OSU Cereal Seminar & Sustainable Ag Forum

Stripe rust, wireworm control, new drill prototype, microbiology and nitrogen fertilizer management are just a few of the wide array of topics to be covered at the Columbia Basin Cereal Seminar & Sustainable Ag Forum on December 14 present in partnership by OSU Extension and Umatilla County Soil and Water Conservation District. 

The open session will begin with a conservation research update in low rainfall zones by Bill Schillinger of Washington State University in Lind, Washington. Dr. Schillinger’s work has focused on reduced and no-till dryland cropping systems for cereal crops in the Pacific Northwest. He will be talking about the development and testing of new deep-furrow drill prototypes, his successes with winter triticale, and no-till summer fallow. 

In addition, McGregor Company will be bringing a section of their new deep-furrow drill to the seminar and it will be on display at the BMCC Ag Complex where the seminar lunch will be served. In the afternoon breakout session on Precision Ag, Paul Buchholtz of McGregor Company will present additional information about the drill and how their testing and development program is going for it use in the PNW.

Other presenters during the morning session will include “Stripe Rust Impacts on Wheat,” Chris Mundt, OSU pathologist, “Pesticide Drift Prevention Strategies,” Cory Cooley, ODA pesticide investigator, “Wireworm Biology and Control in Wheat,” Aaron Esser, WSU Extension agronomist, “Microbiology: some tricks up our sleeves,” Kate Reardon, USDA ARS, “Wheat Insect Pests,” Silvia Rondon, OSU Extension entomologist, and an Update from Oregon Wheat Commission and Oregon Wheat Growers League.

The afternoon will have two tracks of presentations: Track One- Precision Ag will cover deep furrow, high residue drill update, early seeded canola, managing nitrogen using optical sensors, and a panel of growers talking about their on-farm use of variable rate fertilizers. Presenting growers include Herb March of Milton Freewater, Berk Davis of Adams, and Bill Jepsen of Heppner, Oregon.

Track Two for the afternoon will be a pesticide CORE training session covering “Principles of IPM,” “Drift: What is it, when does it happen, and how can we prevent it,” “Sprayer Calibration,” and “Testing Your Knowledge: Pesticide Jeopardy.” 

For a detailed agenda: 

Columbia Basin Cereal Seminar & Sustainable Ag Forum 

Pesticide recertification credits and Certified Crop Advisor credits are available in the morning and afternoon session. See full agenda for details. There is a $10 registration fee for the seminar which includes lunch. To preregister go online to: www.umatillacountyswcd.com or call Shevon at OSU Extension office (541) 278-5403.

Christmas wish lists

With Christmas fast approaching, perhaps you are working on a wish list of new iron to add to your packages under the Christmas tree? With that in mind, and having read Craig Reeder's recent column in the Oregon Wheat Magazine, I thought I should share with you a revised publication from the University of Idaho.

When I receive calls about the cost of equipment and local leasing rates for different farming practices this is the only resource that I have to provide to growers that provides an analysis of farm machinery costs. With ongoing economic pressures farmers need to continue paying attention to managing their machinery resources, now more than ever. 

The longstanding trend of substituting financial capital for labor by adding more productive and higher capacity machinery has resulted in large amounts of capital being used annually to acquire and operate farm machinery. On today’s commercial farm, substantial components of both capital investment and annual production costs are machinery related. As a result, farmers must not overlook effective strategies to manage their machinery resources.

Effectively managing machinery resources requires having adequate answers on a continuing basis to the following questions:

• What size of machinery is most economical? 
• How much machinery is needed for a given acreage and/or crop mix?
•  Should machinery be leased, rented, custom-hired, or purchased?
• Should new or used machinery be purchased?
• How long should machinery be kept before it is replaced?

A farmer needs to know machinery costs to deal effectively with these management questions. Yet, many farmers do not keep adequate records of machinery costs.The link below will take you to the full publication and tables for the publication which can help you answer some of the questions listed above:

PNW 346, Costs of Owning and Operating Farm Machinery in the Pacific Northwest, 2011

http://www.cals.uidaho.edu/edComm/pdf/PNW/PNW0346/PNW0346.html

Happy Holidays, and best wishes in the coming year.