Published: May 04, 2008 12:30 am            

Wheat tour will help answer questions

In the past several weeks, Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service educators — including me — have spent a considerable amount of time assisting producers with production decisions regarding inputs such as whether to topdress wheat with additional nitrogen, whether to spray insects present in wheat and of late, whether to apply fungicide treatments to wheat fields.

All of these management decisions have a direct impact on grain yield, but also will affect profitability.

Increasing values in grain crops currently are keeping up the pace with the fuel, fertilizer, insecticide and recent fungicide inputs farmers have been investing in with this current crop. With the 2007-08 wheat crop year nearing an endpoint, I would encourage producers to evaluate carefully their individual fields that may have production challenges, such as contamination from grassy weeds or production-limiting problems, that a lower pH soil can create to make management adjustments that may improve production efficiencies.

To aid farmers and landowners, Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service in cooperation with Oklahoma Agriculture Experiment Station at Lahoma will be conducting the annual North Central Oklahoma Research Station Wheat Tour on May 16. Registration will begin at 9 a.m. and a rotational venue of tours will begin at 9:20 a.m.

Included in this year’s program of activities, which will assist farmers with tough decisions that they will be facing in the upcoming production year, will be: “Determining a Correct Nitrogen Rate” presented by Bill Raun, Oklahoma State University soil scientist; “The Value of Lime Strips” by Hailin Zhang, OSU soil scientist; and a presentation by J.C. Hobbs addressing the true cost of fertilizer. Other program speakers will provide information on production topics such as wheat market opportunities, cropping options in wheat rotations, implementing soybeans in a wheat rotation, canola in a wheat rotation and a comparison of wheat varieties and their adaptability to various production situations and objectives.

To complement these topics, also on the program will be discussions regarding weed control in wheat, fungicide use in wheat, and wheat insect management that will be presented by an OSU agronomist, plant pathologist and entomologist.

A highlight to this year’s program will be a presentation by Shannon Ferrel, OSU professor of ag law, regarding legal liabilities of wheat production and wheat producers.

Lunch will be provided and is being sponsored by Farm Credit of Enid. Please RSVP by May 13 to assist with lunch planning details. To RSVP, please call the Garfield County OCES Office at 237-1228 or 237-7677 to reserve a lunch for you and your guests.

I, as are the other OSU Extension educators and area and state specialists, am excited about the opportunities and challenges that are currently presented to agriculturists in Oklahoma and truly look forward to the opportunity to visit with each of you about possible solutions to your production challenges that you will face in the 2008-09 crop year.

A complete schedule may be obtained at the Garfield County OSU Extension Office or may be accessed on the Web at: http://countyext.okstate.edu/garfield. Just click on “agriculture” and the North Central Oklahoma Research Station Wheat Tour.



Bedwell is Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service ag educator in Garfield County.