Duster Surpasses Endurance as Top Wheat Variety 

Duster became the number one wheat variety in Oklahoma for the 2012 crop year, sown on 22.2 percent of wheat seeded acres, according to the Oklahoma Wheat Variety report issued today by the USDA-NASS Oklahoma Field Office. Endurance, at 16.5 percent of wheat seeded acres, dropped to the second most common variety after holding the top position for two years.

Both wheat varieties were developed by Oklahoma State University's wheat breeding program. Acres seeded to Jagger continued to decline, amounting to 7.6 percent of the state's wheat sown. NASS summarized wheat variety acres seeded in Oklahoma by state, district and grain shed levels. This survey was conducted by the USDA-NASS Oklahoma Field Office and funded by the Oklahoma Wheat Commission in cooperation with the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences at Oklahoma State University. Results were based on reports from Oklahoma wheat growers.


The entire Oklahoma report can be viewed online by clicking here and then looking under "Recent Reports." The national database, Quick Stats, and all USDA-NASS reports are available on the agency's web site: www.nass.usda.gov. For more information on NASS surveys and reports, call the USDA-NASS Oklahoma Field Office at 800-525-9226. 

 

USDA Makes Farmers Market Promotion Program Grants Available 

Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is seeking grant applicants for the 2012 Farmers Market Promotion Program.

Approximately $10 million is available for marketing operations such as farmers markets, community supported agriculture and road-side stands. The grants, which are administered by USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), are available through a competitive application process on www.grants.gov. The grants aim to increase the availability of local agricultural products in communities throughout the county. They will also help strengthen farmer-to-consumer marketing efforts."

These grants will put resources into rural and urban economies, and help strengthen efforts to provide access to nutritious and affordable foods," said Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan. "This program not only supports the health and well-being of local communities but also the economic health of their farms and businesses."

Click here for more information and links to the program's sign-up page. 

Heather Buckmaster Talks LFTB and How Cattle Producers Can Help Battle the Misconceptions 

In a recent conversation, Heather Buckmaster executive director of the Oklahoma Beef Council spoke about several issues and activities that are of immediate concern to cattle producers. Chief among those due to its negative effects on the industry is the continued flap over lean finely textured beef. Buckmaster says they are aggressively addressing that concern, but aren't losing sight of other programs and positive promotions coming up this spring.

She says the LFTB problem probably won't go away soon, but persistent efforts at educating the public and key constituencies is the cornerstone of current efforts.

"I've been working for the beef industry for 15 years now and it's been the toughest issue I've seen to deal with, but part of our core efforts has been to educate those key influencers to provide them science-based, accurate information on the process. Specifically from a local level we've distributed information to school nutrition directors, to school administrators, retail food and trade service associations as well as reaching out to key opinion leaders for their third-party engagement on the process."

She says that everyone in the beef industry can play a part in educating the public even if it's nothing more than getting on Facebook and Twitter and encouraging people to go to beefisbeef.com.

To read more about turning the tide in the LFTB battle as well as to learn about upcoming Beef Council events, click here.  

AND- if you missed our chat with Heather on News9 Saturday morning, click here to watch our In the Field segment with her when we also talked about LFTB and the Back to Basics Workshops.

OSU Workshops Teach Participants Composting Techniques, Water Harvesting 

Improving soil quality and finding ways to increase water supply will be the subject of four workshops being held in western Oklahoma this spring. The workshops, organized by Oklahoma State University in conjunction with the Oklahoma Conservation Commission, Langston University, Anichini-Moore Ranch and Farm and Trail Creek Ranch will provide participants information on a variety of techniques for composting and rainwater harvesting. In addition the workshops will help participants develop a risk management plan.

"The workshops are designed for a diverse audience from backyard gardeners to municipalities," said Jeri Fleming, OSU program manager. "We want people who are interested in learning more about the techniques we will be discussing, both on a large scale and those who want to incorporate these practices in their yards."

The first workshop will be held at the Dewey County Fairgrounds in Taloga, Okla. on Saturday April 14. Additional workshops will be held in Okeene on April 28, Woodward on May 12, and Clinton on June 2. Workshops will begin at 8:30 a.m. and include lunch. In the afternoon participants will travel to two demonstration sites, Trail Creek Ranch and Anichini-Moore Ranch and Farm to see the composting and rainwater harvesting techniques discussed in the workshop in use.

The workshops are free and you can get more information by clicking here. 

Alltech Symposium to Navigate Regulatory Landscape

As if feeding 9 billion people by 2050 were not enough of a challenge for the food industry, ever-evolving regulations can create confusion and significantly impede progress. Meanwhile, when news of food safety issues go viral, families who are already far-removed from the farm become wary of the entire supply chain and the organizations safeguarding it. The regulatory landscape presents a challenging dichotomy for any farmer or food producer, also facing the formidable foes of economic woes and unpredictable weather patterns.

Alltech's 28th Annual International Symposium, held May 20 - 23 in Lexington, Ky., will address these challenges through its dedicated regulatory session, featuring expert speakers from leading regulatory organizations and influencers.

"Agriculture is at a crossroad between competitiveness, trade, safety and sustainability. Minimum standards of feed safety are often not enough. Businesses are going beyond these minimum standards for several reasons including strict retailer procurement policies, brand/reputation management and consumer demand. This regulatory session will address both feed safety and trade against the backdrop of these competing demands," said Jean Kennedy, European regulatory affairs manager for Alltech.

To read more of this story, click here.

Jeff Edwards Discusses Management Practices for Lodged Wheat

Recent storms have resulted in lodged wheat around the state of Oklahoma. In this article Small Grains Extension Specialist  Dr. Jeff Edwards provides a few pointers on determining yield potential and management of downed wheat. He also addresses questions about physiological leaf speckling.

Lodged wheat 

I have been getting several call and emails about lodged wheat. Wheat can lodge for several reasons including disease, insects, freeze injury, and excess fertility. Most of the lodging that has occurred this year is due to our warm winter combined with ample residual soil fertility caused by failed crops in 2011. The crop is thick with 3 - 4 times the normal number of tillers and is more susceptible to lodging from wind and/or pounding rain.

Will the lodged crop stand back up? 

Maybe. It depends on the severity of the lodging. Wheat that is completely flat on the ground with a broken stem will generally not recover. The plant will attempt to go ahead and fill grain, but will not be very successful. Wheat that is partially lodged prior to grain fill will generally make an attempt to "straighten up" and make some grain. There will be a yield penalty, but the crop will generally still make grain in the tillers that stand back up. Wheat that is simply leaning will still have full yield potential. 

Read more about lodged wheat management and physiological wheat speckling by clicking here. 

No Problems Yet- Wheat Disease Update with Dr. Bob Hunger of OSU 

Disease pressure continues to be very low in Oklahoma wheat fields, even as the weather has swung around and become milder as we go through Easter weekend, with the prospect that this coming week will bring more of the same type of weather. OSU Extension Plant Pathologist Dr. Bob Hunger provides us his latest wheat disease report as of Saturday morning, April 7:

Thursday and Friday (05-06 Apr) I visited variety trials/demos or fields at Kingfisher (50 miles west and 20 miles south of Stillwater), Minco (40 miles south of Kingfisher), Apache (25 miles north of Lawton), Lawton, Snyder (35 miles west of Lawton), multiple fields east and west of Frederick/Manitou area (20 miles south of Snyder), Altus, Granite (30 miles north of Altus), and multiple fields located 20 miles north of Clinton. Wheat was mostly in the heading to flowering range with the exception of the fields north of Clinton, which were in the boot to just heading range (mostly later planted).

Dr. Hunger reports that he saw little leaf rust, no powdery mildew, an occasional patch of barley yellow dwarf and just a small amount of strip rust at virtually every stop he made. However, the strip rust had shut down back when we had the hot temps of a couple of weeks ago- but it appeared the disease was starting to regenerate a bit with the cooler, wet conditions as we headed for this past weekend.  

All in all- we would judge Dr. Hunger's observations as generally a good news report- there simply is not that much disease pressure out there- at least not yet.  Click here for his full report- some additional observations from Gary Strickland from Jackson County as well as out of state updates.