Synopsis:
Additional acres of winter wheat that were on the ‘watch list’ have been taken out of production. Overall loss of acres is estimated at 10-15% across the area. Corn planting is over 40-50% complete into good soil conditions. Concern with rainfall to activate pre-emerge herbicides. Forage survival has been good for well managed stands. Still some fields of 2014 corn to be harvested. Remind growers to report any corn that has been harvested. Agricorp will soon stop accepting 2014 corn claims, although no firm date has been set. Agricorp has new flax production insurance plan.
Cereals:
Additional acres of winter wheat were taken out of production this past week, due to declining plant survival. This was thought to be due to poor seeding conditions (seed trench closure, seed placement, late planting) combined with the dry spring resulting in plant desiccation. Overall loss of wheat acres was estimated at 10-15% depending on area. Loss of wheat is increasing demand for additional corn seed. Advanced wheat is entering growth stage 31, and in need of weed control. Very little disease pressure in wheat. Discussion around broadcast seeding winter wheat into soybeans. Consensus from group was that this was quite popular for a couple of years but often results in more failures than successes. Broadcast wheat develops a shallow root system that is subject to over wintering stand loss due heaving and dry desiccating winds in late winter-spring. Slug feeding on seeds is also often a problem in broadcast seeded wheat. Spring cereal seeding is complete. Frost seeded spring wheat is starting to emerge.
Corn
Corn planting ranges from 30-80% complete. The dry weather is raising concerns of activation of pre-emerge herbicides.
Soybeans
A few acres of soybeans being planted with forecast of warm weather and good soil conditions. Some concern of soils drying out, with rollers now being used. Quite a few growers are selecting earlier maturity of soybean varieties, to get winter wheat planted. Very little yield penalty by this strategy. Concern with increased disease and SCN spread with more soybeans following soybeans, although very few growers are thinking of SCN except in areas where it is known to be a problem. However in areas like south portion of Huron county most varieties have SCN resistance/tolerance. Advance sales of soybeans are slow right now, with growers in the field (Bungee).
Forages
New forage seeding is complete, with strong sales of forage seed this spring. Winter kill was low, other than on poorly managed stands. Need to start thinking about alfalfa weevil that has been reported to be a problem in some areas of New York State.
Canola
Demand for canola seed a bit higher, although overall acreage is expected to be down. Need to begin scouting for flea beetles and monitoring for swede midge in emerged canola stands.
Nitrogen Management
Lower commodity prices and higher nitrogen costs this spring are helping drive increased interest in both split nitrogen application in corn and use of enhanced N fertlizers like ESN, Agrotain, Agrotain Plus, N-Serve, etc. There are web based calculators available for estimating volatilization losses from broadcast urea and from manure. for more infromation refer to the links in last years discussion ‘Central Ontario Crop Consultants – May 6th, 2014 minutes’
Crop Insurance Update:
- 750 Winter wheat damage claims to date with 40-50 calls per day in past week. Claims about 7% of insured acres to date.
- Growers with spring harvested corn need to be reminded to report acres. Agricorp will be cutting off claims in near future, although now date has been set.
- Agricorp has a new production insurance flax plan. Contact Agricorp, although it is not yet posted to website.
- Direct deposit; Growers are encouraged to enroll in direct deposit to speed up payments
- For Oats and Barley the deadline for seeding is May 31th in this area and May 15st further south. For all planting date deadlines see ‘Planting Deadlines 2015‘
- John Bell has retired. Growers that dealt with John in Grand Valley to Owen Sound area need to contact Agricorp contact centre with any questions.
June 15: Last day to report unseeded acreage.
June 30: Spring seeded final acreage reports due.
July 10: Premiums due
Bio security in and around Poultry and Hog Farms
The outbreak of Avian influenza in several poultry flocks and procine epidemic diarrhea virus (PED) and PRRS highlight the need to keep bio-security top of mind when travelling within the quarantine zone for poultry but also in fields around where poultry or swine are housed.
Other Business
- Quite a few new NMP for dairy, poultry, swine, goats and sheep
Source: Fieldcropnews