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2011 Kentucky Wheat Yield Contest
The 2011 Wheat Yield
Contest rules can be found on the Grain Crops
Extension website:
http://www.uky.edu/Ag/GrainCrops. Entry deadline is
July 24, 2011.
Kentucky Farmers Expect Larger 2011 Wheat Crop
 Kentucky farmers expect to produce 27.9 million
bushels of winter wheat according to the Kentucky Field Office
of USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. The forecast
was based on crop conditions as of June 1 and represented a 3
percent increase in production from the May estimate. The
expected 2011 crop will be up 69 percent from 2010. Yield was
forecast at 68 bushels per acre, up 2 bushels from the May
estimate and 2 bushels above the 2010 crop. Farmers intend to
harvest 410,000 acres for grain, unchanged from May but 160,000
acres above the 2010 harvested acreage. Of the 540,000 acres of
wheat seeded in the fall of 2010, the 130,000 acres not
harvested for grain were used as plow down prior to setting
tobacco or harvested as hay or silage.
Temperatures and rainfall were mostly above normal during May.
Major concerns include the flood damage and its effect on yield
and test weight. As of June 26, 64 percent of the wheat had been
harvested. The week prior, the field office reported 82% of the
crop in either good to excellent condition.
Winter wheat production for the Nation was forecast at 1.45
billion bushels, up 2 percent from the May 1 forecast but 2
percent below 2010. Based on June 1 conditions, the U.S. yield
was forecast at 45.3 bushels per acre, up 0.8 bushel from last
month but 1.5 bushels less than last year. Expected grain area
totals 32.0 million acres, unchanged from May 1.
Wheat Storage Resources
Wheat Disease Situation: What Went Right?
By Don Hershman,
Kentucky Pest
News
If you have been following some of my wheat
disease concerns this spring, you would be pleased to know that
wheat yields and test weights for fields harvested (so far)
throughout west Kentucky have generally exceeded all
expectations. Yields in excess of 90 bu/A and test weights above
60 lb/bu are fairly common. In addition, I have heard of many
fields topping the 100 bu/A mark. Everybody is happy, all the
way from the farmer to the miller to the end-use food
manufacturer.
Since FHB and/or leaf and glume blotch appeared
to be at significant levels in many fields, one could reasonably
ask, “what’s up with that?” I must confess I do not have all the
answers. But I think the good end result probably has something
to do with the unseasonably hot early June, which resulted in a
very rapid dry-down in fields. For about a week, temperatures
existed in early June that are normally experienced in late
July. I believe this rapid dry-down, in turn, reduced the
negative effects of disease. In essence, the crop “outraced”
diseases to the finish line, the result being that the impact of
the infections was far less than it otherwise would have been. I
also believe many fields started out with a better-than-average
yield potential. Thus, small yield reductions related to disease
development would not be noticed as much.
A large number of acres remain to be harvested,
so the overall state-wide result may not end up being as
favorable as I have indicated here. Still, I think 2011 will go
down as being one of our better years in terms of wheat yield
and quality.
Pesticide Permit Bill Approved by Senate
Ag Committee The Senate Agriculture Committee
voted June 21 to advance a bill that would overturn
duplicative and onerous new permitting requirements for
pesticide applications. The bill, H.R. 872,
will amend the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and
Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and the Clean Water Act to clarify
Congressional intent and eliminate the requirement for
National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES)
permits for applications of pesticides approved for use
under FIFRA. The bill was approved by the House of
Representatives in late March.
A January 2009 Sixth Circuit Court decision
said pesticide discharge is a point source of pollution
subject to additional regulation under the Clean Water Act,
necessitating the new permits.
The decision has been stayed twice to allow time for
government agencies to implement it. It is now set to go
into effect in October, though most departments at the
federal and local levels remain unprepared for the massive
paperwork boondoggle it will cause.
The Environmental Protection Agency has
estimated the ruling will affect approximately 365,000
pesticide applicators that perform 5.6 million pesticide
applications annually. If a legislative
solution is not achieved when the new requirement goes into
effect, farmers running afoul of it could be subject to
fines of up to $37,500 per day. “We are happy
to see the Senate taking action on this important
legislation,” said Wayne Hurst, NAWG president and a wheat
producer from the Burley, Idaho, area, in a NAWG press
release following Senate Ag’s vote. “Wheat
farmers work hard to comply with the extensive processes in
place to ensure the products we use on our farms are safe.
New requirements added by the Sixth Circuit Court would only
create paperwork for us and government officials without
adding any additional measure of safety for the public. We
urge quick completion of this bill.” H.R. 872
has achieved widespread bipartisan and bicameral support
from Congressional leaders concerned about increasing
regulation without environmental benefit and burdening
government officials and farmers with new and complicated
requirements in a time of tighter budgets.
NAWG staff and grower leaders have worked extensively over
the last year to educate Members and their staffs about the
problems presented by the Sixth Circuit decision and to help
formulate a lasting solution. The bill is now
awaiting a full vote from the Senate.
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