2020 Nebraska Sorghum Symposium

The Nebraska Sorghum Producers Association (NeSPA) together with the Nebraska Grain Sorghum Board (NGSB) and Nebraska Extension announce the 2020 Sorghum Symposium to be held January 30, 2019 at the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture, 404 E 7th Street, Curtis, NE 69025. Registration begins at 9:00 AM.

The program continues the tradition of offering a farmer-focused educational program designed to provide timely and useful information to help sorghum growers make confident, informed production and management decisions as they plan for the 2020 crop. “Making decisions amid many uncontrollable variables is a real challenge,” says Lynn Belitz of Fullerton, President of NeSPA.

“We’ve designed a program to help producers better understand their options.”

Program presentations include Al Dutcher UNL, Climatologist, with a weather outlook; Dr. Brent Bean, Agronomy Director for the National Checkoff, will focus on sorghum production and management. A D.C. /Farm Bill implementation update will be provided by the Office of Congressman Adrian Smith. Strahinja Stepanovic from the Stumpf Research Center will discuss performance and row spacing. Nate Blum, Executive Director of NGSB and NeSPA will discuss leveraging digital media to meet consumers. Zach Simon, Regional Marketer at the National Checkoff will provide a markets update. Chuck Burr, West Central Research and Extension Center will share the latest results of the Sorghum TAPS Program.

“The TAPS program is designed to showcase best crop management and marketing practices by allowing individuals or teams to compete,” said Mike Baker, Chairman of the Nebraska Grain Sorghum Board and participant in this year’s competition. Winners are categorized by most profitable, most water efficient and highest yielding. “The results are pretty remarkable and may actually challenge current management decisions by many growers,” Baker added. The day’s program will conclude with the annual membership meeting of NeSPA and an update report by the Nebraska Grain Sorghum Board. All sorghum growers and allied industry are invited to attend.

“Farmers are making decisions now for the 2020 crop,” adds Belitz. “This program is designed to provide information they can apply immediately to their operations.”