September 22, 2016
Rain not hampering harvest yet
By Jerry W. Kram
The rain over the last couple of weeks has been a nuisance to farmers but harvest is proceeding on schedule, says Mountrail County Ag Agent Jim Hennessy.
That’s not to say that area farmers haven’t suffered from the weather this year. The wet summer brought plant disease problems and whole crops were wiped out by hail in the southern half of the county.
Hennessy said that the early and late wheat and durum crops are good, but the portion of the crop that was flowering when rains hit in July was hit hard by the scab fungus. Scab can cause shrunken kernals, damaging test weight, but the more important impact is contaminating the crop with vomitoxin, also known as DON.
“Vomitoxin is the big topic right now,” Hennessy said. “Some guys are swearing they’ll never grow wheat or durum again. I’m sure they will put a certain amount of acres in. But some people are saying they are going to put in thousands of acres of soybeans. But that’s not the answer either, because in the north they didn’t get the soybeans in early enough and they may not make it.”
Hennessy said United Quality Cooperative held a meeting with producers to talk about the vomitoxin situation in Stanley on Wednesday.
That’s not to say that area farmers haven’t suffered from the weather this year. The wet summer brought plant disease problems and whole crops were wiped out by hail in the southern half of the county.
Hennessy said that the early and late wheat and durum crops are good, but the portion of the crop that was flowering when rains hit in July was hit hard by the scab fungus. Scab can cause shrunken kernals, damaging test weight, but the more important impact is contaminating the crop with vomitoxin, also known as DON.
“Vomitoxin is the big topic right now,” Hennessy said. “Some guys are swearing they’ll never grow wheat or durum again. I’m sure they will put a certain amount of acres in. But some people are saying they are going to put in thousands of acres of soybeans. But that’s not the answer either, because in the north they didn’t get the soybeans in early enough and they may not make it.”
Hennessy said United Quality Cooperative held a meeting with producers to talk about the vomitoxin situation in Stanley on Wednesday.
