Wintry Weather Slams Plains Wheat; Will the Crop Recover?
Don’t rush judgement on crop damage, specialist says.
April 7, 2009
By Jeff Caldwell
Agriculture Online
Farmer anxiety
Another spring, another season of winter wheat crop-threatening cold temperatures and wintry precipitation. That’s been the case for a lot of wheat farmers from the Dakotas to the southern Plains, where tough weather conditions continue to pressure the crop that’s in the process of coming out of dormancy.
Farmers are expressing anxiety about their wheat crop from Oklahoma to North Dakota, now as the crop’s just starting to come out of dormancy and around the jointing phase of development. It’s a touchy time for the crop, and some fear the freezing temps are taking an irreparable toll.
Earlier this week, Agriculture Online Marketing Talk member ebright c ks said the forecast lows in the teens had him concerned. Still, fellow Marketing Talk member dafeeder says it may be some time before any damage shows, and even then, it may not be permanent.
“It will be a few weeks or a month before you can see any damage unless it just lays it over,” he says. “I saw a field do that once,a nd it bounced back and made an average yield. So, it’s just too hard to tell.
“It’s anybody’s guess on the total impact of it at this point in time, and it’s a long time until the wheat is in the bin, so anything can happen,” he adds.
Cold temperatures may not affect the crop at all, however; it all depends on where the crop is in its development. If the wheat’s come out of dormancy, it could sustain freeze damage. But, if it’s still dormant, like Farmers for the Future social network member Cameron Rogers says it is in his area of South Dakota, it should make it.
“We haven’t even had a week where the temperature got above 50 degrees. Our wheat isn’t even out of dormancy yet,” he writes. “I’d say as long as you’re not past the 3-leaf stage, you ‘should’ be okay.”
If that’s the case, fellow Farmers for the Future social network member Michael says his wheat — which is also behind its usual development pace — ought to bounce back from the temperatures in his area that struggled to get above 10 degrees Fahrenheit earlier this week.
“Our wheat was starting to green up. This morning, the temperature here was 12 degrees,” he said Tuesday. “Our wheat is not that far along yet, so I hope it will be okay. I guess there’s nothing much to do except ride these cold temps out and hope that we get some warmer weather soon. The weatherman says we are supposed to get some warmer temps this week.”
Precipitation damage
The low temperatures aren’t the only potential yield-robbers of late. Mix in winter precipitation, and the crop may sustain other types of damage, according to Kansas State University Extension agronomist Jim Shroyer. There are two “common maladies” in the crop in parts of the Plains now, after the recent winter blast.
“After the recent sleet storms and heavy snows, there appeared to be ‘webs’ on the wheat. These webs quickly dissolved when touched or disturbed by wind. The problem in this case was a disintegration of the outer leaf surface layer from a hard, driving sleet and possible small hail storm immediately preceding the heavy snow that fell on March 28. The sleet and small hail physically damaged the outer coating of the leaves, and a web of cellulosic fibers and plant cell materials more or less exploded across the upper canopy,” Shroyer said this week after scouting fields in the south-central part of Kansas where snow and ice were severe.
“It is possible, though by no means certain, that heads at this stage to be severely damaged by hard sleet or hail. By next week, it should be possible to determine if the heads are still alive. If the head is watersoaked and off-color at that time, and new leaves coming from the whorl are yellow, that head is damaged,” he adds. “Where heads are damaged, new tillers may start growing soon. In that case, the ultimate yield potential will depend on weather conditions through the remainder of the spring, but yields will probably be reduced to some extent.”
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“It is possible, though by no means certain, that heads at this stage to be severely damaged by hard sleet or hail. By next week, it should be possible to determine if the heads are still alive. If the head is watersoaked and off-color at that time, and new leaves coming from the whorl are yellow, that head is damaged,” he adds. “Where heads are damaged, new tillers may start growing soon. In that case, the ultimate yield potential will depend on weather conditions through the remainder of the spring, but yields will probably be reduced to some extent.”<<<<
Any loss of crop this year will affect the world, for other countries are having the same problems.
How many Farmers will just simply be bankrupt and out of business?