WKEI AM 1450 recently issued the following announcement.
Some farmers grow winter wheat in Illinois for added income while others grow it for cover crop benefits and straw.
But, with intensive management, farmers can realize those benefits of growing wheat and more, according to Carl Schwinke, vice president of grain supply for Siemer Milling in Teutopolis.
“Wheat is a cash cover crop,” Schwinke told FarmWeek at the Illinois Double Crop Farmers Forum in Mount Vernon, organized by the Illinois Soybean and Wheat Associations. “Wheat is excellent for land stewardship, putting more carbon back in the soil and stopping erosion.”
It also adds a revenue stream to farming operations, particularly double-crop rotations favorable in southern Illinois.
“If you’re a young farmer, or any farmer (looking for another income source), it brings revenue to the farm having four crops in three years versus going out and buying $10,000 an acre land,” Schwinke noted. “It goes back to management and using the resources you have.”
Key steps to management to boost output from winter wheat include variety selection with an emphasis on disease and pest tolerance, scouting, and timely fungicide and nitrogen applications.
Farmers who intensively manage their wheat not only can realize higher yields, but also better quality. And quality pays, according to Schwinke.
Siemer Milling sources about 25 million bushels of wheat in three states annually for the production of various food products, including crackers, rolls, pretzels, breading, cookies and soup. Food grade wheat has strict standards for mycotoxins and foreign materials.
“If you’re raising high-quality wheat, there is a market for it,” Schwinke said. “We’re paying 35 cents over (local prices at some locations).
“Management helps improve profitability,” he continued. “We’re not interested in feed wheat, discounting the heck out of it and hearing about it from you later.”
One way management improves profitability is by helping farmers produce more consistent crops from a yield and quality standpoint. Consistent production allows farmers to implement a marketing plan.
“Once you establish you can produce a consistent product year after year, it makes you a better marketer,” said Schwinke, who estimates yields of 80 bushels per acre of wheat and 40 bushels of double-crop beans are equivalent to growing 215-bushel corn in southern Illinois.
In terms of disease management to maintain high quality wheat, two keys are limiting Fusarium head blight (scab) and stripe rust, which made a comeback in recent years.
Farmers should manage for scab by choosing resistant varieties and scouting the crop in the spring to see if fungicide applications are warranted.
“Timing of fungicide applications is critical,” said Kaitlyn Bissonnette, University of Missouri plant pathologist. “You get good control (when applying fungicide) when 50 percent of the wheat is flowering.”
If weather delays fungicide applications, farmers can still achieve 41 to 45 percent control of scab with applications made five to seven days after flowering versus 33 percent control for applications made before flowering, Bissonnette noted.
Control of stripe rust, which has made a comeback in the Midwest since 2000, centers on cultivar resistance, regular scouting and managing volunteer wheat.
Fungicides aren’t a cure for stripe rust, but often are warranted in susceptible varieties.
Original source can be found here.
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