Purdue Extension Begins Internet-based Winter Farm Meetings

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The "Doughnut Series" allows Indiana farmers to digitally attend informative winter meetings.

Purdue University’s extension announced on Jan. 6 that it will offer traditional winter farm meetings over the Web to accommodate Indiana farmers. The Purdue Extension will link participants and presenters from throughout the state via Internet in the “Doughnut Series.”

Roy Ballard, a Purdue Extension series coordinator and educator, says that the name is appropriate because it’s geared toward keeping farmers “in the dough” and “out of the hole.” Farmers began meeting online on Jan. 14, and they will continue to do so every other Wednesday from 7:30 to 9 a.m. through March 25.

“These meetings will be offered as independent sessions on a broad array of topics from pest management, soil health and cover crops to farm equipment, weather forecasting, post-harvest management and marketing,” Ballard said.

The host locations for the meetings will be located in 19 counties. Attendees can go to a meeting at any of the local sites and chat with participants and presenters across the state. Each meeting is slated to include a different issue pertaining to agricultural production or agribusiness. Additionally, farmers are allowed to attend the meetings for free, as long as they register beforehand.

Some of the topics that will be addressed at the meetings include “Maintaining Grain Quality in Storage,” “Using Nitrogen Wisely for the 2015 Corn Crop,” and “The Basics of Introducing Cover Crops into Your Corn/Bean Rotation.” Educators at Purdue Extension will be participating in the meetings.

“Winter has traditionally been the time for farmers across the Hoosier state to get together over coffee and talk about the major issues in agriculture,” Ballard continued. “Today we can still conduct these meetings, but we also have the capability of tapping experts from Purdue and around the globe and ‘bringing’ them here to our meeting place, your office computer or even your phone.”