Balancing Farm Success with Oil/Gas Growth Workshop

Announcer: Farm and Family is a production of the Mississippi State University Extension Service. 

Amy Myers: Today we're talking about Balancing Farm Success with Oil and Gas Growth workshop. Hello, I'm Amy Myers and welcome to Farm and Family. Today we're speaking with Dr. Rachael Carter, Mississippi State University Extension community development specialist.

Rachel, for those who have faced the situation or opportunity to have oil companies drill for oil or gas on their property, there are many factors to consider. Before we talk about the upcoming workshop, what are some factors we should first consider and why are they important? 

Rachael Carter: Farmers or rural land owners should understand the leasing process and what questions they should ask their attorney for negotiating the lease and farmers must understand things like what will happen after the drilling process is over, how will they benefit financially, and how the drilling process impacts any current agricultural production activities. They should also know the difference between mineral rights and surface rights and determine whether or not they own their property's mineral rights. 

Amy Myers: The upcoming Balancing Farm Success with Oil and Gas Growth workshop offers extremely useful tools for navigating this type of endeavor, correct?

Rachael Carter: It's so important to attend workshops like this so you aren't blindsided by surprises. Discussion topics on the agenda go as follows: we'll explain what to expect of oil and gas activity increases in your community; participants will also learn about understanding the technologies surrounding oil and gas drilling. Also, believe it or not, water quality monitoring is a factor to consider and it's important to test your water before drilling operators set up.

Folks will learn how to conduct base line water testing on their property. Tips will also be given for designing a safety plan for your farm or rural property. What to know, questions to ask and who to contact, and of course leasing and mineral rights will be explained.

We are also going to have a question and answer session with industry and agency resource panel.

Amy Myers: Is the workshop mainly just discussion?

Rachael Carter: Amy, the workshop is going to be discussion focused, but this will be in a situation where farmers will be able to interact and ask questions. 

Amy Myers: Is there anything else you want to add about this workshop? 

Rachael Carter: Lunch is going to be provided at the cost of $12 and participants are going to leave with valuable resources they can take back to review at their leisure and share with others in their community. Also, we're going to provide coffee and refreshments throughout the day. 

Amy Myers: The importance of workshops like this is because it sort of puts it into layman's terms due to the fact that the public and farm land owners and rural land owners don't really have a whole lot of access to this kind of information. Whereas engineers that work in this field, they do have a lot of that, but this is a good chance for us to figure out what all this means. So, what else will be discussed? 

Rachael Carter: It's very important that land owners and farmers and people who might consider leasing understand what really goes on when oil and gas drilling happens on a piece of property and there's not a lot of access to that information, for exactly what you said, for laymen and people who aren't actively involved in the industry, and so we're going to be letting people know about the technologies that are used to access oil and gas in different parts of the state and in different types of regions and we're going to learn about the new technologies and environmental precautions and really what all goes on when the drilling process happens so landowners know what to expect and what are the best practices and what are the environmental precautions that are taken to protect ground water and other natural resources. 

Amy Myers: And also, things like how long the operation will usually take place and what it can do to your land, what kind of effects it can have. 

Rachael Carter: Yes. People will learn things about just the process, you know, do companies usually have to build a road in order to access where they're going to drill a well and then things like how long does the drilling process take place or what you should expect whenever you do participate in a lease. And then also what happens after your property is leased and you know, if there's acreage that has been used for drilling, how do you get that put back into a different use after it's over?

Amy Myers: And is there a deadline to register for this workshop?

Rachael Carter: For the January 24th workshop in Lounds County, the registration deadline is January 17th. 

Amy Myers: When and where is the Balancing Farm Success with Oil and Gas Growth workshop and how can we get more information or register?

Rachael Carter: The Balancing Farm Success with Oil and Gas Growth workshop will be January 24th starting at 9:00 AM and wrap up around 3:00 to 4:00 PM. And the location is it the Lounds County Extension Office.

For more information and registration, you can call the Center for Government and Community Development at 662-325-3141. Also, you can go to your internet search engine like Google or Safari and enter "Balancing Farm Success With Oil and Gas Growth."

Amy Myers: Today I've been speaking with Dr. Rachael Carter, Mississippi State University Extension Community development specialist. I'm Amy Myers and this has been Farm and Family. Have a great day. 

Announcer: Farm and Family is a production of the Mississippi State University Extension Service.