Cereal Crops Excelling in Southeast Minnesota Despite Dryness

Farmers from southeast Minnesota gathered on the week of July 4 to look at the progress of different cereal crop varieties.

University of Minnesota Extension hosted a small grains plot tour focusing on wheat, barley, rye, triticale and oats.

The tour was led by Jochum Wiersma , University of Minnesota Extension professor and small grains specialist stationed at the Northwest Research & Outreach Center .

Wiersma said the crops at the Lawler Farm in Rochester, which holds Extension's variety trial for oats , spring oats and spring barley was looking solid despite the region's lack of rain .

"This trial looks phenomenally good," said Wiersma on July 6. "This field after planting has only had three quarters of an inch of precip, and with that, this trial looks very, very good."

The crops require more water than that to thrive, he said, but its getting that from the area's stored supply.

"The crop itself needs about a good 12 to 14 inches of water for its life cycle from seeding to harvest," he said. "So we're basically living off of stored water, which tells you something about the quality of this ground."

Rust diseases in the crop were a concern covered during the field day, which consisted of a handful of farmers. Crown rust is a reality for all crop production but especially for organic producers, said Wiersma.

"For organic producers, ( crown rust ) is really a concern because they don't have an option to use fungicides," he said. "So variety selection then becomes really important."

Wiersma said in the case of oats, there's a lot of "recombination" in crown rust.

"So you get new races all the time, that can attack and overcome those resistance genes in the oats," he said. "I try to tell growers, 'this is a variety that still holds up against crown rust, and this one is more susceptible."

That's the gist of the summer event, said Wiersma.

"It highlights some of the strengths and weaknesses of each of the varieties that are in the marketplace, so growers can make informed choices," he said.

Wiersma said that cereal crops are rare in this part of the state but there's still a demand for them.

"There's the odd oats field, and there's very few barley fields," said Wiersma. "But there's an interest in local foods and local beer breweries to also locally grow their barley."






Source: agweek.com