Managing Drought Risk on the Ranch--KGA Conference Set for January 21, 2012

The Kansas Graziers Association (KGA) and the Kansas Grazing Lands Coalition are co-sponsoring an all day conference, "Managing Drought Risk on the Ranch," presented by the National Drought Mitigation Center, based at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The conference will be held Saturday, January 21 at the Harvest House Meeting Room of the Flint Hills Christian Church, 1836 E. U.S. Highway 50 in Emporia, Ks. This is the KGA’s annual winter conference.

Registration is set for $25 for the main registrant per family/ranch and $15 for each additional person. Students are highly encouraged to participate and are being offered a reduced registration rate of $10. Lunch is included. To register, please visit www.kansasruralcenter.org for information and a printable mail-in registration form.

"The workshop will address both the natural resource concerns and the financial and business planning end of drought," said Tonya Haigh, Drought Center researcher. "The goal is to come through the drought with both your finances and resource base intact, as much as possible."

Speakers will include Barry Dunn, Ranch Management Specialist and Dean of Agriculture and Biological Sciences at South Dakota State University; Jerry Volesky, professor and range and forage systems specialist at the West Central Research and Extension Center in North Platte, Neb.; Ted Alexander, a Kansas rancher who operates according to a detailed management plan; David Kraft and Dwayne Rice, Kansas-based USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Range Management Specialists; Amy Roeder, USDA RMA Risk Management Specialist in Kansas City; Charles Griffin, director of the Kansas Rural Family Helpline and research assistant professor in the School of Family Studies and Human Services at Kansas State University; and Mary Knapp, Kansas State Climatologist. Speakers are provided through a grant by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Risk Management Agency.

Participants will receive a copy of a Managing Drought Risk on the Ranch handbook with worksheets. The materials will also be freely available on the web. The information is condensed from a comprehensive drought management website, online at http://drought.unl.edu/ranchplan, which was also made possible by the USDA RMA.

Other sponsors for the conference are Kansas Rural Center, Kansas Farmers Union, Kansas Center for Sustainable Ag and Alternative Crops in addition to KGA, KGLC and RMA.

Registration is $25 for the main registrant per family/ranch and $15 for each additional person. Students are being offered a reduced registration rate of $10. Lunch is included. To register, please visit http:// www.kansasruralcenter.org/news.html#111220 for information and a printable mail-in registration form. For more information or questions call Mary Howell, Kansas Graziers Association at 785-562-8726.