"The use of cover crops, common in the eastern and central Corn Belt, are uncommon in corn-soybean systems in the Upper Midwest and northern Great Plains due to the short growing season and extreme fluctuations in temperature and precipitation within and across growing seasons," says Marisol Berti, the project's lead investigator and a professor in NDSU's Plant Sciences Department.
This project is a collaborative effort of 13 researchers. Eight are from NDSU, which is leading the project. The remainder are from the University of Minnesota, Iowa State University and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agriculture Research Service laboratory in Morris, Minn.
Read more about this grant and a grant for pest and disease research at NDSU Ag News.
With an increased interest in field peas in North Dakota, a team of NDSU Extension research specialists has updated and revised a field pea production guide.
According to the 2016 North Dakota prospective plantings report, produced by the National Agricultural Statistics Service, growers are intending to plant 640,000 acres of dry edible peas this spring, up 66 percent from 2015.
If all of these acres are planted, it would be a record high, with 30,000 more acres planted, compared with the current high of 610,000 field pea acres planted in 2006.
With the increased interest in field peas, North Dakota State University Extension agronomists, pathologists, entomologists and an agricultural engineer, revised and updated the NDSU Field Pea Production guide.
The farmer asking this question started his farming career in the early 1980s and remembers the low commodity prices and tough financial conditions in agriculture at the time. The fear was that the grain markets were going to return to many years of low prices.
As usual, simple questions often have complicated answers. My short answer to the question was, “Yes, it is possible to see high grain prices again, but it likely will not happen this year.”
This is the time of year when farmers are considering whether to plant winter wheat.
One of the biggest benefits to growing winter wheat is that it typically yields higher than spring wheat. Planting winter wheat can help producers spread out the workload. Even if the winter wheat crop suffers a significant winter kill, producers can plant another crop next spring.
Variety trials can help you choose which winter wheat to plant.
This algae often is found in stagnant ponds or dugouts with elevated nutrient levels. Live cyanobacteria are green. It turns blue after it dies and dries on the surface or shoreline.
Gerald Stokka, Extension veterinarian and livestock stewardship specialist, says symptoms of cyanobacteria poisoning can include weakness, staggering, difficulty in breathing, convulsions and ultimately death.
Tips for Preventing Cyanobacterial Poisoning in Livestock
With summer's hottest temperatures upon us, producers need to be proactive in dealing with heat stress in cattle, including:
- Identifying animals that are most susceptible to heat stress.
- Developing an action plan to deal with heat stress.
- Knowing when to intervene. A combination of factors, including temperature and humidity, drives heat stress.
Get help planning with our publication Dealing with Heat Stress in Beef Cattle Operations.
Photo by Carl Dahlen, NDSU
In 2014, North Dakota produced 17.1 percent of the total U.S. wheat production, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Statistics Service. North Dakota produced 347 million bushels of wheat, compared with Kansas at 246 million, Montana at 209 million and South Dakota at 131 million.
Four of the most popular wheat varieties in North Dakota are public varieties from North Dakota State University. Popular varieties grown in the state last year included Barlow, Prosper, Faller and Glenn. Of the spring wheat planted in North Dakota last year, more than 40 percent of the acreage was planted to these NDSU varieties.
"The newly released NDSU variety Elgin-ND has high yield, good quality and wide adaptation, so I expect it to be grown on significant acreage in the state in the near future," says Joel Ransom, NDSU Extension Service agronomist. With many top-performing varieties to choose from, NDSU is likely to have a variety that will work for most growers throughout the state, he adds.
Learn about NDSU's latest spring wheat variety trials.
Join us for the 2015 Research Extension Center field dayevents. allow our eight Research Extension Centers to share information with the public and producers on various projects under way at each center. The events are free of charge.
Photo: Langdon REC field day, 2014 (NDSU)
Timing is crucial when harvesting hay since it can affect the quality of forage. Plant stage and maturity, soil quality and damp weather conditions also play a role in hay quality. See Learn how to interpret the forage analysis.Once hay is harvested, get a nutrient analysis report, as visual appraisal alone is not sufficient.