Two meetings are being held in early November to help farmers know what inputs they need to purchase for the upcoming year’s crops.

Making these decisions early allows farmers to buy inputs well ahead of the busy spring season. Other advantages include possible tax savings by purchasing them in this calendar year, discounts by suppliers for early buying and a higher likelihood of specific products being available, said Chad Lee, Extension grains specialist with the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture.

“Our goal is for this to be a decision aid tool for producers,” he said.

The meetings will be held on Nov. 9 at the UK Research and Education Center in Princeton and Nov. 11 at the Hardin County Cooperative Extension Office in Elizabethtown .

Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. local time at each location and the meeting will end at 2:30 p.m. Lunch will be on your own.

The program will include information on corn insecticide seed treatments, early fertilizer purchases and soil testing, corn and soybean variety updates, soybean populations, seed fungicides, plant disease update, weed update including species shift and herbicide injury and corn growth stages.

In addition, area farm management specialists will discuss early purchases, financing and tax decisions.

The program has been approved for one hour of pesticide applicator continuing education units in each of the following categories: 1 (ag applicator), 4 (seed treatment), 10 (demo and research), and 12 (pesticide dealer) plus three general hours for any category.

Certified crop adviser hours have also been approved for in the following categories: nutrient management – 1 hour; pest management - 1.5 hours; crop management - 1.5 hours; and professional development - 0.5 hours.

For more information on these meetings, contact a local county Extension office.

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