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

Variety Trial Results

Statewide Variety Trial results from Arlington and Lexington are now posted on CerealCentral website. We will continue to post results as they come in. Check back often! Please note that these are preliminary results and may be subject to revisions.
Also please take a few minutes to complete my web survey, and give me more ideas about how to make web pages that meet your needs!! Go and do it now!!! Click here for the Survey link. :

Stripe Rust Evaluation by Winter Wheat Variety

Please take my 5 minute survey! Your input is important to me and will help me to improve my educational efforts on cereal production at the Cereal Central web pages and blog. Don't delay - do it today! Thanks!

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/C76WCJ8

Stripe Rust Evaluation by Winter Wheat Variety
Evaluation were conducted on June 25 on my Umatilla County Drill Strip Variety Trial located near Midway Elevator (Latitude 45°47'27.85"N by Longitude 118°37'15.24"W) on Hale Farms. I have posted a PDF at www.cerealcentral.com that shows pictures and stripe rust severity ratings by variety. I have visited with other Extension faculty across the Columbia Plateau in Oregon and they are seeing similar results. The field was not treated with fungicides. I will be posting yield results from the trial in August following harvest.

I hope you find a bountiful harvest in your fields, and remember to stay safe!

Stripe Rust in Wheat

Cereal Central User Survey - Please help improve my educational efforts by providing your feedback on my blog and website: Click here to take survey


Stripe Rust of Wheat Update -

July 2, 2010 by Xianming Chen, Washington State University

With the majority of fields have been sprayed with fungicides, winter wheat crops have reached stages by which fungicides may no longer be applied. Head infection is more common this year than in past years due to the much more rust-favorable weather conditions and heavy inoculum. Rust damage, including loss of grain yield and reduction of grain quality (smaller grain size, shrivel grain, and lower test weight and flour rate), is mainly caused by leaf infection. Head infection has a much less effect on grain yield and quality than leaf infection. Rusts do not produce known toxins and are not seedborne, and therefore, head infection will not cause problems of toxins in food products and carrying the pathogen to next season. Unlike smuts and bunts, rust on head should not change grain color as rust spores will be blow away during harvesting and threshing. However, it is a good idea to get grain as clean as possible.

Stripe rust has been and will continue increasing in spring wheat crops. Crop growth stages range from late stem elongation to flowering. Rust severity (leaf areas infected) reaches up to 100% in some nurseries. Many fields have been sprayed with fungicides. If not, fields of crops with a susceptible reaction should be sprayed, those with an intermediate reaction may or may not need to be sprayed depending upon yield potential, and those with a resistant reaction should not be sprayed.

According to Dr. Juliet Windes, stripe rust of wheat is developing in southern Idaho. Dr. Mary Burrows has reported that stripe rust is occurring in Montana. Based on reports by Drs. Marcia McMullen, Marricells Acevedo, and others, stripe rust has developed to its highest level of the recorded history in North Dakota. According to Dr. Gary Bergstrom, stripe rust of wheat showed up, for the first time, in the state of New York. Dr. Wayne Temple reported severe stripe rust on both winter and spring wheat in British Columbia, Canada. So far, wheat stripe rust has been reported in 23 states of the U.S. (California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Kansas, Nebraska, Illinois, Maryland, South Dakota, Indiana, Wisconsin, Colorado, Virginia, Delaware, Minnesota, North Dakota, New York, and Montana) and 3 provinces of Canada (Ontario, Manitoba, and British Columbia).

Stripe Rust of Barley

Stripe rust of barley has been found in the Palouse region (Whitman County, Washington). In our experimental nurseries, rust reached 15% of severity and 40% of incidence (percentage of plants infected). Rust of up to 2% of severity and <1% of incidence was found in the McGregor variety testing nursery west of Colfax yesterday (July 1). With weather conditions still favorable to stripe rust, barley stripe rust is expected to develop to severity levels significantly higher than the very low levels in the past several years, but not as a big problem as wheat stripe rust. Please check your field within the next week or so. If rust incidence reaches to 10%, consider fungicide application. Leaf Rust of Wheat

Leaf rust of wheat is occurring in the Palouse region. On June 29, Dr. Michael Pumphrey found few pustules of leaf rust in his breeding nursery near Pullman. Yesterday (July 1), we found leaf rust (1-2% of severity, <1% incidence) on several winter wheat varieties in the McGregor’s variety trial field west of Colfax. As quite severe leaf rust was found in central Washington two weeks ago and the disease is now occurring in eastern Washington, we expect to see significant levels of leaf rust this year. Fungicides that have been applied to control stripe rust also have protected crops from leaf rust infection. However, leaf rust may develop on crops about one month after fungicide application. Nevertheless, leaf rust will not be as severe and widespread as stripe rust. Stem Rust of Wheat

On June 28, stem rust was found in the winter wheat field near the barberry bushes near Potlatch (Latah County, Idaho). The severity level (<1% severity, <1% incidence) was much lower than that of the winter wheat field this time of last year. No stem rust was found in the spring wheat field, which is closer than the winter wheat filed to the bushes. The relatively low level of stem rust this year is due to the facts that both spring and winter wheat fields have been sprayed to control stripe rust and that the spring wheat variety is likely resistant to stem rust based on our variety tests with the isolate from the same field last year. We expect that stem rust will develop to significant levels, but should be localized as in the last two year