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AgriPro Wheat Hopes to Make Waves with Norpro, Hanna, Knudson
By Tracy Sayler
While AgriPro Wheat continues to refine its Clearfield spring wheat varieties for release within a few years, the company is hopeful that its three newest varieties—Norpro, Hanna, and Knudson—will make
waves in the 2003 growing season.
AgriProWheat released Norpro last year. Joe Smith, AgriPro’s spring wheat breeder, says Norpro is broadly adapted for production in the Dakotas, Minnesota and
Eastern Montana, although variable weather in 2002 generally resulted in better performance in the southern and western areas of the Northern Plains, and more variable performance in the northeast.
Smith says Norpro is balanced for yield potential and protein, with medium maturity and good straw strength. It has good leaf rust and foliar disease tolerance, but is not tolerant to scab.
Hanna and Knudson are available for general release in
2003. Hanna is being billed as a replacement for the popular AgriPro variety Gunner, but with improved agronomics and broader adaptation. It is a standard height, medium-early
maturity variety with very high test weight, high protein, and pre-harvest sprout tolerance. It has fair foliar disease tolerance, is moderately resistant to leaf rust, and has very
good tolerance to fusarium head blight (scab).
“Hanna can be grown further south than Gunner,” says Smith. “It has about an 8% higher yield, and matures about two to three days earlier than Gunner.”
Knudson, named for Bob Knudson, AgriPro’s longtime northern business manager who is now retired, is a tall
semi-dwarf, with medium-early maturity, high yield potential, very good leaf rust and foliar disease protection, and very good tolerance to scab. Knudson promises to be the most widely adapted spring wheat variety
AgriPro has ever released, says Smith.
“It held up better to bacterial infections and ‘wet feet’ better than other popular varieties in 2002,” he says, “and
in some fields there was what you might call a ‘yield lean.’ Knudson has moderately strong straw strength, and high yielding fields may lean, but not necessarily lodge.”
Hot temperatures during critical stages of wheat development hurt yields in some areas of the Northern Plains in
2002, says Smith. Leaf rust infections occurred very early in some fields, and foliar diseases were heavy in
some areas. Bacterial infections could be found in Red River Valley wheat fields. Early plantings escaped scab
(Fusarium head blight), which could be found in northern growing areas of Minnesota and North Dakota.
Smith offers general observations of Northern Plains spring wheat production in 2002: “It was too dry in some
areas and too wet in others, but heat was a critical factor in many areas in reducing yields. Early-heading
varieties generally had an advantage, because they escaped the heat. Alsen did not do as well in 2002 as it did
in 2001. We saw a little more leaf rust this year on Reeder and Parshall than the year before. As well, the
performance of Gunner was adversely affected by early heat and leaf rust, but there’s still some interest in this variety for its scab tolerance, protein, and sprout tolerance.”
Smith says varietal performance varied considerably at AgriPro’s nine spring wheat testing locations this year
(one in S.D., three in Minn., and five in N.D.) For example, while research data results were discarded in
Belfield, N.D., because of drought, results were discarded from the testing site in Borup, Minn., because of
flooding. Best performance results in 2002 were at AgriPro’s Breckenridge, Minn. spring wheat plots location.
Table 1. 2000-2002 Over Year Summary Ranked By Yield-AgriPro Data
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Test
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Foliar
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Leaf- Rust
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Yield- Bu/A
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Wt.
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Prot.
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Head 2
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Ht.
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Lod.
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Dis.
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1-9
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Worth
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VARIETY
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00
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01
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02
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AVG
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LBS/ BU
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%
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1-9
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1-9
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1-9
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1-9
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01
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02
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1-9
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N98-0286
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77.6
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61.3
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47.9
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59.4
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58.8
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14.2
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5.2
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5.1
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2.7
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4.4
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2
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3.5
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3.9
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KNUDSON
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67.7
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61.1
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46.8
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57.1
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60.4
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14.4
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4.8
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6.1
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3.8
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3.0
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1
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2.0
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3.7
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MERCURY
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72.3
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59.7
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46.0
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57.0
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59.2
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14.5
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4.7
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4.7
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1.7
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4.2
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2
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2.5
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3.8
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N99-0107
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63.7
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62.3
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46.8
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56.9
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59.7
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14.9
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4.0
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6.7
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5.0
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4.0
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3
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2.5
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5.0
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NORPRO
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72.7
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57.8
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47.3
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56.7
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59.4
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15.0
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5.4
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4.8
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3.3
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3.3
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2
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3.0
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3.3
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HJ98
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64.3
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59.6
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42.8
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54.3
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58.4
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14.7
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5.3
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6.1
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5.2
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4.8
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4
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4.0
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4.7
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OXEN
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62.1
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60.8
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41.3
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53.9
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58.0
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15.2
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3.4
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5.4
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7.3
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6.6
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3
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5.5
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5.3
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IVAN
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72.9
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55.5
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42.2
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53.8
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59.4
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13.7
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6.9
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4.5
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1.5
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3.4
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1
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2.0
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3.7
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READER1
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66.7
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55.7
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42.6
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52.9
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59.6
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15.4
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3.9
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6.6
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4.0
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3.5
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3
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4.5
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4.6
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WALWORTH
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62.1
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57.9
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41.8
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52.8
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58.9
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15.3
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2.9
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7.1
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6.8
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6.2
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6
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6.5
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6.0
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LARS
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70.7
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56.4
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39.2
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52.7
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57.5
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14.2
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5.6
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3.8
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1.3
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3.6
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4
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3.5
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3.1
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DANDY
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64.3
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58.1
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39.8
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52.6
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60.0
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14.6
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4.0
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5.7
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1.7
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4.3
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6
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3.0
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4.4
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HAGAR
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66.9
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56.1
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39.4
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52.0
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58.8
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15.1
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6.5
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6.1
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2.7
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3.6
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2
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3.0
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4.5
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SAXON1
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65.5
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54.4
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42.1
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51.9
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57.2
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15.0
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5.0
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7.0
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3.9
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4.1
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2
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2.0
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5.4
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AURORA
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65.5
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55.5
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39.6
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51.5
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57.7
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14.1
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6.2
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3.6
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1.3
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3.2
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3
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3.0
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3.2
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RUSS
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63.5
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52.7
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43.0
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51.1
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58.4
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14.7
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3.4
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6.9
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5.7
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6.4
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6
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6.5
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5.0
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ALSEN
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53.8
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58.0
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39.0
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50.3
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60.9
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15.7
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3.9
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5.9
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3.3
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4.7
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2
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3.0
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4.2
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HANNA
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62.3
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52.7
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40.5
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50.0
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60.0
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15.3
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4.8
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7.8
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5.2
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5.4
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4
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4.0
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4.8
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PARSHALL
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59.0
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52.9
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41.7
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49.9
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61.4
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15.5
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3.6
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7.9
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3.5
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4.2
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5
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6.0
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5.3
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INGOT
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62.3
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54.1
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37.0
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49.4
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61.4
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15.1
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1.9
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7.7
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4.8
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6.6
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8
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7.5
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5.8
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GUNNER
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58.8
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51.1
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34.4
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46.4
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59.8
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15.7
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6.7
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7.8
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5.3
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4.7
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7
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7.0
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5.2
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GRANDIN
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55.7
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49.3
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35.9
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45.6
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58.7
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15.4
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3.8
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7.1
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3.5
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6.2
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8
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8.0
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5.4
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NORA
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52.8
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50.8
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32.5
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44.5
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57.8
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16.3
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4.3
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4.4
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3.0
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6.7
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3
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3.5
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5.0
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MEAN
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65.8
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56.5
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42.0
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52.9
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59.3
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14.7
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4.6
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5.6
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3.3
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4.4
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3.3
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3.6
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4.3
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NO. OF LOCS.
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2
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5
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4
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11
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11
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10
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10
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3
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2
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6
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1
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2
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9
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1Not tested in 2000, data adjusted for averages 2 Heading: 1= early; Height: 1 = short; Lodging: 1 = no lodging; Foliar disease: 1 = no disease
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As well as evaluating spring wheat varietal performance over the last three years, Smith also compares the three-year performance of leading private and public spring wheat varieties by economic return, using the
10-year average premium for wheat protein (see table 2). “Right now there’s little to no premium for protein,
but over the last 10 years, it’s averaged 44 cents. The premium is going to come back, so it should be factored into economic potential,” says Smith.
Table 2. 2000-02 Over Year Summary Ranked By Economic Return - AgriPro Data (Using 2002 Local Price and Ten Year Average Protein Premium)
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