Field Crop News, Vol. 12:01, January 10, 2012

January 10, 2012    Vol. 12:01

IN THIS ISSUE:

• Weather Outlook
• PSU Extension Hosts 15 Crops Conferences
• Professional Crop Producers Conference
• Rootworm Resistance to Bt Corn
• Winter Grain Marketing
• Grain Marketing Webinar Series
• Newer Herbicides for Agronomic Weed Control
• Soybean Workshops a Big Success
• PA Soybean Contest Showcases Top Producers
• Manure Management Plan Workbook
• Upcoming Events

Weather Outlook — Paul Knight, Pennsylvania State Climatologist

A storm moving northeast from the Gulf Coast will spread rain beginning by midday Wednesday (southwest) to later Wednesday evening (northeast). Rain will be the dominant precipitation type though in the Laurel Highlands and the northern mountains will see the potential for a wintry mix of freezing rain/sleet/snow after sunset Wednesday as temperatures hover around freezing. As warm air arrives, precipitation will change to rain throughout the night with the higher elevations of the north-central having the highest probability of several hours of wintry precipitation. Rain will exit northeastern parts of the state by midday Thursday as a cold front crosses the region bringing lake effect snow showers to northern/western PA Thursday evening through the day on Friday. Temperatures will be near or slightly below normal for the weekend with most of the state seeing partly to mostly sunny skies. Areas close to Lake Erie, however, will receive more snow showers through Saturday afternoon. Temperatures will begin to moderate at the beginning of next week.

In the longer range, there is likely to be a substantial, though relatively short-lived, break in the mild pattern during February with several opportunities for wintry weather and perhaps a significant ice storm in a portion of the state. While very mild weather is expected to return in the first half of March, a shift to persistent cool conditions is likely during the latter portion of March and into April. It is during this period that a late season snow storm is possible and also a late freeze is a risk during the second half of April (particularly in southeast PA). Early indications point toward a rather warm and dry summer.

Penn State Extension Hosts 15 Crops Conferences around the State — Andrew Frankenfield, Montgomery County

Starting January 16^th and continuing until February 29^th, the Penn State Extension Crops Management Team will deliver fifteen Crops Conferences across the state. The conferences will provide pesticide, nutrient management and certified crop advisor credits, as well as key current crop management issues pertaining to: No-Till Crop Production, Integrated Pest Management, Forage Management, Crop Management, Sustainable Cropping Systems and Nutrient Management.

Registration for the 2012 Penn State Crops Conferences

Go to the following Web site http://extension.psu.edu/cmeg/events

• Penn State Crops Conferences Brochure

Thanks to our sponsors:

GOLD SPONSORS:
Bayer CropScience
Crop Production Services
Doebler’s PA Hybrids, Inc.
PA Soybean Association
Risk Management Agency/USDA

SILVER SPONSORS:
BASF Corp.
Dow AgroSciences
Growmark FS
Gowan Company
Susquehanna Bank
United Alosphorus Inc.

BRONZE SPONSORS:
Agchoice Farm Credit
Binkley and Hurst
Deer Country Farm & Lawn
DuPont Crop Protection
Finch Services Inc.
Four Seasons Crop Care, Inc.
Hoober, Inc.
Martin Limestone Inc.
Montgomery County Farm Bureau
Morrissey Insurance
Nachurs Alpine Solutions
Pioneer Hi-Bred
T. A. Seeds
Timac Agro USA, Inc.
Zieset Painting

Professional Crop Producer Conference — February 22–23, Greg Roth, Grain Crop Management

Mark your calendar for the 2012 Professional Crop Producer Conference at the Lancaster Host and Conference Center. This is shaping up to be a great program with some special speakers. We will have John McGillicuddy, an Iowa Crop Consultant, on hand for several presentations and a preconference workshop this year. He was a big hit at last year’s conference and is back by popular demand. We are also bringing in Evelyn Browning-Garris, a noted historical climatologist who has advised everyone from Texas cattle raisers to Midwestern utilities and Canadian banks about what the coming season will bring and will shed some light on 2012 weather here in the mid Atlantic. We will also have several sessions on Precision Ag Technologies, including Tim Norris, from Ag Info Tech in Ohio, who is a leading consultant in this important area.

The conference is sponsored by several of our key crop commodity groups: The Pennsylvania No-Till Alliance, The Pennsylvania Forage and Grassland Council, The Pennsylvania Corn Growers Association, and the Mid Atlantic Soybean Association in conjunction with Penn State Extension. This year the conference has a number of new features, including a preconference symposium, a spouse’s tour, an evening market simulation program, and a special Advanced Equipment Technology Program where industry leaders explain equipment innovations with some hands on demonstrations. This will be a great opportunity to network with other crop producers and consultants on the latest strategies for producing top yields in our state.

This year the registration has been reduced to $75 for this two day information packed conference. For more information on registering, exhibiting or being a sponsor of the conference, check out the conference website: http://www.professionalcropproducersconference.org or call (717) 635–2320 for more information.

Do Not Ignore the Resistance Threat from Corn Rootworms to Bt Corn Varieties — John Tooker, PSU Entomology Specialist

You may have heard reports that for the past few years that farmers in Midwestern states have been encountering populations of western corn rootworm larvae that are resistant to varieties of Bt corn carrying the Cry3Bb1 toxin, the active ingredient against rootworms in YieldGard varieties. Thus far, this problem seems to be concentrated in five states: Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, and South Dakota. Nevertheless, the problem is still relevant for Pennsylvania because we have fields in our region that share features with the problem areas in the Midwest. All problem fields were continuous corn for at least 4 years and used the same Bt toxin each year. And many, but not all, of the fields lacked appropriate refuge.

To learn from the experiences of our Midwestern counterparts and take steps to avoid similar problems here, I encourage Pennsylvania growers to be proactive and consider the following. First, all the problems in Midwestern fields occurred in continuous corn acreage, so an easy way to avoid problems would be to rotate fields to soybeans or another crop. Pennsylvania does not have populations of rotational resistant rootworms-that is, rootworm beetles that lay their eggs in soybean fields rather than corn fields so the larvae emerge in first-year corn-and we do not expect them to arrive any time soon.

Second, if you do not want to rotate out of corn and want to continue using rootworm-active Bt hybrids, consider switching to Bt hybrids that express a different corn rootworm-active protein than the one you have been using, including possibly stacked hybrids with more than more protein active against rootworms. This will provide a different mode of action for the field and delay the possibility of resistance evolution. To check the traits and proteins in different types of Bt corn, check this table produced by entomologists from University of Wisconsin and Michigan State: http://www.entomology.wisc.edu/cullenlab/publications/PDFs/Handy%20Bt%20Trait%20Table%20Mar%202%202011.pdf

Third, if the previous options are not possible, consider applying a soil insecticide at planting, the way corn rootworms were controlled prior to the introduction of rootworm Bt events. Unfortunately, soil insecticides are an imperfect solution because their efficacy decreases with time and Bt varieties targeting rootworms seem to delay development further into summer.

Finally, ensure that your fields fully comply with refuge requirements. Planting of refuges is required to help prevent the evolution of resistance and not complying simply threatens the viability of the technology. Any of these approaches will help break the path toward resistance development. The bottom line is that relying on one tactic for too long is a prescription for evolution resistance-change up your approach to stay one step ahead of this important pest.

Winter Grain Marketing — John Berry, Lehigh County

The trade anticipates the usual amount of news and price movements as we digest the USDA Crops Report due out first thing this coming Thursday morning. In the meantime let’s take a few moments to consider some of our individual crop production items.

We now have as good a handle on what it costs to grow our crops as we will likely get. All input invoices are at hand, yield is known, and we may have some desire to do a little math to calculate our 2011 break-even price. This number does us the most good if we use it to start projecting our 2012 cost-of-production.

Using the C.M. Team crop production budget spreadsheets (http://cornandsoybeans.psu.edu/budgets.cfm) I calculate it cost me $4.20 – $4.60 to grow corn in 2011 and $6.80 – $7.20 for 2011 soybeans. I will analyze my production and marketing for 2011 over the next few weeks. For right now - I am focusing solely on 2012 returns. Without talking to many suppliers about my 2012 needs I am penciling in a 10% increase in input costs (just to get started). So, for 2012 my break-even is roughly $4.62 – $5.06 for corn, and for soybean we will break-even at $7.48 – $7.92. I do these numbers at this time just to get a feel for what market prices will return net income.

Given today’s grain prices - are there opportunities for locking in a profit?

I believe current cash bids for 2012 harvest exceed these break-even levels and I am encouraging growers to consider individual financial need and risk tolerance as we get the 2012 grain marketing season underway.

Grain Marketing Webinar Series Starts January 18, 2012! — John Berry, Lehigh County

A fast paced, fact based interactive webinar series has been designed to keep you informed on the current state of the corn and soybean markets on the East Coast. In addition to the sharing of market news and trends, this educational series features a “marketing strategy lesson” twice each month.

An additional component of this activity that many farmers enjoy is the ability to participate in the Commodity Challenge market simulation. We have a specific Challenge set up for webinar participants. The Commodity Challenge is a time tested, web based grain marketing “competition”. Farmers have the opportunity to practice marketing strategies without really risking anything put their pride. Anyone interested in participating in this excellent educational series can start their subscription at any time.

Each participant receives:

• Access to the twice monthly interactive webinars
• Access to recorded and archived webinars for review at any time
• Use of the exclusive Commodity Challenge marketing game for this series
• Opportunity to compete for the Commodity Challenge awards
• John Hall’s weekly grain market commentary delivered via email

For additional program details and registration information check http://goo.gl/mqQS2

Newer Herbicides for Agronomic Weed Control, 2012 — Dwight Lingenfelter and Bill Curran, PSU Weed Science

Authority XL 70WG (sulfentrazone + chlorimuron; groups 14 and 2 herbicides; FMC) is a premix of the active ingredients in Authority and Classic for use in soybeans and is similar to the old Canopy XL. Authority XL contains a higher rate of sulfentrazone than Canopy XL, so it should provide improved residual control of horseweed and eastern black nightshade, while also controlling or suppressing lambsquarters, pigweed, mustards, velvetleaf, and ragweed. In a two-pass system, apply 3.2 oz/A (typical medium soil rate) followed by glyphosate (RR soybeans) or Ignite (LL soybeans) as an in-crop application. The typical medium soil rate for full season control is 6.5 oz/A. Authority XL can be applied in the fall or at soybean planting time as a preplant or preemergence treatment. Be cautious of crop rotation restrictions: in general: wheat- 4 months, field corn-10 months, and alfalfa-12 months. Higher soil pH greatly increases re-cropping intervals.

Axial Star 1.15EC (pinoxaden + fluroxypyr; groups 1 and 4 herbicides; Syngenta) is a premix of the active ingredients in Axial and Starane for use in wheat and barley. The use rate is 16.4 fl oz/A and can be applied from 2-leaf to pre-boot stage. It has activity on some annual grasses, especially annual ryegrass (not ACCase/group 1-resistant populations), and a few broadleaves such as common chickweed. However, since it contains a low rate of Starane (8 fl oz), the broadleaf weed control spectrum is limited and will likely need to be tank-mixed to enhance control. Axial Star has a 4 month plant-back to soybeans, so it could be used in double crop systems.

Kixor (BASF) is the active ingredient called saflufenacil, a PPO-inhibitor herbicide and much of the interest in Kixor in our region has been focused on the potential burndown activity of saflufenacil for glyphosate-resistant horseweed (marestail) in no-till soybean. Kixor provides some short residual activity on several broadleaf weeds including pigweed, lambsquarters, and nightshade but will not control grasses. BASF has developed prepackaged herbicide mixtures to broaden the weed control spectrum. These products will primarily be used as pre, “setup” herbicides since they typically will be used in a planned pre followed by post herbicide program. Saflufenacil-containing products for 2012 include:

• Sharpen (saflufenacil alone; group 14 herbicide) can be used in field corn, soybeans or small grains. The use rate in corn is 2–3 fl oz/A and in no-till soybean it is 1–2 fl oz/A.
• Verdict [saflufenacil + dimethenamid—P (Outlook); groups 14 and 15 herbicides] can be used in corn and soybeans as a burndown/pre and this premix provides some annual broadleaf and grass residual activity but at the labeled rate, post herbicides will likely be necessary to control escapes. The typical medium-soil use rate is 13 fl oz/A for corn and 5–10 fl oz/A for no-till soybean. The lower use rates in soybeans results in less residual activity.
• Optill [saflufenacil + imazethapyr (Pursuit); groups 14 and 2 herbicides] is designed as a “setup” herbicide for use in no-till soybeans but it will likely need to be followed by glyphosate or other post herbicides. The targeted use rate is 2 oz/A. Optill Pro is a co-pack of Optill (2 oz/A) and Outlook (10 fl oz/A).

Permit Plus 74WDG (halosulfuron + thifensulfuron; group 2 herbicides; Gowan) contains two ALS-inhibitor herbicide active ingredients found in Permit and Harmony for use in field corn and STS soybean varieties. The addition of thifensulfuron to Permit allows for a broader spectrum of control and especially, lambsquarters postemergence. Permit Plus can be applied postemergence in corn at 0.75 oz/A and pre or post in STS soybeans at 0.75 to 1.5 oz/A. Permit Plus can be tank-mixed with other products for additional control.

Pulsar 1.67EC (dicamba + fluroxypyr; group 4 herbicides; Syngenta) is a premix of two plant growth regulator herbicides found in Clarity and Starane for postemergence use in wheat and barley. Apply Pulsar at 12.5 fl oz/A in fall-seeded wheat or barley up to jointing stage for activity on certain broadleaves including wild buckwheat, mustards, and common chickweed. Pulsar can be tank-mixed with other herbicides to improve control spectrum.

Realm Q 38.8WDG (rimsulfuron + mesotrione; groups 2 and 27 herbicides; DuPont) contains the active ingredients in Resolve and Callisto and the corn safener (isoxadifen) for postemergence use in field corn. The safener does not totally eliminate potential crop injury, just lessens the impact. For best results, apply Realm Q at 4 oz/A when weeds are small and prior to corn reaching 12 inches tall. Make sure to include necessary adjuvants. It typically controls foxtail, fall panicum, large crabgrass, lambsquarters, ragweed, pigweed, and velvetleaf but can be tank-mixed with glyphosate, Ignite, or included in other post herbicide programs to improve weed control spectrum.

Warrant 3CS (acetochlor; group 15 herbicide; Monsanto) contains encapsulated acetochlor (Harness) and is designed to be used postemergence in soybeans and corn to provide residual control of later-emerging annual weeds with greater crop safety. It provides residual control of foxtails, panicum, crabgrass, lambsquarters, pigweed, smartweed, and black nightshade. Warrant does NOT control emerged weeds so it must be tank-mixed with glyphosate (RR soybeans or corn) or Ignite (LL soybeans or corn) to control existing weeds. The typical use rate is 1.5 qt/A when applied in soybeans at V2–V3 stage or in corn up to 30 inch tall.

Soybean Workshops a Big Success — Greg Roth, Grain Crop Management and Del Voight, Lebanon County

In December, several of us participated in four soybean workshops co-sponsored by The Pennsylvania Soybean Promotion Board. It was a great opportunity for us, as well as the 140 soybean producers that attended to share 2011 experiences and research results. We reviewed soybean and corn enterprise budgets and noted that while sometimes returns are higher with corn, there are often benefits to soybeans that make them an important part of the crop rotation. The N credit to corn, the rotation effect on corn yields, the drought tolerance of soybeans and the fact that corn gets planted more timely on farms that grow soybeans are several examples. Reduced drying, grain storage and hauling costs are other benefits of soybeans to a grain farm. Dwight Lingenfelter, John Tooker and Alyssa Collins joined us and reviewed weed, insect and disease issues. At the several of our sites, glyphosate resistant weeds and management were the focus of the discussion, but at the western site in Greensburg, producers still have the opportunity to invest in preventive management practices. Our insect discussion addressed several topics including the stinkbug, and how stinkbug problems were less than anticipated this year, but that a new stinkbug species, the Kudzu bug, is moving northward from Georgia and could pose a new threat http://southeastfarmpress.com/soybeans/kudzu-bug-chewing-south-carolina and combine with the marmorated stink bug that is our current focus. The disease overview reviewed some of the soybean fungicide work conducted by the Pennsylvania on farm Soybean Network, which showed a 2.3 bu/acre yield response in trials this year, but also emphasized the importance avoiding resistance development to fungicides with indiscriminate applications. Seedborne diseases, like the Cercospora fungi that caused the purple seed stain on many of our soybeans, was another topic. While these seed diseases can result in discounts for soybeans in the marketplace, they do not result in mycotoxins that are found in corn. We also reviewed the growth in soybean demand worldwide and the increasing soybean markets in the state that suggest all of us will be growing soybeans well into the future. We hope to continue the workshops in 2012 and look forward to taking them to some new locations.

PA Soybean Contest Showcases Top Producers — Greg Roth, Grain Crop Management and Del Voight, Lebanon County

The results of the 2011 Pennsylvania Soybean Contest have been posted http://cornandsoybeans.psu.edu/soybean/yieldindex.cfm. Entries were down a bit this year due to the unusual weather, but we were still able to document some top yield production in the state. The top yield this year was 86.28 bushels per acre, recorded by the Charles Farms, Inc. from Lancaster County. They were one of four entrants that produced more than 80 bushels per acre this year. This year the contest also recognized top yields from farms in the West Tier and Central Tier regions of the state. The top yield in the West Tier was recorded by Rick Telez from Lawrence County with a yield of 76.39 bushels per acre while in the Central Tier, David McLaughlin topped the contest with a yield of 65.68 bushels per acre.

These top yields reflect the top management of our producers and the genetics available to them. Management practices used by the soybean contest entrants tend to reflect some of the results from agronomic research studies in that top yields can be produced with a range of seeding rates and row spacings and that soybeans are tolerant of delayed planting through the end of May. Soybeans are also an ideal no-till crop and this is reflected by the 83% of the entries that were no-till. Our producers in the contest are also following some of the national trends, moving to more planters (78%) compared to drills (22%). Many producers are opting for the planters with split rows as 56% of the entrants were using rows from 11 to 20 inches. Only 33% of the entrants applied a fungicide, which likely reflects the lower disease pressure this year and the conscious effort many producers make at using and integrated pest management approaches on their soybeans.

Manure Management Plan Workbook — Mike Fournier, Bucks County

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has finally released their new Manure Management Plan Workbook. To refresh your memory, according to PA DEP regulations, any farm that has livestock is supposed to have a Manure Management Plan. This has been on the books since the 1970’s, but enforcement has been pretty much complaint driven.

Who these guidelines pertain to:

A. All farms that generate or use manure, regardless of the size of the farm, including farms that:

1. Pasture livestock or poultry, or
2. Maintain an Animal Concentration Area (barnyard, exercise lot, or feedlot), or
3. Apply manure to their crop fields

B. Farms that are defined as CAOs (Concentrated Animal Operations) or CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) need to follow a different, more detailed Nutrient Management Planning process.

General manure management requirements for farms generating or using manure:

• A. Develop a written Manure Management Plan
• B. The DEP Manure Management Manual provides a standardized process for developing these written plans. An alternative plan format can be used if approved by DEP
• C. The planner does not need to be a Certified Nutrient Management Planner (the farmer can write his/her own plan)
• D. The manure management plan written for these operations does not need to be submitted for review and approval, these plans just need to be retained on site
• E. The farm must be managed consistent with the manure management plan

The workbook and more information can be found at: http://panutrientmgmt.cas.psu.edu/

Many Conservation Districts and Extension offices will be holding workshops to help farmers prepare their manure management plans. Contact your local county office for details.

Upcoming Events

County Pesticide Update Meetings for January-March

http://extension.psu.edu/cmeg/documents/2012-pesticide-update-trainings.pdf

Pennsylvania Agronomic Education Conference, January 17–18

Penn Stater Conference Center, State College

The Pennsylvania Agronomic Education Conference is a winter tradition for Pennsylvania’s agronomy industry. This two-day educational event provides technical information for all aspects of crop production and allows industry, academia and state agency representatives to network and discuss the newest technologies and systems you can use when advising your Pennsylvania crop producer clientele.

New this year, will be the inclusion of The Fertilizer Institute’s Fertilizer Quality and Blend School. On Wednesday, January 18, participants can attend this four hour session discussing quality assurance, material selection, formulation, maximizing efficiency, compliance and plant operations. A must for anyone with daily responsibilityof fertilizer handling and blending!

Questions? Contact Amy Bradford at 717–651–5920 or abradford@pennag.com.

Contributors: County Educators: Andrew Frankenfield (Montgomery), Mena Hautau (Berks), Joel Hunter (Crawford) John Rowehl (York), Jeff Graybill, (Lancaster) Department of Crop and Soil Sciences: Bill Curran and Dwight Lingenfelter (Weed Management) Greg Roth (Grain Crop Management), Sjoerd Duiker (Soils), Department of Entomology, John Tooker.

Editor:Mike Fournier (Bucks)

Real time pest and heat unit activity: http://agsci.psu.edu/news/spotlight/pa-pipe

Calendar of Events: http://extension.psu.edu/cmeg/events

If you have any questions or would like to suggest a topic, please contact your local Extension Educator.

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If you have problems subscribing or wish to cancel your subscription, please contact Lisa Crytser by e-mail at lac8@psu.edu or by phone at 814-865-2543.

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