Reviewing the 2008 Market Outlook

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PRINCETON — More than 35 area farmers attended a Market Outlook meeting Feb. 21, sponsored by Bureau County Farm Bureau, Country Insurance and Ag View FS.

AgriVisor Services’s Rob Huston reviewed the 2008 Market Outlook. Huston took surveys from attendees on farm issues of the day and upcoming plans from farmers in the Bureau County area. He then compared the results to state and national results on the same issues.

Crop specialists Jim Donnelly and James Schoff with Ag View FS then reviewed issues and updates pertaining to the 2008 planting and growing season. One of the first areas viewed was fungicide applications and how it affected corn yields in Bureau County and the state of Illinois.

“Some of the fungicides did have negative affects and caused abnormal corn ear effects and yields,” Donnelly said.

Donnelly also said that there were other issues upon investigation that combined with the fungicide application to cause these problems. Spraying too early, ground application versus air application and extreme temperature fluctuations were noted as facts that also applied when reviewing yield totals in area fields.

Fungicides were shown to have a positive affect on many diseases in the Bureau County area and beyond, like the gray leaf spot and southern rust diseases. Schoff said recommendations would include farmers weighing the benefits of having a “clean” crop to harvest versus one with infected plants. He said the general consensus is that fungicides will assist farmers in having a cleaner crop that is easier to harvest, with less wear and tear on their machines.

Both Donnelly and Schoff reminded the farmers of the importance of the Respect the Refuge campaign. Respect the Refuge is a training and communications campaign that helps heighten awareness of Insect Resistance Management requirements, as mandated by the EPA, when insect-protected traits are planted.

Refuge compliance is key to continued federal registration of Bt products. Under U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approval for Bt products, farmers must intersperse Bt corn plots with strips of corn that does not possess the same insect-specific trait. The purpose is to prevent development of pest resistance in the Bt products.

For example, farmers can plant non-GMO corn, herbicide-resistant GMO corn, or strictly corn borer-resistant varieties as refuge for rootworm-resistant crops.

Surveys in 2005 indicated 92 percent of U.S. Bt corn growers met or exceeded minimum recommended refuge sizes vs. 91 percent in 2004 and 86 percent in 2003.

Schoff also discussed variety selection in soybean growing, and reviewed diseases that can cause field yields to go down significantly. In Bureau County, soybean diseases are on the increase. Problems from the 2007 growing cycle for area farmers included frogeye leaf spot and cercospora leaf spot. Scout groups constantly review area fields and keep results posted on the Ag-View Web site for producers to keep up to date on.

The issue of area farmers using variable rate technology versus whole field in regards to cost outweighing the benefits was then discussed. Schoff and Donnelly showed that data noted fields have more variability and accordingly a higher yield. Schoff said there is  more to gain using VRT today than in the past.”

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