Cause of damaged winter wheat in Oregon being investigated

Cause of damaged winter wheat in Oregon being investigated

 

Farm and Ranch November 29, 2010 In early November some farmers in Umatilla County, Oregon north of Pendleton expressed concern to the Oregon Department of Agriculture that damage was being seen on winter wheat from what producers thought were recent glyphosate applications on other properties in the area. Dale Mitchell, Assistant Administrator Oregon Department of Agriculture Pesticide Division, says an investigation is being conducted to determine the causal agent.

Mitchell: “At this point the department is running analytical work for pesticide residue sampling as well as pathology samples to determine if there is a relationship between pesticide products or some other type of pathogen or disease. These investigations are ongoing. We have 17 parties that we are working with. Estimates on the approximate acres involved, we are in the early stages but there appears to be probably in excess of two-thousand acres involved at this time, but again we are early in the investigative process.”

Which is also looking at cultural practices, seed, seed treatments, planting dates and so forth.

Mitchell says the damaged fields span an area 15 to 20 miles north of Pendleton and five to ten miles east to west.

I’m Bob Hoff and that’s the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on Northwest Aginfo Net.

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