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A district judge in the Jackson Purchase area has just recently donated a 500 acre Ballard County farm to Murray State University.  Hutson ag School dean, Dr. Tony Brannon, says they’ve already been visiting with farm leaders in the area for long term planning.  He says some 60 acres of that tract may be used as early as next spring for several different experimentation and demo plots for ag interests in the region.

A feature on the success of the Kentucky Center for Agriculture and Rural Development in landing a $200,000 USDA grant for its yearly operations.  Executive Director, Aleta Botts, says that amount combined with support from the state ag development board, enables KCARD to assist new ag entrepreneurs with everything from creating a business plan to grant writing.

For good family fun this weekend why not check out a roadside farm market operation.  Billy Reid of Reid’s Orchard near Owensboro says they’re all set for fun and produce sales.  Their weekend activities range from zip lines to the “apple barrel” (like a giant hamster wheel, for humans).  For check out local markets attractions go on line to: kyfb.com/markets.

Over the centuries the practice of gleaning, doing an additional hand harvest through previously harvested fields, has netted a sizeable amount of extra produce.  A group of volunteers from offices of Farm Credit Mid-America visited Mary Courtney’s Shelby County wholesale produce farm and gleaned an extra 4 to 6 thousand pounds of produce that was immediately donated to Dare to Care to feed the hungry.

UK ag researchers are making progress in slowing the spread of the Emerald Ash Borer.  They’re using a combination of a insecticidal and biological tools to slow the borer’s life cycle long enough to allow parasitic wasps to infiltrate the borer population.  UK Entomologist, Lynne Rieske-Kinney, says in early trials in Fayette County the effort seems to be working.  

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CBOT futures closed much lower with corn and wheat suffering the worst losses in reaction to USDA’s 11 a.m. crop production and supply-demand reports.  Futures held up for about 10 minutes but eventually headed south for the balance of the session.   Cattle futures closed sharply lower with many contracts making new contract lows.

CBOT futures closed steady to slightly higher ahead of tomorrow’s USDA Crop Production and WASDE reports.  A very strong US Dollar and weaker crude oil futures weighed on prices as did disappointing weekly export inspections for corn and wheat; soybean inspections were strong.  Cattle futures closed lower, adding to Monday’s sharp losses. Choice Beef lost .82 to 183.18 and Select fell 2.11 to 172.75.