NAFA USAFRI Now Accepting 2018 Proposals

The National Alfalfa & Forage Alliance's U.S. Alfalfa Farmer Research Initiative, better known as the Alfalfa Checkoff, is now accepting proposals for 2018 projects. Proposals are due no later than Friday, August 10, and must be capped at $50,000.

Once proposals are received, a NAFA board-appointed review panel will review, score, and discuss proposals to determine which will receive approval for this round of funding. Proposals will be scored using the following categories: 1) methodology and analytical approaches; 2) industry need; 3) cost effectiveness/budget/matching funds; 4) partnerships; and 5) outreach.

Priorities for this round of funding include: New and Updated NAFA Publications (i.e., Alfalfa Germination & Growth; Alfalfa Wildlife & the Environment); Agronomic Management; Feed Value Consistency (i.e., digestibility, sampling); Forage Quality Improvements; New Uses and Market Development; Fertility, Soil Management, Soil Health, Macro/Micro Nutrients; and Yield Improvements. Preference will be given to projects which include support letters from industry.

For more information and a full copy of the 2018 request for proposals, click here.

John Deere Hosts NAFA Summer Board Meeting

Olathe, KS, a southwestern suburb of Kansas City, served as the location for the National Alfalfa & Forage Alliance's Annual Summer Board Meeting. NAFA member John Deere served as meeting host and held the meeting at its Ag Marketing Center on June 26-27. NAFA board members met to discuss industry issues and tour the John Deere facility, and in the process learned more about John Deere's unique history and the surrounding area.

In addition to hosting NAFA's board meeting, John Deere used the opportunity to hold a customer focus group and collect feedback from NAFA's hay producing board members on a range of topics related to John Deere's forage products.

NAFA would like to specially thank meeting host and sponsor John Deere for its hospitality in hosting NAFA's 2018 Summer Board Meeting.

Pricing Standing Forage
Dr. Dan Undersander, Forage Agronomist and Professor Emeritus, University of Wisconsin-Madison

From time to time farmers want to buy or sell standing forage. A key is the agreement on price. Following are several factors which should be considered when calculating a value for standing forage. Click here for the complete article.

Make the Most of Your Alfalfa Quality Testing
Dr. David Weakley, PhD, Director of Forage Nutrition Research, Forage Genetics International

There are many variables involved in testing for forage quality. Is Relative Feed Value (RFV) or Relative Forage Quality (RFQ) a better quality measure? Did testing involve wet lab analysis or near infrared reflectance (NIR) spectroscopy prediction? When and how were samples collected?
Click here for the complete article.

"High levels of ash content are problematic in hay since ash provides no nutritional benefit to livestock. Hay raking may impact ash content, but the effect of different hay rake types on ash content is unknown."

All AFRP/APRI final reports and current project objectives can be found on NAFA's website at http://alfalfa.org/research.php in a convenient searchable database.