Livestock contributes over half of Kansas farm revenue and
producers face substantial feed and forage risk management challenges.
This multidisciplinary education program was designed to help Kansas livestock
and forage producers manage forage production and financial risk, through
developing tools to estimate hay supply (inventory) that account for
agronomic and financial factors, as well as potential use of
forage insurance.
The hay inventory calculator was developed by economic and
agronomy specialists. The project team conducted several in-person trainings on
forage production and financial risk and forage insurance options. Further,
web-based articles were written and disseminated, both through extension
websites/newsletters and podcasts/radio, to increase understanding and direct
producers to forage risk management and insurance resources.
Two versions of a hay inventory calculator were developed: a
basic web-based tool and an advanced spreadsheet. A flyer and case studies
were developed and widely disseminated, along with information on how to find
and the use different versions of the calculator.
This project was targeted towards livestock and forage
producers, as well as their service providers, i.e. lenders, extension
educators. The resources developed in this project were disseminated to forage
producers and service providers through Kansas State University Research
and Extension and stakeholder networks. Both in-person trainings (286 producers
and 133 service provider participants) and webinars (54 participants) were
provided. Further, producers and service providers were provided
information on available resources from the the AgManager.info newsletter
and other extension channels (714 verified visits).
Through this project, forage producers and service providers
learned about the hay inventory calculator and forage risk management and insurance
and used the resources provided to analyze their hay inventory or learn more
forage insurance options. These outcomes were achieved through using extension and
stakeholder networks; high quality analysis and unbiased information; and both traditional
in-person education and web-based efforts.