Cereal Leaf Beetle Update

During the CORN conference call this morning it was shared by educators across the state that thousands of acres are being sprayed for cereal leaf beetle(CLB) in a near frenzy. I guess a front page business section in the Columbus Dispatch got the pesticide sales folks all worked up to make some money. I have been in fields here that have CLB but NOT at economic threshold levels. Remember that the flag leaf is where we want to focus our attention.

If beetles are present, evaluate the percent of flag leaf damage and the number and size of the larvae feeding. Check the following link that I sent to many of you on the CORN newsletter group last week.

http://ohioline.osu.edu/ent-fact/pdf/0038.pdf

Agricultural Productivity and Global Food Security in the Long Run

The relative rates of growth in the supply and demand for food, feed and fiber have far-reaching economic and social consequences, most readily observed through changes in commodity prices. Over the past 50 years and longer, the supply of food commodities has grown faster than the demand, in spite of increasing population and rising per capita incomes. As a consequence, the real (deflated) prices of food commodities have trended down over many years, contributing significantly to the alleviation of hunger and poverty worldwide.

To read this entire article, please visit......Choices Magazine

Sharp Decline in Ohio Wheat Seedings for 2010 — Ohio State University Extension

Sharp Decline in Ohio Wheat Seedings for 2010 — Ohio State University Extension

Ohio Fence Laws to Change September 30

Source: Peggy Kirk Hall, Director, OSU Agricultural & Resource Law Program

Ohio lawmakers made a major revision to Ohio's line fence law this summer. Governor Strickland signed the line fence law-H.B. 323-on June 27, 2008 and the new law will be effective beginning September 30, 2008.

Here's a quick summary of the bill's major provisions. For further details of the new law, visit our website at: http://aede.osu.edu/programs/aglaw/
* New rules of apportionment will apply to most "new" line fences-those fences built after the law's effective date of September 30, 2008. For new line fences, the landowner seeking to build the fence will have the sole burden of constructing and maintaining the fence.
* There is a reimbursement process a landowner can follow for recouping construction and maintenance costs on a new line fence if an adjacent landowner uses the line fence to contain livestock within thirty years of the fence's construction date.
* "Old" line fences will still be subject to the old law's rule of equal shares. Old line fences include fences in existence on the law's effective date, fences that previously existed, and fences that have been removed. A landowner must follow certain actions to establish a previously existing or removed line fence. If either of these types of fence is reconstructed, the old law of equal shares applies to the replacement fence.
* Landowners will have two options for resolving line fence disputes-filing an action directly in the court of common pleas or filing a complaint with the board of township trustees. A landowner dissatisfied with the decision of the township trustees may use binding arbitration rather than appealing the decision.
* The court or the board of township trustees must consider certain factors in resolving line fence disputes. These include topography, streams and other waters, trees, vines and vegetation, trespasser risk, importance of marking the property line and number and type of livestock contained.
* New fences built after September 30 that will be used to contain livestock must be one of three types, unless the landowners agree otherwise in writing. The accepted types are: woven wire of standard or high tensile with one or two strands of barbed wire at least 48 inches from the ground, nonelectric high tensile with at least seven strands constructed in accordance with NRCS standards, or barbed wire, electric or live fence agreeable to both landowners.
* Governmental neighbors must contribute 50% of the cost of a line fence that is used for grazing livestock.
* A landowner or contractor will have rights of access to neighboring properties for the purpose of constructing or maintaining a fence.
* A landowner must follow a notification procedure before removing a line fence; failure to provide notice waives the equal shares rule, and the landowner would be entirely responsible for replacing an improperly removed fence.
* There are criminal penalties for obstruction or interference with a person who is lawfully engaged in building or maintaining a line fence.

2008 Wheat Performance Trials Available

2008 Ohio Wheat Performance Trials are now available online at:

http://www.oardc.ohio-state.edu/wheattrials/.

The purpose of the Ohio Wheat Performance Trial is to evaluate wheat varieties, blends, brands and breeding lines for yield, grain quality and other important performance characteristics. Depending on variety and test site, yields varied between 62.7 and 112.5 bushels per acre, and test weight ranged from 53.1 to 59.4 pounds per bushel.

Weed Management of Winter Wheat Stubble

Proper management of winter wheat stubble after harvest substantially impacts future weed control. The goal of weed management in wheat stubble should be to eliminate or drastically reduce seed production of all weed species and biennial and perennial species. Control of volunteer winter wheat prior to the end of August is also a benefit. Controlling volunteer winter wheat should reduce the risk of barley yellow dwarf inoculum because there will be fewer host species for aphid (transmitters of barley yellow dwarf) populations to develop.

For full details of this story, follow this link- http://corn.osu.edu/story.php?setissueID=195&storyID=1199

Fungicide Applications of Corn and Soybeans

So You Are Trying Fungicides On Corn And Soybeans, How To Evaluate If They Are Worth The Cost?

A quick trip around the county this past few days indicated that fungicide treatments are being applied to both corn and beans. I ask you think independently of your crop chemical dealer. Am I getting my monies worth for this product? For those of you that would like to “experiment” with this plant health aspect, here are a few guidelines that can help evaluate if this is truly providing any benefit.

1. Know what the variety or hybrid is. For both corn and soybeans only the moderately susceptible and highly susceptible hybrids and varieties have demonstrated yield impacts in fungicide applications.



2. Have more than one check strip, wider than your combine, and space them across the field. Three should be plenty but two is not enough.



3. In your comparisons, do not include the parts of the field where you have weed escapes or along tree lines, these areas are going to yield less anyways, so this is false data whether it was treated or not. Make sure other variables such as soil types, soil fertility variations and pest issues are not biasing your field experiment.



4. Approximately 3 weeks after applications, walk some of the strips. For corn, look at the ear leaf – what percent leaf area has got lesions in the treated vs non treated. Is gray leaf spot, anthracnose, or northern leaf blight present? For soybeans – look at the upper canopy for frogeye or downy mildew and on the lower canopy look at how much brown spot is present.



5. Take averages. When you do harvest your fields, take several strips, both untreated and treated. Then take the average of the untreated strips and compare that average to the treated. Fields are not uniform and with our stand issues and unevenness across many fields this year, there is going to be even more variability.

Farm Focus Hosts 2008 Field Day on July 29

A variety of speakers will address issues on the minds of local and regional farmers at the Farm Focus Field Day being held on Tuesday, July 29 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Van Wert, Ohio. Local agri-businesses and equipment dealers will be on hand with demonstrations of their newest products and equipment pertaining to today’s farming needs. The Farm Focus committee invites all area farmers and agri-business persons to attend the field day which is free and open to the public. For more details visit...http://farmfocus.osu.edu/

Soybean Defoliators

With soybeans beginning to enter their flowering stages, we need to remind growers of the various defoliators that are starting to make their presence known. These defoliators include Japanese beetle adults, first generation bean leaf beetle adults, Mexican bean beetle adults, green cloverworm larvae, and grasshoppers, and all are now being found throughout the state. In terms of defoliation, it would be unusual for any of the above mentioned insects alone to cause significant defoliation throughout a field. However, a complex of two or more might cause defoliation levels to rise above threshold levels. Remember you need to sample from numerous locations in the field to get a good idea of what is happening across the entire field. For fields with large populations of Japanese beetles, remember that these beetles will congregate; finding one Japanese beetle means you will usually find a lot of them in the same area. Thus, at least for this insect, you need to make an extra effort to sample from numerous locations in the field to get a better idea of what is happening across the entire field. Growers are advised to initiate scouting procedures over the next few weeks to prevent defoliation from reaching the 15-20% defoliation threshold during the reproductive growth stages, R1-R5, which then rises to 20-25% during growth stage R6 late in the summer. When sampling, check numerous places within the field, avoiding the field edges which often tend to have higher levels than the rest of the field. A list of labeled insecticides for control of all these soybean defoliators is available at http://entomology.osu.edu/ag/545/soy545.pdf .

Corn Pollination Underway in Many Ohio Corn Fields

During the past week, tassels began appearing in corn fields that were planted in late April and early May. However the pollination period is going to vary widely across the state this year.

According to the National Agricultural Statistics Service ( http://www.nass.usda.gov/oh/ ), about a third of our corn acreage was planted on or before May 4, then due to persistent rainy conditions, another third of our corn was planted over the next three weeks, and the remaining third of our acreage was planted (or replanted) in late May and early June. The late planted corn will not be tasselling until early to mid August. The pollination period, the flowering stage in corn, is the most critical period in the development of a corn plant from the standpoint of grain yield determination. Stress conditions such as drought or hail damage have the greatest impact on yield potential during the reproductive stage. The following are some key steps in the corn pollination process. For more on corn pollination click ...http://corn.osu.edu/#C

Another good source of information is the following: http://www.agry.purdue.edu/ext/corn/news/timeless/Tassels.html