Diagnostic Days registration ends soon

Jun 27, 2017

Annual Ridgetown event provides hands-on learning

by Kaitlynn Anderson
Farms.com

Ontario producers have only a few days left to sign up for Ridgetown’s 2017 Diagnostic Days.

Farmers should register by June 30 to attend on July 5 or 6. The University of Guelph Ridgetown Campus and OMAFRA jointly run the event with support from the SouthWest Soil and Crop Improvement Associations.

Sessions include:

· Western Bean Cutworm (WBC) scouting skills, taught by a team of industry experts.

· Darren Robinson, weed management specialist at Ridgetown, will discuss herbicide injury in soybeans.

· Dave Bilyea, weed science technician at Ridgetown, will identify some lesser-known problematic weeds.

A full agenda is at: www.diagnosticdays.ca .

Participants will circulate in groups of 20 to enable interaction with the guest speakers.

With the $100 registration fee, participants receive lunch and industry publications.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.