MINNEAPOLIS — The three-day Minnesota Crop Pest Management Short Course program and Minnesota Crop Production Retailers Trade Show starts Tuesday, December 7th and continues through Thursday, December 9th. The Crop Pest Management Short Course educational sessions will begin on Wednesday, December 8th from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM and continue on Thursday, December 9th from 8:00 AM to 2:20 PM.
The trade show and educational sessions will take place at the downtown Minneapolis Hilton Hotel. The University of Minnesota educational session agendas and session descriptions may be accessed at the Crop Pest Management Short Course website.
The registration fees, online registration and hotel information for the 2021 Crop Pest Management Short Course and MCPR Trade Show can be accessed at the Minnesota Crop Production Retailers website. Please note that the early pricing discount concludes on Tuesday, November 15th.
Highlights of the three-day Crop Pest Management Short Course
Tuesday, December 7
- MCPR Plenary Sessions (1 pm to 3 pm) with speakers:
- Former U.S. House Agriculture Committee Chair, Collin Peterson will address “What’s Next for Farm Bill Programs?” As one of the key authors of the current Farm Bill, former Congressman Peterson will discuss the various titles and commodity programs that make up the Farm Bill, as well as what may be in store for the next Farm Bill. In addition, Peterson will discuss what life is like after serving in Congress for thirty years, as well as what the future of agriculture policy making will look like in a Congress that seems to grow more and more divided as the years go by.
- “Is the Struggle for Workforce Talent Here to Stay?” A big problem for ag retailers, manufacturers, distributors in the crop input industry is the struggle to find talent and create a pool of potential hires. Ag retailers need strong leadership and top employment recruits to succeed. But many are located in rural areas or smaller communities where the population is limited, and unemployment rates are so low that it’s hard to find interested talent that fits the bill. This is why being proactive when recruiting an ag workforce is so important. During this Tuesday afternoon workshop, industry partners will share an overview of the talent recruitment issues, identify ways they are working through these issues and meet the MN State Centers of Agricultural Excellence Outreach team to share how they can help you connect with colleges and high school Agriculture programs. Panel speakers will include: Judy Barka, the Assistant Director of AgCentric, the Northern Agricultural Center of Excellence and Natalie Compart who is the Director of Outreach and Recruitment for the Southern Agricultural Center of Excellence.
- Information Technical Service Provider (TSP) recertification program from 10 am to 1 pm.
- Pesticide Applicator Recertification sessions will begin with category A + H (Seed Treatment) on Tuesday afternoon (2:00 to 4:00 pm).
- Trade show opens at 3:00 to 6:30 pm.
Wednesday, December 8
The CPM Short Course’s General Session will start with the theme “Lets Get Real” The program begins at 8:00 and runs until 11:00 am with a great lineup of keynote speakers including:
- Mark Waschek, Vice President of Ag 1 Source, a Professional Agricultural Recruitment Firm will present “Recruitment Strategies in a Post-Pandemic World”. In March 2020, the pandemic brought about challenges throughout our industry hire, train, engage, and retain our employees. Even as we learn to live with these changes, we are also finding that attracting and retaining the right skills to grow the business have become an event greater challenge. Mark’s work with agri-businesses over the past year has revealed that the fundamental principles of hiring and retaining have not changed. However, what is now required of business leaders, is a shift from traditional recruiting and interview process to a more nuanced approach to the way an organization establishes their overall talent management strategy. Implementing just a few strategic tactics can have a significant impact on your ability to hire your future talent. Mark will outline these tactics and what key steps your organization can take in 2022 to gain the edge on your competition for top employees in the market.
- Adam Kiel is the Executive Vice President of AgOutcomes based in Des Moines, Iowa. Adam will address “Growing and Selling Carbon Credits in US Agriculture, How will this effect Minnesota Farmers?”. The Soil and Water Outcomes Fund provides financial incentives directly to farmers who transition to on-farm conservation practices that yield positive environmental outcomes like carbon sequestration and water quality improvement. The Outcomes Fund provides new market opportunities and revenue streams for farmers by selling these environmental outcomes to the public and private customers. By bundling individual producer’s, environmental outcomes of on-farm conservation practices, the Outcomes Fund delivers substantial per-acre payments to farmers and extremely competitive environmental outcome pricing to their customers. The Soil and Water Outcomes Fund was developed in 2019 by the Iowa Soybean Association in partnership with Quantified Ventures, an impact investment advisory firm.
- Dr. Bryon Parman is the Agricultural Finance Specialist at North Dakota State University. Dr. Parman will discuss “Outlook for Crop Input and Commodity Prices in 2022” with an emphasis on the current fertilizer market. In his update for 2022, Dr. Parman will address anumber of agronomic and economic issues facing ag professionals and growers including: Supply and Demand outlook for Fertilizer and Equipment, Land Values and Rent costs. World-wide commodity demands and price outlooks and Farmer Financial conditions for the upper Midwest going into 2022.
- Concurrent educational sessions from 1:00-5:00 p.m. will continue the strong educational program with a wealth of pest, crop and fertilizer management topics including: Corn rootworm status, Chlorpyrifos replacements, Options for Waterhemp control in a complete program, Gall Midge in soybean update, Soybean cyst nematode variety selection guidelines, conducting meaningful on-farm research and soybean agronomics
- Trade show runs from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Thursday, December 9
- Concurrent educational sessions will continue from 8:00 am to 2:20 pm and will detail a number of important agronomic topics including: P and K starter fertilizer update, sulfur fertilizer guidelines, cover crops, better utilization of manure during higher fertilizer prices, corn tar spot disease infestations in the upper Midwest and management, management of white mold in field crops, variable rate corn planting, drought and corn management and an update from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture on dicamba and other crop protection issues.
- Trade show continues in the morning from 9 to 11 a.m.
Continuing education credits
Certified crop advisers will be able to collect a total of 15 CCA continuing education credits over the course of the 3–day program.
Pesticide applicator recertification
December 7, 2:00-4:00 p.m. and December 8, 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.
These MDA-approved sessions are for applicators that need recertification credit in Categories A (Core), C (Field Crop Pest Management), and/or H (Seed Treatment). Workshop topics will include insect, disease, and weed updates, new pesticide safety topics, prevention of off-target movement of pesticides, and more. Please bring your current license card with you.
- Category A + C: Attend all December 8th recertification sessions.
- Category A + H: Attend December 7th from 2 pm to 4 pm and December 8th recertification sessions from 8 am to 2:45 pm.
- Category A + C + H: Attend all December 7th and
December 8th recertification sessions.
Do you need to recertify? Please refer to your pesticide applicator license for your recertification due date. If the due date is 12/31/2021 then you will need to take a recertification workshop, or retest with MDA, by the end of 2021 in order to renew your license in 2022. You can also check the status
of your license, including your recertification date, online at:
- http://www2.mda.state.mn.us/webapp/lis/default.jsp.
- For any licensing questions, please contact MDA at: 651-201-6615 or Pesticide.Licensing@state.mn.us
— University of Minnesota Extension