Ag Expo events, soybean meeting planned in area

Agriculture meetings are on the agenda for Southeast Missouri this week and next.

The annual Ag Expo will be held Friday and Saturday at the Black River Coliseum at Poplar Bluff, Mo., and Southeast Missouri soybean growers will meet at Jackson, Mo., on Jan. 23.

At the soybean meeting, Bill Wiebold, an agronomy specialist at the University of Missouri-Columbia, will discuss double-cropping soybeans, and David Reinbott, a regional farm management specialist, will discuss marketing the grain.

The daylong meeting will be held at the Cape Girardeau County Extension Center near Jackson. Registration is at 10 a.m.

The program will feature topics on the effects of weeds on yields and new genetic developments.

Tom Verry of the Missouri Soybean Association will issue a soybean report and outlook.

Additional information is available by calling the Extension Service at 243-3581.

At Poplar Bluff

Meanwhile, the annual Expo, in its 14th year, is expected to attract from 8,000 to 10,000 people during its two-day program.

More than 100 booths will display items relating to all aspects of agriculture and natural resources in Southeast Missouri and Northeast Arkansas.

Exhibitors will display their products and services and answer questions about horticulture and gardening, livestock and crop production, forestry and forestry products, machinery, equipment, automobiles and trucks, and farm supplies.

The event will be held from 1 to 8 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.

"Everything is free except entry fees for the beauty pageant," said Phyllis Flanigan, a spokeswoman for the event.

The Expo is sponsored by the Butler County University Extension Council and the agriculture club of Three Rivers Community College.

Three free seminars will be held Friday: a 5 p.m. session on nutrition by nutrition health specialist Maude Harris of the Extension office at Benton, Mo.; a 6 p.m. water quality in the home session by Steve Mellis of the Extension Service at Columbia; and a 7 p.m. feeding horses seminar presented by Kendra Graham, a livestock specialist from Greenville, Mo., and Bruce Beck, an agronomist from Poplar Bluff.

"Entertainment and events are included for the entire family," said Flanigan.

For more information about any of the events, contact the University Outreach and Extension Center in Poplar Bluff at (573) 686-8064.

rowen@semissourian.com 335-6611, extension 133