FRANKLIN TWP — Continuing education is a vital part of farmers' lives, but such activities also benefit agricultural businesses and the educators themselves.

The 2013 Western Pennsylvania Crops Day event, held Tuesday at the Atrium on Route 422, reviewed crop management successes and pest problems, but it also looked forward to forage weed management, seed and pesticide technology for 2013.

It was sponsored by the Penn State Cooperative Extension, and visitors filled all 50 seats.

Janice Hassen, director of the PSU Extension in Beaver, Butler and Lawrence counties, said Crops Day was reinstated last year after an absence of several years.

“(The farmers) had other continuing education options, but it wasn't always a one-day event with everything in one place,” she said.

“These producers go through a lot to keep our food safe.”

Attendees were able to earn credit toward pesticide license recertifications, required every three years to buy restricted chemicals, and continuing education in crop management.

Alvin “Mac” Carter, a grower of corn and soybeans in McDonald, Pa., said much of continuing education simply reinforces proper safety and procedures, but technology and farming methods are always evolving.

“You probably will learn something new every year,” he said.

Weed specialist William Curran spoke on forage weed management, while entomology specialist John Tooker reviewed 2012 pests and seed technology. Greg Roth, a grain crop specialist, reviewed 2012 grain crop management and tactics for improving soybean yields.

Pennsylvania last year produced the second most-abundant soybean crop in the nation, finishing behind West Virginia. Roth touched on subjects from planting locations to bean genetics.

“If we're going to beat West Virginia next year, we're going to have to work at getting the right soybean varieties in the right places,” he said.

“Just because a variety does well elsewhere, that does not mean it will thrive on a hillside in Butler County.”

Brian Kelly, a corn buyer for Pennsylvania Grain Processing in Clearfield Township, was one of several event sponsors who used the workshop to network and to put faces to some of the names from whom he's bought.

“This is an opportunity when you get to actually meet a lot of people. We deal with brokers, but we like to buy directly from farmers, if we can,” he said.

“We buy corn, basically, from the western part of Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio.”

Kelly said the basic price of corn fluctuates, but at this time of the year, which is well past the harvest season, corn can sell for about 35 cents per bushel higher than just after harvest. He said his company grinds 60,000 bushels per day for its ethanol production, but only has storage space for a million bushels, about a 16-day supply, so it always is buying.

“We help to create a closer market for our local growers of that corn,” Kelly said.

Alicia Spangler, a field and forage crops educator for the Penn State Extension, helped organize the event and spoke about pesticides.

“Across the state, PSU Extension is really promoting these programs to educate farmers,” she said.

“I tried to pick topics that cover a wide variety of concerns, really addressing problems we see in our fields. For example, with genetically-altered seeds and pest control methods, we have the technology. The question is when is the best time to use it, and when may it not be the best option?”

Spangler said she enjoys hearing the wisdom of farmers who attend the Extension's continuing education events, even more so because she can then pass that wisdom along.

“I'm learning a lot of information. My education gave me the building blocks, but talking to our farmers, our researchers and our sponsor companies puts it all together,” she said.

For information, visit http://extension.psu.edu/butler.