Blackland Income Growth conference set Jan. 5

Event will be free, virtual for first time in 59 years

The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service will be holding the 59th annual Blackland Income Growth, BIG, conference on Jan. 5, 2021, online.

The event is free and will run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Participants must register online and will then be sent the link for the event, which will be held on the Zoom meeting platform.

“The Blackland Income Growth conference began in 1962 with a group of folks concerned about agriculture profitability and the conference has been held every year since then,” said Brent Batchelor, AgriLife Extension regional program leader, Stephenville.

“The 2021 conference will be a little different as we move it to an online format, but there will be no charge this year, so we hope folks will try it out and join us.”

The morning session will run from 9 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. and include sessions on horticulture, beef, forage and grain production, and rural land management.

The afternoon session will be from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. with a Horticulture Panel Q&A, and sessions covering wildlife, cotton and forage. Texas Department of Agriculture continuing education units will be available.

For a list of speakers, session topics and CEUs available, view the complete itinerary and detailed session information online.

There will be a special session from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. for BIG scholarship presentations to 4-H members located in Blackland counties. The BIG committee awards 10 $1,000 scholarships and two $1,500 scholarships to area students who plan to study agribusiness after high school. The keynote speaker will be Billy Howe, associate director of government affairs for Texas Farm Bureau.