The University of Nebraska-Lincoln department of agronomy and horticulture, the Nebraska Forest Service and the Nebraska Biochar Initiative will host enthusiasts, producers and researchers from across the Midwest at the Great Plains Biochar Conference.

The conference, scheduled for Sept. 24-26 at the Graduate Hotel in downtown Lincoln, is geared toward professionals working in sectors such as research, education, biochar production, agricultural applications, material characterization, organics recycling, soil remediation and carbon sequestration.

The growing environmental and socioeconomic relevance of biochar as a promising multipurpose material will be addressed within the main themes of this conference.

Learn more by contacting Michael Kaiser at [email protected].

Range management team places

Chadron State College has one of the largest range management programs in the country, and it shows.

CSC students Michael Andersen of Chadron, Trevor Eisenbraun of Norfolk, Mekenna Fisher of Hershey and Kourtney Kronhofman of Chadron recently competed at the Society for Range Management’s (SRM) annual international conference in Sparks, Nevada, taking second place in the Rangeland Cup problem-solving competition. Fisher also placed first in extemporaneous speaking.

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The Rangeland Cup competition is designed to promote critical thinking and cooperative, collaborative work on current topics or issues of historical importance to rangeland ecology and management. Depending on the year, as many as 40 colleges from three countries participate in the international SRM meeting. 

“Although we fell just short of winning the whole competition, I am a junior and have another chance to improve next year,” Eisenbraun says. “I am grateful to my team members for the work we all put in and the execution of our presentation, as well as for some entertaining conversations while researching and designing the poster. I am also thankful for our professors who expressed confidence in our abilities. I’m glad we were able to put Chadron State right up there with the larger universities.”

Learn more at csc.edu.

Beef Quality Assurance certification

Become Beef Quality Assurance or BQA transportation certified for the first time, or renew your certification, from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Oct. 29 in Bridgeport, Neb.

The certification fee is $20 per person, or a flat fee of $100 when operations bring five or more individuals.

In order for Nebraska BQA to best use time and resources, attendees must RSVP for events 72 hours before. Events with poor attendance will be canceled.

Related:Haskell Ag Lab to host forage field day

Regardless, if you are unsure if you are able to attend, by registering, organizers will contact you if the event is canceled. For more information on this program and others coming up, email Jesse Fulton at [email protected].