Miss America continues to be spot on Agriculture

Local radio station KNEB had a great story about Miss American 2011, Teresa Scanlan on their Ag News today. It is great to see a young woman from Gering, Nebraska speak and write so well about agriculture. Here are a few links you might like to read:

http://www.kneb.com/news/agricultural/8ecae285-0ce4-42fe-a729-24f65563a4a4

Here is the op-ed piece from the Hand that Feeds the U.S.:

http://www.thehandthatfeedsus.org/farming_america_Rural-Americas-Roller-Coaster.cfm

Hopefully, if anyone can inspire young people to look at agriculture and influence policy makers to see the importance of agriculture as not only a national issue, but a global issue as well. I hope she continues to be a strong voice of agriculture.

Great Job Teresa, we are pretty proud of you here in Western Nebraska!

Spider Mites

Spider Mites are showing up already. We scouted a field south of Bridgeport today and there was a very large colony found doing an extreme amount of damage to the crop already. This is the earliest that I have seen mites show up in the geography. This leads me to believe that we will have a fight against them all season. In this particular area they received a good shot of moisture last week and just ran the pivot over it this week. The colony was still very large. Contact a sales rep at Panhandle Coop and we will place you on our Inspex program and evaluate the crop. If an issue such as this flares up, a great deal of yield can be lost in a short amount of time.

Great moisture!!....

Over the last few weeks there has been a lot of moisture hit much of our geography. This spring has brought upon a lot of the same circumstances as what we saw last year. If you placed a large portion of you nutrients into the soil, receiving large amounts of moisture like we have may leach away some of your nutrients...especially nitrogen. What we don't want to have happen is the crop running out and reducing the yield. There are many different ways we can give the crop what it needs. One identifier would be taking tissue samples. From there we could identify what levels you are presently at and what we can do to fix the problem if there is one. If you wait until the crop shows deficiency, the crop has already lost some of its yield potential. A couple of the different ways you can doctor up the crop is by utilizing foliar products, injection through pivot, or side dressing. Our Inspex program is designed to identify what the crop is needing and then make the proper application via injection, ground rig, aerial applications, side dressing etc. Contact your Panhandle Coop Agronomist and have them put you on the schedule to do some scouting. (Interns and agronomists are in place to evaluate your crops)

Another issue that everyone needs to be aware of is the disease pressure that the cool wet weather can bring on. We have indicated some rust in the area on the wheat crop. This is the perfect storm to allow rust to negatively affect yields. In many areas, the flag leaf is just about to emerge from the crop. That is the most vital part of the plant that needs to be taken care of.

The perfect disease triangle: Pathogen, host, and climatic conditions. Take care of the crop.

Crop Scouting

As planters continue rolling, crops are emerging from the soil. There are many issues that can occur to a seedling and there are many things that can happen to the crop once it is up. From weeds, to insects, to disease...etc, a firm scouting program is highly advised. Between our Agronomists as well as the Interns, we will have people scouting the country side. Contact your agronomist and talk with him or her about getting on the schedule for scouting. In a very short amount of time an issue can come up and damage your crop in no more than a couple days. The work of putting the seed in the ground is just the beginning. Our scouting will also offer tissue sampling and identify what the plant really needs to achieve top yield. Ask your agronomist about our Inspex program, and work together to put more bushels in the bin.

Wheat spraying

I would like for everyone to pay attention to the tank mixes that you will be using on your wheat crop now. The conventional tilled wheat is showing to be passed joint stage now. A lot of the no-till wheat in the area that we are seeing is still in the safe zone but it will not take long before it grows past that. Read over your labels. There are products out there that can be sprayed up until flag leaf so there is still time to get the crop doctored up. Please read over your labels so you don't cause any yield loss to your crop. If you have questions about the stage of your wheat crop, contact one of our agronomists and they can take a look at it and identify what means of chemistry to put spray on.

Soil Temperature and Planting, Megalab

The average readings for the soil temperature is pushing up against 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Corn seed needs to be in the ground. Today a mild cold front is going to push through the area but after that, warm seasonal temperatures should move in.

If you have not paid any attention to your wheat crop, it needs to be done now. Our Inspex program will cover the scouting portion as well as utilizing Megalab and tissue samples to identify what the crop is really deficient in. The Megalab system will generate a recommendation tailored to you operation. We can then establish what measures need to be taken to adjust the nutrient uptake in the plant. The products can be applied by ground, aerial, or by fertigation. We have adequate moisture in the soil to build a crop so make sure you give it the tools to produce the highest yield for the crops potential. This system is setup for all the different crops grown in our territory.

Soil Temperature

Soil temperature is averaging around 45 degrees Fahrenheit still. This is an acceptable level to plant sugar beets yet but too cool for corn. This weekend looks to bring some low temperatures to the area again and may dip below freezing. The long range forecast shows next week to warm up and should provide a good week of planting conditions. We will continue to monitor the soil temperature. We don't want to chance the corn seed rotting out in the soil due to low soil temperatures.

Corn Planting

Good moisture hit our geography again last night. There should be adequate moisture to plant the corn crop. One thing everyone needs to remember is planting corn seed into the ground with soil temperatures less than 50 degrees Fahrenheit will not do any good. The seed will only sit there and if temperatures don't rise, the seed has the potential to rot and not germinate at all. Earlier this week the ground temperature was at 45 degrees Fahrenheit 4 inches down. These readings were taken on bare ground. On the no-till ground the temperature will be lower. There are a lot of acres to be planted this year but we want to make sure we do it the right way. I will continue to give updates on soil temperatures. Feel free to contact one of our agronomists and they can monitor your ground and give you a status report.

Editorial on Agriculture from Miss America 2011

Miss America 2011 is Teresa Scanlan. She is not only from Gering/Scottsbluff, NE community, but she was also a former employee at our Scottsbluff Grocery Store, Plaza Foods. This editorial came out on Friday, April 15th, when it was announced she was also going to be an advocate for agriculture, her state's number one industry, and the new spokesperson for "The Hand that Feeds U.S." Here is the link for that editorial from Fox News:

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/04/15/miss-america-teresa-scanlon-americans-stake-success-farmers-ranchers/

It is amazing to see an 18-year-old actually understand our industry well. But then again, she is an amazing 18-year-old woman. She represents Nebraska and America very well.

KNEB Radio Farm Director, Leslie Smith also had a story on this. Here is the link with comments from Miss America 2011!

http://www.kneb.com/news/agricultural/ca41c094-77ea-4d82-90fd-2317ab2bb008

Cold Weather Stress- Don't Plant Corn until it's Warm Enough

Here is another Agronomy Insight from Helena: Early Season Cold Stress

Phosphate Supply and Efficiencies

Here is a link to Agronomy Insights for April 2011 http://www.panhandlecoop.com/images/e0265401/AgronomyInsightsPhosphateSupplyandEfficienciesApril2011.pdf

Operation Coron

We are currently running our Operation Coron program to give our producer's the ability to finance a great product at a great price. There are great discounts on fungicides as well that will run until the middle of March. When applying the products together in the past we have seen great yield bumps. The two products compliment each other very well and work better together then as a stand alone. Visit with your Agronomist and get the program locked in before time runs out. Coron can be applied to all crops in our area and is a great way to manage your nitrogen and reduce loss through volatilization or leaching.

Weather

The past few days old man Winter has been around. The temperatures dropped into the sub zero range in many areas. The 10 day outlook appears to be bringing much more mild temperatures to the area. Now is a good time to be top dressing your wheat crop out there. Many stands in the area looked to be in bad shape and the wheat that is out there needs to be taken care of. While the price continues to rise, we need to get the most yield out of the stand that is out there. This is a great time of year to be putting down a shot of Nitrogen as well as some sulfur. Hydra Hume will help the nutrients that we place out there and assist in giving the crop a kick once the weather begins to warm.

We are only 2 months from what we call season.....when everything is going all at once. Utilize this time to get what you can done to lessen your work load when all the frost is out of the ground. Soil Sampling needs to be done to know exactly what you will be working with this next growing season.

Talk with your Agronomist at Panhandle Coop and make a plan to kick start 2011.