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EMPORIA — No-Till on the Plains plans a Whirlwind Expo Sept. 10 to help farmers increase profits and understand the importance of soil health.

MANHATTAN, Kans. (AgPR) Farm women are making a difference from coast to coast. RFD-TV will air a tv show produced by American Agri-Women (AAW) for farm women on Tuesdays at 9:30 p.m. EST, beginning Tuesday, August 31. The show will repeat each week on Wednesdays at 11:30 a.m.

ELLSWORTH — Most performers dread dying on stage, but in his role as Sheriff Chauncey Whitney, Greg Piper knows that hamming up his demise is part of the act. Piper, as Whitney, staggered from a pretend shoulder wound and fell to the ground, to the dismay of the crowd watching Saturday at Ellsworth’s Cowtown Days festival. “He’s nice enough to shoot and kill me every year … sometimes several times,” a grinning Piper said beforehand about Josh Choitz, who plays the rogue Billy Thompson. Billy is described in the re-enactment as “always a slave to the bottle, not to mention the women.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — A salmonella outbreak that sickened hundreds and led to the recall of hundreds of millions of eggs from one Iowa firm will likely grow, federal health officials said Thursday. That’s because illnesses occurring after mid-July may not be reported yet, said Dr. Christopher Braden, an epidemiologist with the federal Centers for Disease Control.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A judge’s ruling halting planting of genetically modified sugar beet seeds has left growers feeling uncertain as they wait for federal officials to decide the next step for a crop that provides half of the nation’s sugar supply.

Gov. Mark Parkinson sent a letter today to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack asking that he declare Osborne and Republic counties agricultural disaster areas for production losses due to severe weather in May and June.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A new report says the condition of spring-seeded crops in Kansas has continued to decline amid extreme heat and weeks of little to no rain.

Deere day its third-quarter profit grew 47 percent with American and Canadian farmers buying enough of the company’s large equipment to offset a sharp downturn in Europe. The company reported $617 million net income, or $1.44 per share, in the quarter that ended July 31. That’s up from $420 million, or 99 cents per share, a year ago.

For some Kansas farmers, this year’s fall harvest will be either feast or famine. But only about half of the northwest Kansas corn fields will be contributing to that bumper crop, thanks to the vagaries of Mother Nature.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A new report says the condition of spring-seeded crops in Kansas has continued to decline amid extreme heat and weeks of little to no rain.

If all goes as expected, Kansas once again will be the corn state. By a big margin. But only about half of the northwest Kansas corn fields will be contributing to that bumper crop, thanks to the vagaries of Mother Nature.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A new report says the condition of spring-seeded crops in Kansas has continued to decline amid extreme heat and weeks of little to no rain.

Manhattan, Kansas – August 17, 2010 — The Kansas Farm Service Agency is reaching out to women and minority farmers in the state in an effort to get more of them involved in its farm programs. “We’re in the business of helping our farmers and ranchers-all of them,” said Adrian J. Polansky, state executive director of USDA’s Farm Service Agency in Kansas.

WASHINGTON, D.C., Aug. 16, 2010 – The USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) reminds producers that the deadline to enroll in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) general sign-up is quickly approaching. Farmers and ranchers have until close of business on Friday, Aug. 27, 2010, to offer eligible land for CRP’s competitive general sign-up. Applications can be completed by land owners at the FSA county office where their farm records are maintained. The 2008 Farm Bill authorized USDA to maintain CRP enrollment up to 32 million acres.

BOSTON (AP) — Warm weather has many fruits and vegetables ripening early this year, and on some farms, fall crops will be ready well before Labor Day. Early apples are already ripe for picking in the Northeast and Midwest. Sweet corn was a couple of weeks ahead of schedule, as were many tomatoes, blueberries and peaches. And, if the warm weather holds, families might have Halloween pumpkins well before October starts.

TOPEKA — A Kansas politician’s plan to allow voters to enact laws without going through the Legislature is drawing criticism from major farm groups, and a fellow Republican leader said Friday that the idea worries agriculture leaders.

WICHITA — Kansas farmers are expected to harvest the biggest corn crop in the state’s history this year. The Kansas Agricultural Statistics Service on Thursday forecast corn production in Kansas at 629.2 million bushels. That would surpass last year’s record crop of 598.3 million bushels. Kansas growers planted 4.7 million acres in corn this year, the highest

In the wake of Russell’s fatal grain elevator collapse, heightened awareness abounds as the reeling industry begins to take steps forward regarding Kansas’ aging facilities. It’s been just a month and a half since the bodies of Max Greve, 21, of Hays, and Sean Banks, 19, of Russell, were found three hours after thousands of bushels of wheat and tons of concrete and reinforcement steel came crashing down. However, across Kansas, elevator officials are taking a closer look at their structures, some of which are more than 50 years old.

McPHERSON, KAN.— Kansas Farmers Union President Donn Teske of Wheaton is participating in the Farmer-to-Farmer Program sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development, along with National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA) and National Farmers Union (NFU).

WOLF CREEK, Mont. (AP) — The herd of lowing cows parted like a wave before Curt Pate, who rode straight up to the bull and let him know who was in charge without making a sound. Pate, a 49-year-old Montana cowboy who consulted on the 1998 Robert Redford film “The Horse Whisperer,” switched his focus to cows about five years ago and has been traveling the country teaching ranchers to think like cattle and use low-stress methods of handling livestock.