Planting And Early Season Management
ONE GROWER PUBLISHING, LLC
Southern Production & Marketing Strategies
A Supplement to Cotton Farming and The Peanut Grower Magazines
January 2024
Economic Outlook
One Year Farm Bill Extension Kicking the can down the road might have been fun as a kid, but for farmers looking for some semblance of stability, Congress kicking the Farm Bill down the road is pretty much the opposite. After all, there was time for hearings on UFOs and aliens. Instead, a continuing resolution was signed, extending programs through Amanda Huber Sept. 30, 2024. Editor Alabama Cooperative Extension ag economist Adam Rabinowitz says Title I crop programs, crop insurance and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will continue in their current form. “With the Farm Bill extension, Congress is providing certainty in agricultural policy for next year, including knowing what farm safety nets and nutrition policies will be in place,” he says. “The continuing resolution also provided funding for the feral swine pilot program that ran out of money Sept. 30. This is especially important to our rowcrop producers who need assistance combating this threat to their crops.” Rabinowitz says Alabama farmers, like all others, continue to have a lot of concerns about the next Farm Bill. “The way input costs have increased for crop production over the past few years has not been addressed by the current safety net programs. Labor issues are especially important for specialty crop producers, and new or beginning farmers continue to have challenges accessing land and capital,” he says. “The big question now is when we can expect the next Farm Bill,” Rabinowitz says. “The longer the process lasts through 2024 and gets closer to the presidential election, the less likely we get it next year. Our agricultural producers, especially, need assurance of what government policies will affect their operations.” In other words, expect the can to get kicked again.
Markets And Farmer Sentiment
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he U.S. Department of Agriculture says 93% of the U.S. corn crop was harvested by Nov. 19. Mark Welch, Texas AgriLife Extension economist says drought continues to be a factor to consider. “Looking at the North Central Drought Monitor to gauge prospects for growing conditions for the 2024 crop, persistent drought is still widespread across eastern Iowa. The drought severity index is better than November but still above average,” he says in the Feed Grain Outlook newsletter. In the Grain Consuming Animal Unit calculation for 2023, USDA shows an increase of 392,000 after three years of decline, back up to just over 100 million. The cattle sector is down 38,000, hogs down 92,000, and poultry up 523,000. The chicken layer inventory of 389 million shows recovery from the impact of Avian Influenza a year ago, up 3%, and is 1% higher than the five-year average. As for pricing, Welch says it follows a seasonal price pattern with the best pricing prospects in the first half of the year, peaking in June, then prices falling below average, 0.50 on the index, in mid-July and bottoming out late September/early October. There was no post-harvest bounce. Farmer Sentiment Improved Despite the lack of a bright spark in the markets, the Purdue University-Center for Commercial Agriculture Group Ag Economy Barometer says a modest improvement in farmer sentiment is the result of their improved perspective on current conditions on their farms as well as their expectations for the future. According to Purdue’s report, the Index of Current Conditions rose 3 points to 101 while the Index of Future Expectations rose 5 points to 114. Farmers in this month’s survey were a bit less concerned about the risk of lower prices for crops and livestock and felt somewhat better about their farms’ financial situation than a month earlier. “Farmers’ more sanguine view of their farms’ financial situation was reflected in the Farm Financial Performance Index, which rose 6 points in October compared to September. This month’s index value of 92 was
Changes To Address Shifting Weather Patterns • Increased use of no-till. • Changed crop planting mix. • Planted more drought-resistant varieties. • Installed tile drainage. • Installed irrigation. the highest farm financial performance reading since April and pushed the index 7% above a year ago. The index’s rise stood in contrast to USDA’s’ forecast for 2023 net farm income to fall below 2022’s income level. Reports of higher-than-expected corn and soybean yields in some Corn Belt locations, along with a modest rally in corn prices, likely contributed to this month’s rise in the financial conditions index,” says the report. Response To Shifting Weather Patterns The survey also asked corn and soybean producers if they have made any changes in their farming operation in response to changes in long-term weather patterns in their area. “Nearly one out of four corn/soybean farmers (24%) in the October survey indicated they implemented changes in their farm operations to better deal with shifting weather patterns. A follow-up question posed only to farmers who said they’ve made changes, asked them to identify the biggest operational changes they’ve made to date. Responses indicated farmers are choosing from among a broad mix of technologies to adapt to changing weather patterns. The top choice, made by 25% of respondents was ‘increased use of no-till’ followed by ‘changed mix of crops planted,’ chosen by 23% of farmers in this month’s survey. One out of five farmers who made changes said they planted more drought-resistant varieties. Finally, a smaller subset of farmers indicated they’ve made capital investments to better prepare for shifting weather patterns. Nine percent of farmers said they installed tile drainage with another 9% of respondents indicating they installed irrigation.” CS
Corn South: Covering Southern Corn Production CornSouth is a supplement to the Mid-South and Southeast versions of Cotton Farming magazine and to The Peanut Grower magazine for producers in Florida, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. To receive CornSouth, visit cornsouth.com/subscribe.
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Production Management
Visual Guide To Corn Growth Stages
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dentifying corn growth stages is essential for successful management of pests, irrigation and fertility as strategies for achieving and protecting yield are often based on these stages. Conversely, when problems arise, the growth stage it occurs in offers the most effective way to tell how most yield will be lost. For example, the effects of frost, moisture stress, plant diseases or insect injury on yield will be determined by the growth stage in which these events occur. To help identify the growth stages of corn, Clemson University’s Michael Plumblee, corn and soybean Extension specialist, along with Bennett Harrelson and Sarah Holladay, both graduate research assistants with the plant and environmental sciences department, collaborated on a visual guide. The guide will help growers, consultants, Extension and research personnel properly identify corn growth stages in field corn hybrids. The rate at which corn grows and develops changes during the season. Young corn plants grow slowly, but as more leaves are formed, the rate of growth increases. Under normal growing conditions, the rate of plant development is largely dependent on temperature. Environmental factors, such as water and nutrient deficiencies, can alter the relationship between plant growth and temperature. If water, nitrogen or other resources become limiting, especially when the plant is rapidly growing, yield is often reduced. Disease and insect infestations can interfere with water and nutrient uptake or severely damage the plant to the point of yield loss. Weeds are direct competition for water, nutrients and light. Emergence To Black Layer Generally, corn growth and development can be divided into vegetative and reproductive growth stages. The beginning of each stage starts when at least 50% of plants in the area are at that stage. The vegetative growth stage begins with corn emergence and is completed by tasseling. The reproductive growth stages start with silking and end when a black layer forms, indicating physiological maturity. Being able to visually identify the stage of growth will allow for knowing when the corn plant is most at risk. The growth rate increases with the presence of each new leaf, and under non-stressful conditions, the time between new leaves will decrease as the season progresses. The plant is most vulnerable to stress during silking when TWITTER: @CORN_SOUTH
Growth stage R1 occurs when silks are first visible outside of the husks. Moisture stress during this stage causes poor pollination, reducing seed set and yield. MICHAEL PLUMBLEE CLEMSON UNIVERSITY
important pollination processes occur. As the reproductive stages progress, the effect of stress on seed weight will decrease, while the effect on seed number will be minimal after R2. According to research data, the highest yields are achieved in areas where environmental conditions are favorable for these growth stages, especially R1. Unfavorable conditions early in the season
will limit leaf size, which will decrease photosynthesis, while stress later in the season can affect pollination in the form of kernel size and number. The Visual Guide To Corn Growth Stages can be found on the Clemson Cooperative Extension Land Grant Press website at https://lgpress.clemson.edu/publication/ visual-guide-to-corn-growth-stages. CS
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Pest Management
New Resource: Stink Bug Scouting Guide
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tink bugs are the top insect pest of corn in the Southeastern United States. They tend to follow a predictable pattern of colonization in corn, typically arriving during the late-vegetative stages and reaching their highest population around the tasseling stage. However, even though this pattern is somewhat predictable, it’s not realistic to efficiently control stink bugs using fixed, calendar-based insecticide applications or at the entire farm level. Because of this, and thanks to the support of the Corn Growers Association of North Carolina and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Crop Protection and Pest Management program, North Carolina Cooperative Extension has created a new scouting guide for stink bugs in corn. Dominic Reisig, North Carolina Cooperative Extension entomology and plant pathology specialist, says the guide contains recently revised thresholds. “We have learned a lot about how to manage stink bugs in corn and have a good handle on how to manage them with insecticides. “Throughout this work, we have also learned how to scout for stink bugs in corn and have created this resource as an aid to proper scouting,” he says.
PHOTO BY ARUN BABU
Treat Each Individual Field Scouting for stink bugs is necessary because corn maturity varies across the farm due to differences in hybrid types and planting dates. Additionally, stink bug infestations are not evenly spread, as they move into corn from neighboring areas with both non-crop and crop hosts in the surrounding landscape. Infestation levels can vary considerably among fields, even on the same farm. Furthermore, early season damage to corn seedlings can also occur, although this is less common than damage later in the season. As a result, the most effective way to manage stink bugs in corn is to regularly inspect individual fields and apply treatments when the pest population reaches the economic threshold within each specific field on the farm. The most common stink bugs infesting corn in the Southeastern U.S. are brown stink bug, Euschistus servus, and southern green stink bug, Nezara viridula. Brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys, will also infest corn, but it is not common in the Coastal Plain, where most of the field corn is grown in North Carolina. Brown marmorated stink bug has different preferences and infestation patterns than other stink bugs. Green stink bug, Misshapen ears from stink bug feeding Chinavia hilare, can during the late-vegetative stages. also infest corn, but it is not as common. This scouting guide is focused on the brown stink bug, southern green stink bug and green stink bug. Scout Seedlings For Early Damage Stink bugs can cause significant damage to young corn plants. Most seedlings are protected from light-to-moderate levels of stink bug infestation because all field corn seeds are sold with an insecticidal treatment that provides a base level of control. However, heavy stink
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On seedlings, adult stink bugs feed with their head in the soil, attempting to reach the growing point that is still below the surface. Scouting should be directed to the base of the plant on the stalk beneath the lowest leaf.
bug populations or environmental conditions that interfere with plant growth or seed treatment uptake can overwhelm the seedling, especially when coupled with lower rates of insecticidal seed treatment. Stink bug damage to seedlings can range from mild stunting or the development of additional tillers, to the most severe outcome, which is the death of the seedling. The extent of the damage depends on both the growth stage of the plant and how long the stink bugs feed on it. Generally, when stink bugs feed on the corn plant at an early stage of growth and for an extended period, the damage tends to be more severe. For instance, in a 2019 trial, stink bugs were enclosed in cages and placed on corn plants at the V2 growth stage. When just one stink bug per plant fed on a single plant for a week, there was an average yield loss of 5.9 bushels per acre. Adult stink bugs that feed on seedling corn during the spring are from the generation produced the previous fall that survived the winter. They feed with their head facing into the soil, attempting to access the growing point that is under the soil, until V5. Because of this, scouting should be directed to the base of the plant on the stalk beneath the lowest leaf. Finding stink bugs on seedling corn can be particularly challenging in fields with heavy crop residue. For the complete guide, go to the N.C. State Extension website, click on “Field Crops” and then on the “corn” information portal. The guide can also be found at http://go.ncsu.edu/readext?971813. CS CORNSOUTH.COM