(light music) - Welcome to "Farm Connections".

I'm your host Dan Hoffman.

On today's episode we talk with Bev Durgan, Dean of the University of Minnesota Extension about the Extension program and what it does for Minnesota.

JoAnn Lower returns to the show with a brand new story about human nature to share.

And the University of Minnesota Extension provides us with a new Best Practices segment.

All here today on "Farm Connections".

(acoustic country music) - [Male Announcer] Welcome to "Farm Connections" with your host Dan Hoffman.

- [Female Announcer] Farm connections made possible in part by.

- [Male Announcer] AbsoluteEnergy.

A locally owned facility produces 125 million gallons of ethnol annually.

Proudly supporting local economies in Iowa and Minnesota.

AbsoluteEnergy, adding value to the neighborhood.

(acoustic country music) Minnesota Corn Growers Association.

Working to identify and promote opportunities for corn growers and adds quality of life.

And help others understand the value and importance of corn production to America's economy.

(soft music) EDP Renewables North America.

Owner operator of Prairie Star and Pioneer Prairie Wind Farm's Minnesota and Iowa.

EDPR wind farms and solar parks provide income to farmers and help power rural economies across the continent.

- "Farm Connections" travel to the Landscape Arboretum in Chaska Minnesota.

And with me is Dean Bev Durgan.

Well Bev your work here at the University of Minnesota is very very important.

And it's also very wide or broad.

And this is yet another extension of that.

Why is this particular institution important for your work?

- Well you know Extension is all about education.

And teaching people things.

And we know agriculture's important in this state.

And I hate to say it, but you know everybody eats, and so agriculture's important.

But people are asking where does their food come from?

You know who was producing their food?

And we've gotten to a place I think in the world now where people are very disconnected from the production of food and the consuming of food.

And this is a place where people can come and learn about agriculture.

And you know they can learn that a wheat field is part of their life because they eat bread every day.

And so it's not just a field just out there that they pass on the interstate.

It has been produced by a farmer, a farmer cares for that crop, and then eventually it gets on their table.

And so this is a way to make that full connection of agriculture and the importance of it in people's lives.

- Well great points.

And thinking about how connected we are, earth, water, soils.

The weather.

You know we're traveling down the road looking at that wheat field, it's taking CO2 or carbon dioxide and turning it into oxygen that we use for life sustaining life.

- Right.

And you know people are interested in where their food comes from.

They're also interested in the environment and land.

And I think in Minnesota we are especially in tune to that because of our lakes.

You know everybody has a memory of the lake.

You know they have lakes and so the impact of what we do on the land has an impact on our water.

And this is a place for people to learn about farmers care about the land, farmers care about the environment, and we all need to work together to make sure that we can produce the food that's healthy, but also have the environment that we expect to have here in Minnesota.

- Also great points.

And as I think about your work and even some of the things you've done in the past.

You come from Northwest Minnesota.

You're looking at a state that has many many different bio systems inside of it.

Weather, climate, soils, growing degree days.

The extension at the University of Minnesota is charged with improving a lot of things and sustaining our agriculture.

And also developing value added.

How does this fit into that piece?

- Well and that is Extension is everywhere throughout the state.

We have offices in all 87 counties.

And so we are there throughout the state.

And I think it is just appropriate that we have farm at the Arb.

When you think about how this site developed.

This site developed as a research site for many of our important fruits and vegetables here in the state.

So people will know, you'll hear about this later in the show, this is the home of honeycrisp apples.

And this is the home of the frontinat grape.

And that all started on research.

And then the Arboretum spread out from that research.

So why not build on the research of the University of Minnesota, have a demonstration farm, have a living farm that's based on research.

And Extension is part of that, 'cause that's what we do.

We take research and we turn it into educational programs.

And we really help people understand the system.

And I think that's what's really important is that agriculture doesn't sit out here by itself.

Consumers don't sit out here by themselves.

It is fully connected.

And I think that we can see that system here more at the farm at the Arboretum.

- Wonderful points again Bev.

And as you think about connecting rural and the environment and also the urban, those people make policy and make decisions.

Why is that important for them to have good facts?

- Well I think it's important.

We all think about science in our lives, you know science goes into medicine and what we do in medicine.

And I think that we'll see here at the Arb is that agriculture's based on science.

You know the good scientific principles.

And that's what we need to be thinking about is that we need to really base this on you know the best way to both grow crops and also to protect the environment.

And that's about science, that's about what the University of Minnesota does in research.

And that's what Extension does is really to deliver this science based education.

- We are so fortunate to have a land viewing University in the, called the University of Minnesota in our State of Minnesota.

What are some visionary things you're thinking about looking forward?

- So you know one of the things I think that we need to think about too is reconnecting people back to the land.

And I think this can do it.

We know that kids youth are very interested in learning about food, learning about agriculture, learning about gardening.

And I think this place can do that.

Extension through our Master Gardener Program has many community gardens, has many gardens at schools.

And I think any time that we can get people interested in growing food, learning about food.

And frankly I think it's a very calming thing you know to work out in a garden, work out with plants, and just to be thinking about what that means.

And so I think this place is a place that we can do it.

But it's also what we want to do in Extension is that we need to make sure that people have the right information to make decisions on what they're doing.

Whether it's that school community garden or whether it's farmer making a decision on the land, or whether it's a community.

You know and we know that farmers are part of a community and what that looks like.

And Extension, we really wanna give people information to make those big decisions about what communities look like here.

- Cool.

And as you go out state and you look at some of your leadership programs they've made huge differences in communities.

We welcome the education piece, but also the connectivity that the University of Minnesota brings.

One that comes to mind is the Minnesota Agriculture and Rural Leadership Program.

What a great program.

Any comments about that?

- Right and so again, one of the things Extension really wants to do and if you think about where can we make the most impact.

And it is invested in people.

And we know for communities to run, for school boards to run, you need to have leaders.

So our leadership programs helping people to be better leaders, what does that look like through the Minnesota Ag and Rural leaders program.

Which is you know one of our great programs that we collaborate with the Minnesota State system.

And again I think that's one that we if we talk about vision we need to make sure that the educational systems in this state are working together.

And I think Morrow is really one that does that.

But it really is giving people the tools they need to go back into their communities.

And one of the things that I think we're seeing here in Minnesota is when we talked about agriculture is that our farmers are in stress right now, you know.

They are have low prices, the weather has not been good for our farmers.

And that's going to affect communities.

And Extension really needs to be there to help people decide what their communities are going to look like.

And it could be some of these communities with less people in them.

And what does that mean?

And how do we make sure that those communities stay a vibrant and part of that as leadership?

So the Minnesota Ag and Rural Leadership Program, but then also a program that we're very proud of is our 4H program, which builds leaders starting with the youth.

And as they move forward to become citizens.

- A community vitality program.

- That's right.

And they're working with communities, again making helping those communities make some of these tough decisions that they need to make.

- Bev I'm so proud to say I'm a tenure 4H member past.

And also been very involved on Morrow.

It is a great program and I appreciate the opportunities I've had.

And part of the reason that we need to do those things is again to make good decisions based on science and facts.

And you helps us on that so much.

- Right agree.

And I think that also one of the things Extension really makes sure that we do is that people are really lifelong learners.

You know people don't get outta high school, they don't get outta college and that's it.

And so Extension could be part of that as continuing to build this whole concept of a lifelong learner.

As we all continue through that continuum that we can learn things, we can do things differently, and Extension wants to be part of that.

- Bev when we go on the Saint Paul campus we see lots of corn and soybean plots, wheat plots, barley.

And other things like hazelnut.

But taking those ideas or concepts, the genetics we have, and trying to make them even better.

So on the agronomy side we've got lots of things and lots of great examples of success.

Let's go back to Landscape Arboretum and think about apples and grapes.

Can you give us a couple examples, like honeycrisp for example, where we use the University of Minnesota research to further develop and add value to our ag side?

- Right.

And I think also that I think it's important when people come out here or look at an agricultural field is to remember that doesn't just happen.

You know it takes a long term commitment into looking at how we can really improve the science.

So one of the examples is the Honeycrisp apple.

That took about 30 years to bring that apple to market.

And unless we have places like this that we can really do that research is that you can't really make some of these great discoveries that have done a great impact on agriculture and also the state.

So just looking at some of this long, the impact the long term research is really what we need.

The Arboretum does that, our other sites, and the St. Paul campus.

You know the St. Paul campus has been here for a long time.

And speaking of a long time, this year is the 110th anniversary of the University of Minnesota Extension.

So the Minnesota Legislature established Extension in 1909.

So we're very proud of that, we're very proud that we've been here through a lot of this progress in the state.

- Extreme progress.

And adding value to our farmers, our communities, and our entire state.

So very well said Bev.

I wish the best in everything that you do.

Congratulations on 110 years.

- Yeah great thank you.

Thanks Dan.

- Stay tuned for more on "Farm Connections".

(acoustic country music) - [Male Announcer] "Farm Connections" Best Practices brought to you by.

- I'm Brad Carlson, University of Minnesota Extension educator.

I work in the area of water quality crops and fertilizer management out of our Mankato regional office.

And I work statewide.

The practice of split applying nitrogen has become very popular over the last decade.

And this is primarily been driven by how wet the climate has been.

Split applying, which means applying a portion of the nitrogen prior to planting, and then the balance during the growing season is a hedge against nitrogen loss.

And the loss processes of nitrogen are primarily water based.

And so the wetter it is the more likely it is that we may either leach the nitrogen out and in a drain tile or lose it through denitrification.

Which causes it to go up into the atmosphere.

Regardless the practice of split applying simply just has the nitrogen out in the field for less time and therefore less time to be lost in general.

So as we look at the corn field behind me right now this is really the time of year when most farmers who split apply are putting on their second split.

This here is a little bit different though with respect to management because of how dry it has been.

It hasn't been extraordinary hot, it's been a little hot at times, but in general it's just simply been dry.

And so the thing to remember about that is of course that one, we are not likely to have actually lost any nitrogen.

And I know that some farmers have been thinking that with the advance of commodity prices this spring that potentially they may be looking out trying to boost yields, and maybe thinking about applying a little bit higher rate.

Now that probably is not necessary if you're using a recommended maximum return to nitrogen rate.

There's really no reason to expect the crop to respond to additional nitrogen.

So from that standpoint there's really no need to adjust either up or down.

But the other problem we're probably more likely to face this year is on account of how dry it is.

It is possible that in the upper part of the rooting zone where the majority of the fertilizer will be located it's going to be very dry.

And so a lot of the fertilizer uptake, the nutrient uptake by the plant happens from these roots in that top six inches of soil.

And when it's very dry the fertilizer's likely to just sit there.

And so it is possible that the crop may look like it is nutrient deficient because it's picking up water from lower in the profile.

When indeed there's plenty of nutrient there.

The problem really is related to a water stress instead.

Now the other thing we need to think about is there's really two forms of fertilizer that are primarily applied during this split application.

The top dress or side dress portion.

Either urea of the dry pellet urea, or a UAN, urea ammonium nitrate mixture.

Either 28 or 32 percent in water in liquid form of course.

And so the thing we need to think about when it is dry is there is the potential of losing the nitrogen, particularly the urea.

And that is through the process called urease which happens through a natural enzyme present in the soil.

And the way to prevent that is to either incorporate the urea into the soil.

Or we need to receive significant rainfall to dissolve the urea and carry it down into the soil.

Roughly about a quarter of an inch.

I know some farmers think that maybe a heavy dew is adequate.

But research has actually shown that has not been the case.

And so when it's dry like this we do strongly recommend using a urease inhibitor to slow or prevent this from happening.

And to safe or ensure that the nitrogen's going to still be there later on.

Maybe lengthen the period of time between application and when that rainfall is necessary.

So the primary product used for this has the abbreviation of NBPT, commonly known by the trade name Agrotain, but there are other products on the market also.

And this has been used significantly in urea for many years now.

And so if you are top dressing urea and simply laying it on the surface, very good idea to invest in that product.

This has been Brad Carlson with our Best Practices segment.

- The bath.

Is my favorite thing.

I pour peach bubbles into it.

I light a candle.

I luxuriate in my bath.

And I can have a bath every night of the week now.

Growing up on the farm one night a week was all we could have a bath.

After our Sunday school lessons were learned on Saturday night, after we had watched "Gunsmoke" (JoAnn laughs) my mom would kinda stand off in the corner and she'd yell "bath time."

And my brothers Jimmy and Donny and I would race to the bathroom to see who could get there first because I mean you didn't wanna take a bath in somebody else's dirty water because we all took a bath in the same tub of water.

Now my mom thought it was just fine to have just one bath a week.

Because that's how she grew up.

Her dad, my grandpa Stene, took a bath only in the warm months of the year.

He never even peeled off his long underwear let alone take a bath in those months that had an R in them.

There was another reason that we took only one bath a week.

It was because if we used too much water the old well man would have to be called.

Oh dear.

He would come up the driveway in his rickety old truck, step out in three buckled boots with all the buckles missing.

And his overalls with patches on patches.

He looked like he didn't even know what the word money meant.

Mom said he charged an arm and a leg though.

Now.

We didn't own our farm.

My parents living through The Depression, my mom said "you never buy anything you can't pay cash money for."

So we didn't own the farm.

Rufus and Ada did.

We lived on that farm for 20 years or so.

Rufus and Ada would come to visit two or three times a week.

And whenever we would see that baby blue Cadillac driving up the driveway, oh my brother Jimmy and I would run upstairs, we would lie down on his bedroom floor and peer through the lacy nettle around the stove pipe.

And we could hear everything that mom and Ada were saying.

My littlest brother Donny he didn't hide at all.

He was just a little guy.

Four-years-old.

And he would march out there to the farm yard and stand between dad and Rufus.

And he would listen to everything that they said.

And if dad would sometimes point at something else or look away then Rufus would say, "get out of the way kid!"

He'd try to kick him out of the way.

He'd say "kid you're always in the way, "get out of the way."

Now when we moved onto that farm there were several things that needed repair.

The first thing, the barn.

Dad brought lumber home from the lumber yard.

He began to repair all the places that needed it.

And up the driveway comes that baby blue Cadillac.

And Rufus to inspect.

"Oh Floyd" he'd say to my dad.

"Floyd this barn wasn't going to fall down "for a long time yet.

"But since you think you needed to repair it, "you're going to pay Floyd.

"This one's on you."

Dad was getting to be a pretty good carpenter.

And one year for moms birthday he built her a new kitchen.

But not only the kitchen, he brought water into the house.

Of course.

Up the driveway that baby blue Cadillac.

And Rufus and Ada to inspect.

"Oh Floyd, why did you need to make Hazel a new kitchen?

"And the water?

"I mean all she had to do "was take a bucket across the driveway "and bring in water from the well and.

"Since you decided that you had to do this "then you're going to pay Floyd.

"This one's on you."

(JoAnn laughs) It was that year that I turned 13.

Wow.

A memorable year.

Dad went to the lumber yard, brought home new wood, and he built inside the house, a bathroom.

I think he built it just for me.

(JoAnn laughs) Do you know what a bathroom inside the house meant?

It meant that I didn't have to go to that little house out back anymore and worry that there would be mice running across my bare feet.

Or when I looked down into the depth seeing eyes shining back at me.

Oh.

Oh that bathroom was wonderful.

But of course therein lay the problem of too much water consumption.

So the well man had to be called.

Up the driveway he comes, his rickety truck, his boots, his overalls.

He fixed.

Yeah he fixed the old well.

And when he finished he handed his bill over to Rufus who said, "no I don't use this water, "give it to Floyd.

"This one's on him."

(JoAnn laughs) It's been a lot of years since we O'Strander's lived on that farm.

There are new renters there now.

And I guess that they didn't realize how fragile was that old well.

Because one day they had to have it repaired because the old well died.

So did the old well man.

The new well man had to be called.

He drove up the driveway in his red shiny truck.

Stepped down in clean cowboy boots, jeans, shirt tucked in.

The new well man, my little brother Donny, who had grown into a tall handsome man.

Well.

My brother Don had the much new well replaced.

And when he finished, he handed his bill over to Rufus, who of course was watching.

Rufus.

Just looked at Don and he said "oh no no no, I don't use this water.

"Give it to the renter.

"This one's on him."

My brother Don just took one look at Rufus and out of the corner of his eye he saw Rufus' checkbook peeking out of his shirt pocket.

Don took the checkbook out, he wrote the check out to himself for the very fair amount.

He handed it back to Rufus and said.

"Rufus.

"This time we're gonna be fair, okay?

"Okay?

"And by golly you know I'll never forget those cold baths "I had to take after my sister "finally got out of the bathtub.

"So.

"Rufus.

"This one's on you."

Rufus signed the check.

Quite surprisingly.

He handed it back to Don.

And as he kind of stomped away with his big fat cigar in his mouth he said, "doggone it kid, you always did get in the way."

- When we reach out to offer support, (acoustic country music) when we lend a helping hand, we enrich not only the lives of those around us but our own lives as well.

I'm Dan Hoffman.

Thanks for watching "Farm Connections".