Posted on 06/20/2011 4:56:13 PM PDT by DeaconBenjamin
HAVRE — Wet weather has left wheat crops in north-central Montana vulnerable to fungal diseases, officials say.
Hill County Extension Agent Joe Broesder said the main battle is with stripe rust fungal infection, but tan spot and powdery mildew are also prevalent.
"If the weather would straighten out, it would help with the others," Broesder said told the Havre Daily News.
Arleen Rice of Taylor Aviation said the company has had to bring in more planes for aerial spraying.
"You can walk out in the fields right now and the bottom of your boots turn red," she said. "We have sprayed tens of thousands of acres already."
Broesder said winter wheat is heading into its late stage with broad flag leaves so it's crucial to control infections.
Besides winter wheat, the fungus has started showing up in spring wheat crops.
Mary Burrows, plant pathologist at Montana State University Extension in Bozeman, said the fungus cuts yields by 10 percent to 20 percent. Tests she conducted found that spraying for stripe rust increases yields by an average of 10 bushels an acre.
"Spray as soon as you see it," Burrows said. "If they don't have stripe rust they have tan spot, so you might as well just spray."
Cost to spray is up to $20 an acre.
"The economic loss is huge, but the economic output for growers is a major consideration," Burrows said. "They've got such a huge investment already in this crop and there's a beautiful crop out there."
Montana Grain Growers Association Treasurer Ryan McCormick, who farms near Kremlin, said it's been decades since the combination of high levels of moisture, cool nights and warm days coincided to open the door for the fungal diseases.
"It's something we've never really dealt with since the 1970s," he said. "It's a new management issue for us."
You are going to cause me to go out and buy another 200 lbs of flour for the year.
ping to yet another ag disaster in the making....
"The two largest wheat importing regions in 2008/09 were the Middle East at 28.3 MMT, 20.2 percent of world trade, and North Africa at 23.5 MMT, 16.8 percent of the world total. These were record large for both regions and imports are lower for 2009/10, but they will still be the number one and two importing regions. Imports were 53.4 percent of wheat consumption in the Middle East and 62.8 percent in North Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa was the third largest importer of wheat in 2008/09 at 13.4 MMT, 9.6 percent of world trade and 70.9 percent of consumption in the region and will again be the third largest importer in 2009/10. The next four largest wheat importing regions in 2008/09 were South America at 12.7 MMT, 53.5 percent of its domestic consumption, Southeast Asia at 12.3 MMT, 100 percent of consumption, East Asia at 11.3 MMT, 9.9 percent of consumption, and South Asia at 10.7 MMT, 10.2 percent of domestic consumption. "
Corn prices out the roof from ethanol, rice done in by floods, now wheat.
Stock my FRiends, stock up.
Got about 250lbs of grain. We are growing a small field of corn. If we can keep the deer out of it, we will be doing ok.
If you can’t, can you harvest the deer?
LOL looking at your tag line, reminds me of someone asking if I wake up grumpy,——the answer is No, I let her sleep.
Stripe rust can do serious damage to wheat, it is an airborne spore that causes the damage. It is only a problem in a very wet year (we had it in Texas last year and no sign of it this years).
I have no experience with tan spot.
Powdery mildew is not a serious problem, it can be controlled with seed treatment at planting time.
The primary wheat production in Montana is Hard White Spring Wheat. It is a very premium wheat and commands a high price. It is very high in protein and gluten, the millers use it to supplement the often low protein content Hard Red Winter Wheat.
I would say that the alarm is a bit over blown. This too shall pass.
The last time I looked Dollar General had 10 lbs of white rice for $6.00.
The U.S. is a huge grain exporter. I do not believe the weather related crop damage is a long term issue.
We are coming out of the deepest and longest sunspot minimum in my lifetime, and we have known for 100 years that during sunspot minimums and maximums weather is more variable. There were correlations made between sunspots and wheat production 200 years ago.
The sky is not falling, but some of the Globalists want to use this to subject the U.S.
I do have 2 unopened 25# bags of flour in my pantry (normal) and the last I bought was $6.99 per 25 lbs.
I have been the family baker for 30 years and we are wheat seed producers. I know how it all works.
Family baker? Any experience with sour dough? I’ve been attempting to make a loaf for weeks now and it just won’t work. I want to make my own to save money, but my husband jokes that all the mishaps are more expensive than buying our specialty bread. I’m also planning on planting a small plot of hard red winter wheat this fall. We’ll see how that goes.
Blofeld?
LOL!!!!
No, we don’t have a working farm, just grow food for ourselves. So the state won’t issue us a license to kill the ones on our property.
We tried for over 10 years to develop a market for hard white winter wheat here. At one point we had fellow growers with about 5,000 acres of it. Until they started docking us for bringing it to the elevator (ADM did not want to fool with it.). Milling properties were superior and it had almost no tannin in the bran. (source of bitterness)
We have on site storage for about 20,000 bushels and a cleaning and treating plant.
My daughter bought me some sour dough mix (from CA I think) but I have never used it. It is a powdered starter mix. I don’t think it is very difficult, but you have to use it each week and put some back to keep the starter working.
I simply keep 1 lb. of powdered yeast in my refrig. In a sealed Tupperware container, it will keep at least a year.
The secret with most yeasts is the temperature of the liquids and the temp and humidity where you proof it.
Humidity is also an issue with sour dough. I have heard that San Francisco is where they make the best sour dough in the world. It is the salt water and humidity I have been told that gives it the right crust.
This wouldn’t have happened if it hadn’t been for the ethanol subsidy. /s
I’m glad I got out of subsidizing ethanol when I did. It was a peculiarly thankless job.
Plus you pee a lot.
And cry. Don’t forget the crying.
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