Fremont Corn Expo

New website for the Fremont Corn Expo

Please visit https://extension.unl.edu/statewide/dodge/fremont-corn-expo/ for information about the 2023 Fremont Corn Expo.

About the Fremont Corn Expo

The Fremont Corn Expo is organized and hosted by Nebraska Extension. The Fremont Chamber Ag Business and Natural Council, Dodge County Farm Bureau, Colfax-Dodge Corn Growers Association, and Nebraska Corn Board are the primary partners supporting Nebraska Extension in making the Fremont Corn Expo a great local event for corn growers. The Fremont Corn Expo is held the beginning of January each year. The Fremont Corn Expo attracts 300 to 400 attendees in a 1-hour driving distance from Fremont (see county map below) along with 50 agribusiness exhibitors. The expo is financially supported by local partners and agribusiness exhibitors. The Fremont Corn Expo was started in 2004 by former Extension Educator, Dave Varner.

Map of Attendees from 2019: Darker color represents higher number of attendees from that county.

The Fremont Corn Expo features speakers and panelists that provide local corn growers with the knowledge they need to effectively manage locally-relevant issues each year. Specific areas of focus include:

Applying New Ag Technology
Improving Economic Viability
Increasing Resiliency to Extreme Weather
Enhancing Soil and Water Resources

The Fremont Corn Expo is a free event open to the public. We hope that you can join us this year and enjoy our great expo!

Take a look back at previous Fremont Corn Expo resources including videos, presentations, radio interviews, and more:

For more information on the Fremont Corn Expo, please contact Nathan Mueller, Nebraska Extension Agronomist for Dodge & Washington counties, at 402-727-2775 or

Fremont Corn Expo Location

map-to-arena — Christensen Field Main Arena – 1730 West 16th St., Fremont NE 68025

2020 Fremont Corn Expo – Jan. 9

Exhibitor Information

Registration has been closed!

Expo Schedule – Thursday, Jan. 9

7:30 a.m Breakfast and View Exhibits – “The Waffle Man” serves breakfast compliments of the Fremont Chamber Ag Business & Natural Resource Council

8:45 a.m. Welcome to the Fremont Corn Expo

Nathan Mueller – University of Nebraska-Lincoln Nebraska Extension
Tad Dinkins – Chair of Fremont Chamber Ag and Natural Resource Council
Scott Getzschman – City of Fremont Mayor

9:00 a.m. Understanding Soil Health, Measuring Success and Reducing Risk – Aaron Hird, Nebraska USDA-NRCS State Soil Health Specialist

9:50 a.m. Business & Industry Update –Fremont Chamber Ag & Natural Resource Council, Nebraska Corn Growers Association, Nebraska Corn Board, and other Corn Gold Sponsors

10:30 a.m. Break – View Exhibits – Grab some Mom’s Popcorn for a Snack!

11:00 a.m. International Trade Understanding a Changing Landscape – Jill O’Donnell, Director of the Clayton Yeutter Institute Trade and Finance, UNL

Noon Lunch – View Exhibits – Huey’s Smokehouse BBQ

1:00 p.m. Diseases to WATCH in 2020 – Tamra Jackson-Ziems, Extension Plant Pathologist, UNL

1:50 p.m. Optimizing Manure Value: Recycling Manure in Cropping Systems – Rick Koelsch and Amy Schmidt

2:40 p.m. Door Prize Winners Announced and Handed Out – Colfax-Dodge Corn Growers Association

3:00 p.m. Safe travels

Program for Printing

2020-Corn-Expo-Trifold-Program Download

2020 Speaker Bios and Presentation Descriptions

Aaron Hird

Biography

Aaron Hird is the Nebraska NRCS State Soil Health Specialist. Aaron has been working with cover crops and soil health for more than 14 years and is excited to promote the Nebraska NRCS Soil Health Initiative. Through this initiative the NRCS has established cover crop demonstration field sites across the state with local farmers utilizing the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). Nebraska NRCS has begun hosting field days in collaboration with Nebraska Extension, the farmers and other conservation partners. NRCS Nebraska is also collecting in field data to develop system comparisons. To promote the use of Soil Health Management Systems on all types of Ag Land, Aaron and Nebraska NRCS intend to help Nebraska farmers and ranchers learn and gain experience necessary to improve the Soil Health across Nebraska.

Presentation Title

Understanding Soil Health, Measuring Success and Reducing Risk

Presentation Description

The USDA/NRCS in Nebraska would like to present an update on the Nebraska NRCS Soil Health Initiative. Explore the latest measurements of success regarding soil health, inspect the soil health practice adoption rate in Nebraska based on National Ag Census Data and get a brief review of new Farm Bill information and opportunities supporting the improvement of your soil’s health. NRCS Nebraska has new results from cover crop field comparisons ongoing at Soil Health Demonstration Fields across the state.

Presentation (pdf)

2020-Fremont-Corn-Expo_Understanding-Soil-Health-Measurements-of-success-and-Reducing-Risk Download

Jill O’Donnell

Biography

Jill O’Donnell is the director of the Clayton Yeutter Institute of International Trade and Finance and a professor of practice at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where she leads the effort to build and grow the Yeutter Institute across its mission areas of education, research and outreach. She is the host of “Trade Matters,” a podcast of the Yeutter Institute. Her prior experience in the international relations and U.S. foreign policy arena spans Capitol Hill, international organizations, research entities, and the private sector. O’Donnell is a native of Columbus, Nebraska.

Presentation Title

International Trade Understanding a Changing Landscape

Presentation Description

Trade policy changes are impacting agriculture. O’Donnell will focus on developments in three major areas and their implications: tariffs; free trade agreement negotiations; and the crisis at the World Trade Organization.

Presentation (pdf)

Fremont-Corn-Expo-Jill-ODonnell Download

Tamra Jackson-Ziems, Ph.D., UNL Extension Plant Pathologist , looks over a corn field north of east campus. July 16, 2015. Photo by Craig Chandler/University Communications

Tamra A. Jackson-Ziems, Ph.D.

Biography

Extension Specialist and Professor,joined the faculty of the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) in April 2005 after completing her graduate degrees at the University of Arkansas and University of Illinois-Urbana. Her appointment is split between extension, research, and teaching 80/10/10%, respectively, with statewide responsibility for diseases of corn, grain sorghum, and soybean (interim). Her extension programming activities encompass educating clientele about disease identification, prevention, and management. And her research projects focus on a broad range of topics, including bacterial leaf streak, Goss’s bacterial wilt and blight, use of fungicides for disease control, and plant parasitic nematodes of corn. During her time at UNL, she has delivered more than 180 invited presentations in 16 states and is the 2016 recipient of both the Nebraska Cooperative Extension Association’s Award for Outstanding Creative Programming and the Nebraska Ag Business Association’s Education and Research Person of 2016 Award.

Presentation Title

Diseases to WATCH in 2020

Presentation Description

Important and emerging corn diseases will be discussed, including tar spot, that we expect to be confirmed in Nebraska in 2020. Other diseases, like Physoderma brown spot, were common and sometimes worse during 2019 because of favorable weather conditions. Fungicide resistance in frogeye leaf spot has been confirmed in 10 eastern Nebraska counties – what does that mean for YOU?

Presentation (pdf)

2020-Corn-and-Soybean-Disease-Update Download

Rick Koelsch and Amy Schimdt

Biographies

Rick Koelsch has a joint appointment with the Biological Systems Engineering and Animal Sciences Departments at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His extension and teaching responsibilities target animal manure management and sustainability in agricultural systems. Rick’s degrees are from Kansas State and Cornell.

Amy Schmidt has a joint appointment with the Biological Systems Engineering and Animal Sciences Departments at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her extension and research responsibilities target water quality issues including nutrients and pathogen fate and transport with focus on livestock systems. Amy’s degrees are from Iowa State and Mississippi State.

Presentation Title

Optimizing Manure Value: Recycling Manure in Cropping Systems

Presentation Description

Agriculture’s ability to efficiently recycle manure N, P, and C are essential to protecting Nebraska’s natural resources. This program will share ideas on 1) matching manure’s agronomic and soil health value with fields that will benefit the most; 2) opportunities for utilizing poultry litter, and 3) precision manure management developments.