SUNBURY - The Northumberland County Conservation District (NCCD) will hold its annual winter conference for the local agricultural community March 7 at the Revival Tabernacle, Watsontown.
The event, which will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., is sponsored by the NCCD, USDA's Farm Service Agency and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and Penn State Cooperative Extension.
The program will begin with Garrett Coleman, of Preferred Seed Co., speaking on managing high-value crops. He will give a presentation later in the day on hay pests and how to control them.
The remainder of the morning will include a Department of Environmental Protection manure management manual update by Mike Walker, Pennsylvania Conservation Commission, Sean Levan, Montour County Conservation District, Josh Prosceno, Columbia County Conservation District, and Todd Deroba, NCCD, who will focus on how they can be of assistance to farmers in working with the new regulations.
There also will be a presentation on chemical mixing and loading by Joel Imgrund, Penn State Cooperative Extension.
In the afternoon, breakout sessions will feature fixing field lanes by Mike McCleary, NCCD; a PA OneStop.org demonstration by Pam Richardson, NRCS; and farm field record keeping by Dr. James Dunn, Penn State University.
Jason Kehoe, Department of Agriculture, will talk about pesticide safety and exposure. The program will conclude with an update by the cooperating agencies that are sponsoring the event.
Agribusiness vendors available throughout the day will include AET Consulting, Valley Ag and Turf, AGRI-SC, Rovendale Ag and Barn Inc., Kauffman Tractor and Implement Painting, Hoover Tractor, Cen Pe Co, AgChoice Farm Credit, Hy-Tech Mushroom Compost Inc., Pik Rite Inc., Sunbury Animal Hospital, KIZ Resources, Zeiset Ag Consulting and Sales, Chemgro Seeds, Furmano Foods, T.A. Seeds, Crop Production Services and PPL Electric Utilities.
A roast turkey meal will be served at lunch.
Pesticide credits (two category, two core) will be available, and there will be door prizes. Cost to attend $10. Deadline to register is Feb. 24.
For more information or to obtain a registration form, contact the NCCD office at 286-7114, extension 4, or go to www.nccdpa.org.