Deadline nears for AgriLife program

Texas Agricultural Lifetime Leadership Program is seeking applicants, ages 25-50, for a new class beginning in June.

TALL is a two-year, leadership-development program managed by the Texas AgriLife Extension Service.

Applications are due March 15. Forms are available at www.tall.tamu.edu.

The program includes 455 hours of training through seminars, speakers and trips. Tuition costs $2,000.

Annual convention

Environmental and climate scientist Jay Lehr will present “Global Warming – Facts, Fiction and the 900,000-year Record” at the opening general session of the annual Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association Convention March 20-21 at the Fort Worth Convention Center, 1201 Houston St.

Other speakers will include CattleFax executive vice president Randy Blach and U.S. Air Force Capt. Scott O’Grady.

Blach is expected to present a review of the cattle market. O’Grady will share his struggle to survive after being shot down over Bosnia in 1995.

The event will feature educational sessions and a trade show featuring more than 200 companies. 

For registration information and a schedule of events, visit www.texascattleraisers.org/convention.

Master gardeners

Texas AgriLife Extension Service and the McLennan County Master Gardeners will conduct a training class for aspiring master gardeners in June.

Cost is $150.

An orientation meeting is set for 1 p.m. April 21 at the Family Life Center in Woodway, across the street from Carleen Bright Arboretum, 9001 Bosque Blvd.

For more information, call 757-5180.

Emergency loans

The Farm Service Agency in Marlin, State Highway 6 and Branch Street, will accept applications through July 2 for emergency farm loans for losses caused by drought, above-normal temperatures and associated wild fires.

Bell, Falls, Milam and Williamson counties are among 205 Texas counties whose farmers are eligible for the loans.

Farmers may be eligible for loans of up to 100 percent of their actual losses or the operating loan needed to continue the agricultural business, whichever is less.

For farmers unable to obtain credit from private commercial lenders, the interest rate is 3.75 percent.

The FSA office in Marlin is open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays.

Visit the Web site at disaster.fsa.usda.gov.

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