Southwest Farm Press

Disease control ranks at No. 4 in Keys to Peanut Profitability

Wed, 16 May 2012 14:04:00 +0000

As the countdown continues to the No. 1 Key to Peanut Profitability, disease control comes in at No. 4, including the control of soil-borne and foliar diseases and nematodes.

New tool to battle mesquite

Tue, 15 May 2012 20:12:00 +0000

Jeffrey Stapper, Texas AgriLife

A new herbicide, Sendero by Dow AgroSciences, was discussed in great detail. This product has two active ingredients, aminopyralid + clopyralid, which means that it is not a restricted use herbicide and does not require a pesticide applicator’s license to purchase.

Rains jump-start cotton planting, but deep subsoil moisture critical in some areas

Tue, 15 May 2012 19:38:00 +0000

Robert Burns, Texas AgriLife

The forecast for Texas cotton remains mixed, depending upon which part of the state you’re talking about, said Dr. Gaylon Morgan, associate professor and Texas AgriLife Extension Service state cotton specialist, College Station.

AgriLife Extension specialist: Weed resistance could call for a more diversified herbicide plan

Tue, 15 May 2012 16:58:00 +0000

Kay Ledbetter, Texas AgriLife

Producers who rely on glyphosate-tolerant or “Roundup-resistant” crops probably should be expanding their weed-control toolbox, said Dr. Paul Baumann, Texas AgriLife Extension Service state weed specialist.

Record cotton stocks overwhelm market

Tue, 15 May 2012 16:25:00 +0000

Cotton futures prices are starting to reflect a projected record worldwide surplus in supply. December 2012 futures prices had dropped from 97 cents per pound in February to around 77 cents in early May.

T. Boone Picken’s energy gospel part 2: natural gas as a bridge to the future

Tue, 15 May 2012 16:09:00 +0000

“Natural gas will do everything we want it to do,” says T. Boone Pickens. “It’s 130-octane fuel, it’s 25 percent cleaner than oil — and we have an abundance of it."

Farm Press Blog

NFU encourages judicious use of livestock antibiotics

Tue, 15 May 2012 16:04:00 +0000

National Farmers Union

In early May, National Farmers Union (NFU) Vice President of Government Relations Chandler Goule discussed antibiotic use in animal agriculture during a presentation at a national stakeholder meeting hosted by the Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics in Washington, D.C.

Access to credit  critical for farmers

Tue, 15 May 2012 16:01:00 +0000

House Agriculture Committee

Two witnesses at a congressional hearing, a beginning farmer from Nebraska and an urban farmer from Ohio, explained how important it is for agricultural producers to have access to credit to both start and support their operations because of the risks inherently involved with farming.

Americans not avoiding biotech foods; don’t want labels

Tue, 15 May 2012 15:58:00 +0000

NAWG

U.S. consumer perceptions of agricultural technology show a strong majority would be willing to purchase foods made with wheat produced using biotechnology if the innovations delivered nutritional or environmental benefits. Asked to describe what additional information they would like about food products, less than 1 percent of the survey respondents said they want to see information about biotech-derived ingredients on product labels.

Anticipation builds for action in Senate, House on farm bill

Tue, 15 May 2012 15:56:00 +0000

Reauthorization before Sept. 30 looks possible

From the National Association of Wheat Growers

Anticipation is building for 2012 farm bill action in the coming weeks, with reauthorization before the current bill’s expiration on Sept. 30 looking possible.   

USDA report considered bearish for cotton

Tue, 15 May 2012 15:53:00 +0000

Chuck Danehower, Tennessee Cooperative Extension Service

USDA’s May 10 projections for old and new crop cotton would have to be considered bearish as ending stocks are unchanged for old crop and prospects are for increased stocks for both the U.S. and the world in new crop.

USDA projects record breaking corn crop in 2012

Tue, 15 May 2012 15:45:00 +0000

From the National Corn Growers Association

U.S. corn farmers are on course to shatter production, yield and supply records according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report released May 10.

Senators call for limits on crop insurance premium subsidies

Tue, 15 May 2012 15:40:00 +0000

From the National Cotton Council

In a letter to Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Ranking Member Roberts (R-Kan.), Sens. Coburn (R-Okla.) and Durbin (D-Ill.) have called for a $40,000 payment limit to be imposed on crop insurance premium subsidies.

Cotton market takes it on the chin

Tue, 15 May 2012 15:37:00 +0000

USDA report, recent rainfall big factors

Don Shurley, University of Georgia

Dreadful supply/demand news hammered cotton prices May 10-11.

Weed plague covers 12 million farmland acres

Tue, 15 May 2012 15:35:00 +0000

Chicago Tribune

A plague of super weeds taking over U.S. farmland will not be stopped easily, and farmers and government officials need to change existing practices if food production is to be protected.

Domestic bees in trouble, but wild cousins too?

Tue, 15 May 2012 15:33:00 +0000

Scientific American

Bees are making headlines these days, and not in a positive way. Colony collapse disorder has cut through honeybee populations, with some beekeepers reportedly losing up to 90 percent of their stock in recent years. That data is often interpreted to mean that all of the world's 20,000 bee species are in danger. But there's little data to back up those claims, scientists say.

NCIS unveils second in video series, spotlight on Texas drought

Tue, 15 May 2012 15:00:00 +0000

As the House Agriculture Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management prepares to hold a hearing later this week, National Crop Insurance Services (NCIS) today released the second in an ongoing series of educational videos on crop insurance.

Southwest Farm Press visions of spring photo contest

Tue, 15 May 2012 14:47:00 +0000

Spring is a colorful time in the Southwest. Wildflowers add splashes of color to pastures, rangeland and roadsides. Newborn calves, foals and lambs offer delightful images.

Farm Press Blog

Corn market direction unfolding, magnitude still uncertain

Mon, 14 May 2012 21:48:00 +0000

Debra Levey Larson, University of Illinois

The USDA’s projections of U.S. and world corn and feed grain supply-and-demand conditions presented in the May World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report set the benchmark by which the corn market will judge unfolding events. According to a University of Illinois agricultural economist, those events are continually unfolding, with some of the more important ones to be revealed this summer.

Expert: Prepare now by downloading disaster-related publications to mobile devices

Mon, 14 May 2012 21:45:00 +0000

Paul Schattenberg, Texas AgriLife

In conjunction with the state’s Hurricane Preparedness Week and other preparedness efforts, the Texas AgriLife Extension Service has made many of its disaster and emergency-related materials available in e-book format for mobile device users.

Soybean trials help producers find earlier maturing varieties

Mon, 14 May 2012 21:42:00 +0000

Kay Ledbetter, Texas AgriLife

Soybeans aren’t new to Texas producers, but one Texas AgriLife Extension Service expert is trying to help develop a production system that will help combat the drought and includes soybean varieties that mature earlier.

Water concerns with wheat will be focus of May 24 field day

Fri, 11 May 2012 20:03:00 +0000

Whether it’s breeding or the new technologies being used to manage irrigation and disease, the primary focus of a May 24 wheat research field day will be water, according to coordinators of the program.

The field day will be held at the Texas AgriLife Research and U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Services Conservation and Production Research Laboratory research farm 1 mile west of Bushland.

“Water is a precious resource here in the Panhandle of Texas and must be carefully managed,” said Dr. Jackie Rudd, AgriLife Research wheat breeder and field day coordinator. “Variety choice, equipment purchases and management decisions all affect water-use efficiency as well as the producer’s bottom line.”

Registration will begin at 9 a.m. and field tours will begin at 9:30 a.m., Rudd said. The educational portion of the event will continue with an hour-long program just before lunch inside the facilities. In addition, there will be booths for disease diagnostics and pests.

The program has no admission fee and will include a noon lunch. Texas Department of Agriculture continuing education units are pending, he said.

The tour discussions will include new wheat varieties, breeding trials, irrigation trials that cover subsurface drip and new sensor technology, drought tolerance mechanisms in wheat, wheat streak mosaic virus and wheat curl mite resistance.

When the program moves indoors, discussions will highlight tortilla wheat, wheat variety licensing, the Bayer CropScience wheat program and collaboration with the Texas Wheat Producers Board, Rudd said.

The lunch program speaker will be Dr. Craig Nessler, director of AgriLife Research from College Station.

For more information, contact Rudd at 806-677-5600 or jcrudd@ag.tamu.edu.

Location

Agriculture-Agricultural Research Services Conservation and Production Research Laboratory research farm Bushland, TX

United States

35° 11' 31.1928" N, 102° 3' 52.7004" W

See map: Google Maps

Texas cattlemen have conference opportunities

Fri, 11 May 2012 20:00:00 +0000

Texas livestock producers have several opportunities to learn management techniques, including range management, marketing, restocking, weed control and opportunities in grass-fed beef production during upcoming Texas AgriLife Extension seminars and conferences.

Texas gets needed rain

Fri, 11 May 2012 19:58:00 +0000

Texas received some much-needed rainfall in early May, according to observers in south Texas and the High Plains.

Foreign persons must report U.S. agricultural land holdings

Fri, 11 May 2012 19:56:00 +0000

Cassie Bable, USDA-FSA

USDA Texas Farm Service Agency (FSA) Acting Executive Director James B. Douglass reminds foreign persons with an interest in agricultural lands in the United States that they are required to report their holdings and any transactions to the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture.

4.0 Cellars opens new winery, tasting room in Texas Hill Country

Fri, 11 May 2012 19:53:00 +0000

In a first-of-its-kind collaboration in Texas, three well-established and highly respected wineries have joined forces to create a new winery—4.0 Cellars—and tasting room in the Texas Hill Country to showcase their respective wines as well as to create new wines under the 4.0 Cellars label.

Early season problems for horse industry

Fri, 11 May 2012 19:51:00 +0000

Logan Hawkes

With summer still over a month away, the Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC) has broadcast an early warning for “Pigeon Fever,” also called dryland distemper, after a large number of cases were confirmed in horses last year in Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas.

Water jihads and Moe Howard haircuts

Fri, 11 May 2012 14:38:00 +0000

Almost from the dawn of time, water cataclysm has been based on too much of a good thing. Throw that archetype out the window and prepare for historical change — the barren age is upon us. Water wars are coming and even if only a portion of dire predictions pan out regarding pending shortages, the outlook is alarming.

Farm Press Blog

U.S. Custom Harvesters, Inc. seeks legislative fix to regulation burden

Thu, 10 May 2012 20:09:00 +0000

Custom harvesters are making their way to the Southern Plains, preparing for a busy winter wheat harvest. Once again, these harvesters are facing a unique regulatory burden. Without a Hazardous Material endorsement on a Class A Commercial Drivers License, operators can only haul 119 gallons of fuel.

Texas wheat asks for farm bill with options

Thu, 10 May 2012 20:07:00 +0000

The farm bill has long been touted as a safety net for farmers and according to the Texas Wheat Producers Association (TWPA) it must continue to honor that commitment. The 2012 Farm Bill has faced a series of challenges, the largest of which is at least a $24 billion reduction in funding. Since last fall, members of the Senate and House Ag Committees have made significant strides to craft a bill that saves taxpayers billions of dollars, but more work is needed to secure adequate protection for America’s farmers.