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Kentucky Farmers Expect Average Wheat Crop
(NASS:KY
- May 10) Kentucky farmers expect to harvest 27.0 million
bushels of winter wheat during 2012 according to the Kentucky
Field Office of USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.
The expected crop for 2012 would be down 12 percent from the
previous year. Strong wheat prices encouraged farmers to seed
580,000 acres last fall with 450,000 acres to be harvested for
grain. Based on crop conditions as of May 1 and assuming a
normal growing season, farmers expect a yield of 60 bushels per
acre, down 10 bushels from 2011. Acres for other uses totaled
130,000 acres and will be used as cover crop for tobacco or cut
as silage or hay. As of April 29, 87 percent of the wheat had
headed, well ahead of last year’s 37 percent, and 19 percent
average over the last 5 years. April frost caused some damage
especially in low lying areas. A few reports of pollination
problems and some pockets of drought have lowered wheat yields.
Winter wheat production for the Nation was forecast at 1.69
billion bushels, up 13 percent from 2011. The expected area to
be harvested for grain or seed totals 35.6 million acres, up 10
percent from last year. Based on May 1 conditions, the U.S.
yield was forecast at 47.6 bushels per acre, up 1.4 bushels from
last year.
UK
researchers find devastating new wheat disease in Kentucky
 University of Kentucky College of Agriculture
specialists are encouraging Kentucky wheat producers and crop
consultants to scout their fields for a new disease that could
have important implications for future crop years.
UK soil scientist Lloyd Murdock found wheat
blast on a single wheat head May 18, 2011 at a UK Research and
Education Center research plot in Princeton. No additional
instances of the disease were found even after extensive
scouting of the involved research plots and neighboring fields
by UK researchers. It is likely, however, that additional
infected heads existed but at levels too low to make detection
possible.
Read more
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Current Wheat Condition
May 2 (UK
Grain Crops Update) - Bill Bruening, our Small Grain Variety
Testing coordinator, visited all of his sites on Monday and
Tuesday this week. The following are his comments from around
the state.
With the exception of Logan County, there was less freeze damage
than I expected. I found it difficult to make freeze damage
ratings because the damaged "empty" heads were green/yellowish;
but these often blended in with other healthier heads. The heads
were not whitish at all, as had been expected. During the Easter
hard freeze a few years ago, heads that were emerging from the
boot turned white. This 2012 crop was much further along and the
freeze was not as hard. Heads that were emerging from boot this
time appear to be fine. The damage was on those heads fully
emerged from the boot. A lot of heads also had partial damage
(perhaps related to flowering location on the head at the time
of freeze). I took disease ratings there in Logan County (for
Septoria and BYDV) but there was no other disease pressure. The
barley appeared to be less damaged and looks to be three weeks
from harvest.
Wheat at Graves County and Henderson County look
great. I saw a tiny amount of head scab at Graves County. There
is minor freeze damage to wheat at Princeton (Research and
Education Center) and Trigg County. This area has been under
great moisture stress as of late. I think it is still early
enough in kernel development that the recent rain will help
yields (particularly if it cools off a bit).
Hardin County wheat has minor to intermediate
damage to early varieties.
I think for the partially damaged fields there
will be some yield compensation. I noticed some heads where the
middle kernel had died on the entire head, but the side kernels
were quite plump. The tillers may also pick up some of the loss
from dead main heads. I think it will depend on if we have
adequate moisture and cooler temperatures to slow seed filling
period. Days with high temperatures of 80 to 90 degrees is
accelerating the growth too much.
There was no apparent difference in freeze
damage between bearded and smooth headed varieties. Freeze
damage was primarily related to stage of development at time of
freeze.
April 30 (NASS
- Kentucky Field Office)- Winter wheat condition is reported
as 1 percent very poor, 10 percent poor, 28 percent fair, 49
percent good, and 12 percent excellent. Most of the crop, at 87
percent, is in the headed stage. This compares to 37 percent
last year and a five year average of 19 percent.
Possible Wheat Damage from Freezing Temps
From the UK Wheat Science Group -
April
18 Newsletter
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Kentucky Small Grain Growers Association
Establishes Research Endowment Fund at University of Kentucky
Group Will Match Up to $50,000 of Grower
and Business Contributions
Listen to the "ACROSS
KENTUCKY" Segment that aired 04.09.12.
03.28.12 - The Kentucky Small Grain Growers
Association (KySGGA) at its spring board meeting established a
research endowment fund at the University of Kentucky (UK) to
ensure the advancement of production research crucial to
Kentucky’s grain farmers.
“To date we have directed nearly $2 million
toward small grain research, and we expect that sum will
continue to grow in the future,” said Don Halcomb, chairman of
the Kentucky Small Grain Promotion Council. “Establishment of
this research fund, however, will guarantee that small grain
research will continue to be a priority at the University of
Kentucky. Our leadership has been extremely pleased with the
quality of research conducted at UK, and growers have benefited
greatly from the results. The fund will work only to improve our
successful partnership.”
Individual growers and businesses may donate to
the fund, and KySGGA will match the sum of donations up to
$50,000. In addition to cash, growers and businesses may make an
above the line deductible donation of grain. Donations should be
made directly to the University of Kentucky College of
Agriculture for the Kentucky Small Grains Growers Association
Research Endowment. Checks can be mailed to:
University of Kentucky College of Agriculture
Marci Hicks, Director of Development
E S Good Barn
1451 University Drive
Lexington, KY 40546-0097
For more information on how to make a gift of
grain, contact Marci Hicks at 859.257.7200.
For more information about the fund, please
contact KySGGA Executive Director Laura Knoth at
1.800.326.0906 or
laura@kysmallgrains.org.
Fusarium Head Blight Update
Don Hershman, Extension Plant Pathologist, University of Kentucky
April 30 2012 - The FHB risk across the state
continues to be very low. Most fields have now escaped infection
due to advanced stage of development. Late infections of the
virus disease, barley yellow dwarf, and leaf rust are evident in
many fields; the latter disease only in fields planted to a leaf
rust-susceptible variety that was not treated with a fungicide.
Some freeze damage is evident across the state, but the extent
of damage appears to be minimal, overall.
For more details, go to the FHB Risk
Assessment Tool at
http://www.wheatscab.psu.edu/riskTool_2012.html
Sign up for Head Scab Alerts at
http://scabusa.org/fhb_alert.php.
Alerts are sent out
to one’s cell phone or e-mail, depending upon the user’s preference.
Frequency and timing of alerts depends upon a given area’s risk for
serious scab problems — which obviously varies, depending upon
environmental conditions and crop stage.
Keep up with Wheat Production Issues
 The
University of Kentucky provides a number of resources to keep
growers "in the know" during the wheat growing season. Make sure
to check them out today:
UK Wheat Science Newsletter
UK Grain Crops Update
UK Grain Crops Extension HOME
KySGGA Looks to Recharge Research
KySGGA leadership met recently and had a
brainstorming session about the future direction of wheat and small
grain research that will benefit Kentucky producers. As a result,
the association is looking to expand the scope of research conducted
and reach out to additional institutions for ideas.
Call for proposals will be going out to
researchers within the next month. KySGGA Board and Promotion
Council members will consider research at its August 9 meeting.
To view the most recent round of funded projects
and results of the previous year,
click here.
KySGGA Featured for Support of Climate
Change Research
 |
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Dave Van Sanford and graduate
student Katie Russell
are working on a KySGGA research project which looks
at how climate change my impact wheat production
in Kentucky. |
Don Halcomb, chairman of the
KySGGA Promotion Council, shares why climate change is a
concern for his operation. |
In its Spring 2012 issue, University of
Kentucky's "the mAGazine" featured how staff are focusing on
climate changes issues. KySGGA and its leadership sought to fund
research on the topic at UK, and it's receiving quite a bit of
attention.
Read the article.
Reports from the Climate Change and Small Grains Production Workshop
The following report, presentations and
recordings are from the Climate Change and Kentucky Small Grains
Production Workshop held on February 20 at the University of
Kentucky. KySGGA was a sponsor of the event and is currently
funding research led by Dr. David Van Sanford which is looking
at the impact climate change may have on the future of Kentucky
small grain production.
Policy News from NAWG
Additional News
KKySGGA
News Archives |
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Kentucky
Wheat Facts
Kentucky farmers
seeded an estimated 600,000 acres to winter wheat during
the fall of 2011 for harvest in 2012.
In 2011, the
Kentucky farmers harvested
30.8 million bushels of winter wheat
valued at $203 million. This was the largest
wheat crop in Kentucky on record.
In 2010, Kentucky
wheat brought
$83.6 million in cash receipts.
Source:
Kentucky Field Office of the USDA’s National
Agricultural Statistics Service
Soft red winter
wheat is grown in Kentucky. It is best suited for cakes,
pastries, cookies, crackers and cereals. All-purpose
flour is a mix of soft and hard wheat flours. There are
a number of mills and bakeries located in Kentucky due
to the close proximity of their raw ingredients.
Kentucky farmers
also produce about
600 thousand bushels of barley annually.
Rice, rye, oats, grain sorghum and triticale
are also produced in the state, but production
is not monitored.
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2010-2011 Research Results
Review the results of research conducted in the 2010-2011
growing season.
KySGGA is a member of the
Kentucky
Livestock Coalition
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