WACO, Texas — After a short time of being separate events the BIG Conference and Mid-Tex Farm and Ranch Show will be back together once again. On January 11-12, 2022 the two groups will offer educational programs with the exhibits and ag vendors. The location will be the brand new building referred to as the BASE at Extraco Events Center. The BASE is a very large beautiful building that allows for very large events to be held under one roof. The Blackland Income Growth Conference is in its 60th year of existence offering education to agriculture producers. The agriculture commodities will be on the first day, January 11th. The ag commodity sessions of beef, forage, cotton, grain, wildlife, rural land management, and horticulture will be held the first day. There will also be a session titled Connecting Agriculture and Health as well as a virtual youth leadership workshop. An auxin training will also be held after the cotton meeting the first day.  The guest luncheon speaker for Jan 11th is Dr. Joe Outlaw – Regents Fellow, Professor and Extension Economist in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Texas A&M University. He also serves as the Co-Director of the Agricultural and Food Policy Center (AFPC) at Texas A&M University. In this role, Dr. Outlaw frequently interacts with members of Congress and key agricultural committee staff to provide feedback on the likely consequences of agricultural policy changes.  Registration will open around 8 am.  There is a registration fee to attend the ag sessions on January 11^th.  There is no pre-registration for Jan 11.

On January 12th, the second day there will be two programs, Recertification where interested persons can obtain up to 5 hours of CEUS AND there will be a private applicator training for those that do not have an applicator license.  There is no pre-registration for the first day, but there is a pre-registration requirement for the second day.  To register for the 5 CEU’s you should call the McLennan County Extension Office at (254)757-5180.  The topics for the 5 hour CEUs will include Defining Laws and Regs (Elizabeth Prokop) , Managing Forage Pest( Vanessa Corriher), New Herbicide Update (Scott Nolte), Weed and Brush Identification and Control (Tanner Chancellor), and General Laws and Regs with Don Renchie.

To register to take the class to get a license call the Hill County Extension Offfice at (254)582-4022.

The Mid-Tex Farm and Ranch Show is free to walk in and look at the many exhibits, equipment, seed and herbicide companies, ag related services and technology. The farm show is courtesy of the Waco Chamber. Remember this event will happen, rain or shine, freezing weather, doesn’t matter. The BASE facility offers the education and exhibits to you without ever leaving the facility. As dry as we have been I hope it is raining and you can come see us on January 11-12, 2022. For more information about the farm and ranch show you should visit this link. It also has information for ag vendors to obtain a booth.  https://wacochamber.com/midtex/

–Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service
Texas A&M University System