Growers should scout their wheat fields for cereal leaf beetle larvae activity. I identified cereal leaf beetle larvae feeding on wheat in Southwestern Ross County yesterday. Larvae were present at economic threshold levels of 2-3 larvae per stem. Larvae were feeding on the flag leaf creating the classic window pane affect. This is a critical time for wheat during flowering. Any damage to the flag leaf can cause significant yield losses.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Cereal Leaf Beetle
Growers should scout their wheat fields for cereal leaf beetle larvae activity. I identified cereal leaf beetle larvae feeding on wheat in Southwestern Ross County yesterday. Larvae were present at economic threshold levels of 2-3 larvae per stem. Larvae were feeding on the flag leaf creating the classic window pane affect. This is a critical time for wheat during flowering. Any damage to the flag leaf can cause significant yield losses.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Seedcorn Maggot in Late Planted Field Crops
Source- Ron Hammond, Andy Michel, Bruce EisleyWe have already received reports of corn and soybean fields having stand reductions because of seedcorn maggots. These have come from fields that either had a cover crop or manure tilled into the soil. Being that there are no curative treatments at this time, many growers are considering replanting. Additionally, because of the wet and cool conditions in some parts of Ohio that have prevented planting, we are reaching a situation in many unplanted fields where weeds are becoming larger.
Last week in the C.O.R.N. newsletter (http://corn.osu.edu/index.php?setissueID=228), Mark Loux discussed this latter situation and the need to apply herbicides in addition to tilling the soil. Tilling heavy weed growth can be similar to tilling a cover crop or manure in its ability to attract seedcorn maggot flies. Thus, the potential in these fields for seedcorn maggot problems is higher than if they had been tilled and planted earlier when weeds were small.
In these situations, growers should consider an insecticide seed treatment if not already on their seed. Whereas both Poncho (clothianidin; corn only) and Cruiser (thiamethoxam; both corn and soybean) do an excellent job at controlling seedcorn maggot, our studies have suggested that Gaucho (imidacloprid) does not offer acceptable seedcorn maggot control on soybean.
Last week in the C.O.R.N. newsletter (http://corn.osu.edu/index.php?setissueID=228), Mark Loux discussed this latter situation and the need to apply herbicides in addition to tilling the soil. Tilling heavy weed growth can be similar to tilling a cover crop or manure in its ability to attract seedcorn maggot flies. Thus, the potential in these fields for seedcorn maggot problems is higher than if they had been tilled and planted earlier when weeds were small.
In these situations, growers should consider an insecticide seed treatment if not already on their seed. Whereas both Poncho (clothianidin; corn only) and Cruiser (thiamethoxam; both corn and soybean) do an excellent job at controlling seedcorn maggot, our studies have suggested that Gaucho (imidacloprid) does not offer acceptable seedcorn maggot control on soybean.
Ohio Farm Custom Rates- 2008
Barry Ward, Leader Production Business Management, OSU Extension and Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Development Economics (AEDE)
Click here for the PDF Version of Ohio Farm Custom Rates--2008
Many Ohio farmers hire custom farm work in their farm business or perform custom farm work for others. Custom farming rates traditionally have been arrived at by a series of calculations and negotiations. One of the most common ways custom farming providers and consumers arrive at an agreeable custom farming rate is to access University Extension summarized surveys. Ohio State University Extension and the Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Development Economics have historically published farm custom rates to assist farm businesses with this important task.
“Ohio Farm Custom Rates 2008” is based on survey results from 205 Ohio farmers, custom farmers and farm managers. The custom rates presented may differ from rates in your region depending on availability of custom operators & machinery, timeliness, operator skill, field size & shape, crop conditions, performance characteristics of the machine being used and demand for custom farming services.
Custom farming rate increases for 2008 include custom Corn Harvest at $25.45/acre, Conventional Corn Planting at $15.11/acre, Drilling No-Till Soybeans at $15.68/acre, and Spraying Chemicals (Self-Propelled Sprayer) at $6.36/acre. These represent increases of 6%, 5.7%, 10.4%, and 11.6% respectively over 2006 Ohio custom rates. Other operations show similar 4 year rate increases. Higher machinery, fuel and labor costs have contributed to custom farming rate increases over the past 2 years. For more information on custom farming rates and other Farm Management Topics see our Department Farm Management Website at:
http://aede.osu.edu/programs/FarmManagement/
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Corn planting, emergence lags market expectations
About 73 percent of the U.S. corn crop was planted and 26 percent had emerged by May 18, lagging behind market expectations as well as year ago plantings of 88 percent and year ago emergence of 59 percent, according to USDA statistics.Market analysts were expecting Monday's Crop Progress report to show about 80 percent of the crop planted and about 34 percent emerged by now.
University of Illinois Extension Economist Darrel Good called this week's report "a mixed bag," noting far more progress was made in Western Corn Belt states such as Minnesota and Iowa than in Eastern Corn Belt states like Ohio and Indiana. He also noted that emergence is lagging even more than plantings, due to continued cool weather.
That said, Good told Meatingplace.com trend yields are still possible. "They could still make up some time," with favorable growing conditions in June, July and August.
Soybeans-USDA said 27 percent of the U.S. soybean crop was planted by May 18, compared with 52 percent this time last year and a five-year average of 47 percent by now. Good noted, however, that the timing on soybean plantings is less critical, so lagging progress to date is of little concern at this point.
Crop progress is being closely watched this year as ethanol consumption and strong global feedgrain demand have made commodities markets susceptible to any indication of declining crop yields or total planted acreage.
By Janie Gabbett on 5/20/2008 for Meatingplace.com
Friday, May 16, 2008
Planters Sit Still
This was not the scene across Pickaway, Ross and Fayette Counties this past week as periodic thunderstorms made for a slow week of field work. Thursday's deluge will keep planters and drills parked for most of next week. Check back Monday or Tuesday for information regarding agronomic recommendations for weed control and crop conditions.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Armyworm and Black Cutworm Update
Growers should be aware that the potential for armyworm problems over the coming weeks is high, much more than in other years. To our south, Kentucky has reported extremely large collections of adult armyworm moths. According to their reports, these have been the highest captures they have recorded. These moths are also being captured in Ohio in relatively high numbers. With these higher moth collections, growers should be aware that the potential for problems this spring from armyworm larvae is high. Growers should be concerned and thus, they should begin sampling wheat, grass pastures, corn adjacent to wheat fields, and corn planted in rye cover crops. This last scenario is especially important because we often see entire corn fields heavily damaged when grass cover crops are used. Reports have been received of black cutworm cutting corn plants as they emerge from the soil, including in seed treated fields. Please let us know of any outbreaks of either of these pests.
Information for control of armyworm can be found at: http://ipm.osu.edu/ib/w-4.htm
Information for balckcutworm control can be found at: http://ipm.osu.edu/ib/c-2.htm
Monday, May 12, 2008
Ag economist: Look to long-term sustainability to solve food crisis
When it comes to a food crisis, history has taught the world a thing or two. One is what we don’t learn tends to repeat. And this current lesson might be the most challenging one we’ve ever faced, said an Ohio State University agricultural economist.
Luther Tweeten, professor emeritus of agricultural trade and policy in the Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Development Economics, has seen the world struggle through two previous food crises: one in the 1960s, culminating with the famous Green Revolution, and one in the early 1970s, triggered by crop failure and frenzy in international markets. But Tweeten said, the current global food crisis may be even more dire.
“The previous food crises had obvious transitory elements that triggered them,” he said. “The underlying elements driving this food crisis may fluctuate, but they are never going to completely go away.”
One of those elements is the deteriorating supply/demand balance in energy, specifically oil production.
“The days of cheap oil are over,” Tweeten said. “There are indications that the world has peaked in oil production, and oil is at the core of many of the world’s problems.
“The world has plenty of oil, but drilling for it, especially to tap deeper reserves, is becoming uneconomical.”
Another element is the growing gap between agricultural production and global population growth. The population boom is increasing faster than crop yields, Tweeten said.
“Yields in the 1950s were increasing at a far faster rate than world population. That is no longer the case,” he said. “What this means is the era of declining food costs appears to be over.
“The good news for Americans is that they’ll hardly notice. Only 3 percent of people’s income goes to food at the farm level. The bad news is that poor countries, like those in Africa and South Asia, will suffer.”
Tweeten said that the problem facing developing countries is not an inadequate food supply, but the inability to access it.
“Since World War II, there has always been enough food to feed everyone around the world,” Tweeten explained. “The problem is people in developing countries lack the buying power to acquire the food that they need.
“Short-term food aid is important. We can’t stand by and watch people starve, but ultimately that is not the solution.”
He said that the key is long-term sustainability through a developing country’s own economic progress by focusing on six key areas: governance, fiscal responsibility, markets and free trade, infrastructure investments, increased agricultural research and environmental sustainability.
It’s a solution to poverty Tweeten calls the standard economic model.
“The gist is that it’s possible for any country, no matter its government or its economic state, to be an economic success by implementing the policies set forth by the standard economic model,” Tweeten said. “Those six principles are essential to economic progress and there are many developing countries that don’t implement any of them.”
Tweeten offers additional long-term solutions to the current global food crisis:
* Increase funding for agricultural research. “Agricultural research is terribly under-funded in many parts of the world,” Tweeten said. “For example, the United States spends 3 percent to 4 percent of its agricultural GDP on research. Africa only spends one half of 1 percent of its GDP on agricultural research. If the funds are there and used wisely for research of agricultural technologies, the yields will follow.”
* Open up more global free trade. “Global food production varies only about 1 percent per year, but production in individual countries varies by multiples of world variation. So if every country goes it alone, a food crisis becomes more frequent,” Tweeten said. “But if countries share production through trade, every country can have available food.”
* Research on alternative energy technologies should be subsidized, not the use of those energies themselves. “It is unwise to subsidize and mandate biofuel production at the expense of food production,” Tweeten said. “We are using energy profligately as it is. What we need is to subsidize the research and development of alternative energy technologies.”
* Improve the technology for energy that already exists, such as finding ways to burn cleaner coal and exploring wider uses for solar energy and nuclear energy.
* Don’t ignore the benefits of modern technology, such as genetically modified products.
“Technology was the basis of the Green Revolution and lifted the world out of a global food crisis,” he said. “GMOs (genetically modified organisms) have vast potential. It would be an incredible mistake to shut them out in food production. Struggling countries, like those in Africa, can’t afford to, but do so anyway.”
The current global food crisis, like the previous food crises, is the result of a “perfect storm” of several factors, such as rising food demand in countries such as China and India, increased biofuels production and environmental impacts on crop production, such as drought on Australia’s wheat.
“Like with previous food crises, people are panicking, and they shouldn’t,” Tweeten said. “The world has great capacity to produce food. Our success lies in coming up with sustainable access to that food by those who truly need it.”
Luther Tweeten, professor emeritus of agricultural trade and policy in the Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Development Economics, has seen the world struggle through two previous food crises: one in the 1960s, culminating with the famous Green Revolution, and one in the early 1970s, triggered by crop failure and frenzy in international markets. But Tweeten said, the current global food crisis may be even more dire.
“The previous food crises had obvious transitory elements that triggered them,” he said. “The underlying elements driving this food crisis may fluctuate, but they are never going to completely go away.”
One of those elements is the deteriorating supply/demand balance in energy, specifically oil production.
“The days of cheap oil are over,” Tweeten said. “There are indications that the world has peaked in oil production, and oil is at the core of many of the world’s problems.
“The world has plenty of oil, but drilling for it, especially to tap deeper reserves, is becoming uneconomical.”
Another element is the growing gap between agricultural production and global population growth. The population boom is increasing faster than crop yields, Tweeten said.
“Yields in the 1950s were increasing at a far faster rate than world population. That is no longer the case,” he said. “What this means is the era of declining food costs appears to be over.
“The good news for Americans is that they’ll hardly notice. Only 3 percent of people’s income goes to food at the farm level. The bad news is that poor countries, like those in Africa and South Asia, will suffer.”
Tweeten said that the problem facing developing countries is not an inadequate food supply, but the inability to access it.
“Since World War II, there has always been enough food to feed everyone around the world,” Tweeten explained. “The problem is people in developing countries lack the buying power to acquire the food that they need.
“Short-term food aid is important. We can’t stand by and watch people starve, but ultimately that is not the solution.”
He said that the key is long-term sustainability through a developing country’s own economic progress by focusing on six key areas: governance, fiscal responsibility, markets and free trade, infrastructure investments, increased agricultural research and environmental sustainability.
It’s a solution to poverty Tweeten calls the standard economic model.
“The gist is that it’s possible for any country, no matter its government or its economic state, to be an economic success by implementing the policies set forth by the standard economic model,” Tweeten said. “Those six principles are essential to economic progress and there are many developing countries that don’t implement any of them.”
Tweeten offers additional long-term solutions to the current global food crisis:
* Increase funding for agricultural research. “Agricultural research is terribly under-funded in many parts of the world,” Tweeten said. “For example, the United States spends 3 percent to 4 percent of its agricultural GDP on research. Africa only spends one half of 1 percent of its GDP on agricultural research. If the funds are there and used wisely for research of agricultural technologies, the yields will follow.”
* Open up more global free trade. “Global food production varies only about 1 percent per year, but production in individual countries varies by multiples of world variation. So if every country goes it alone, a food crisis becomes more frequent,” Tweeten said. “But if countries share production through trade, every country can have available food.”
* Research on alternative energy technologies should be subsidized, not the use of those energies themselves. “It is unwise to subsidize and mandate biofuel production at the expense of food production,” Tweeten said. “We are using energy profligately as it is. What we need is to subsidize the research and development of alternative energy technologies.”
* Improve the technology for energy that already exists, such as finding ways to burn cleaner coal and exploring wider uses for solar energy and nuclear energy.
* Don’t ignore the benefits of modern technology, such as genetically modified products.
“Technology was the basis of the Green Revolution and lifted the world out of a global food crisis,” he said. “GMOs (genetically modified organisms) have vast potential. It would be an incredible mistake to shut them out in food production. Struggling countries, like those in Africa, can’t afford to, but do so anyway.”
The current global food crisis, like the previous food crises, is the result of a “perfect storm” of several factors, such as rising food demand in countries such as China and India, increased biofuels production and environmental impacts on crop production, such as drought on Australia’s wheat.
“Like with previous food crises, people are panicking, and they shouldn’t,” Tweeten said. “The world has great capacity to produce food. Our success lies in coming up with sustainable access to that food by those who truly need it.”
Friday, May 9, 2008
Forages For Goats Summer Field Day
Join us at Boers Inc. Meat Goat Farm owned and operated by the Scarpitti Family located at 4395 Richland Rd. N.E. in the scenic rural community of Pleasantville, Fairfield County. This small farm operation is home to a registered seedstock Boer Goat herd comprised of sixty does, bucks and young stock. Mark Scarpitti has developed a holistic grazing system utilizing diverse types of forages as a management tool to reduce internal parasites and enhance animal performance. This holistic system incorporates cool and warm season forages containing moderately high levels of condensed tannins. You will not want to miss this field event which features walking tours of grazing paddocks, barbecue for lunch and several presentations relating to designing a holistic system which is economically viable for Meat Goat enterprises. For more information contact Ross County Extension office at 740-702-3200 or go to ross.osu.edu
Weather Update- Jim Noel, Meteorologist, NOAA
The weather pattern change in early April has yielded 50-100% of normal rainfall for most of the state the last 30 days. Most areas had 2-3.5 inches of rain with 3-4 inches being normal.
The far north has been the wettest. However, soils have been so wet from the last 6 months that even though we have had good drying, even light rains make the soil moisten up quickly.
It appears we will have a pause from the drier than average pattern for the short term of the next 1-2 weeks with the probability of 1-2 inches of rain ranging from 70% south to 90% north. As is the case anytime, isolated streaks will be higher and lower than this. It appears the far north and northwest and possibly the far south have the greatest chance of this heavy rain. The systems will cross the area every few days.
The western cornbelt out towards Iowa, Wisconsin, southern Minnesota and northwest Illinois have been much much wetter than here and are being impacted even more.
It appears the wettest areas will remain west of Ohio the next few weeks.
Research shows most of the time trend line adjusted corn crop yields are below average in La Nina years with a less chance for wheat and more likely average or above average yields on soybeans. We will have to see how this year lines up with research.
The data still supports a trend to drier than average for late May and June but it does looks like at least average rain the next 2 weeks with small areas of above average rainfall mainly in the north.
The weather computer models have a low confidence level so the verification of this wetter pattern the next 2 weeks is still not a guarantee.
The far north has been the wettest. However, soils have been so wet from the last 6 months that even though we have had good drying, even light rains make the soil moisten up quickly.
It appears we will have a pause from the drier than average pattern for the short term of the next 1-2 weeks with the probability of 1-2 inches of rain ranging from 70% south to 90% north. As is the case anytime, isolated streaks will be higher and lower than this. It appears the far north and northwest and possibly the far south have the greatest chance of this heavy rain. The systems will cross the area every few days.
The western cornbelt out towards Iowa, Wisconsin, southern Minnesota and northwest Illinois have been much much wetter than here and are being impacted even more.
It appears the wettest areas will remain west of Ohio the next few weeks.
Research shows most of the time trend line adjusted corn crop yields are below average in La Nina years with a less chance for wheat and more likely average or above average yields on soybeans. We will have to see how this year lines up with research.
The data still supports a trend to drier than average for late May and June but it does looks like at least average rain the next 2 weeks with small areas of above average rainfall mainly in the north.
The weather computer models have a low confidence level so the verification of this wetter pattern the next 2 weeks is still not a guarantee.
Head Emergence in Winter Wheat
Jim Minor's wheat field at the intersection of S.R. 104 and S.R. 56 was the first wheat field I have observed to have head emergence. This is referred to as Feekes Growth Stage 10.1. Flowering of this wheat will occur in approximately four to five days after complete heading. During this period is when warm, wet weather and the presence of fusarium inoculate can infect the wheat head and cause head scab. For more information regarding this important disease click on the following link. http://ohioline.osu.edu/iwy/index.html
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Alfalfa Damage Apparent in County
Alfalfa has really taken off over the past two weeks. Growers should be aware that alfalfa weevil has been found near Circleville. This photo shows the extent of damage. For more info go to:http://ohioforages.blogspot.com/2008/04/lookout-for-alfalfa-weevil-in-ohio.html
Blogging Newbie in Pickaway County
May 8th, 2008
Welcome to my first and hopefully not last attempt at blogging. I hope that you will find this a way to catch up on happenings in the agricultural community of Pickaway and surrounding Counties.At this site you will initially find reports about current crop conditions, weather and items of interest for row crop producers. As time goes on, it is hoped that it will become a robust site with comments and reports from others around south-central Ohio.
And now as Paul Harvey would say "The rest of the story"
Corn planting as a whole is generally done in greater Pickaway and surrounding counties. Two weeks of ideal planting weather has allowed growers to get the crop in the ground even though it was a week-10 days late getting started. Corn that has emerged looks generally good. The rains received Thursday night and Friday of this week has helped along a few late emergers.
Soybean planting got started early in the week and will benefit from topsoil moisture. Some ground was getting hard. The dust clouds rolling Tuesday and Wednesday were evident of a need for rain wherever I drove.
Welcome to my first and hopefully not last attempt at blogging. I hope that you will find this a way to catch up on happenings in the agricultural community of Pickaway and surrounding Counties.At this site you will initially find reports about current crop conditions, weather and items of interest for row crop producers. As time goes on, it is hoped that it will become a robust site with comments and reports from others around south-central Ohio.
And now as Paul Harvey would say "The rest of the story"
Corn planting as a whole is generally done in greater Pickaway and surrounding counties. Two weeks of ideal planting weather has allowed growers to get the crop in the ground even though it was a week-10 days late getting started. Corn that has emerged looks generally good. The rains received Thursday night and Friday of this week has helped along a few late emergers.
Soybean planting got started early in the week and will benefit from topsoil moisture. Some ground was getting hard. The dust clouds rolling Tuesday and Wednesday were evident of a need for rain wherever I drove.
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