Field Crops

Ohio Crop Weather – April 1, 2024

Cloudy and Cool at Season’s Start

Cloudy and cool conditions prevailed across the State as farmers began early-season field activities, according to Ben Torrance, State Statistician, USDA NASS, Ohio Field Office. Topsoil moisture conditions were rated 1 percent very short, 6 percent short, 69 percent adequate, and 24 percent surplus. Statewide, the average temperature for the week ending on March 31 was 46.6 degrees, 1.6 degrees above normal. Weather stations recorded an average of 0.81 inches of precipitation, 0.05 inches above average. There were 2.1 days suitable for fieldwork during the week ending March 31. Farmers began the season with fertilizer and manure applications and tillage. Recent precipitation left some fields saturated, with ponding reported. Oats were 1 percent planted. Winter wheat was 4 percent jointed and winter wheat condition was 67 percent good to excellent. In southern counties, stone fruit and pear trees were in bloom and fruiting plants began to emerge from dormancy. Hay fields were greening, supported by moderate temperatures and adequate precipitation. This is the first weekly crop and weather report of the 2024 season. A series of weekly crop progress and condition reports will be published each Monday at 4:00 p.m. ET throughout the crop season. The reports will cover planting and harvesting activities, crop development, weather data, and timely crop management information provided by farmers, USDA, and Ohio State University experts. For the earliest possible access, look for these reports on the internet shortly after the 4:00 PM release time.

Using Drones for Spray Application – Adoption Trends in US and Worldwide

Traditionally, aerial pesticide spraying worldwide has been done using conventional fixed-wing aircraft or helicopters with a pilot onboard. However, this is changing fast. Small, remotely piloted aircraft are being used to apply pesticides around the world, especially in East Asia (mainly China, Japan, and South Korea). For example, about 2,800 unmanned helicopters were registered as of March 2016 in Japan, spraying more than a third of the country’s rice fields. Although rice is the main crop treated with spray drones in Japan, use of drones to treat other crops such as wheat, oats, soybean, and other crops has been steadily increasing. According to one report, 30% of pesticide spraying in South Korea is done using drones.

Continue reading Using Drones for Spray Application – Adoption Trends in US and Worldwide →

Battle for the Belt – Season 2, Episode 1: Kick-Off

Year 2 of Battle for the Belt kicked-off with corn and soybean planting on March 25 at the Western Agricultural Research Station in Clark County: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0ukx_RvOrI&list=PLYlh_BdeqniJ4J-htcJ9Z5MjULk3E8Eqk&index=1

Planting conditions were good with adequate soil moisture; however, soil temperature was in the low 40s at a two-inch depth. Planting will continue at the Northwest Agricultural Research Station in Wood County and Wooster Campus in Wayne County when soil moisture conditions allow.

The Battle for the Belt project seeks to answer several questions related to corn and soybean planting date management in Ohio:

  • Which crop has the smallest yield penalty for delayed planting?
  • Can we adjust management practices to mitigate losses due to late planting?
  • How are insects, diseases, weeds, and other factors affected by planting date?

For both soybean and corn, earlier planting is promoted to maximize yield. However, Ohio has a trend towards a lower number of suitable fieldwork days during planting season. With non-favorable weather, the planting date window is often short and disconnected. Farmers often ‘debate’ which crop should be planted first – corn or soybean. The ‘Battle for the Belt’ project is a field research and extension effort to help address the question, what crop should be planted first – corn or soybean?

This is the second year for the project. Project updates from last year are available on the OSU Agronomy YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@OSUAgronomicCrops). The full playlist can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYlh_BdeqniI7zaFVi1VPCpZ26EQ_YTAT. It includes 33 videos with over six hours of content, addressing a wide range of aspects of this project.

To stay up-to-date with updates, make sure to subscribe to the CORN newsletter (https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/corn-out), subscribe to our YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@OSUAgronomicCrops), or follow us on Twitter (@stepupsoy, @OrtezCornCrops).

OSU Deoxynivalenol, DON, Resistance Screening Program-2024

This past year, with support from Ohio Corn and Wheat through the Corn Check Off, we established a pilot corn deoxynivalenol (DON) hybrid susceptibility screening trial. The objective of this project was to identify hybrids with partial genetic resistance to DON. Use these results with caution because this is our first year of data. This trial was conducted at three locations across the state that represent different production regions:  Apple Creek, Bucyrus, and South Charleston. While we had three different environments, the fact that the hybrids vary in maturity means that there is a chance that the weather was not conducive to ear infection and DON production by the fungus Fusarium graminearum during each individual hybrid pollination window. All locations had natural infection across all maturity groups, but to help increase the change of Gibberella ear rot (GER) development, and consequently, DON contamination of grain, we also inoculated plots at Bucyrus and Apple Creek. Since average DON contamination was not significantly different between inoculated and naturally infected plots at these two locations, the results are summarized, and hybrids are compared, by location. With a relative maturity spread of 18 RM, the pollination window at all 3 sites was 3 weeks from the time the first silks emerged until only brown silks were found.

We have been researching several management strategies to reduce grain contamination with this mycotoxin, but less emphasis has been placed on genetic resistance. Results from our previous work with a very small number of hybrids showed that partially resistant hybrids with naturally and consistently lower DON levels are easier to keep low than those that were highly susceptible. A total of 80 hybrids from 8 seed companies were included as part of this screening. While this is only a small subset of the hybrids that are planted in Ohio, the results below not only show the importance of hybrid selection but also can be used to help you begin to select hybrids with natural partial resistance to DON, or at the very minimum, avoid highly susceptible hybrids. With one year of data, we cannot guarantee that the hybrids with low DON this year will always have low DON across all environments. The only thing we can guarantee is that the high-DON hybrids are susceptible. This is an excellent place to start.

Read the complete post here

 

2024 Small Farm Conference

The deadline to register for the 2024 Small Farm Conference and Trade Show is approaching on March 28th,  we don’t want you to miss out on this great opportunity.

Register today at: https://go.osu.edu/2024osusmallfarmconference

Conference Details: https://u.osu.edu/gofarmohio/programs/new-and-small-farm-conference/

Winter application of manure in Ohio: what’s allowed?

Last week’s snow was a reminder that we’re still in the middle of winter in Ohio, with more cold weather yet to come.  Winter weather is a challenge for those who handle manure, and it’s equally challenging to know the laws for applying manure on frozen and snow covered ground.  Those laws vary according to several important factors:  whether ground is frozen or snow covered, whether a farm is operating under a permit, and the geographical location of the land application.  Here’s a summary of the different winter application rules and standards in effect this winter.

What is frozen ground?  Ohio’s rules don’t define the term frozen ground, but generally, ground is considered frozen if you cannot inject manure into it or cannot conduct tillage within 24 hours to incorporate the manure into the soil.

Farms with Permits.  Farms with permits from the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) or Ohio EPA operate under different rules than other manure applications in Ohio, and they cannot apply manure in the winter unless it is an extreme emergency.  Movement to other suitable storage is usually the selected alternative.  Several commercial manure applicators have established manure storage ponds in recent years to help address this issue. Continue reading Winter application of manure in Ohio: what’s allowed? →

Suspected 2,4-D Resistant Waterhemp Population Discovered

Source:  ICM News, Iowa State University

We know the evolution of resistance in waterhemp populations happens faster than new herbicides are discovered, so the recent report of dicamba resistant waterhemp in Iowa by Bayer was not unexpected. Corteva has now reported the discovery of a suspected 2,4-D resistant waterhemp population in Iowa. These reports emphasize the need to use herbicides wisely and diversify weed management tactics beyond herbicides, especially as more farmers rely on herbicide group (HG) 4-based postemergence weed control in both corn and soybean.

The particulars

In late January 2024, Corteva reported the discovery of a suspected 2,4-D resistant waterhemp population in 2022 in Wright County, Iowa. A Corteva employee collected two samples of waterhemp seed, one from plants in the field and one from plants growing in the ditch adjacent to the field. While greenhouse testing with seed collected from plants in the field did not confirm resistance, plants grown from the ditch population are suspected to be 2,4-D resistant. The communication reported that the ditch had a multi-year history of 2,4-D application to manage broadleaf weeds. Corteva will continue evaluation of the populations in the greenhouse and the field. If resistance is confirmed in this population, it will become at least the fourth report of 2,4-D resistance in waterhemp, joining prior reports from Nebraska in 2009 (Bernards et al. 2012), Illinois in 2016 (Evans et al. 2019), and Missouri in 2018 (Shergill et al. 2018).

Iowa State University screened populations of waterhemp against several herbicides in 2019 at their 1X rates (Table 1). On average, waterhemp exhibited 17% survival to 2,4-D, 5% survival to dicamba, and 4% survival to glufosinate (Hamberg et al. 2023). We are rapidly losing herbicide options for postemergence control of waterhemp.

Best management practices to slow resistance development

Now is the time to evaluate how to improve weed management in fields. While herbicides will remain the primary tactic to manage weeds, farmers can implement several best management practices to slow herbicide resistance evolution and improve control of weeds like waterhemp.

  1. Choose an effective herbicide program for the weed spectrum present on a field-by-field basis.
    1. Use full rates of effective residual herbicides and plant into a weed-free seedbed.
    2. Include overlapping residual herbicides and multiple effective herbicide groups in postemergence applications to provide longer waterhemp control. Consult manufacturers for specific tank-mix recommendations.
    3. Make timely applications and choose appropriate adjuvants, nozzles, application volume, etc.
    4. Scout fields 7-10 days after postemergence herbicide applications to evaluate weed control.
  2. Use a diversity of weed management tactics, including chemical, mechanical, and cultural options. Narrow row spacing, cover crops, more diverse crop rotations, and tillage are effective tactics to suppress waterhemp.
  3. Control weed escapes prior to seed production to reduce future weed populations and prevent resistance from spreading.
  4. Reduce influx of weed seed into crop fields by managing weeds in field edges and cleaning equipment between movement from problematic fields to clean fields. The detection reported here indicates the threat of weeds in field edges.

EPA issues “existing stocks” order for over-the-top dicamba use

By:Peggy Kirk Hall, Attorney and Director, Agricultural & Resource Law Program

A federal court decision last week vacated the registrations of dicamba products XtendiMax, Engenia, and Tavium for over-the-top applications on soybean and cotton crops, making the use of the products unlawful (see our February 12, 2024 blog post).  The decision raised immediate questions about whether the U.S. EPA would exercise its authority to allow producers and retailers to use “existing stocks” of dicamba products they had already purchased.  Yesterday, the U.S. EPA answered those questions by issuing an Existing Stocks Order that allows the sale and use of existing stocks of the products that were packaged, labeled, and released for shipment prior to the federal court decision on February 6, 2024.  For Ohio, the EPA’s order allows the sale and distribution of existing stocks until May 31, 2024 and the use of existing stocks until June 30, 2024.

Here is the EPA’s order:

  1. Pursuant to FIFRA Section 6(a)(1), EPA hereby issues an existing stocks order for XtendiMax® with VaporGrip® Technology (EPA Reg. No. 264-1210), Engenia® Herbicide (EPA Reg. No. 7969-472), and A21472 Plus VaporGrip® Technology (Tavium® Plus VaporGrip® Technology) (EPA Reg. No. 100-1623). This order will remain in effect unless or until subsequent action is taken. The issuance of this order did not follow a public hearing. This is a final agency action, judicially reviewable under FIFRA § 16(a) (7 U.S.C. §136n). Any sale, distribution, or use of existing stocks of these products inconsistent with this order is prohibited.
  2. Existing Stocks. For purposes of this order, “existing stocks” means those stocks of previously registered pesticide products that are currently in the United States and were packaged, labeled, and released for shipment prior to February 6, 2024 (the effective date of the District of Arizona’s vacatur of the dicamba registrations). Pursuant to FIFRA section 6(a)(1), this order includes the following existing stocks provisions:

Continue reading EPA issues “existing stocks” order for over-the-top dicamba use →