Kansas Department of Agriculture Boards to Meet Sept. 15
Several advisory boards which serve to guide the work of the Kansas Department of Agriculture will meet on Friday, September 15, at the Kansas State Fair in Hutchinson. The meetings will be held on the Kansas State Fairgrounds, and are open to the public.
The boards which will meet on September 15 are:
Kansas Board of Agriculture
1:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Kansas State Fair Administrative Office Boardroom
Contact: Auburn Wassberg, [email protected] or 785-564-6799
Kansas Board of Animal Health
8:30 a.m. to noon
Prairie Pavilion conference room
Contact: Justin Smith, [email protected] or 785-564-6601
Kansas Marketing Advisory Board
1:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Prairie Pavilion conference room
Contact: Russell Plaschka, [email protected] or 785-564-7466
State Conservation Commission
9:00 a.m. to noon
Cottonwood Court building: upstairs meeting room
Contact: Division of Conservation, [email protected] or 785-564-6620
Individuals who have questions about any of the meetings can contact the Kansas Department of Agriculture at 785-564-6700 for more information.
Persons who require special accommodations must make their needs known at least two days prior to the meeting.
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WHO: Kansas Department of Agriculture advisory boards
WHAT: Regular board meetings
WHEN: September 15, 2023; times vary
WHERE: Kansas State Fairgrounds in Hutchinson; specific locations vary
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Kansas Department of Agriculture Boards to Meet Sept. 15.pdf
Lettuce Eat Local: Peanut Butter…tomato time?
Amanda Miller
Columnist
Lettuce Eat Local
I’ve long had unusual taste preferences, to the extent that Brian and I always joked (and legitimately wondered) if I would crave normal food during pregnancy. I’m sure he was hoping that would be the case. Unfortunately, both of my pregnancies have produced more food aversions than cravings, although the few things I did uncharacteristically desire have been very standard for an American diet: I needed lots of potatoes when Benson was in utero, and this little baby so far has created very atypical penchants for sausage and soggy breakfast cereal. Don’t worry, not together. It is the togetherness, or combining, of foods that is usually expected in pregnancy. For some reason I feel like pickles and/or ketchup and ice cream is a stereotypical illustration of prenatal cravings; I haven’t been tempted at all to try that, since decades ago I already experimented with cocktail sauce and vanilla ice and I can conclusively say that it’s a bad idea. One of the odder combinations I’ve sampled recently was yellow mustard on an Oreo, but that’s because a friend is (wrongly) convinced of its palatability, and I’m fairly certain he’s not pregnant.
I’m really much more adventurous in my flavor combos when I’m not with child, so our prediction has essentially come true. It makes me wonder, however, what the maternal status is of the people who create some of the food items sold at the Kansas State Fair, which is of course in full swing this week. Apparently you can buy, as in pay good money for, a dill pickle stuffed with hot Cheetos, wrapped in fruit roll-ups, drizzled with chamoy, and sprinkled with Tajin. On a stick of course. Rumor has it there are more strange new options like deep-fried coke, hot dogs stuffed into jelly doughnuts, and pickle-flavored popsicles — and I’m sure a whole host of other fried things. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.
However, clearly, who am I to judge? I think it’s boring when everything is normal, and my curiosity and appetite are absolutely piqued when it’s something out of the ordinary, so fry away. I just want you to keep some of those combinations and considerations in mind when I present my recipe for this week. Mixing tomatoes, peanut butter, and sweet potatoes might sound like something dreamed up in a maternal maelstrom, but actually I knew I wanted this stew because I’ve cooked these things up together so many times before. They’re a normal pairing in West Africa, only sounding strange to our Midwestern selves because we haven’t grown up with it. But while Brian and Benson may not have found it as addictively delicious as I did, they both liked it — which means you can, too. And like Brian said, even though I didn’t necessarily give him a choice at input in our menu, “At some point, you get tired of just fresh garden tomatoes and have to do something different.” While I’m not sure I agree with him on the tomato bit, I do appreciate the sentiment.
If you can try a pickle popsicle at the fair, you can try a peanut potato tomato stew at your table.
West African Sweet Potato Tomato Peanut Stew
Seriously, it makes me happy just thinking about it. I’m not saying it will blow your mind with life-changing deliciousness, but it’s just such a pleasantly unique and more-ish kind of meal. It’s rich and savory and hearty, while also somehow being fresh and sweet and light. Rice is a good accompaniment, and throw in some beef or chicken if you want.
Prep tips: I like the idea of the natural-style peanut butter, but standard will melt and meld better into the sauce. Skip the hot pepper if you don’t want any spice.
a good drizzle of peanut or olive oil
3 yellow onions, chopped
2” piece fresh ginger, minced; or 1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 hot pepper of choice, minced
½ tablespoon cumin
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2-3 cups fresh tomatoes, chopped
2-3 cups chicken broth
1-2 sweet potatoes, cubed
½ cup creamy peanut butter
Heat oil in a large saucepan, and add onions with a good pinch of salt; saute over medium heat until just browning. Stir in ginger and hot pepper, cook for a minute, then stir in cumin and tomato and cook for another minute. Add tomatoes, broth, sweet potatoes, and another good pinch of salt; bring to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes, until sweet potatoes are just tender. Stir in peanut butter, and simmer for another 15 minutes or so until the sauce is thickened and rich. Season to taste, and serve over rice with coarsely chopped peanuts.
No farm to table without ag labor
Gardeners know the amount of time and energy it takes to grow the tomatoes, cucumbers, and zucchini they share with friends and neighbors. Once the soil is prepared then the seeds need to be sown, the weeds need to be fought, the plants need to be watered, and the insects, diseases, and parasites need to be stopped. That is all before the first slice of tomato can be laid upon a plate.
Now imagine the sort of energy it would take to grow 200 acres of a crop, or 1,000 acres. This is the task before America’s agricultural employers.
Many crops in the United States must be handpicked for them to appear in your local grocery store. Automated machines can’t replicate how a human hand harvests crops such as garlic, strawberries, or asparagus.
Those crops that can use harvesting equipment still need humans to help move them through processing systems before they can enter the food supply. To protect those workers, labor laws were first established in 1938, according to U.S. Department of Labor website at bit.ly/3spIBHY, with the passing of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
The original laws put in place have changed drastically over the years but the need for agricultural labor has not. A recent webinar hosted by The National Agricultural Law Center discussed the labor laws agricultural employers should be familiar with when they need to hire outside help.
Host Brandon Davis is a farmer and a lawyer at the New Orleans office of Phelps Dunbar. He specializes in immigration as it pertains to labor issues facing agricultural businesses.
“We cannot go from farm to table without an adequate labor supply,” Davis said.
Davis said that agricultural jobs cannot always be filled by American citizens even though employers are required to advertise those positions on national job boards at bit.ly/3spGbJo. When no American applicants have been found, the federal government gives the employer the certification that will then need to be approved by immigration.
The act of finding stable agricultural employees is not quick and it is not cheap. Once those employees arrive on U.S. soil there are laws in place to ensure they have fair wages, which could be anywhere between $13 to $17 an hour; housing paid for by the employer that meets local and county standards that defaults to Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act standards; and training that allows the employees to remain safe and healthy.
Agricultural employees have “the right to be safe. The right to be healthy in their environment. The right to be safe from discrimination,” Davis said.
Safe and sound
Agriculture is one of the most rewarding professions but it is also one of the most hazardous. Safety for employees starts with thorough training on how to navigate the dangerous situations and materials they work with on a daily basis.
One of the biggest threats to agricultural employees is heat and heat-related illnesses. Agricultural employers and their managers must have policies in place and be flexible so employees can take adequate water and rest breaks during the hottest part of the day, which Davis said is between 11:45 a.m. and 3:15 p.m. These breaks are especially important for newly hired employees that need time and patience while they acclimate to the heat.
“The last thing that we want is a work-related illness or death that is absolutely preventable like heat related illnesses,” Davis said. He directed attendees to OSHA’s heat-related illness website at osha.gov/heat for more information.
Many retired farm kids can attest to the effects of prolonged exposure to loud machinery on their ability to hear later on in life. Davis emphasized that agricultural employers must make sure employees know how to protect their hearing with ear plugs or headphones when operating noisy combines, chainsaws, or trenchers, just to name a few pieces of equipment.
Additionally, operating that noisy machinery should be limited to those older than age 16, Davis said. Legally, 16-year-olds can only operate a tractor that has less than 20 horsepower. They are also not supposed to be working in an enclosed area with a stud horse, a bull, or a boar. Many farms are family operations and children are often tasked with work beyond their age and abilities. Davis said 12 years is generally the minimum age for working on the farm.
Mistakes can be made no matter the age of the employee and Davis said that’s where effective training becomes evident.
“Good mistakes are the ones where we’ve had training and we know what to do,” he said.
While some employers may see these laws as a hindrance to their productivity, Davis reminds them that there is not enough Americans who want to do farm labor, so employers must do what they can to protect those who are willing to work for them.
“We don’t have enough labor to produce the food that we need in the country and the food that we sell internationally,” Davis said.
As reported in the High Plains Journal.
Hot temps may encourage homeowners to delay seeding lawns this year
K-State horticulture expert says waiting a couple weeks may help cool-season grasses.
September is the best time to give cool-season grasses a boost in Kansas, but with triple-digit temperatures hammering many parts of the state recently, it might be a good idea to hold off just a little bit.
Kansas State University horticulture expert Ward Upham says you can still over-seed such cool-season grasses as tall fescue and Kentucky bluegrass in early September, but it’s going to hit your pocketbook a little harder.
“If it remains really hot, you may be watering three times a day to keep newly-planted seeds moist,” Upham said. “You may want to wait until this current hot spell ends before putting your seed down and starting your watering because then you won’t have to worry quite as much about keeping that soil moist.”
That puts the middle to late part of September as a good time for homeowners to think about thickening up their home’s lawn.
“There are certain steps that are involved, and you should about going through those in order,” Upham said.
Those steps include:
Fertilize the lawn
“We recommend you use a starter fertilizer, which will be higher in phosphorus,” Upham said, noting that fertilizer will give the seed a greater chance of getting started quickly.
Follow the directions on the bag to know how much fertilizer to put down.”
Prepare the soil
Upham said homeowners can use a hand rake to roughen up soil in small areas. For larger areas, he suggests either a verticut machine or core aerator.
“A verticut machine has solid vertical blades that can be set to cut furrows in the soil,” he said. “A slit seeder is a verticut machine with a seed hopper added so the soil prep and seeding operation are combined.”
By contrast, a core aerator literally punches holes in the soil, depositing the cores on the surface of the ground.
“Each hole produces an excellent environment for seed germination and growth,” Upham said. “Make three to four passes with the core aerator to ensure enough holes for the seed.”
A core aerator also reduces the amount of water needed to germinate the seed. Aeration increases the water infiltration rate, decreases compaction and increases the amount of oxygen in the soil.
Apply proper seeding rates
For tall fescue grasses, Upham suggests applying 6 to 8 pounds per 1,000 square feet. Apply three pounds per 1,000 square feet when seeding Kentucky bluegrass, which is a smaller seed. “You’re actually putting down more seed per square foot with Kentucky bluegrass,” Upham said, “but you need that extra seed in order to get a good stand.”
Using too much seed results in a lawn more prone to disease and damage from stress. Using too little seed may result in clumpy turf that is not as visually pleasing. Calculate the yard’s square footage to determine the appropriate amount of seed to apply.
Keep the soil moist
Upham suggests watering newly planted areas lightly, but often. “Keep the soil constantly moist, but not water-logged,” he said. “During hot days, a new lawn may need to be watered three times a day. If watered less, germination may be slowed.”
Cool, calm days may require watering only every couple days, Upham said. As grass plants come up, gradually decrease watering to once a week if there is no rain.
“Let the plants tell you when to water,” Upham said. “If you push the blades down and they don’t spring back up quickly, the lawn needs water. Once seeds sprout, try to minimize foot traffic that seeded areas receive until the seedlings are a little more robust and ready to be mowed. Begin mowing once seedlings reach 3 to 4 inches tall.”
As reported in the High Plains Journal.
