Daily Grain Review - 'Wed, Jul 18, 2012

The statistics on this page are collected from various USDA reports and assembled here for easy reference and viewing. Data is updated as soon as possible after it is published. Frequency of the data and update times are listed with each chart.  Click here to read the full report.

US corn production drops 7 percent on continued drought

Release Date: July 18, 2012

U.S. corn production estimates have dropped another 6.9 percent since the U.S. Department of Agriculture's most recent predictions, to 12.077 billion bushels — the smallest in five years — due to theworst drought the Midwest has seen since 1956, according to analysts. Estimated yield has lowered another 6 percent, to 137.2 bushels per acre, down from the USDA's forecast of 146 bushels.  Click here to read the full story.

Southern drought update, USDA Map

Primary and Contiguous counties designated under drought fast track across the southern region in red. For additional USDA drought information click here.

Pest alert! Kudzu bug found in Mississippi

In case you haven’t heard, the kudzu bug, a serious pest of soybeans in recent years in Georgia, the Carolinas, Virginia, Florida, Alabama and recently in TN, has been found in Vicksburg, MS.  That’s too close for comfort for us in Arkansas and the rest of the Mississippi Delta.  Click here to read about the Kudzu bug.

Arkansas Drought Resources site provides easy-to-find production information

LITTLE ROCK – The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture has launched a site with easy-to-find information for Arkansas farmers, ranchers and homeowners coping with drought.
To read more, click here.

Three drought conferences set for SW Ark ranches

“Our cattle producers are really being hit hard by this year’s drought,” said Jerry Clemons, Clark County extension staff chair for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. “We want them to have the tools they need to make solid decisions during this very stressful time.” To read more, click here.

Be Diligent: Help Minimize Strobilurin Fungicide-Resistant Pathogens in Rice

For many years now, strobilurin fungicides have been used to manage sheath blight disease of rice and they have been the backbone for managing fungal diseases of rice in Arkansas and other Southern rice producing states. However, troubling news came in the summer of 2011 from Louisiana where failure of the fungicide to control sheath blight was confirmed in a few fields.    This is a wake-up call for all of us as to how we use these fungicides and why we should consider integrated management more than ever.  Click here to read the full story.

Armyworms in Wheat

BY SCOTT AKIN, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR & EXTENSION ENTOMOLOGIST, ON APRIL 2ND, 2012

We have been receiving calls on armyworms in wheat throughout the state.  The first visible symptom of armyworm feeding is defoliation in the lower portion of the canopy.  It is not uncommon for these lower leaves to be completely consumed before they make their way up the plant.  Because these pests feed primarily at night, armyworms can often be found under debris, at the base of plants or in cracks of soil.  Check these areas to ensure armyworms are still present and in fact the responsible culprit prior to making a treatment decision. http://www.arkansas-crops.com/2012/04/02/armyworms-in-wheat/

Should You File an Estimated Income Tax Return?

Did meeting a March 1 filing deadline give you heartburn this year? If yes, there is something you can do about it. Some farmers are under the erroneous idea that all farm tax returns are due on March 1. This is a misconception. Individual calendar year taxpayers have an April 15 deadline. However, if they owe income tax, they may be subject to a penalty for underpayment of estimated taxes. Farmers have a special provision that allows them to avoid this penalty if they file their return by March 1. There is also another provision that they may use.  Click here to read the full story.

Farmers worry over newly planted corn as rain continues to fall

“The farmland along the river bottoms, a lot of it looks like lakes,” Joe Vestal, Lafayette County extension staff chair for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, said Wednesday morning. “It’ll take awhile to get it off the fields,” and that’s where the worry lies.

Vestal said the Red River will also be taking all the water that northeast Texas and southwest Oklahoma have received with this storm, slowing drainage.  

Click here to read the full story.

New Publications on Crop, Insect, Disease, and Soils

Several helpful publications have recently been made available on www.arkansascrops.com.  These are found by subject (crop, insect, disease, soils) on the Publications page accessed by clicking the Publications tab at the top of the Arkansas Crops home page. Click here for the full story.

Managing legal risk workshops for foresters

The second and third in a series of workshops covering agritourism law for landowners and foresters are set for March 16 at Shreveport, La., and April 13 in Monticello.

“Agritourism is one of the fastest-growing alternative uses for forestland and farmland,” said Rusty Rumley, staff attorney at the National Agricultural Law Center. “It can be a very lucrative venture for a lot of people, but it opens landowners to risks they would not normally come across in traditional forestry and farming activities.” Click here to read the story.

Wheat fungus spreads to 17 counties in Ark

LITTLE ROCK – Wheat stripe rust has now spread to 17 counties in Arkansas, up from nine counties last week, and with more rain and winds in the forecast, infections are likely to spread, Jason Kelley, extension wheat and feed grains agronomist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, said Friday. Click here to read the full story.

Using Genetics to Manage Dairy Risk

Here's the secret of the modern dairy farm: The essential high-tech advances aren't in machinery. They're inside the cow.

Take a cow like Claudia. She lives at Fulper Farms, a dairy farm in upstate New Jersey. Claudia is to a cow from the 1930s as a modern Ferrari is to a Model T.  Click here to read the full story.

Unclean equipment could introduce new blight into burgeoning Ark peanut crop

Tiny fungal capsules hitchhiking on harvesting equipment from other states could bring an aggressive disease to Arkansas as farmers expand peanut acreage here, say disease experts with the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. Click here to read the full story.

Women in Agriculture Educators National Conference

The 2012 Women in Agriculture Educators National Conference will take place at The Peabody in downtown Memphis, Tennessee.
This biennial conference features 3 keynote presentations, over 40 hours of individual concurrent session presentations, a networking reception which includes a poster session, and a pre-conference seminar. Click here to see full schedule of events and register.

New Arkansas Division of Agriculture cotton variety exceeds fiber quality expectations

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture has released a new cotton variety that exceeds current quality expectations for upland cotton. It is the second variety in the last three years from the Arkansas breeding program that raises the bar for cotton fiber quality. Click here to read the full story.

calendar of events

New calendar feature

Need to know when the next crop production meeting is? Click the new calendar of events tab on our front page to find times, locations and topics for events such as field days, production meetings, trainings and certifications. Click here to read full story.

Arkansas Corn Quick Facts

2012 Arkansas Corn Quick Facts Sheet

BY KEVIN LAWSON, PROGRAM ASSOCIATE - CORN & GRAIN SORGHUM VERIFICATION, ON DECEMBER 16TH, 2011

The Arkansas Corn Quick Facts Sheet is a handy one page reference for County Agents, producers and consultants that are looking for University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture recommendations on corn. Read more

Restoring western rangelands

The arid conditions in the southwestern United States make restoring degraded rangelands extremely difficult, but a USDA scientist has found a way to help native grasses survive there so they can be closely studied as restoration tools.Click here to read the complete article.