CRP - Bringing CRP back into wheat production

Here is what the conversation would look like if we were blogging and adding comment to the blog....and if you all signed up as followers of the blog you can choose to be notified when someone has posted to the blog...how about we try it on this topic as there is a lot of help that we can offer each other, and this way to don't have to open 8 emails to follow the conversation:

Just my thought on it..

Greetings,

 Had two calls today from growers wanting to take out CRP, one to fall plant wheat in 2010 and the other to spring plant. Neither have yet touched their CRP. We discussed this at our Pendleton meeting, but don’t know that we came to any conclusions. Apparently the insurance people are telling them that for their first year crop to be covered they need to follow the advice of an “expert.” So fellow  experts, what ‘s your best advice?

Sandy

Hi Sandy,

This is an interesting development.  In Gilliam County, an additional 5000 acres of cropland were bid into CRP.  I learned yesterday that all land bid into the program was accepted.  The rental rates were as high as $60 per acre.

USDA has rules regarding taking land out of CRP, although I'm not sure how prescriptive it is other than timelines.

Jordan

Sandy et al.  My best advice, at the present time, is to eliminate or minimize tillage unless there is a significant amount of sheep fescue in the stand.  If sheep fescue is present in significant quantities (you be the judge), then some kind of undercutting operation will be necessary to sever the roots of sheep fescue and minimize (probably not eliminate) the presence of this plant (and possibly intermediate wheatgrass) in the subsequent wheat crop.  Clear as mud? Based only on my limited experience here.  Good luck. 

Larry

If you cut it off won't your drill be a rake when you plant through it?
Brian

Larry and all,

What type of chems are you using to reduce the amount of tillage? You mentioned 75 ounces of Round up wasn’t doing it but that Maverick may have some stoppage power on sheep fescue. How about Beyond? Or would a guy  be nuts to spend that much on a new crop establishment?

Sandy

I am still hopeful that high rates of glyphosate, applied at the correct time (or times) would take care of the sheep fescue.  Just don’t  have any research (or first-hand experience) to back this up. 

One of the farmers I know used a combination of glyphosate applications (well before seeding time) and tillage to prepare his seedbed.

This same farmer applied Maverick herbicide in the fall (after seeding and according to label directions) on very limited acreage—because there were isolated spots of cheatgrass in his old CRP stand.   His observation was that this “added treatment” seemed to reduce sheep fescue contamination of his stand of wheat.

Larry

Farmers talking about changes in their farming operations

Farmers are constantly facing change: the weather, the markets, input prices, and many more factors from outside their operations. In addition, as largely family operations, they face constant changing circumstances within their enterprise: children ready to join the farming operation, retiring the senior generation, in-law, ex-laws and distant family who still want to have a connection to the family farm. How do they make decisions when faced with these external and internal challenges and opportunities?

Ready, set....change!!!???

In 2007, I began a journey to learn more about how farm families make changes in their operations, and farming practices. Who do they use as advisers? How does change actually take place? How do they choose one path or another? With help from OSU students and Chris LaBelle, a fellow faculty member, we have now posted several of the interviews on YouTube for your viewing pleasure about the processes used in adopting change in a farming operation. I hope you will find their stories insightful and instructive. The series is called the Art of Change.

Fall Cereal Newsletter is online

Fall issue of Cereal Newsletter is now posted on Cereal Central website. You will find complete results of the Umatilla County Drill Strip Trial, plus Statewide Variety Trial results. I have also included a summary of an article on one pass tillage fallow taken from "One Tillage Pass Can Produce Highly Effective Tilled Summer Fallow" in the 2010 Columbia Basin Dryland Research Report. Follow the link for the full article with graphs and charts.

Drill Strip Variety trial yields results

Legion, ORCF 102 and Stephens came out as top yielders in this year’s Umatilla County Variety Drill Strip Trial. Goetze came out at the bottom of the list even in the blend with Skiles as Skiles was also near the bottom of the list this year. Goetze has the potential for winter injury and that is the most likely culprit for this year’s low performance as stripe rust was not a problem for the variety.

Legion, an AgriPro tall semi dwarf variety release in 2008, was the top yielder this year. It has medium maturity and good straw strength. This is the first year I have had Legion in the drill strip trials and so I have little experience with it, but literature describes it as a variety suitable for higher production areas of Washington and northeastern Oregon. It had very little stripe rust present when we evaluated the trial on June 25th.

Tubbs 06, which has been a good performer at this site, dropped due to a high incidence of stripe rust and the well known lack of effectiveness of high-temperature adult-plant resistance (HTAP). The failure of warm temperatures to materialize this past spring played havoc on varieties like Tubbs that are dependent on HTAP. For additional information and pictures on the level of stripe rust in the trial, I have posted a PDF on www.cerealcentral.com that shows strip rust pictures and stripe rust severity ratings of each variety in the trial. ORCF 101, and ORCF 102 along with Stephens continue to be strong performers even under these unusual conditions.

Remember as you plan your seeding activities this fall, that season-to-season variations in weather and the lack of an effective crystal ball, make variety selection challenging. I recommend looking over the variety information that I have included in the newsletter, and adding this year’s result into the mix, recognizing that this past spring we were setting or nearly setting new records for rainfall and low temperatures.

An option is to use mixes of two varieties as a means of minimizing the risks, or one could planting different fields to different varieties to spread the risk.

Additional variety trial information from across Oregon and Washington on available on my website, and they are updated as soon as new or revised information becomes available.My variety drill strip trial is for demonstration purposes and as such gives us an opportunity to see newer varieties under field growing conditions on a larger scale that the typical small plot research trials. It is only one strip per variety and is not replicated. Check out www.cerealcentral.com for more complete results.

New Common Crop Insurance Policy Introduced by RMA

The new insurance policy combines four insurance plans with similar features into one single policy. The four insurance plans that have been combined are Actual Production History (APH), Crop Revenue Coverage (CRC), Revenue Assurance (RA) and Income Protection (IP) that had similar features into a single policy. RMA kept the most important features of each insurance plan while simplifying the insurance options a producer faces when buying coverage. Wheat, barley, malting barley, corn and canola/rapeseed are the crops most affected by this change in the Spokane region.

Upcoming Sales Closing Dates:
• Canola/Rapeseed – August 31, 2010 (for Fall Planted types)
• Onions – August 31, 2010 (Fall Planted types - Umatilla/Walla Walla counties only)
• Mint with Winter Coverage – September 30, 2010
• Forage Production - September 30, 2010 (Klamath and Malheur counties, Oregon)
• Forage (Alfalfa) Seed Pilot – September 30, 2010 (in selected counties)
• Fall Planted Barley with Winter Coverage – September 30, 2010 (in selected counties)
• Wheat – September 30, 2010
• Apiculture (Honey) - September 30, 2010
• Pasture Rangeland Forage - September 30, 2010

Informational meetings are being presented by Northwest Agricultural Services Co. here in Umatilla County.

The first meeting will be held at 8:00 am Friday, August 20 at the Hale Companies office, 73120 Hwy 207, Echo, Oregon. The second meeting is scheduled for 8:00 am Tuesday, August 24 at the Adams Community Center, 160 Main Street, Adams, Oregon. Coffee and doughnuts will be provided.

For additional information call or email Amos or Lori at 541-966-0188 or nwasc@eotnet.net