Stripe rust starting
Washington Ag Today May 3, 2010 USDA Agricultural Research Service scientist Xianming Chen at Pullman reports that field checks late last week found stripe rust developing in wheat in the Walla Walla area. Nothing was found in the Connell or Horse Heaven Hills areas. Chen says that so far stripe rust pressure is low in eastern Washington. He says the generally lower than normal temperatures in April slowed wheat growth and stripe rust development. The stripe rust found in the Walla Walla area was at a very low level but Chen says growers may want to start checking their fields for the disease, especially if susceptible varieties are grown. The recommendation is not to use a fungicide until stripe rust is found in a field. Livestock and dairy producers know 2009 was not a good year and some new reports from the USDA certainly confirm that. Department livestock analyst Shale Shagum says gross income and cash receipts for red meat producers went down ten percent last year. Returns to dairy operators plummeted 30 percent. Shagum says the reason for all that, lower prices; and the reason for that. Shagum: “Declining demand. That really pushed prices lower.” There may be no where to go but up and Shagum says for prices that may be true, but the question is will producer returns improve and he says that is harder to predict because that depends on the future prices for feed and energy. Applications for the third national Beef Quality Assurance or BQA Award are now being accepted. The award recognizes one outstanding beef and dairy producer that best demonstrate animal car and handling practices as part of the day-to-day activities on their operations. Learn more at www.bqa.org I’m Bob Hoff and that’s Washington Ag Today on Northwest Aginfo Net. ?
