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Wheat production in the U.S. is a changing picture, mostly due to reduced profitability. Kansas, once the country’s wheat powerhouse, is now planting the lowest number of winter wheat varieties in 99 years. It is a trend that is expected to continue as global competitors gain an advantage.

Growers are shifting to more profitable crops. Experts at Oklahoma State University claim it costs nearly $170 per acre to grow red wheat, requiring a market price of $4.89 per bushel to break even.

Water supplies are a growing issue for producers of winter or spring wheat, and many are finding drought-resistant varieties of corn to be a better alternative.

Regardless of the type of wheat, the experts say U.S. producers will continue to face challenges that will likely change the agricultural makeup of the Southern Plains and other wheat-growing regions.

Growing Wheat Sustainability

Like farmers of all crops, wheat growers work to protect their land and natural resources while increasing profit and productivity. Rotating wheat with a diverse array of crops, all with little or no till practices improves soil health, reduces wind and water erosion, and conserves moisture.

Northern growers are able to utilize awnless wheat as livestock forage. As a rotational crop, winter wheat can serve as a winter cover crop, protecting the soil from erosion with fewer nitrate problems than other cereal cover crops.

Improving Wheat Yields

Successfully growing wheat means getting the highest yields possible. Some producers have recorded yields as high as 120 bushels per acre, but that is not the norm. Producers must constantly work to reduce loss by identifying disease, treating seeds with the right products, and managing seed populations.

Even a more realistic goal of 100 bushels per acre is difficult to achieve. Researchers studying the common practices of top growers have identified practices that help increase yields. High yield growers are diligent about weed, pest and fungus control, use ample nitrogen fertilizer, plant rows at optimum width, and use no-till soil management.

In-season management practices like normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) imagery, that helps identify nitrogen needs, add to the prospect of producing a healthy, high-yielding crop.

Wheat production will need to increase by 1.6% per year to meet projected world food demands by 2050. The challenge is to accomplish this goal without additional cultivated land, placing intensified importance on crop genetics and improved production practices.

Best time to sow soybean

Soybeans are best suited to the northern irrigation areas of Victoria where summer temperatures are warm and day length is longer.

In tropical areas of Australia they can be grown on stored and summer rainfall but southern Australia is too dry for this to be considered.

Soybeans are a very photo-period sensitive plant, meaning the trigger to start flowering is brought on by the decreasing day length after the summer solstice on 22 December. In southern latitude climates such as Victoria it is important to maximise vegetative growth before this period to maximise yield.
Experience has shown that there is little value in very early sowing and that 15 November is an optimum date in most years.

Sowing too late leads to a crop unable to reach:

optimum vegetative growth
low pods
lengthens the maturity time into late April or May

Lengthening the maturity time can increase the risk of:

weather damage
late harvest
small immature seed
reduced time available for winter crop planting

Varieties grown in Victoria have an indeterminate growth habit. Flowering starts 50 to 60 days after sowing (20 to 35cm height) and continues through to between 80 to 120cm. The crop reaches physiological maturity 140 days after sowing.

Postemergence Phase

Farmers now have several postemergence herbicide-tolerant trait platforms from which to choose. Genetics, though, should drive the seed selection choice and not the trait platform, say university agronomists and weed scientists.

U of M weed scientists found no significant yield differences of soybean varieties in the Xtend (tolerance to glyphosate and dicamba) and Enlist E3 (tolerance to 2,4-D choline, Group 4; glyphosate; and glufosinate, Group 10) systems across three sites in 2021.

“The main overriding factor [for variety selection] in these systems is genetic yield potential,” says Hoverstad. Through due diligence in variety selection, farmers can find varieties that yield well in either program, he adds.

Some yield differences resulted in University of Wisconsin (U of W) 2020 trials comparing soybean varieties in Xtend, Enlist E3, and LibertyLink GT27 (tolerance to Alite 27, Group 27; glyphosate; and glufosinate). However, there was no clear yield trend in varieties across all platforms on a statewide basis.

“There are very good varieties among different platforms,” says Shawn Conley, U of W Extension agronomist. He advises farmers to research variety trials and choose top-yielding varieties for their area based on genetics.

Mixing effective multiple herbicide sites of action also is key with postemergence herbicides used on herbicide-tolerant varieties, says Puck.

“Going with just one herbicide site of action is a big mistake,” says Puck. In the case of Enlist E3 soybeans, the preferred tank mix partners for Enlist One (stand-alone 2,4-D choline) are Durango DMA herbicide (glyphosate) or Liberty (glufosinate).

Not all herbicides play well together in the spray tank, though. Glyphosate and glufosinate mixed together can result in antagonism that triggers weed escapes, says Hoverstad. That’s why farmers and applicators need to check labels before mixing, he adds.

Production

There’s no official guidebook for how to grow corn because growth is so dependent on weather conditions. If the weather is too cool and wet, Northern Corn Leaf Blight could set in. Hot and dry weather may create the perfect environment for root rot and common smut. Besides these common diseases, there are a plethora of other pests to manage.

One way to give corn its best shot at thriving is through proper nutrient management. Choosing the right fertilizer and application dates are key to yield success. Pay close attention to nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P), potassium (K), sulfur (S), and zinc (Zn) for healthy corn plants. Plants deficient in N, P, and K, especially, will never reach their full yield potential.

Fall applications can be made dependent on location and soil type. If it’s still recommended by your local Extension, remember to wait until the soils are 50°F. and trending cooler. N inhibitors are another way to protect your investment – in both the spring and fall.

Harvest

When it’s corn harvest time, farmers have little time for much else. When moisture levels are in the 23% to 25% range, combines should be ready to roll. However, adjusting a combine is a balancing act—and one that needs to be performed well in advance. Make these seven tweaks to your combine to ensure a speedy, efficient harvest this year.

A number of issues can come into play during harvest. Everything from wet corn to downed corn to freezing conditions and more. If facing downed corn, check out these nine tips for harvesting as many bushels as you can in a tricky situation. Stalk rot flourishes in lodged corn, so prioritize those fields in your harvest schedule.

Aiming for High Corn Yields

High yields are the trophy at the end of the marathon that is the growing season. If high-yield factors like nutrients, hybrid type, plant populations, and specific management practices are in place, agronomists see consistent yield increases when applying a fungicide at tassel. However, it can be hard to know what specific factors are helping or hindering your yield goals.

Yield contests are perfect resources for finding how to boost your bushels per acre. Although plots are often under intense management, yield contest plots a great way to see what results can come from heavy scouting, sampling, and responding quickly to plant needs. If entering a contest, start with the basics and look for room for improvement. And if watching, take notes!

Cultivation

The cultivation of rice begins by planting water-soaked seeds in a properly prepared bed. Oftentimes, the seedlings are transplanted to the paddy when they reach a certain size. When the grains begin to ripen, the water is drained from the fields. Harvesting begins when the grain yellow and the plants start to droop

Depending on the size of the operation and the amount of mechanization, rice is either harvested by hand or machine. Once harvested, the rice is usually dried in the fields with the help of sunshine.

Harvesting

Once the plants have reached full growth (approximately three months after planting) and the grains begin to ripen—the tops begin to droop and the stem yellows—the water is drained from the fields. As the fields dry, the grains ripen further and harvesting is commenced.

Depending on the size of the operation and the amount of mechanization, rice is either harvested by hand or machine. By hand, rice stalks are cut by sharp knives or sickles. This practice still occurs in many Asian countries. Rice can also be harvested by a mechanized hand harvester or by a tractor/horse-drawn machine that cuts and stacks the rice stalks. In the United States, most operations use large combines to harvest and thresh—separate the grain from the stalk—the rice stalks.

If the rice has been harvested by hand or by a semi-automated process, threshing is completed by flailing the stalks by hand or by using a mechanized thresher.

Milling

Since it retains the outer bran layers of the rice grain, brown rice needs no other processing. However along with added vitamins and minerals, the bran layers also contain oil that makes brown rice spoil faster than milled white rice. That is one of the reasons why brown rice is milled further to create a more visually appealing white rice.

The brown rice runs through two huller machines that remove the outer bran layers from the grain. With the grains pressed against the inner wall of the huller and a spinning core, the bran layers are rubbed off. The core and inner wall move closer for the second hulling, ensuring removal of all bran layers.
The now light-colored grain is cooled and polished by a brush machine.
The smooth white rice is conveyed to a brewer's reel, where over a wire mesh screen broken kernels are sifted out. Oftentimes, the polished white rice is then coated with glucose to increase luster.

How Are They Cultivated

Potatoes are grown as annual plants, with fields planted each spring, and harvested in the fall. All potato plants look something like the picture here. The part of the plant we call a “potato” grows underground. It grows on a specialized underground stem called a stolon. So, although potatoes grow underground, they are stems, not roots, and are known as “tubers.”

It is surprising to many people that potato plants produce flowers – sometimes very attractive ones. The fruits that grow from these flowers look a lot like green tomatoes, but they are not edible.

There are many different kinds of potatoes grown in Washington. Most of them are brown-skinned with white flesh, and are called “russets.” Russet Burbank is the most common variety of russet potato. It is grown for French fries and for the fresh market. Other russet varieties include Ranger Russet (grown for French fries) and Russet Norkotah (grown for fresh potatoes sold by supermarkets and baked by restaurants). Other varieties grown in Washington produce yellow, red, and blue potatoes. Other varieties are grown specifically to be made into potato chips. For more information on potato varieties in Washington, see the Recipes section of our web site.

Production System

Most potatoes grown in Washington are grown in large fields of over 100 acres (there are 640 acres in a square mile). Almost all potatoes grown in Washington have to be watered with sprinklers, known as “irrigation.”

There just isn’t enough rain in Washington during the summer to grow potatoes without irrigation. Many fields in Washington are irrigated using sprinkler systems called “center pivots.” These machines pivot around a center point, and can irrigate fields well over 100 acres in size. Electricity is used to drive motors on each pair of wheels. Complicated computerized control panels ensure an even water supply for all the plants in the field.

Many plant diseases can infect potatoes. To help minimize their loss to diseases, farmers usually grow potatoes in each field once in every four years. The three seasons between potato crops allow time for potato-infecting diseases to die out in that field.

Prior to planting, growers determine how fertile the soil in their field is. They have the soil analyzed to determine how much nitrogen, phosphorous, and other essential plant nutrients it contains. Then the grower orders a fertilizer mix specially tailored to the needs of their particular field. This will allow them to grow a high-quality potato crop without wasting fertilizer (which costs them money).

Planting

Potatoes are grown from special potatoes called “seed potatoes” which are cut into pieces (sometimes left whole) and planted in the ground. These pieces of potato grow stems and roots from the “eyes.” Because they are able to feed off the energy in the seed piece, potato plants grow very fast right from the start.

Seed potatoes are cut using specialized equipment that are carefully tuned to get seed pieces of nearly uniform size. Potato growers like to have all the plants in a field about the same size. This helps maximize harvested tubers, and allows most of the tubers produced in a field about the same size. Seed size is very important in starting a uniform planting of potatoes.

After cutting, seed pieces are usually treated with a “seed treatment” which helps prevent infection with bacteria and fungi that can cause rot. Cut seed pieces are loaded into trucks and carried to the field. There they are loaded into potato planting machines pulled by tractors. Many potato planters are guided by GPS systems to keep the rows straight and seed potatoes planted uniformly.

Potatoes are planted in Washington starting the last week of February, and ending in early May. The earliest areas are near Pasco, and the latest areas are northeast of Moses Lake.