SIDNEY, Mont.—Weather seemed to be on the minds of producers as they rode in wagons to see the crop trials and the latest research under way at Montana State University’s Eastern Ag Research Center.
While skies were mostly gray and the humidity was high after several days of hot weather, crops in the region are still mostly in good condition—despite recent hail damage.
Hail roared through the Yellowstone Valley at the end of June, damaging crops, including sugarbeets.
At the EARC, crops were also damaged, particularly the spring wheat nursery. Luther Talbert, MSU spring wheat breeder, said hail throughout Montana has damaged enough of his spring wheat nurseries that it has put back being able to evaluate varieties for possible release.
Talbert told producers the more solid-stem varieties seem to not get affected by hail as much as others.
“The solid-stem variety Choteau does not get beaten up by hail as much,” he said.
Steve Becker, Wheat and Barley Committee, said the crop is mostly in good condition in central Montana. Becker travels through the state from his office in Great Falls to attend all the MSU field days in order to be able to communicate the condition of the state crop to buyers overseas.
“The winter wheat looks great from Choteau to Great Falls,” Becker said. “We have had a lot of heat, however, so the spring wheat is burning up.”
One producer attending field days said he farms north of Sidney and his neighbor lost 70 percent of his malting barley and 20 percent of his wheat due to hail and had a crop insurance agent out recently to inspect his crops.
Russ Fullmer, agricultural manager at Sidney Sugars, told producers about 9,500 sugarbeet acres out of a total of 31,000 in the Valley have been hit by hail in the past month.
“This area was devastated by hail, especially north of Sidney,” Fullmer said. “We have lots of hailed-on beets, but some seem to be growing out of it. Sugarbeets are fragile when hit by hail. Hail will probably affect sugarbeet yields this year.”
A second hailstorm hit fields south of Sidney the first week in July, and Fullmer estimated some fields suffered 80 percent defoliation. According to Fullmer, the Fallon and Terry areas, also good sugarbeet areas for Sidney Sugars, had damage to their beets as well.
The Savage/Glendive areas continue to have good stands and missed the hail, he added.
Sidney Sugars workers evaluated root samples from each of the districts and decided it would be a 28.3 ton crop this harvest, Fullmer said.
Last year, the early estimate was 29 tons and it turned out to be 30.4 tons, with sugar content at 18.44 percent, he added.
U.S. sugar net prices are down, due to Mexican dumping sugar into the U.S. market because of NAFTA, Fullmer said
Recent court decisions by the World Trade Organization ruled in favor of the U.S., and Mexico has promised to back off, he added.
“We are hoping sugar net prices will be back where they should be in a couple of years,” Fullmer said.
Fullmer pointed out the replicated coded beet plots behind him at field days that were all numbered. They grow several improved sugarbeet varieties from different companies in their field tests.
“Before any ag seed company can sell sugarbeet seed to growers in the Valley, they have to go through the coded trial, a three-year test,” Fullmer said. “At the end of three years, the sugarbeet seed can be fully approved.”
The varieties are replicated in the plot trials both at EARC and at other off-station sites, he said. In the fall, they take the harvest data, break the code and discover what numbers correspond with the varieties.
Each of the varieties will include such harvest data as fusarium and cercospora resistance, root yield, sugar percentage, sugar yield in pounds per acre and extractable sugar in pounds per acre.
With fusarium, there is no chemical that can help control it, so the varietal tolerance is especially important, Fullmer said.
“Growers need resistant varieties,” he said.
The coded number trials are later revealed and the producers can find out which ones Sidney Sugars has approved for growing.
“The coded trials protect the sugarbeet growers and they protect us,” Fullmer said.
Source: www.theprairiestar.com