News

Make plans now to attend the 2026 Nebraska Grazing Conference in Kearney on August 4-5. For 26 years, the Nebraska Grazing Conference has served as a forum for advancing the science and practice of grazing management by bringing together producers, researchers, educators, conservation professionals, and industry leaders from across the Great Plains.

July 16, 2026 (Lincoln, Neb.) — The Nebraska Department of Transportation (NDOT) has announced that hay harvesting permit applications for the public will be accepted through an online application portal beginning July 30 at 12:01 a.m. CST. Individuals must have a permit to harvest hay on state right-of-way.

Grüezi (or Greetings) again from Switzerland! I have moved to a new host family, the Marti family, in Jens, a small village of about 600 residents in the Canton of Bern. My host family is a middle aged couple, Adrian and Cornelia. Adrian is a farmer, and Cornelia is a homeopathic animal practitioner. My host family develops and raises dairy heifers for local dairy farmers and grow a variety of crops, including wheat, corn, spelt, sugar beets, and sunflowers (for oil).

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Departmentof Agriculture(USDA) is helping organic producers and handlers cover certification costs as part of the Department’s effort to put Farmers First and Make America Healthy Again. USDAs Farm Service Agency (FSA) is accepting applications to help with organic certification costs for the 2025 and 2026 program years through the Organic Certification Cost Share Program (OCCSP), which covers up to 75 percent of eligible organic certification costs. Producers and handlers must apply by December 31, 2026, for both program years.

This Secretarial natural disaster designation allows the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) to extend much-needed emergency credit to producers recovering from natural disasters through emergency loans. Emergency loans can be used to meet various recovery needs including the replacement of essential items such as equipment or livestock, reorganization of a farming operation, or to refinance certain debts. FSA will review the loans based on the extent of losses, security available, and repayment ability.

Preg checking is more than simply determining whether a cow is bred, it’s an opportunity to make management decisions that can improve the efficiency and profitability of your operation. Early pregnancy diagnosis helps identify open cows, evaluate breeding season success, and gives you valuable information to plan nutrition, marketing, and culling decisions well before calving.

What happens to the thousands of tires collected during North Central Nebraska RC&Ds tire amnesty events? Many of them get a second life. This year, Champlin Tire Recycling, which hauled away and recycled the tires collected at the amnesty events in Springview and O’Neill, generously donated two park benches made from recycled tires to the North Central Nebraska RC&D.

Occasionally one will encounter an old friend or acquaintance in what is called spontaneous reunions or coincidences. Coincidence means two or more unrelated events coming together in an unexpected way. Classic examples include running into childhood friends on an international trip, discovering a co-worker is your distant cousin, or even running into a long-lost pet miles from home. These events bridge the gap between everyday chance and truly bizarre historical luck.

A Lakeview treasure, Sara Tinant, 69, passed away July 16 in Valentine after a recent diagnosis of cancer. There was only one Sara! Shehadawittysenseof humorwith a quick comeback, generous to a fault, and happiest when she was a winner at any game. (She really was a sore loser!) Back in the day she was a great softball and volleyball player. Sara never met a stranger, loved conversation, loved reading books, drove her pickup with the “auntbag” license plates, and did things her way. I will miss hearing her horn honk as she pulled into the driveway, and one never knew what she had to share but I always walked back in the house with something she gave me! Per Sara’s wishes, she was buried the same day of her death at the Lakeview Cemetery. The community extends heartfelt sympathy to the Tinant family, and all who loved her. We will all miss our friend.

The Nebraska Department of Economic Development (DED) is now accepting applications for the Community Development Assistance Act (CDAA) opportunity. The CDAA enables DED to distribute a 40 percent state tax credit to individuals and business firms that make eligible contributions to certified projects or programs.