Where did February go? My February flew by, jam-packed with programs and events.
I am excited to celebrate our graduates of the Annie’s Project for Cut Flower Growers. This six-week course started in January and finished this week. Our eight participants in Crawfordsville learned from local Farm Credit professionals, local Farm Bureau insurance agents, lawyers, Purdue economists, local FSA and NRCS professionals, a panel of flower growers, and Purdue Extension Educators. It was a fantastic class that allowed the participants to learn about how personality types can interact in a business, create mission statements, learn what information you need to have prepared before going to a loan provider or the FSA office, and learn from other participants and speakers passionate about growing cut flowers. Thank you to all our local speakers who helped teach this class.
Unfortunately, we did not have enough participants to host the Succession Planning Series, “Leaving a Lasting Legacy For Midwestern Farm Women” here in Crawfordsville. However, I was able to help still facilitate the online version of the class. Over 90 participants in the state of Indiana attended virtually, combined with the participants from Kansas and Nebraska this class reached more than 500 participants. This is the second class I have offered that was the product of a NIFA grant applied for by Extension Educators from Nebraska, Kansas and Indiana’s land grant universities. We learn and interact with professionals and participants across the Midwest and Plains. We listen to speakers from each state each night and then do “hands-on” activities in our in-person classroom. If you are interested in working on your farm or family business’s estate or succession plan, please contact me. I can connect you with a Purdue professional from the Farm Succession Team or the Purdue Institute for Family Business to support you.
The Indiana Office of State Chemist has finished inputting 2024 PARP attendance records. If you need more Pesticide Applicator Recertification Programs to maintain your Indiana Pesticide License, join us at 6:30 p.m. March 6 at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds for the Statewide PARP.
The Ag Women Engage Conference and Young Ladies in Ag Forum was a great success despite the bad weather that deterred some attendees from making the drive to Fort Wayne. Courtenay DeHoff was a fantastic keynote and was supported by a mirage of other great presenters on grain marketing, farm-land value, farm lease agreements, roundtable discussions, succession planning, fish farms, and more. It is truly a great event for networking and learning, I am so proud to be on the team of Purdue Extension Educators that hosted the event. Next year the event will be in Bloomington on Feb. 19, 2026.
Fruit Pruning Workshop on Feb. 25 was another successful event hosted for hobbyists and professionals locally and statewide to learn about pruning their apple and pear trees, grapes, blackberrie, and raspberries. We had over 40 attendees at Meigs Horticulture Research Farm in Lafayette.
To wrap up February, the Purdue Women in Ag Team hosted a webinar Feb. 27 about Grain Bin Safety. The speaker was Marty Huseman from White County.
Are you hosting an event in March for National Ag Week locally in Montgomery County? Tell me about it. Email me the event details, triciaherr@purdue.edu so that Purdue Extension can share and support your event.
Tricia Herr is the Montgomery County Extension Educator, Ag and Natural Resource. The office is at 400 Parke Ave., Crawfordsville; 765-364-6363. She may be reached by email at triciaherr@purdue.edu.
