For more than 25 years farmers in western Kentucky have gathered in Owensboro for a daylong series of educational and informational programs.

This year's event will be Jan. 30 and will again feature a number of educational opportunities. In addition, University of Kentucky President Lee T. Todd Jr., will be the featured luncheon speaker.

The event, in its 28th year, annually attracts between 800 to 1,000 farmers from western Kentucky, southern Indiana and southern Illinois to the Executive Inn's Exposition Center.

The program consists of four sessions with participants being able to choose one of several topics during each session. In addition, there will be a number of booths from various agribusinesses set up inside the exhibition center.

With western Kentucky being the state's predominant grain-producing region, many topics will focus on grain production. Topics include fall and early season herbicide program with Jim Martin, UK Extension weeds science specialist; managing weed resistance in corn and soybeans with Tom Bauman, professor of botany and plant pathology, Purdue University; green stem syndrome in soybeans with Don Hershman, UK Extension plant pathologist ; and marketing decision for GMO crops with Marshall Martin, Purdue University agricultural economist.

There are three sessions on the grain market outlook. Steve Riggins, UK Extension grain marketing specialist, will speak at one of them; Joe Lenahan, a Louisville broker, will speak at another, and the final session will be a panel consisting of Riggins, Lenahan and Martin.

Another panel will discuss barriers to high yielding soybeans. The panel consists of Jim Herbek, UK Extension grains specialist, Doug Johnson, UK Extension entomologist, Martin and Hershman.

Additional programs will update information about the federal farm bill, review the status of tobacco quota buyout proposals, update the progress of the West Kentucky Growers Cooperative, discuss state legislative issues, and a look at where water quality and nutrient management plans are heading.

The event is sponsored by the Grain Day Committee in coordination with the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service.

Registration begins at 7:30 a.m. with the first sessions getting underway at 9 a.m. CT. Participants must be registered by 10:30 a.m. to receive a free lunch ticket. The program concludes at 2:30 p.m.

For more information on Ag Expo contact Wayne Mattingly, Daviess County Extension agent for agriculture and natural resources, at (270) 685-8480.