Kylene Scott is the web editor. She grew up on a farm near Dodge City, Kan., and has been with the Journal since 2003. She can be reached by phone at 620-227-1804, or by e-mail at kscott@hpj.com.

Watch out for the wheat stem sawfly

For years in northern areas of the High Plains, farmers of spring wheat have been aware of the wheat stem sawfly. The wasp-like creature lays its eggs in the stems of wheat, and when the resulting larvae mature, they often girdle the stem, causing the wheat to eventually lodge. Michaud said a lot of farmers are in the habit of planting wheat continuously, and this exacerbates pest problems of many kinds, including mites, wheat streak mosaic, and Hessian fly.

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With the large amount of assets involved in a farming operation, why wouldn’t one have a plan for the continuation of the farm after a death of an operator? Knorr recently surveyed farmers about their farm succession plans. There is never a magic time to start the farm transition planning process, but sooner rather than later is better, Hensley said. [Read More]

Don Parrish, also with AFBF, said Walmsley alluded to the water projects having a lot of activity and very little money. She does think this farm bill will move away from typical commodity programs (e.g., direct payments, marketing loans) and move more on crop insurance. Crop insurance will face some changes, and it could be an easy target in the next farm bill, simply because after the food and nutrition programs, crop insurance has a lot of money. [Read More]

In an ongoing webinar series by the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska, ranchers can explore each aspect of developing a drought plan for their own operation. Jerry Volesky, range and forage systems specialist with the University of Nebraska at North Platte, explained eight parts of a ranch drought plan. Ranchers must also understand short- and long-term drought impacts of drought on pasture resources. [Read More]

Leaders from the National Corn Growers Association, American Soybean Association, National Association of Wheat Growers and the National Sorghum Producers each took a turn sharing what affects their association. Now farming with his brother on a farm his grandfather started in 1944, Murphy is moving to new technologies and hoping it will help the farm remain productive. Pam Johnson, president of the NCGA, said for corn growers, sustainability means not only having continuous improvements on ... [Read More]

If seed is in the ground during that event, emergence is slowed considerably, which exposes seedlings to further stress." "By the second week in May we have true leaves emerging from corn plants and frosts can damage those leaves." "Another strategy is to plant into dry soil and water the crop up." [Read More]

A Texas-based company, Clean Line Energy Partners, recently invited local businesses to attend a series of open house meetings held in Kansas to learn about the Grain Belt Express Clean Line. The Grain Belt Express Clean Line is a 700-mile overhead, high voltage direct current transmission line that will deliver 3,500 megawatts of low-cost wind power from Kansas to Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and states farther east. Project Development Director, Clean Line Energy Partners, Mark Lawlor ... [Read More]

"When you're in a drought like this, the drought becomes the driver until something significant comes through," Bledsoe said. "The transition from La Nina that produced the severe drought (in 2011)--that little short-term El Nino that we observed in the spring and early summer--that transition--allowed MJO to get active and basically cured the drought in all of Texas," Bledsoe said. In the 1950s the Atlantic Ocean was warm and the Pacific was cold, and according to Bledsoe, whenever the ... [Read More]

The event was the joint annual convention of the Colorado Corn, Colorado Seed Growers Association, Colorado Sunflower Administrative Committee and Colorado Wheat. Salazar said in Colorado the agriculture industry contributes more than 40 billion dollars to the state's economy, ranking second in the state. The corn-based ethanol program and the policy change involved with the industry "dramatically changed agriculture," Wiesemeyer said. [Read More]