Kentucky facilities allow 4-Hers to learn about horses

DAWSON SPRINGS, Ky. — New facilities at the West Kentucky 4-H Camp are allowing campers to enjoy the companionship of horses, as well as teaching campers the responsibilities of caring for them.
This is the first year horses have been part of the camping program for the entire summer and this is the only 4-H camp to offer a horse program in Kentucky.

The new facilities include an outdoor working area, a covered arena and a large storage facility. The equine program is a cooperative effort between the equine program in Murray State University’s School of Agriculture and the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service. 4-H volunteers along with staff from the two universities worked together to brainstorm ideas, write grants, secure donations and do physical labor to develop the program and facilities. The bulk of the funding came from a Kentucky 4-H Foundation Venture Grant along with the Kentucky Horse Council and the Kentucky Equine Education Program.

“Horses are going to be a big draw for camp,” Donna Fox, UK extension specialist for 4-H camps. said. “It was a natural thing for us to pursue. When you get people who are passionate about camp and passionate about horses working on a project, great things can happen. Of course all of us are involved to give the kids new opportunities and to promote the 4-H program as a whole.”

In addition to being used for summer camp, the long-term vision for the facilities are to have family trail rides at the camp and for county horse clubs to use them for workouts, she said.

The West Kentucky 4-H Camp held a ribbon cutting recently to thank the many people who worked to bring the idea to fruition.


FFA members attend State Presidents’ Conference

WASHINGTON, D.C. — More than 100 state FFA officers joined in Washington, D.C., July 24-28, for the National FFA State Presidents’ Conference (SPC).

They met with U.S. Secretaries Margaret Spellings, USDE, and Mike Johanns, USDA, on July 25 for a special dialogue on how agriculture and education are working together to ensure a well-trained and highly-motivated workforce.

The officers, representing each state, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, are united by common goals: to strengthen skills in leadership and citizenship, to discuss national FFA business and to explore the heritage of the nation’s capital. The group attended the conference in preparation for their responsibilities as delegates and committee chairs for the 2007 National FFA Convention, to be held later this year in Indianapolis, Ind.

The State Presidents’ Conference is planned and conducted by a team of six national FFA officers, who chose this year’s conference theme, “Connect.” State officers who attended the conference hope to cultivate the information they learn and, in turn, train chapter officers in more than 7,242 local schools.

Highlights of the conference, sponsored by Dow AgroSciences and Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) as a special project of the National FFA Foundation, include congressional visits with the students’ state legislators, visits with U.S. Department of Education, U.S.

Department of Agriculture, and the Environmental Protection Agency officials, a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, and many more exciting activities.

Other highlights included visits to the White House, Jefferson Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, FDR Memorial and many other historical landmarks. Officers also had the opportunity to visit museums, parks and other D.C. attractions.


Pettisville FFA helps growers monitor for corn rootworm

ST LOUIS, Mo. — For the second consecutive year, FFA chapters in Iowa, Michigan and Ohio, including members of the Pettisville High School FFA Chapter, will be participating in Monsanto’s sticky trap monitoring program to help growers monitor and better manage corn rootworms.

Last year over 500 FFA Chapters and nearly 8,500 farmers participated in the program, which included nearly 12,000 test sites. Based on the number of test sites, Monsanto donated over $600,000 to participating state and local FFA chapters.

“This will be a valuable learning experience for our members and a great way to assist farmers in our community,” said John Poulson, chapter advisor for the Pettisville FFA Chapter. “We look forward to participating in this educational program.”

Corn rootworms cost farmers across the corn belt an estimated $1 billion a year in crop damage and control measures. The objective of the program, sponsored by Monsanto and the new YieldGard VT Triple corn, is to create grower awareness about the spread of corn rootworm variants and the potential threat they pose to corn acres.

“We are very pleased to be partnering with the FFA again to provide farmers with a greater understanding of these yield-robbing pests, “says Corby Jensen, Monsanto Corn Trait Technology Development Manager. “This not only provides growers with valuable information, but it also gives FFA students a learning opportunity, a way to build leadership and communication skills and a way to raise money for their local chapters.

The program gauges the prevalence of the western corn rootworm variant, which has adapted its reproductive cycle in order to survive field rotations between corn and soybeans. The western corn rootworm variant lays its eggs in soybean fields, and the larvae hatch when the fields have been rotated to corn the following season, leading to rootworm feeding in first year corn. The program will also monitor northern corn rootworms, which may be exhibiting a similar variant behavior.

FFA youth will encourage farmers in their communities to participate in the program and help place sticky traps in their soybean fields in late July to determine whether rootworm beetles are present and at what level. Monsanto will provide participating FFA Chapters with a $50 donation for each sticky trap site they secure, including the return of the completed test data at the end of the monitoring program in August.

Monsanto will tabulate the final results of the program, which will enable farmers to determine if they have a potential rootworm problem that suggests they should consider management options for the 2008 growing season. YieldGard VT Triple combines the second generation of the YieldGuard Rootworm control, with the YieldGard Corn Borer and Roundup Ready Corn 2 traits.

This farm news was published in the Aug. 1, 2007 issue of Farm World, serving Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee.