Category: Industry News

By Dennis Van Dyk, Vegetable Crop Specialist, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs

Kristen Obeid, Weed Specialist – Horticulture, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs

Carrot growers in Ontario, Canada, are struggling with resistant pigweed species (redroot and green). As far back as 1997, resistance to Group 5 herbicides (prometryne) was noted in Ontario. Then in 1998, resistance to Group 2 (rimsulfuron) herbicides was found. Resistance to Group 7 (linuron) herbicides appeared in 1999. There are some weed populations with multiple resistances (e.g. resistance to both Group 5 and Group 7 herbicides, or even to three different herbicide groups).

Currently, the backbone of an herbicide program for carrots grown on muck soil is Group 5 herbicides applied pre-emergence and Group 7 herbicides applied post-emergence. Since resistance to these two groups is widespread across Ontario carrot growing regions, growers struggle with weed control annually.

Nearly 100 percent of muck carrots grown in Ontario will have to be hand-weeded at least once and as many as three times throughout the growing season. Recent grower surveys have estimated carrot hand-weeding costs of $150-$840/acre. There is an immediate need for herbicide strategies that control resistant pigweed, reducing the need for hand-weeding.

There are some products coming down the pipeline that may help carrot growers better manage weeds. But in the meantime, our purpose was to find a way to better use currently registered products and get better weed control. For us, other herbicides currently registered for pre-emergence applications include Prowl H2O (Group 3), bromoxynil (Group 6) and Dual II Magnum (Group 15). Sencor (Group 5) and Dual II Magnum (Group 15) are registered for post-emergence applications.

Growers have historically been very wary of incorporating these products into their programs for a number of reasons. For many of these products, the risk of injury is higher, while the window of application and spectrum of weeds is narrower. Some of these are known to slow carrot emergence in some conditions with little activity on pigweed (e.g. Dual II Magnum).

Objective

Our objective was to identify the most effective herbicide program with currently registered products against Group 5 and Group 7 resistant pigweed species.

Carrots (cv. Belgrado) were planted in a 6-acre field on May 31. The grower used an existing sprayer to apply treatments in half-boom plots. Each plot measured 360 feet by 24 feet. Treatments were randomized across the field, with each treatment replicated four times.

Pre-emergence applications were applied after seeding and prior to carrot emergence on June 1. A post-emergence application was applied on June 30 over the entire trial as a rescue treatment because the pigweed density was so high that carrot survivability was questionable. A second post-emergence application was applied on July 2 to treatments 3 and 4 as originally planned in the trial design. (Table 1)

Findings

Looking at weed counts, the pre-emergence combination of Caparol/Dual II Magnum/Prowl H2O had less pigweed compared to one of the Prowl H2O/bromoxynil treatments at 14 days after application. At 28 days after application, Prowl H2O/bromoxynil treatments had higher pigweed pressure compared to Caparol/Dual II Magnum with and without Prowl H2O. (Fig. 1)

What is also interesting is we had a significant rainfall event between 14 and 21 days after application, and pigweed counts went down from what was likely a re-activation of the pre-emerge herbicides.

At 49 days after application, we saw a difference in carrot growth stages due to the crop injury after the post-emergence application. (Fig. 2)

No significant differences in yield and marketability were found, although the trend follows the crop injury that we saw. We also saw increasing yields with increasing herbicide costs. (Fig. 3)

Conclusions

We found that a pre-emergence application of Caparol + Dual II Magnum + Prowl, followed by a post-emergence application of Lorox at the full label rate provides greater weed control and more competitive carrots than the other treatments, which was also evident visually. It is important to note that this treatment provided the best results because the dominant weed species in this field were pigweed species, lambsquarters and yellow nutsedge. We did not see a reduction in carrot stand counts, even with three products applied pre-emergence. Our post-emergence application of Caparol caused crop injury as it was likely applied too closely after Lorox.

Carrot growers are still waiting patiently for new herbicide options to come down the pipeline. In the interim, we’ll need to incorporate a few more tricks to deal with stubborn pigweed such as stale seedbed burn-downs and using primed seed to get quicker carrot emergence. We have found that a strong pre-emerge herbicide program provides the best control in a carrot system still reliant on Lorox applied post-emergence.

A new study shows cover crops can improve ecosystem services in water-limited environments

Cover crops do far more than cover soils. They provide an array of benefits, such as the ability to reduce soil erosion and increase soil health. They can help attract pollinators, repel pests, turn into ‘green manure,’ or can be used as feed for livestock.

A new study shows that the benefits of cover crops extend even into semi-arid areas. This review was recently published in the Soil Science Society of America Journal, a publication of Soil Science Society of America.

“Much of the research data we have on cover crops is from regions with high precipitation,” says Humberto Blanco, lead researcher at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln. “So, questions remain about ecosystem services provided by cover crops in drier regions.”

Some skeptics have argued that growing cover crops in more arid areas could use too much water. In turn, it could reduce subsequent food crop yields. But the research concludes that isn’t necessarily the case.

“We found that cover crops can improve most ecosystem services in water-limited environments,” says Blanco. “In the majority of cases, these improvements come without negative effects on food crop yields.”

To determine how well cover crops work in semi-arid areas, Blanco and colleagues assembled and analyzed the limited number of studies on cover crops in dry regions. They emphasized studies focusing on the semi-arid Great Plains in the United States.

The researchers looked at cover crops in connection with several ecosystem services. These included the amount of organic carbon in soils, soil microbial properties, weed management, and food crop yields, among others.

One of the key soil features the researchers focused on was soil organic carbon.

“Soil organic carbon is the catalyst for many other changes in soil properties and soil services,” says Blanco. “Soils in water-limited regions are often low in organic carbon.”

The researchers found that in dry areas cover crops increased soil organic carbon levels close to 60% of the time.

“This accumulation of organic carbon is critical to these soils,” says Blanco. That’s because soil organic carbon is the food source for many soil organisms, like microbes. Ultimately, these soil organisms play a vital role in maintaining healthy, fertile soils.

Cover crops also suppress weeds in dry areas. This is especially important because several weed species are resistant to current herbicides. The suppression of weeds by cover crops has a knock-on effect on increasing water conservation and preventing soil erosion.

“Herbicide-resistant weeds can lead to tillage of typically no-till systems,” says Blanco. “This can reduce the water-conservation ability of those agroecosystems.” Tilling can also make soils more susceptible to erosion.

Cover crops also provide food for livestock in dry areas. “Grazing or haying cover crops can improve net returns without negating benefits to soils,” says Blanco. That’s because even when grazed, a significant portion of cover crops remain on fields. Also, cover crop roots persist even when grazed, holding soils together and providing many benefits.

The study found that cover crops can reduce food crops’ yields in some cases. These instances typically coincided with intermittent drought conditions. Water availability for cover and food crops decreased during these years.

“Adapting crop rotations and cover crop use to accommodate weather conditions is critical,” says Blanco. “Farmers in drier areas may not be able to plant a cover crop every year. They can target wet years when cover crops can be successful.”

Blanco aims to continue researching cover crops in dry areas.

“Long-term research is critical to identify the enduring effects of cover crops,” he says. “Yet, long-term research data for cover crops in arid and semi-arid areas are virtually absent in the literature.”

SOURCE: Science Societies

The Mosaic Company and BioConsortia, Inc. have entered into a collaboration to develop and launch nitrogen-fixing microbial products for corn, wheat and other major non-legume row crops, including carrots.

Nitrogen fertilizer applications can be inefficient with losses to air, ground water, and waterways, sometimes having unintended consequences.

New alternatives can provide this critical nutrient for plant growth.  Through a process called ‘biological nitrogen fixation’, beneficial plant-associated microbes are able to naturally produce nitrogen in forms that are desired by plants, thereby reducing the reliance on synthetic inputs of nitrogen.

For inquiries and further information, contact info@bioconsortia.com

LEARN MORE ABOUT NITROGEN-FIXATION

By Kami Goodwin

Farmer sentiment continues to fluctuate month-to-month as the Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer rose 6 points to a reading of 125 in February, a mirror image of the previous month. The Index of Current Conditions was down 1 point to a reading of 132, while the Index of Future Expectations improved 10 points to a reading of 122. The Ag Economy Barometer is calculated each month from 400 U.S. agricultural producers’ responses to a telephone survey. This month’s survey was conducted between February 14-18, 2022, days prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Farm Financial Performance Index remained unchanged in February at a reading of 83. However, the sharp drop in the index, down 27% from late 2021 to 2022, indicates producers expect financial performance in 2022 to be worse than in 2021. The financial index is generated based upon producers’ responses to whether they expect their farm’s current financial performance to be better than, worse than or about the same as the previous year.

“These survey responses suggest that concerns about the spike in production costs and supply chain issues continue to mostly outweigh the impact of the commodity price rally that’s been underway this winter,” said James Mintert, the barometer’s principal investigator and director of Purdue University’s Center for Commercial Agriculture.

Higher input costs have consistently been the number one concern identified by farmers over the past six-months, according to results from the Ag Economy Barometer survey. To gain additional insight into the concerns of producers, this month respondents were provided with a more detailed set of possible responses when answering this question. While a majority still consider input costs as their number one concern (47%), it was followed by lower output prices (16%), environmental policy (13%), farm policy (9%), climate policy (8%), and COVID-19’s impact (7%).

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The Agriculture Council of America (ACA) has announced the 2022 National Ag Day video and written essay winners.  The winners were chosen based on the theme:  American Agriculture: Growing a Climate for Tomorrow.  Entrants chose to either write an essay or create a video.  

“CHS has long supported rural youth education and leadership programs and we are proud to give this year’s essay contest winners a platform that lets them share their ideas with a broader audience,” says Annette Degnan, CHS Inc., director, Marketing Communications, and Agriculture Council of America board member.

The national written essay winner, Haden Coleman of Trinity, Texas, receives a $1,000 prize and will read his winning essay at the virtual Ag Day event on March 22, 2022. The contest also named two merit winners who receive $100 and blog posts featuring their essays. They are Rebekah Vague of Ellsworth, Kansas, and Makenna Stundebeck of Salisbury, Missouri.  This year’s video essay winner, Kenna Mullins of Oxford, Pennsylvania, wins a $1,000 prize.  The winning entries can be viewed online at agday.org/2022-contest-winners. 

The Ag Day Essay Contest is sponsored by CHS Inc., National Association of Farm Broadcasting and Farm Progress.

Founded in 1973, National Ag Day encourages every American to understand how food and fiber products are produced; appreciate the role agriculture plays in providing safe, abundant and affordable products; value the essential role of agriculture in maintaining a strong economy and acknowledge and consider career opportunities in the agriculture, food and fiber industry.

Learn more and register for events at agday.org.

Recovered Phosphorus From Wastewater Can Be Reused on Farmland

Phosphorus is one of the main “ingredients” for healthy plant growth. Plants get phosphorus from the soil. And much of this phosphorus is applied to farm fields in the form of fertilizers.

The major current source of phosphorus, which comes from rock, is running out. Plus, it must be mined, and then chemically converted and transported long distances. This costs money and uses valuable resources. The Soil Science Society of America’s (SSSA) February 15^th Soils Matter blog takes a look at research that is making a circular phosphorus cycle through struvite reclamation.

Bloggers Kristofor R. Brye, University of Arkansas, and Lauren Greenlee, Pennsylvania State University, write about their research into reclaiming phosphorus – in the form of struvite – from wastewater treatment plants.

Research is looking at alternative ways to retrieve phosphorus, such as in the form of struvite. Struvite is a chemical compound that contains not only phosphorus, but magnesium and other elements like nitrogen. All of these are important nutrients for crops. Struvite has shown promise for use in agriculture as an alternative fertilizer-phosphorus source. Both greenhouse and row-crop studies suggest that struvite is a viable fertilizer compound, compared to traditional fertilizers.

Wastewater treatment plants work to purify water so that it can be reused. They fall under strict standards from the Environmental Protection Agency. Struvite can precipitate from wastewater in similar ways to rock candy formation. Scientists have found that it is not only possible to pull struvite from wastewater, but that it can be done on a large scale. Brye and Greenlee’s teams used both chemical and electrochemical methods to precipitate the struvite from the wastewater.

Their field studies also showed the struvite’s slow release of phosphorus may benefit the environment.

2022 marks the 50-year anniversary of the Clean Water Act. This Act aims to restore and maintain the physical, chemical, and biological integrity of the nation’s water resources. Struvite may play a future role in accomplishing the objectives of the Clean Water Act. Struvite may also play an integral role in supporting the sustainability of agriculture and food production with recycled nutrient fertilizer sources.

Research about struvite and its uses will help keep people fed and protect the environment, just as the Clean Water Act envisioned.

Drs. Brye and Greenlee recently published their research in Agrosystems, Geosciences & Environment Journal, a publication of the American Society of Agronomy and the Crop Science Society of America.

To learn more about this important work, visit the Soils Matter blog: https://soilsmatter.wordpress.com/2022/02/15/what-is-struvite-and-how-is-it-used.

Each year, the Crop Science Society of America celebrates seeds. This year’s celebration is from Feb. 7-13^th. The featured blog is about seed dispersal in plants, which takes on countless forms. Most dispersal mechanisms fall within the categories of gravity, wind, water, and animal dispersal. The February 7, 2022 Sustainable, Secure Food Blog, written by blogger David Tork, takes a deeper dive into the mechanisms of seed dispersal.

Wind

The common dandelion is perhaps the most iconic, and well-known species to use wind dispersal. The windsail-like structure, called the pappus, opens and closes in response to moisture. On dry, windy days the pappus opens, catches the wind, and transports lightweight dandelion seeds far away from the parent plant.

Other plants use winged structures (like the propellor-shaped maple samara) or wooly structures (like fuzzy cottonwood seeds) to facilitate wind-dispersal.

Gravity

Gravity dispersal, also known as “shattering” or “fruit drop” is the dispersal of a seed by falling. As the fruit reaches maturity, a natural process called abscission weakens supporting structures like stems and seed pods. This is what causes a ripe apple to fall from the tree. Abscission also causes fruit-containing structures to open and drop their seed on the ground.

A related dispersal method, called ballistic dispersal, uses forces generated by the plant itself, like mechanical tension or water pressure, to disperse seed. At maturity, the seed-containing structures act like a cannon or catapult, launching the seed far away from the parent plant.

Water

Except for some aquatic plants, such as Mangroves, water dispersal rarely acts in isolation. For example, coconuts often use water for long-distance transport by floating through the ocean, but gravity dispersal is what first releases the coconut from the tree.

Wind-dispersed seed can also travel longer distances by landing in moving water. Some wind-dispersed species, like the cottonwood tree, produce moisture-sensitive seeds that must land in or near water for proper germination.

Animal

Animal dispersal occurs in two ways:

The seed is eaten and travels intact through the digestive tract. The animal then defecates or regurgitates the seed —hopefully, far from the parent plant. Edible fruits, like black elderberry (Sambucus nigra) have seeds that cannot be removed before eating (like raspberries). Their flavor, color, or aroma that attracts certain mammals and birds, which aid in seed dispersal.

Seeds are also dispersed by clinging to the hair, skin, fur, or feathers of various animals. For example, the hooked appendages of common burdock allow the entire seed head to be carried away by passing animals—a feature which served as the inspiration for velcro!

Human dispersal is responsible for the introduction of most invasive species. Humans migrating between continents intentionally carried their favorite ornamental and edible plants, some of which became invasive species in the new locations. Some seeds are unintentionally transported in grain shipments. Other seeds get stuck via soil to boots, tires, tools, and heavy equipment used in recreation – like hiking, or jobs like construction, excavation, and agriculture.

Awareness of seed dispersal mechanisms is the best way to prevent the spread or introduction of new invasive species. Based on this knowledge, phytosanitary laws have been enacted to prevent the transport of soil across borders. They also regulate seed contaminants in grain shipments, among other things.

However, not all spread can be prevented, and established plants can be difficult to remove. There are accumulated and dormant seeds that are in soil – referred to as the “soil seed bank.” Over time, this soil seed bank can be exhausted by spraying, removing, or bagging the plants before they disperse seed. Knowledge of dispersal methods can help scientists to develop more effective control options for invasive plants.

To read the entire blog, visit https://sustainable-secure-food-blog.com/2022/02/07/how-are-seeds-dispersed/.

To view all of Crop Science Society of America’s Seed Week collection of blogs and stories, visit https://www.crops.org/seed-week.

Texas A&M Agricultural and Food Policy Center projects 80% increase in 2022

By Blair Fannin

Farmers and economists are wringing their hands on how to get a handle on record-high fertilizer prices heading into the 2022 crop year, and a new report compiled by the Agricultural and Food Policy Center at Texas A&M University suggests prices may not be done going up due to several factors.

Joe Outlaw, Ph.D., co-director of the Agricultural and Food Policy Center and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service economist, told farmers at the Blackland Income Growth Conference in Waco that fertilizer prices could escalate as much as 80% this year as supply and demand gyrate at never-before-seen levels.

A recently completed AFPC report, which analyzed the economic impacts of higher fertilizer prices on 64 representative farms, was compiled from a study initially requested by U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow, R-La. Outlaw said producers are not only experiencing sticker shock, but may see product shortages.

“Coupled with current COVID supply chain issues, this will further stress the production environment for agriculture across the country,” Outlaw said.

The fertilizer report is the most recent in a series of analyses by AFPC, which has previously released impact reports on supply disruptions to the U.S. cattle market and proposed estate tax legislation

Rocketing fertilizer prices

The AFPC report found that as the nation continues to maneuver through supply chain disruptions and agricultural input availability, there are impacts on both fertilizer availability and costs. Last August, the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute in Missouri projected only a 10% increase in fertilizer prices in its forecast model, but recent spot prices have forecasts reaching as high as 80% more for the 2022 planting season.

Anhydrous ammonia increased by as much as $688 per ton or $86,000 per 1,000-acre AFPC representative farm through October 2021. The AFPC representative farms are from across the country and are used to calculate and project potential implications on future production.

SOURCE: AGRILIFE TODAY

More than 350 agricultural organizations signed on to a letter sent to members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives that affirms these organization’s support for the current pesticide regulatory system under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA).

The letter is in response to recently introduced legislation (S. 3283) that would undermine the science-based standards contained within the nation’s pesticide law. This is the second time these organizations have reached out to Congress to voice concern over similar proposed legislation.

FIFRA has been amended by Congress several times to strengthen the regulatory standard for safety – most recently through the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA) that added specific protections for infants and children.

Under the provisions of the current law, pesticides that are approved for use are subject to continuous review whenever new scientific data becomes available. Officially, federal regulators must review each pesticide approved for use in the U.S. every 15 years, but the reality is that the pace of scientific development means regulators are making formal assessments much more frequently as more data becomes available.

The ag groups say the proposed legislation would jeopardize the continued availability and innovation of pesticide products by imposing an unscientific and unbalanced process that could unnecessarily remove pest control options from those who need them to safely grow crops.

READ LETTER

SOURCE: Agricultural Retailers Association (ARA)