Stripe Rust Appears in Idaho According to Juliet Marshall with University of Idaho Extension, Stripe Rust Has Found Its Way to Western Idaho (Parma)

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Stripe rust appears in Idaho According to Juliet Marshall with University of Idaho Extension, stripe rust has found its way to western Idaho (Parma). Below is an image of stripe rust on UI Magic CL+ (via Oliver Neher).

The growth stage of winter wheat in that area is past the window of fungicide application, and is currently in grain fill. Spring wheat is still vulnerable and susceptible varieties should be scouted for the appearance of stripe rust.

In the Magic Valley and into eastern Idaho, winter wheat is heading and susceptible varieties are still vulnerable to significant yield loss associated with stripe rust infection. Stripe rust reaction of last year’s varieties in the Extension Variety Trials is reported in the 2019 Small Grains Report available online at https://www.uidaho.edu/extension/cereals/scseidaho.

Please note that while some varieties were reported as resistant in 2019, race changes were reported in California by Dr. Mark Lundy (UC Davis pathologist) in this year’s crop; therefore scouting of all varieties is recommended this season. Please report observations to UI Extension in order to help tracking of the in- season spread.

The weather forecast for this and especially next week is very conducive to stripe rust spread and infection.

According to Xianming Chen, a research plant pathologist with the USDA Agricultural Research Service and Washington State University, wheat stripe rust has been reported in Oregon, Washington, Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, California, Kansas, Kentucky, Virginia, Illinois; and Idaho. Barley stripe rust has been reported in California, Oregon, and Washington.

Read his latest report on stripe rust

Idaho soil and wheat crop conditions as of May 31 We are nearly through the first week of June, so let's take a look at crop and soil condition data via U.S. Department of Agriculture from the last week of May.

On May 31, 16 percent of winter wheat had headed, which trailed progress at the same time in 2019 (26 percent) and the five-year average (33 percent). The winter wheat crop was rated as 45 percent good and 20 percent excellent.

More spring wheat emerged and headed than in previous years on the same date. At the end of May, 95 percent of spring wheat emerged, which was 20 percent ahead of 2019 (73 percent) and nearly 10 percent ahead of the five-year average (87 percent). One percent of spring wheat headed (there was no data recorded for 2019 or the five-year average) according to the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service.

Soil moisture continues to grade well. Topsoil moisture was 67 percent adequate and 18 percent surplus. Subsoil moisture was 75 percent adequate and 12 percent surplus.

See the USDA NASS Idaho website for more information.

Global wheat stocks still high Here with your Market Line Commodity Report, I’m Tim Hammerich.

Wheat prices have been faring better than some others like corn, but can prices hold considering the current global fundamentals? I asked Idaho Wheat Commission Executive Director Casey Chumrau says the world still has a lot of wheat.

Chumrau… “The world has a lot of wheat. We've seen some scenes of shortages on the news in the last few months, but that really doesn't speak to how much wheat, and how many wheat stocks there are around the world. There's been, I think, seven of the last ten years where world production has outpaced consumption. And so there is a lot of wheat in the world, which of course, kind of depresses prices and affects us all the way down to the farm gate.”

Wheat marketing center expected to reopen mid-June The Wheat Marketing Center is scheduled to reopen in mid-June in order to conduct essential testing on the quality of the 2020 crop. Quality testing is considered an essential activity, and will begin in July, said Janice Cooper, managing director of the center.

Grain elevators and inspection agencies in the Pacific Northwest collect hundreds of grain samples and test them. Last year, the center collected 728 samples. The Portland-based center provides weekly reports to global wheat buyers on how the crop looks.

"Our customers are looking very closely at those reports to see what the soft white wheat and club wheat harvests are looking like this year, so they can anticipate their purchases and make sure they're going to get the wheat they want," she said.

Quality, reliability of supply and technical service are the competitive advantages U.S. wheat holds in the global marketplace, Cooper said. As they prepare for opening, the center is considering new procedures for cleanliness, hygiene, social distancing, masks and gloves and staggered hours for staff, Cooper said.

"The sooner we can return to some sort of normal level of activity, the better for all of us," she said. "We understand travel is going to be limited for some time, and customers are not going to be able to come to Portland for a tour. I think we all need to look at options and how we can deliver online research and technical training programs if we can't have the customers in house."

The center originally planned for six training courses for customers in April and five beginning June 1. The center conducted one course for a customer in Latin America in January, Cooper said. She and technical director Jayne Bock are working on possible online tools through Oregon State University and U.S. Wheat Associates, the overseas marketing arm for the industry.

Flexible distribution models help bakers navigate direct store delivery demand during COVID-19 The sudden surge in retail food purchases caused by panic-buying over coronavirus (COVID-19) created a distribution crisis that had bakers rethinking their strategies.

Some bakeries were well-suited to make needed adjustments and feed consumers through the unprecedented and unpredictable surge in bread sales. By adopting logistics strategies that combined direct store delivery (DSD) with foodservice routes, some bakeries had a built-in level of flexibility in case demand spiked in either channel. However, nothing could prepare them totally for what hit in March. The immediate and dramatic shift to DSD-only put some bakeries into overdrive. The long-lasting effects could forever change distribution models.

Shattered taboo: death of a farm and resurrection of a farmer On January 29, Lyle Benjamin’s farm died. The fifth-generation grower stopped rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic and climbed overboard, leaving behind 150 years of family history: “I had a choice. I could either get in a lifeboat and salvage what I could, or stay on the ship and drag everyone else down with my pride.”

Choices. Legacy. Family. Responsibility. After shuttering his farm business and liquidating assets after approximately six years of watching his operation burn through equity, the plainspoken Benjamin showed remarkable mettle and backbone, staring into the face of loss to emerge with a voice seldom heard in agriculture. He stepped to the fore and gave a candid accounting, refusing to fling blame elsewhere, bow to a taboo of silence, or gloss the pain.

Shining a glaring spotlight onto the collapse of his livelihood, Benjamin contends that contrary to appearances and public sentiment, many U.S. farmers are in denial about either entering or enduring financial dire straits. Speaking in the same pragmatic, slash-and-burn mode he’s adhered to his entire life, Benjamin takes no prisoners and reveals a farmer of character intent on preserving his family and protecting the agricultural community. Cutting to the bone, he tells a farm tale rarely told.

Old grains, new formats bring innovation The old is new when it comes to grain ingredients.

“Ancient or heritage varieties of wheats are being resurrected in local farms around the country,” said Nicholas Ahrens, senior product applications technologist, Bay State Milling Co. “Many bakers have taken to milling these whole grains themselves for an added twist on flavor, texture and marketing cache.”

These “old” grains, as well as conventional ones, are being given new life in new formats such as puffs, powders and sprouted grains.

“The food industry has flooded the market with many unique products that incorporate whole grains such as spelt (farro), corn, rye, barley, quinoa, amaranth, millet, sorghum, rice and teff,” said Weston Heide, vice president, trade group, The Andersons, Inc. “While these whole grains themselves aren’t necessarily new, ingredient suppliers are leveraging processing capabilities to create unique formats that can add texture, flavor and visual appeal to a finished product.”

Pre-gelatinized whole grain powders bring moisture control where hydration is so critical. By using these technologies to create new formats for these grains, they are lending their nutrition, texture and flavors to new applications like bars and snacks.

Looking past first-quarter milling surge It was 22 years ago that the Bureau of the Census in the Department of Commerce announced that, breaking from a practice dating back decades, flour production data from the milling industry would be gathered on a quarterly rather than a monthly basis. In addition to easing the burden of reporting to the government, millers generally have found the change to quarterly data was sufficiently frequent to adequately track industry trends. When the Census Bureau stopped gathering milling data, and the task was assumed by the North American Millers’ Association for several years, no serious consideration was given to returning to monthly flour production reports.

To the degree there is a downside to disseminating flour production data only once every three months, such negatives came to the fore with the production figures for the first quarter of 2020. January-March flour production rose to a record high, but like much of the remainder of the food industry, industry trends in the final month of the quarter were far different than in January-February, before the seriousness of the coronavirus outbreak was appreciated.

The January-March production increase from a year earlier, while a solid 3.5 percent, appears modest when measured against some of the extravagant gains scored by a number of well-known consumer packaged foods brands in the month of March. For instance, Eggo waffle sales by Kellogg Co. surged 45 percent during the final month of the quarter. But for flour milling, a 3.5 percent change in a quarter is highly anomalous. Since 2010, quarterly US flour production has moved up or down from a year earlier by more than 3.5 percent only once — a 3.9 percent gain in the third quarter of 2013. Over the entire 10 years, the average quarterly change (absolute value) was 1.3 percent; only 0.8 percent in the most recent five years. By all accounts, March was the month that drove the growth in the first quarter. Many US flour mills likely experienced production increases well above 10 percent in March versus March 2019.

Part of the reason millers don’t miss monthly flour data reporting is production trends have become less volatile over time because of diminished flour trade. Flour exports from the United States in the past were highly variable, injecting a frequently disruptive level of uncertainty to prospective flour milling operating rates. In the 1980s, flour exports would swing up or down an average of 6.2 million cwts per year, or 1.9 percent of annual production. Since 2010, flour export swings have averaged 1.3 million cwts, or 0.3 percent of average annual production.

A second chance: More farms file for bankruptcy protection The Mensonides family designed its dairy with “cow flow” in mind.

Cows enter the milking barn in one direction and exit a different way.

Free stalls are 3 feet longer, giving the cows easier access to feed and exercise.

“Easier cow flow is less stress for the cow, and less stress for the cow equals more milk for the dairy farmer,” said Kristyn Mensonides.

But at this dairy, it’s the farmers who are under stress.

The Mensonides family is among a growing number of family farmers who have sought protection under federal bankruptcy laws as the agricultural economy falters. In general, the laws allow them to prevent lenders and others from foreclosing on land or equipment while they develop a plan to repay their debts. In many cases, farms emerge on stable financial footing, experts say.

US ag producer sentiment sinks to three-year low Coronavirus concerns, commodity price declines and supply-chain disruptions sank US agriculture producer sentiment to a three-year low, according to the April Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer released on June 2.

The barometer recorded a reading of 96, marking the first time the barometer has fallen below 100 since October 2016 and registering 72 points below its record high just two months prior. The Ag Economy Barometer is based on responses from 400 US agricultural producers and this month’s survey was conducted from April 19-24.

Producers’ expectations for current and future agricultural economic conditions also declined sharply. The Index of Current Conditions suffered its largest one-month drop, down 39 points in April to a reading of 72, and the Index of Future Expectations fell 18 points to a reading of 108. April’s decline pushed the Current Conditions Index 53 percent below its all-time high set back in February, while the Future Expectations Index fell 39 percent over the same two-month time period.

“Over the past two months, producers have felt the first shockwaves being created by the coronavirus,” said James Mintert, the barometer’s principal investigator and director of Purdue University’s Center for Commercial Agriculture. “Disruptions in the supply chain are causing many to look at ways they can mitigate risk in this uncertain environment and sharp declines in commodity prices have added significant financial pressure on many US farming operations.”

Upcoming events

• June 9, 2020 - Columbia Basin Agricultural Research Center Field Day (registration required) • June 11 and 12, 2020 - Idaho Grain Producers Association board meeting in Soda Springs • June 11 and 12, 2020 - Idaho Barley Commission board and budget meeting in Soda Springs • June 16, 2020 - Idaho Wheat Commission board and budget meeting in Boise

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