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News from the Minnesota Association of Wheat |
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WEALTHY NATION FARM SUBSIDIES GREW IN 1999 SAYS OECD In an annual report evaluating agricultural policy among its 24 member countries, the
OECD said support to producers had risen steadily in the last three years and was now back to the high levels of a decade earlier. "Low world commodity prices, and the resulting pressure they put on farm
incomes, led many OECD countries to introduce new measures or to provide additional support to farmers," it said. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) groups many of the world's food
powers, dominated by the United States and Europe, as well as its wealthiest industrial economies. The report said all OECD countries except Australia and Turkey raised their rate of farm support in
1999. In the United States, the rate of farm support increased to 24 percent in 1999 from 22 percent in 1998.
FAMINE-STRUCK NORTH KOREA REPORTS ANOTHER DROUGHT The official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said "drought and heat persist
in all parts of the DPRK (North Korea)". Rainfall has been only 20-30 percent of the average for this season, KCNA said. "Due to a long spell of drought and heat, paddy fields are parched and
rice-transplantation is suspended in some areas," it said. The agency added that maize and other crops had also been hit, that drought over several months was causing reservoirs to dry up and that
"no water is to be seen in rivers and streams". "Due to this drought, crops planted in spring could not sprout and crops are not doing well in this season," KCNA said.
NDSU AG ECONOMISTS: U.S., WORLD WHEAT ECONOMIES SHOULD IMPROVE IN COMING DECADE "The issue of granting China Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) has gotten a
lot of media attention in the United States lately, and the Global Wheat Policy Simulation Model we used for our study indicates import demand for common wheat will grow faster for China than for other importing
countries," says Won Koo, a professor of agricultural economics at NDSU and director of the Northern Plains Trade Research Center. Specifically, China's imports of common wheat may increase by nearly 100
percent, growing from 1 million metric tons annually to a projected 1.9 million metric tons annually during the 1999-2009 period. China may import even more wheat than this projection reflects if it reduces its tariff
on wheat to gain membership into the World Trade Organization (WTO), say Koo and the study's co-author, Richard Taylor, an NDSU research associate. Another region of the world where Koo and Taylor predict imports of
common wheat to increase is Africa, with North African imports growing by nearly 25 percent and Egyptian imports growing by nearly 35 percent during the next decade. As for prices, Koo and Taylor estimate that the
export price for common U.S. wheat will increase gradually from the 1999-level of about $125 per metric ton ($3.41 per bushel) to about $153 per metric ton ($4.17 per bushel). Durum prices should increase from about
$145 per metric ton ($3.96 per bushel) to nearly $199 per metric ton ($5.43 per bushel). Durum wheat production is likely to expand faster in Canada than in other countries during the 10-year period, Koo says.
Meanwhile, domestic consumption of Canadian western amber durum and Canadian western red spring wheat will increase, but Canadian exports of durum should increase faster than exports of common wheat. U.S. farmers are
likely to increase production of all classes of wheat during the 1999-2009 period, Koo and Taylor predict. The largest increase may come in U.S. white wheat, followed by hard red spring wheat. At the same time, U.S.
consumption of durum is expected to grow faster than consumption of other classes of wheat due to the increasing popularity of pasta products. The following additional highlights come from the NDSU study: a.
Common wheat production in the European Union (EU) may increase by only 0.4 percent during the 1999-2009 period. EU durum production may increase by nearly 5 percent, but EU exports of both classes of wheat should
decline.
NDSU STUDY: IMPACT OF DON MALTING BARLEY SUPPLY CHAIN Authors: Abstract: Web Site: Carol Jensen Aphid feeding can reduce the yield of small grain crops if populations are large enough, and these cereal aphids can also transmit BYDV, which
likewise can threaten yield. To minimize this double-edged production threat, North Dakota growers need to begin monitoring their small grain fields for aphids, say two extension specialists at NDSU. "Barley
yellow dwarf in wheat has been very high in Kansas this year, with incidences of infected plants sometimes reaching 90 to 95 percent in a single field," says Marcia McMullen, an extension plant pathologist at NDSU
who also coordinates the IPM program. "There's a good chance that the aphids migrating here will be coming in with the disease, because many of the areas they're coming from have high infection levels."
BYDV symptoms in wheat and barley include random patches of stunted, yellowing plants ranging from one or a few plants up to fairly large areas. The bright yellowing of leaves begins at the leaf tip and margins and
works downward and inward on the leaf. Under cooler conditions, leaf discoloration in wheat may have a purplish hue as well. Similarly, red leaf symptoms are common in oats infected with BYDV, McMullen explains. The
severity of an infection will depend on the number of aphids present, the percentage of virus-carrying aphids, crop growth stage and other factors. Late-seeded crops are at greatest risk. "Infection while the
crop is young and vegetative can lead to significant stunting and leaf discoloration. Infection at the flag leaf stage or after heading often is seen only as discoloration of the upper leaves," McMullen says.
"However, adverse growing conditions can aggravate symptoms and ultimately increase yield loss." The English grain aphid, corn leaf aphid, greenbug aphid and bird cherry-oat aphid are primarily responsible
for transmitting BYDV, says Phil Glogoza, extension entomologist at NDSU. Limiting the incidence of BYDV means trying to manage a disease by managing an insect--a difficult undertaking. Complicating the effort to
suppress BYDV is the fact that spraying to control aphids will also kill the beneficial insects that are aphid predators. "If you take out those beneficial insects, the aphid population may recover rapidly and
reach levels where yield losses from direct feeding of the aphids can occur," Glogoza explains. An aggressive approach for trying to minimize BYDV would be spraying with an insecticide when 50 percent to 75
percent, or fewer, of the small grain stems have at least one aphid present, although this guideline has not been thoroughly researched, Glogoza says. To prevent yield loss due to aphid feeding alone, research has shown
that spraying when 85 percent of the wheat stems have at least one aphid present is effective. "The 85-percent threshold is for tillering to head emergence," Glogoza says. "After wheat is fully headed,
treatment for aphids is rarely justified." If fields are treated early, close monitoring of the aphid population is recommended to determine if aphid populations increase, Glogoza says. Since insecticides also
kill predators and parasites, aphid populations can increase quickly without any natural controls present to suppress the population. It is possible for aphid populations controlled early to recover to threshold levels
before the heading stage is reached. "Other natural controls of aphids include fungal infections that occur during humid weather," Glogoza explains. "It is common to see these parasitic fungi affect
aphid colonies very quickly, sometimes in a matter of days. If weather events favor such natural control, scout fields before treating with an insecticide to determine if treatment is still warranted."
TIPS FOR SPRAYING IN THE DARK "The GPS swath marker will guide you and keep track of the
ends, where you have and have not sprayed and guide you back to where you stopped or ran out of solution." There's more good advice: |
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