Camas Prairie and Palouse Growers Experience Hard Freeze with Wheat

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Camas Prairie and Palouse growers experience hard freeze with wheat crops According to Andy Baldus, a grower who participated in the Idaho Wheat Commission's Pacific Northwest Export Tour in January, "We did experience a hard freeze here in Nezperce. It got down to 11 degrees in one of the coldest spots. We are seeing a lot of wheat with wilted leaf tips. I’m sure it will cost us in yield but the wheat also seems to be coming out of it a bit. We have had very good growing weather in general here. Hopefully it will come out of it just fine."

Tom Linehan in Genesee said he did not have to reseed any wheat due to frost damage but he know there we quite a few growers who did.

Kurtis Schroeder, a cropping systems agronomist and associate professor at University of Idaho, said he and Douglas Finkelnburg, an area extension educator focused on cropping systems have visited numerous fields on the Camas Prairie, Palouse, and even further north into Tensed and up to Bonners Ferry.

Schroeder said, "Frost injury was evident in nearly every field that we examined and was present in the winter wheat variety trials that I visited in Moscow, Tensed and Bonners Ferry (have not visited the other variety testing sites since the frost). At Moscow, we experienced nighttime temperatures as low as 15 F. Temperatures in the teens and low-20s were common throughout northern Idaho the week of April 12. In most cases the plants were small and the damage that we observed was limited to the leaves. With the warmer weather that we have experienced this past week, the plants are rapidly recovering."

According to Schroeder, when considering the impact of a freeze event on wheat, it is important to understand the growth stage of the plant. At the seedling stage up through tillering, the growing point is below or near the soil surface. The growing point of these younger plants is more protected from cold temperatures and damage will usually be limited to the leaf chlorosis and burning of leaf tips, such as the case in northern Idaho this spring.

While the growth might temporarily be delayed, these plants will typically resume growth when warmer weather returns with limited impact on yield. However, at the jointing growth stage or beyond, the growing point may be killed or florets could be sterile resulting in moderate to severe yield loss. Schroeder recommended a Kansas State University has a nice summary (linked here) of spring freezing injury in wheat.

IWC's director of research collaboration, Cathy Wilson said, "Wheat is resilient if damage occurs before heading. At heading or after a hard freeze will kill the embryos or developing grain. Beautiful heads with nothing in them. Sometimes a freeze in the vegetative stage makes wheat vulnerable to foliage disease."

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Idaho soil and wheat crop conditions as of April 26 According to U.S. Department of Agriculture data, soil conditions are still good in Idaho. As of April 19, 75 percent of topsoil and 83 percent of subsoil was adequate and 10 and six percent was surplus respectively.

Spring wheat planting progress was the same last week as the five-year average (61 percent) and up seven percent from the previous week. Twice the spring wheat had emerged compared to last week and 2019 (14 percent) but that trailed the five-year average of 19 percent.

Nearly half (53 percent) of the winter wheat in Idaho was good and 13 percent was excellent.

Much of the state has more precipitation from October 2019 through April 2020 than in 1981-2010 average/normals but as always, the more recent weather matters most during planting, sprouting and harvesting times.

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Wall Street Journal: Two months that tore apart the food chain The coronavirus pandemic has scrambled the U.S. food system, crushing the restaurant industry while pushing up grocery sales at record rates. The crisis is remaking every link in the supply chain, from farms to manufacturers to shippers to stores.

Officials are warning of labor shortages and waning meat supplies. Ultimately, it could bring permanent changes to the way food is processed and transported. For consumers, it could mean fewer choices, higher prices and an adjustment in the way we shop and stock our pantries.

Farm Prices for corn, cattle, hogs and milk have dropped as demand from restaurants, colleges, schools and other institutions has evaporated. Production on farms was already high, meaning the nation started the crisis with stockpiles.

In some cases, that glut could turn to a production crunch if the foreign migrant laborers that farmers increasingly rely on to pick produce and milk cows fall sick or stay home amid lockdowns to contain the virus.

Factory A similar dynamic is leading to tighter meat supplies. Some packing plants have closed after workers contracted the virus, and meat production has declined. On Tuesday, President Trump took executive action to keep meat plants open.

Makers of packaged foods have kept all but a few factories running, using temperature checks to control the spread of the infection. Some have struggled to meet the sudden spike in demand from supermarkets.

Quarantine Kitchen Idaho Wheat Edition: Zucchini Bread

On this episode of #QuarantineKitchen Idaho Wheat Edition, Casey Chumrau (associate administrator), makes her favorite zucchini bread recipe using a cookbook from her mom and flour (with wheat grown in Idaho) from Gaston’s Bakery. Is zucchini bread technically a salad?

Enjoy! Read more

In case you missed it: How long will it take ag to return to normal? When it comes to COVID-19’s impact on the economy, there appears to be at least some glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.

Many states, including Idaho, have released plans to reopen their economies in stages. That has created some optimism in farm country that maybe things are starting to get back to normal.

But farmers and agricultural industry leaders caution it will take more than just a few weeks or months for the farming industry, which has been hammered by declining commodity prices linked to the coronavirus outbreak, to get back to normal.

The farming industry won’t return to pre-coronavirus levels quickly, said Idaho Barley Commission Executive Director Laura Wilder.

“It’s going to take some time and it could take up to two years,” she said.

North Idaho farmer [and Idaho Wheat Commissioner] Bill Flory said he’s optimistic the economy will open back up sooner rather than later but he agrees pre-virus normality levels won’t happen immediately.

“I’m optimistic that the states are going to continue to loosen criteria and stay-in-place orders and commerce will begin coming back, but I don’t think it’s going to be fast,” he said.

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Adjusting cropping systems affected by the COVID-19 pandemic The agricultural sector has begun to struggle with the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The economic shocks on Idaho and Oregon agricultural industries have hit dairy, beef onion, and potato producers particularly hard. This is partially driven by the school and restaurant industry closures, where mass quantities of these products are typically utilized. Thus, the impact has been more immediate and direct compared to other commodities.

Following the shelter-in-place orders in Idaho and Oregon, the negative effects of the reduction in food consumption are now coming to light. Most crop producers implement yearly rotations – alternating the annual crops grown on a specific field in a planned pattern in successive crop years. Many Idaho and Oregon growers have been forced to cut their planned potato, barley and onion acreage due to loss of processing contracts for the 2020-21 crop year. With planting under way, many farmers are looking for ways to sustain their productivity.

Adjusting crop rotations may enable producers to stay profitable. Planting different crops such as small grain cereals, beans or corn are some options that may be appropriate for acres initially intended for potatoes and onions. Agricultural practices such as fertilization, herbicide and other pesticide applications already completed last fall and/or this spring are some of the key practices that must be considered. Agricultural inputs that have already been applied could have a significant impact on the alternative crops eventually planted in those fields. Finally, there may be serious implications if the fields are replanted to the same crop as in the previous year. To help growers make more informed planting decisions this spring, the University of Idaho and Oregon State University researchers put the following guidelines in place.

The road from farm to table The following questions and answers provide background and insight into how COVID-19 is impacting the food supply chain and animal welfare. The information is provided by Jayson Lusk, distinguished professor and head of the Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University, and Candace Croney, professor of animal behavior and well-being, and director of the Center for Animal Welfare Science, Purdue University.

If there’s a surplus at the farm, why is there a shortage in the grocery store?

Why are farmers dumping milk and plowing under vegetable crops while grocery store shelves are bare? This happens when the processing and distribution sectors that turn raw farm commodities into the food we eat are disrupted. With 54 percent of food spending occurring in restaurants and cafeterias, and that sector of the economy nearly shut down, there was a dramatic spike in demand for food in grocery stores — a demand the industry was not prepared to meet. Dairies, for example, may package small cartons of milk for schools that are now closed and not have the cash and equipment necessary to package milk in gallon jugs.

Why would farmers throw away food?

Despite the COVID-19 crisis, cows continued producing the same amount of milk. With restaurants and processors unable to take their usual quantities of agricultural products, farmers are left with few options. In some cases, products can be stored in warehouses or grain bins, but those aren’t options for perishable products. Sometimes farmers can donate to food banks. However, food banks don’t have the equipment or volunteers to take bulk quantities of raw milk, for example, and convert it to products we can consume. It’s also costly to harvest and transport food. The unfortunate result is that food is sometimes dumped, discarded or fed to livestock. No farmer takes this decision lightly. The recently passed CARES act includes some provisions for the government to buy excess production, which may provide some relief.

A window of demand for U.S. wheat may open this summer The 2020-21 wheat marketing year world wheat harvest has started in India, Pakistan, Eastern Asia and North

Africa. When the 2020-21 U.S. hard red winter wheat harvest reaches the Oklahoma/Texas border (about June 1), 25 percent of the world’s wheat harvest will have been harvested.

The world’s wheat harvest is projected to begin with enough wheat in storage to meet world demand for 4.7 months (39 percent stocks-to-use ratio). The USDA projects 2019-20 world wheat ending stocks to be a record 10.8 billion bushels.

The International Grains Council projects 2020-21 wheat marketing year world wheat production to be a record 28.2 billion bushels. The total 2020/21 marketing year world wheat supply is projected to be a record 39 billion bushels (28.2 + 10.8). Using the world’s record 2019-20 wheat use of 27.5 billion bushels, 2020-21 world wheat ending stocks are projected to be a new record of 11.5 billion bushels.

National Association of Wheat Growers leader: Farm Bill will have "huge target" Market Facilitation Program payments to growers were necessary due to tariffs and trade uncertainty, but they'll likely put agriculture in the crosshairs as Congress begins discussions a new farm bill, a wheat industry leader says.

"You take those payments, and then you add $19 billion, and then you add $16 billion, and then you add just the regular farm bill programs, the farm bill has got a huge target on it," National Association of Wheat Growers CEO Chandler Goule told the Capital Press. "I think we're going to draw so much attention."

It likely won't just be long-time critics of the farm bill such as the Heritage Foundation, the Environmental Working Group and the American Enterprise Institute, Goule added.

"I think you're going to have a lot of other groups coming out and saying, 'Agriculture got a ton of money during all this — why do they need a farm bill?'" Goule said. "Really, that just shows that they don't understand production agriculture."

U.S. organic corn, wheat challenged with oversupply U.S. organic corn and wheat prices will be challenged with a larger-than-anticipated beginning stocks and an increase in harvested areas over the 2019-20 marketing year, according to Mercaris, the organic and non- GMO trading platform and market information company.

Planting and harvest conditions in 2019 were not optimal, but corn and wheat harvests were still pushed above previous estimates. In addition, corn imports rose sharply at the end of the 2018-19 marketing year, 12 percent above projections, Mercaris said. The commodity saw an increase in harvested area.

Mercaris estimates US organic corn production to total 39.7 million bushels in 2019-20, up 9 percent from the previous outlook.

“Feed-grade organic corn prices have experienced a lot of pressure since last August, as harvest exceeded the industry’s expectation,” said Ryan Koory, director of economics for Mercaris. “With buyers expecting tighter 2019-20 supplies, a lot of organic corn was imported and stored at the end of 2018-19, putting corn markets in a perpetually long supply position this year.”

U.S. organic wheat production experienced a 15 percent year-over-year jump in 2019 with a total of 20 million bushels, Mercaris said.

Medical providers in need of more supplies have matching systems for new and unused supplies in Idaho United Way chapters in the Treasure Valley, Magic Valley and Northern Idaho; Central District Health; Southwest District Health; local medical clinics; hospitals and social service providers established donation portals for urgently-needed medical supplies and other support equipment.

The supply of medically necessary protective equipment and medical hygiene items to fight the COVID-19 epidemic is critically low. Health clinics, care providers, long-term care facilities and hospitals are low, and in some cases, out of supplies.

Many professions such as manufacturing, auto, paint suppliers and technicians, personal care professionals including hair, nail and skin care technicians, tattoo businesses, dental, animal clinics and many more use some of the same equipment needed by medical providers.

To begin the donation process of appropriate new and unused supplies such as gloves, face masks, medical equipment and hygiene items, visit the below pages for more information.

Appropriate donations will be matched with evolving need and arrangements will be made to coordinate delivery.

Please do not deliver supplies in person. All supplies will be coordinated through online collection portals and by the local United Way chapters.

Treasure Valley (Ada, Adams, Boise, Canyon, Elmore (partial), Gem, Malheur (Oregon), Owyhee, Valley and Washington)

Magic Valley

Northern Idaho

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