 8 to 9:30 a.m. at The Corn Crib, a fine establishment located on the second road south of West Manchester, Ohio. Travel south on U.S. 127 and turn west to 759 Stephens Rd.

“Water Quality in Ohio. Are more regulations coming? Will you lose your freedom to operate?” These are the tough and timely questions the OSC plans to address this coming Valentine’s Day morning. Plan to learn about the organization’s role in: educating about the effects of critical policy and regulatory issues, protecting Ohio’s land, air and water quality, creating and retaining jobs in Ohio in the soybean industry and exploring new uses and new markets for the state’s soybean crops.

Local leaders, policy experts, farmers and those on the front lines of Ohio’s water quality debate are going to share their perspectives at the meeting.  There is no charge to attend. Got weeds? Resistant ones? If so, check out the following learning opportunities. “Prepare. Defend. Defeat.” The Ohio AgriBusiness Assoc. and the Ohio Soybean Assoc. want farmers and others to participate in upcoming Ohio Weed Resistance workshops. Expect speakers to highlight current weed resistance issues while offering proposed solutions and making predictions for future weed resistance issues and management. Also expect to receive recommendations for ways to mitigate resistance, using technology and glyphosate tolerant seed varieties.  

“Weed resistance defense centers” will be set up from 9 a.m. to Noon at three locations on three consecutive days. The Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, 1680 Madison Avenue in Wooster is the site of the first meeting on Feb. 28. On the next day, Feb. 29 (bachelors be on guard!), the same program is offered at The Fawcett Center, 2400 Olentangy River Road in Columbus.  The final session is planned for March 1 at The Centre, located at 601 North Main Street in Bluffton, Ohio.  

The three prong attack on weed resistance is also supported and promoted by the Ohio State University Agronomic Crops Team, Ohio Soybean Council and eleven industry partners.  

CCA-CEU credits have been applied for.  Lunch is served immediately at the end of the program. Please RSVP to the Ohio Agribusiness Association via phone at 614-326-7520, fax at 614-326-7519 or online at www.oaba.net

We continue to hear of farmers checking their grain bins, only to find corn going out of condition. One producer recently noted, with some embarrassment, that he had never experienced this much of a challenge with corn storage. However, the corn had been taken off at around 30 percent moisture, then cleaned, dried, cooled and transferred to a storage bin. The stored corn had been monitored on a regular basis and only recently was discovered to be developing hot spots. Of course, corn harvested at that moisture content, was more prone to cracks and fines. 

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments for Roger Bender may write to him in care of this publication.