Bi-State Crop Management Conference Set for Covington

Nov 28, 2014

By Darrin Pack

Agricultural educators and agribusiness professionals from Indiana and Illinois on Dec. 9 will share information and advice on critical crop-management issues during the annual Bi-State Crop Management Conference.

The conference will take place at the Beef House restaurant, 16501 state Route 63 in Covington, Indiana. The daylong program begins at 8:30 a.m. EST and includes a buffet lunch.

Presenters and their topics include:

* Emerson Nafzinger, coordinator of the Research Education Center at the University of Illinois - “Factors Affecting Corn Yields.”

* Shaun Casteel, Purdue assistant professor of agronomy and soybean specialist - “Breaking Bean Barriers: The Next Generation.”

* Dan Gudeman, owner and operator of Earlybird Aerial Services Fertilizer - “Scouting With a Purpose.”

* Greg Hunt, Purdue entomologist - “Protecting Bee Populations.”

* Fred Whitford, coordinator of Purdue Pesticide Programs - “Adjuvants: The Power of Spray Droplets.”

* Bryan Young, Purdue weed specialist - “Weed Management Lessons From 2014.”

* Dan Schaefer, director of the Illinois Council on Best Management Practices - “4-R’s of Nutrient Management.”

Sponsors are Purdue Extension and University of Illinois Extension.

The program cost is $20. An additional fee of $10 is required to earn credits for the Indiana Private Applicator Recertification program, Certified Crop Adviser program or Indiana Commercial Pesticide Applicator program.

Registration is required before Dec. 5. For more information, contact Courtney Stierwalt, Purdue Extension Fountain County educator, at 765-793-2297 or dickerso@purdue.edu.

To register online, visit the conference website at https://web.extension.illinois.edu/registration/?RegistrationID=11213.

Source:purdue.edu

Video: Wheat Yields in USA and China Threatened by Heat Waves Breaking Enzymes

A new peer reviewed study looks at the generally unrecognized risk of heat waves surpassing the threshold for enzyme damage in wheat.

Most studies that look at crop failure in the main food growing regions (breadbaskets of the planet) look at temperatures and droughts in the historical records to assess present day risk. Since the climate system has changed, these historical based risk analysis studies underestimate the present-day risks.

What this new research study does is generate an ensemble of plausible scenarios for the present climate in terms of temperatures and precipitation, and looks at how many of these plausible scenarios exceed the enzyme-breaking temperature of 32.8 C for wheat, and exceed the high stress yield reducing temperature of 27.8 C for wheat. Also, the study considers the possibility of a compounded failure with heat waves in both regions simultaneously, this greatly reducing global wheat supply and causing severe shortages.

Results show that the likelihood (risk) of wheat crop failure with a one-in-hundred likelihood in 1981 has in today’s climate become increased by 16x in the USA winter wheat crop (to one-in-six) and by 6x in northeast China (to one-in-sixteen).

The risks determined in this new paper are much greater than that obtained in previous work that determines risk by analyzing historical climate patterns.

Clearly, since the climate system is rapidly changing, we cannot assume stationarity and calculate risk probabilities like we did traditionally before.

We are essentially on a new planet, with a new climate regime, and have to understand that everything is different now.