Farm Scene

Drier than expected!

 The 2000-01 crop season is drawing to a close.  There are only a few fields of late-season chickpeas, lentils, spring wheat, and barley left to harvest.

 Overall, the crop season was abundantly friendly to some and not so friendly to others--all determined by Mother Nature's rainfall patterns and moisture  availability.  With a few exceptions, the low- to mid-elevations experienced severe crop yield loss while some mid- to high elevations have done somewhat better.  Overall, county yield levels for all crops will fall significantly below the five-year average.

 On a brighter note, the UI aphid suction trap located at the Tammany McGregor Company plant shows that all aphid flights and numbers have been down for the season.

 The dryer season also lessened the incidence of foliar crop diseases with the exception of chickpea blight, which was a highly significant problem in area fields.  Fortunately, due to the efforts of the Idaho/Washington Pea and Lentil Council and Syngenta, Inc., the fungicide "Quadris" received an emergency clearance for use from the Idaho State Department of Agriculture.  The product appears to have worked well, although some fields required multiple applications to keep the disease in check.

 Another positive note for the season is the passage of an emergency farm bill to assist cereal and oilseed crop producers.  A regular 10-year Farm Bill is in progress.

 The price of grain is higher than last year and prices are expected to inch up a little more.  The August issue of "Doanes Agricultural Report" encourages producers to store most of their wheat.  Prices are expected to improve this fall and winter.

 In the meantime, a "birds eye view" of UI cereal trial data and other information is presented in this issue of the "Farm Scene" newsletter.  I hope the information is of value to you during your fall planting decision making process.

Birds Eye View of Winter Wheat Varieties

 ~Club Wheat~

 Coda  A Washington State University club variety.  It has looked impressive in yield trials, is foot rot resistant (moderately resistant), and has good test weight and grain quality.  Coda shows average winter hardiness.

 Hiller A Washington State University variety, tested with average to better yield and average test weight among the club wheat.  It shows average winter hardiness and has excellent milling quality.  Hiller is foot rot susceptible.

Temple  An Oregon State University club variety that does very well in high yielding areas.  Tentatively, this is a good-looking variety.  Seed is available commercially.

Bruehl  This club variety from WSU yields well but has shown poor test weights and tends to lag behind other clubs in area trials.

Both Coda and Hiller produce about 5% on the average better yield than the variety Rohde in area yield trials.

  ~Soft White Winter Wheat~

 Lambert and Hubbard look good in north Idaho trials this year.  Hubbard (University of Idaho) seed is not commercially available at this time.

 Hubbard A University of Idaho cross between Hill 81 and Augusta.  Hubbard averages three inches taller than Lambert and six inches taller than Stephens.  It is resistant to stripe rust, moderately susceptible to dwarf bunt, moderately tolerant to cephalosporium stripe, and susceptible to cercosporilla foot rot.

 Beamer A Western Plant Breeders variety.

 Brundage a UI variety released in 1996, may have good yield potential in some areas of north central Idaho.  It has shown inadequate levels of stripe rust resistance in some years.  Brundage is susceptible to leaf rust, stem rust, and common bunt.  It has a low level of cephalosporium stripe resistance.  Brundage should be grown with a dwarf smut seed treatment.

 Westbred 470 is from Western Plant Breeders.  It shows good seed yield and test weights.  However, it is susceptible to stripe rust.

~Hard Red Winter Wheat~

 Boundary looks good in north Idaho trials and should produce well.  This variety does well under good nitrogen fertility.

 The variety Symphony continues to yield well.  Promontory has also looked good in yield trials.

 Delco, from Don Sunderman's program in southern Idaho, has performed very well and proves to be as good as, or better than, Boundary, Promontory, and Symphony under irrigated trial conditions.

 If you are interested in hard red wheat, a five-acre test plot could be in order.  Trial data for Delco hard red wheat is not available in north central Idaho.