On Jan. 30, Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly announced that the Kansas Department of Transportation has received more than $26 million in Rural Surface Transportation Grant Program funding to improve rural road infrastructure in Hamilton and Edwards counties.

The funds are earmarked to replace 14.6 miles of dirt roads with paved surfaces and enhanced road shoulders, among other improvements, to boost mobility for the region’s dairy industry. The Dairy Farms and Dirt Roads: Bringing Supply Chain Infrastructure to Southwest Kansas Project is set to improve the road durability and transportation efficiency around new and existing dairies in both counties.

According to the governor’s office, upgrades to 8.5 miles in Edwards County will improve county roads servicing two dairy facilities in the area. This includes upgrades along O Road between 200th Avenue and 210th Avenue. Additional work will enhance pavement on 180th Avenue and 210th Avenue.

In Hamilton County, the road surface transportation project will improve 6.3 miles that support several businesses including two existing dairies, Southwest Plains Dairy and Frontier Dairy. The project will pave a loop of existing dirt roads with concrete surfacing.

KSU Cattlemen’s Day on March 7 at new site

Kansas State University’s Department of Animal Sciences and Industry will host its 112th annual K-State Cattlemen’s Day on March 7.

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Due to ongoing construction of the new indoor arena and improvements to Weber Hall, the event will move to the National Guard Armory, 721 Levee Drive, Manhattan.

CATTLEMEN’S DAY: Kansas State University’s annual Cattlemen’s Day will be hosted off campus this year at the National Guard Armory in Manhattan, Kan., due to ongoing construction around Weber Hall. (Courtesy of the K-State Research and Extension News Service)

The schedule will include Allison Van Enennaam, an Extension specialist in animal biotechnology and genomics at the University of California-Davis, who will discuss “Genetic Modifications in Livestock.” Also, K-State agriculture economics professor Glynn Tonsor will give a beef industry economic outlook. The afternoon will feature Dale Woerner, Texas Tech University Cargill endowed professor, who will discuss what is new in yield-grade technology. K-State animal science graduate students will wrap up the program with their research roundup.

The cost to attend Cattlemen’s Day is $25 for registration by noon Feb. 21 or $35 on the day of the event. There is no charge for students who register in advance.

The 48th annual Legacy Bull and Female Sale will wrap up the day at 4 p.m. at the Stanley Stout Center.

The annual Stockmen’s Dinner will honor Richard Porter as Stockman of the Year at 6 p.m. March 6, the evening before Cattlemen’s Day. A separate registration can be found at asi.ksu.edu/stockmensdinner.

Related:Kansas Farm Bureau Campaign School opens registration

K-State team working on nanoscale soil sensors

According to the K-State Research and Extension News Service, a team led by Suprem Das has received a $2 million award through the National Science Foundation’s Global Centers program to develop sensors that can more accurately detect nutrients, chemical compounds, microbiomes and greenhouse gases in soil. The funding began Jan. 1.

Das, an associate professor in K-State’s Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering, says the goal is to develop sensors that allow farmers to collect soil information in real time, further advancing their precision agriculture and sustainable practices.

NANOPARTICLE DETECTION: K-State researchers aim to develop sensors using atomically thin carbon sheets in which actual events happen on a nanoscale. Pictured is a carrier for a graphene-printed sensor array and a green circuit board that will house sensors. (Courtesy of the K-State Research and Extension News Service)

The sensors will use atomically thin carbon sheets able to detect, at a nanoscale, between 1 and 100 nanometers. That’s 0.001% the thickness of a sheet of copy paper. One of the key goals is to get a better handle on available nitrogen in the plant and soil.

The K-State team is breaking down knowledge silos by including experts in chemistry and chemical engineering, data science, omics (a field of biological study that analyzes the structure and function of an organism’s biomolecules and molecular processes), microbiology and metabolic engineering.

Related:K-State and Garden City Community College to offer four-year ag degrees

Das said the project also is focused on technology development and commercialization involving a team from K-State’s College of Business Administration. This will be the first successful example of K-State’s game-changing research initiation program, which is meant to attract highly competitive federal grants.