Agriculture

Fergus McCain, a junior at Washington County High School, has been chosen to attend the Institute for Future Agricultural Leaders (IFAL), sponsored by Kentucky Farm Bureau.

IFAL is a unique five-day summer leadership conference that exposes students to college life and explores different fields of study for careers in agriculture.

The conference will be held June 21-25 on the campus of the University of Kentucky and will include special leadership classes and speakers; team building recreation activities; and visits to research farms and agriculture-related industries.

The recent wet weather resulted in many cases of target spot on young burley tobacco plants in greenhouses across the state. With more wet conditions in the forecast, growers need to watch their seedlings closely for any sign of the disease in order to manage it if it does develop.  

In terms of severity and how widespread it is, this is the worst case of target spot I’ve seen since I came here in 2005. Every year, we usually have some target spot, but this year we’re finding it in nearly every float bed we visit.

Tomatoes are relatively easy to grow when you give them what they need, including warmth, moisture, and fertilizer.  The first step in growing great tomatoes is variety and transplant selection.  When selecting tomatoes, if you aren’t partial to heirlooms or particular varieties, choose based on disease resistance.  The labels or seed packets will have letters on it such as VFFNT, honestly the more letters the better because it simply means that variety is resistant to more diseases.

Even though your cows no longer are grazing corn stalks, don’t put away your electric fence for the summer just yet. I’ll explain why in a moment.