Thursday July 28 Ag News

OATS FOR FALL PASTURE OR HAY
Bruce Anderson, NE Extension Forage Specialist

               It’s almost August and fall is just around the corner.  Could you use some extra pasture or hay in late September and October?  Oats might be your answer.

               Oats may be one of our most under-used fall forages.  That's right.  Plain old dull oats.  It grows fast, thrives under cool fall conditions, has good feed value, and can produce over 2 tons of hay or pasture yet this year.  Plus, it dies out over winter, so it protects soil without causing planting problems next spring.

               To plant oats, drill about 3 bushels of oats per acre in early August for maximum yield potential.  A fully prepared seedbed usually is best, but you can plant oats directly into wheat stubble or other crop residues if weeds are killed ahead of planting.  Even flying oats onto corn fields severely damaged by weather or to be chopped early for silage can work, although rye tends to work better for flying on seed.  Avoid fields with herbicide carryover, and topdress 40 pounds of nitrogen per acre unless the previous crop was heavily fertilized.

               With good moisture, oats will be ready to graze about 6 to 8 weeks after emergence.   Calves and yearlings can gain over two pounds per day.  But be careful to avoid grass tetany on lush oat pasture; ask your veterinarian if you should supplement with magnesium.  Also, don't suddenly turn livestock out on oat pasture if they have been grazing short or dry pastures.  Sudden respiratory problems can occur.

               For hay, cut oats soon after plants begin to dry out following a killing freeze, or cut earlier if plants reach a desirable growth stage.  Oats can accumulate nitrates, so test hay before feeding.

               If you have good soil moisture, give fall oats a try.  Some of your best forage growth may still be ahead of you.

PROTECT NEW ALFALFA FROM GRASSHOPPERS
              August plantings of alfalfa work great, especially when you have moisture.  But few things are more frustrating or costly than having nice, new alfalfa seedlings eaten up by grasshoppers.

               So do something about it.  Begin by scouting for grasshoppers.  If you find more than 2 or 3 grasshoppers per square yard out in the field to be planted or more than 10 grasshoppers per square yard in field margins, treatment with insecticides probably will be beneficial.

               Treat field margins before new alfalfa seedlings begin to emerge to head off potential invasions.  If many grasshoppers are getting large, use the highest rate allowed on the label.          

               Also be sure to carefully read and follow all label directions.  For example, you might want to treat both the field and field margins.  However, while many pyrethroid insecticides like Baythroid, Declare, Renounce, Tombstone, Warrior, and Mustang as well as Lorsban, Imidan, Nufos, and Paradigm are labeled for controlling grasshoppers in alfalfa, some are not labeled for use on the field margin.  Be sure to check before spraying.

               Whenever using any insecticides, please be especially careful to avoid injuring bee and other important pollinating insects.  Some precautions you can take to protect bees include time of day when spraying, using less toxic insecticides, and avoiding areas with blooming plants.

               This could be a really good time to start a new alfalfa field.  Protect that investment with proper grasshopper control.



Current National Drought Summary
droughtmonitor.unl.edu

Despite heat and high humidity levels, parts of the Midwest received significant rain. Specifically, showers and thunderstorms produced at least 2 to 4 inches of rain in parts of the upper Mississippi Valley and environs. However, rain mostly bypassed some Midwestern locations, including the lower Great Lakes region. Outside of the Midwest, showers were generally light and scattered, although spotty rainfall provided local relief from hot weather in the Four Corners States and the lower Southeast. Late in the drought-monitoring period, coverage and intensity of shower activity increased in the Gulf Coast region as a weak disturbance over the Gulf Mexico moved inland and helped to focus rainfall. Most of the remainder of the country experienced hot, mostly dry conditions, leading to an expansion of short-term drought in the south-central U.S. and contributing to an increase in wildfire activity in parts of the West. Temperatures above 100°F were commonly observed early in the period on the Plains, but Midwestern temperatures above 95°F were limited to the southwestern fringe of the major corn and soybean production areas. Late in the period, heat replaced previously cool conditions in the Northwest, while temperatures fell to near- or below-normal levels in much of the Plains and Midwest.

Looking Ahead
During the next few days, an active weather pattern will feature the interaction between a disturbance in the Southeast and cold fronts crossing the Plains and Midwest. As a result, 5-day rainfall totals could reach 2 to 4 inches or more from the Mississippi Delta into the Mid-Atlantic States. Surrounding areas, including the northern and central Plains and the Midwest, could see 1- to 2-inch totals in a few spots. In the West, showers will be heaviest across Arizona and New Mexico, with most other areas remaining hot and dry. Elsewhere, lingering heat will be mostly confined to the lower Southeast, although hot weather will build eastward and return to the High Plains during the weekend.

The NWS 6- to 10-day outlook for August 2 – 6 calls for the likelihood of above-normal temperatures across the eastern half of the U.S., while cooler-than-normal conditions can be expected in parts of the Northwest and Southwest. Meanwhile, odds will be tilted toward above-normal rainfall in much of the Southeast, Southwest, and the upper Great Lakes region, while drier-than-normal weather should occur in the Northeast, Northwest, and south-central U.S.



Production Area Doesn't Affect Soy Phosphorus Digestibility in Pigs

Research at the University of Illinois is helping to determine the effect of growing conditions on the nutritional value of soybean meal. "The digestibility of phosphorus is the same in soybean meal grown in various regions in the United States," says Hans Stein, professor of animal sciences at Illinois.

"The chemical composition of soybean meal is somewhat dependent on the area in which soybeans are grown, but it was not known if there are differences in the concentration of phytate among soybeans grown in different areas," Stein says. He and Kelly Sotak-Peper, then a doctoral candidate, set out to determine whether any differences existed.

They sourced soybean meal from crushing plants in three different areas within the United States: the northern growing area (comprising Michigan, Minnesota, and South Dakota), eastern growing area (Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio), and western growing area (Iowa, Missouri, and Nebraska).

They measured no statistically significant differences in concentrations of phosphorus, or in the percentage of phosphorus bound to phytate, among soybean meal from the different regions. There were also no differences in apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) or standardized total tract digestibility (STTD) among pigs fed soybean meal from the three growing areas.

When microbial phytase was added to the diets to break down phytate, the ATTD and STTD of phosphorus for soybean meal from all growing areas increased by 24 and 22 percent, respectively.

"When you have ingredients that come from a wide variety of growing conditions, there's a risk that using book values for nutritional information will not give you accurate information for a given batch," says Stein. "What these data indicate is that an average value for ATTD and STTD of phosphorus may be used regardless of the area in which the soybeans are grown."

The research was supported by funding from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Soybean meal was donated by AG Processing Inc., Omaha, Neb.; Archer Daniels Midland Company, Decatur, Ill; Bunge North America, St. Louis, Mo.; and Cargill Inc., Elk River, Minn.

The paper, "Effects of production area and microbial phytase on the apparent and standardized total tract digestibility of phosphorus in soybean meal fed to growing pigs," was published in the June 2016 issue of the Journal of Animal Science. The full text can be found at http://bit.ly/sbmarea.



ASA Attends Risk Management Agency’s ‘State of Crop Insurance’ Roundtable

Risk Management Agency (RMA) Administrator Brandon Willis hosted a discussion about current crop insurance issues with the American Soybean Association (ASA) and other farm and lending groups last week.

Soybeans remain the second-ranked insured commodity, with 2015 liability of $24.3 billion. Corn is ranked first with almost $40 billion of total liability; wheat is a distant third with $8.4 billion. Cotton, almonds, rice, nursery, grapes, orange trees and apples round out the top 10.

Organic and specialty crop participation are growing rapidly; whole farm revenue protection now has policies in 42 states, with 50 percent of that liability in Washington, Idaho and Oregon.

The new Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO) gained little market share in soybeans, with liability of only $17 million. The yield exclusion (YE) option created in the 2014 farm bill likewise saw little interest, with only 5 percent of insured soybean acres buying the yield exclusion option. The largest percent of participation for YE has been for prunes, with 39 percent of insured acres.

Willis explained that the 20-year average loss ratio for the crop insurance program is 0.87, well below the 1.00 loss ratio mandated by law.

Willis also discussed changes to double-cropping procedures, which have been important to soybean farmers in a number of areas. Changes to double cropping rules will allow eligible double cropping acres to be based on either the greatest number of acres double cropped in two of the past four crop years, or the percentage of acres historically double cropped in two of the past four crop years in which the first insured crop was planted.

ASA supported these changes in December 2015 comments to RMA.



Mild winter prompts Syngenta to warn of early stinkbug threat to soybeans

With the record warm temperatures this past winter and confirmations from early entomologist reports, Syngenta encourages growers to monitor stinkbug populations as they actively threaten soybean yields from the South to the Midwest and beyond.

The NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information reported this past December to be the warmest on record in the contiguous United States. Although the warm weather El Niño brought this winter could provide some benefits to crop yields, it could also allow for an early onset of active insects.

Ames Herbert, extension entomologist at Virginia Tech, predicts the mild weather will result in higher-than-normal stinkbug infestations in field corn, cotton and soybean this season. Herbert identified the brown marmorated stinkbugs in small grain fields in North Carolina as early as May.

In southern Louisiana, redbanded stinkbugs threaten R2-R3 soybeans, reports David Kerns, extension entomologist at Louisiana State University, via the Syngenta Pest Patrol Hotline. He advises growers in the northern part of the state to prepare for treatment accordingly.

”With the mild winter we had it looks like redbanded has found its way back into the state” said Gus Lorenz, extension entomologist at the University of Arkansas. “I don’t want you to forget about the fact that these things are a little bit worse than our regular stinkbugs. They are a little harder to kill, they bounce back a lot quicker, they eat more and cause more damage in a shorter amount of time.” He reminds growers that the threshold for redbanded stinkbugs has been dropped from 9 per 25 sweeps to 5 per 25 sweeps.

While some stinkbug species might emerge sooner, the green stinkbug tends to become visible in the Midwest in July, according to University of Nebraska Extension. In states farther south, North Carolina Cooperative Extension predicts stinkbugs to reach peak populations in late August through early October, primarily in mid-September, which will affect late-stage soybeans.

Purdue University Extension explains that stinkbugs cause severe injury to soybeans by puncturing pods and sucking fluid from the developing bean, causing pods to form hardened, knotty spots of poor quality, or to drop from plants altogether.

“If growers aren’t keeping up with the latest pest updates, they could certainly be caught off guard if stinkbugs become aggressive this season,” said John Koenig, insecticide technical product lead at Syngenta. “Being proactive in preparing for stinkbugs and other pests is crucial to preventing yields from suffering.”

For protection against stinkbugs, Syngenta offers Endigo ZC insecticide, which effectively prevents yield loss from damaging insects. It provides fast knockdown and extended residual control through three industry-leading technologies, including a proprietary Zeon® concentrate formulation. It also serves as an excellent rotational product in an integrated pest management program and has excellent tank-mix compatibility.



Bunge Sees Farmers' Bin-Building Slowing

Though crop prices remain under pressure, grain trading giant Bunge (BG) doesn't see much more leeway for U.S. farmers to store away crops rather than sell them on the cheap, says CEO Soren Schroder during the 2Q conference call. "My impression is that increases in storage capacity have peaked." Towering steel bins have increasingly dotted the US farm belt, allowing farmers to hold back grain in hopes of better prices to come. Schroder says that with another likely combined record corn-and-soybean crop to come this year, US farmers ought to sell crops at a more-normal rate. BG's 2Q net income jumped 41% thanks to strong grain-trading performance. Shares, inactive premarket, are down 1.6% this week.

Meat Boom Seen Boosting Soybean Crushers
Bunge, among the world's largest soybean processors, expects to ride a wave of meat in years to come as packers boost production of chicken, hogs and cattle in the US and elsewhere, Schroder says. Soybean meal is a chief product made from the oilseeds and a key livestock ingredient. Meat-sector expansion is "at the core of our belief that we can grow earnings in a structural way," he notes. "That should be a story that is reasonably predictable for the next couple of years." In China, where soybean-processing capacity has outpaced demand lately, Schroder says the process will take a bit longer.



Cover Crop Survey Reflects Enthusiasm for the Soil-Saving Practice

Insight from 2,020 farmers from across the country reflected enthusiasm for cover crops and—for the fourth year in a row—found a yield boost in corn and soybeans following cover crops. Multi-year data from the survey shows the yield boost increases as cover crops are planted year after year, a revelation that points to an appealing long-term benefit of the conservation practice. The survey offers data unavailable elsewhere, providing a vital glimpse into farmers’ use of and perceptions about cover crops: Previous SARE/CTIC Cover Crop Surveys have been used by researchers and farm groups, and even cited in Congressional testimony.

The survey was conducted in March 2016 by the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program and the Conservation Technology Information Center (CTIC) with help from the American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) and Purdue University. The full report is available online at www.sare.org/covercropsurvey.

Acreage planted to cover crops continued its steady rise among survey participants, reaching an average of 298 acres per farm in 2015 and projected to grow to a mean of 339 acres in 2016. Those figures are more than double the acreage survey participants said they planted in 2011.

Yield Benefits
Corn yields rose an average 3.4 bushels per acre, or 1.9 percent, after cover crops, and soybean yields increased 1.5 bushels per acre, or 2.8 percent. Analysis of the survey data revealed that yield increases rose to 8.3 bushels per acre of corn after cover crops had been used for more than four years on a field. In soybeans, the average yield gain increased from 0.1 bushel per acre after a single year in cover crops to 2.4 bushels after four years of cover crops.

The modest average gains reported for 2015 are in line with agronomists’ expectations for a good growing season, says Rob Myers, Regional Director, Extension Programs for SARE at the University of Missouri.

“Cover crops really shine in challenging years, when the improvements they influence on soil moisture holding capacity and water infiltration can minimize cash crop yield losses to stress,” Myers notes. “In a favorable growing season, we expect to see less of a yield impact. However, the link between the length of time in cover crops and yield improvements points to the long-term benefits of building soil health.

“It’s also important to note that two-thirds of this year’s survey respondents agreed that cover crops reduced yield variability during extreme weather events,” he adds. “These farmers are taking the long view and recognizing that not every season turns out like 2015.”

Myers added that a mild surprise in this year’s survey was how many farmers reported a profit benefit from cover crops. Of the farmers surveyed, 33% found their profit improved as a result of using a cover crop, while only 5.7% said their profit decreased; remaining responses were split between those reporting no change in profit and those not yet having enough data/experience to evaluate profit impact.

More Than Money
“The vast majority of cover crop users report the most important benefits of cover crops to be improved overall soil health, reduced erosion and increased soil organic matter,” says Chad Watts, executive director of CTIC. “Though the yield benefits, profitability and resilience provided by cover crops are widely recognized by the farmers in the survey, the benefits they highlight most are long-term soil health impacts.”

Other highlights of the survey include:
-   Cereal rye was the top species of cover crop planted by survey respondents, planted by 82% of the group and covering 187,044 acres among the participating farmers.

-   A majority of respondents—52%—reported that their soybean yields always or often rise after a cover crop of cereal rye; less than 4 percent said their yields sometimes or always decreased after rye.

-   Cereal rye cover crops also proved helpful in other ways, with 82% of farmers reporting that the rye helped with weed management—including 26% who found it also helped with tough herbicide-resistant weeds.

-   Crimson clover was the most widely planted legume cover crop, while oilseed radish is the most common Brassica (mustard-type) cover crop species.

-   Farmers were asked what would help motivate other farmers to adopt cover crops or increase their use; the top-ranked response was tax credits, followed by getting a discount on their annual crop insurance premium payment.

-   Cover crop mixes are gaining popularity. In all, blends of species were planted on nearly as many acres as cereal rye among survey respondents. Most—61%—said they designed their own blends, while 22% rely on advice from their cover crop seed salesperson or crop consultant for advice on mixing species.

“This year’s cover crop survey brought more insight and new questions to the four-year survey effort,” says Andrew LaVigne, president and CEO of ASTA. “Understanding the opinions, influences and practices such as what cover crop users find important when they purchase seed will be extremely informative for crop advisors, seed companies, policymakers, agricultural retailers and other people interested in increasing the adoption and success of cover crops.”



Pioneer.com Relaunched with Improved Functionality and New Online Seed Guide

DuPont Pioneer has launched a new and improved pioneer.com website offering growers new tools to learn about the wide variety of products available to help maximize yield and with an improved ability to manage their accounts. The site has been updated for ease of use on any device, whether in the office or in the field.
   
“The addition of a new, easy-to-use online seed guide gives growers the ability to create custom lists of products based on relevant product details such as crop maturities, key technology traits and agronomic scores by geography,” said Drew Porter, director, U.S. & Canada product marketing, DuPont Pioneer. “These new mobile tools, along with support from the local DuPont Pioneer teams, are helping growers choose the best high-performing products to manage their farms profitability and efficiently, season after season.”

The interactive seed guide gives growers all the tools they need to choose products that perform well in their local area. Growers need only enter their postal zip code to find valuable information about every Pioneer® brand product. Information is detailed, local and customizable for each grower to help them evaluate the right mix of products for their operational goals.

Growers can log in and manage their pioneer.com accounts at the touch of a button. The secure site continues to give them access to programs like TruChoice® Financing deferred payment program, and allows growers to sign up for local information through tools like Walking Your Fields®, an electronic newsletter. Materials throughout the site have been reorganized to make them easier for growers to find throughout the year.