University of Idaho Extension to start new Ag Talk Tuesday season

MOSCOW, Idaho — University of Idaho Extension is launching a new season of Ag Talk Tuesday, a popular program featuring virtual sessions that include statewide crop updates and presentations on important issues in Idaho agriculture.

Sessions are hosted via Zoom from 11 a.m. to noon on the first and third Tuesdays from May through August. Participation is free but registration is required to receive session links.

During the first half hour of each session, Extension experts and other participants share their observations about current crop conditions, pest threats and other relevant issues affecting production. The remaining half hour is devoted to a featured speaker. Though U of I’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences provides many of the speakers, the schedule includes experts from throughout the industry.

David Hoekema, with the Idaho State Department of Agriculture, will kick things off on May 5 with an update on the water outlook and irrigation supply.

On May 19, Meetpal Kukal, an assistant professor of hydrologic science and water management, will give a presentation titled “Where Does the Water Really End Up?”

Bradley Johnson and Blake Mathews with The Nature Conservancy are scheduled to speak June 2 about creating beneficial arthropod habitats on farms. Patrick Hatzenbuehler, an Extension specialist of agricultural economics, will close out the season Aug. 18.

Anyone with a suggestion for a topic or speaker for Ag Talk Tuesday sessions on June 16, July 7, July 21 or Aug. 4 may contact Associate Professor Kasia Duellman, Extension specialist in plant pathology, at 208-529-8376 or kduellman@uidaho.edu.

The program has grown steadily, with 188 people registering in 2025 and participation in individual sessions ranging from 32 to 55 people from throughout Idaho and some surrounding states.

“The more people we have participating, the more diversity of crops we have covered, the more expertise we have and the more insights we can get,” Duellman said.

Duellman took the lead in starting the program in 2018, when she sought to resurrect Extension’s tradition of hosting rotating informational lunches for agricultural professionals across eastern Idaho. That year, the program drew a combined 61 attendees — including farmers, agronomists, crop consultants and others in the agricultural sector — to seven lunches, focusing discussions on regional potato production. It now covers the full gamut of Idaho crops.

In 2019, the program drew 40 participants to five lunch sessions and introduced a Zoom option for those who couldn’t attend in person. In 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the program was offered online only. Participants liked the flexibility the format afforded, and participation grew to 122 registrants for eight events.

“There are a lot of people who listen in while they are multitasking and doing something else,” Duellman said. “They’re in a tractor or sprayer and they can pop on headphones and listen like a podcast.”

Each session is recorded, posted on the CALS YouTube channel and linked to the Ag Talk Tuesday webpage, uidaho.edu/extension/events/ag-talk. Duellman also sends a periodic newsletter, called Ag Talk Report, that often includes written summaries of Ag Talk Tuesday presentations.

Other Ag Talk Tuesday organizers include Doug Finkelnburg, an area Extension educator in cropping systems, and Juliet Marshall, an Extension specialist in cereals and associate director of the Idaho Agricultural Experiment Station.

Media contact

Kasia Duellman
Extension specialist in seed potatoes, plant pathology
208-529-8376
kduellman@uidaho.edu