When To Plant Winter Wheat

In battle over deficit, farm aid is on the block

COLFAX, Whitman County — The wheat that carpets the Palouse hills has long delivered bumper yields. And in recent years, this grain has offered farmers something more precious — profits as the bushels were sold in markets strengthened by surging global demand.

But even as wheat farming emerges as one of the bright spots in the struggling economy, federal taxpayers continue to provide direct financial support to growers here.

This year, regardless of how high grain prices climb or how big the federal deficit grows, the U.S. Department of Agriculture will pay subsidies generally ranging from a few thousand dollars to as much as $40,000 to most Whitman County wheat farmers.

These subsidies — along with payments to keep land out of crops — are part of a broad web of federal support that has totaled more than $632 million to Whitman County farmers since 1995, according to the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit advocacy organization that analyzes federal farm-subsidy data.

Those dollars make Whitman the seventh-highest-ranking county in the country for all types of federal farm aid over the past 15 years, and No. 1 for wheat subsidies. But that could change.

Farm subsidies nationally are under renewed scrutiny as the Obama administration and Congress negotiate federal budget cuts in advance of an Aug. 2 deadline for raising the federal debt ceiling. Another round of meetings was scheduled Sunday at the White House.

Republican Rep. Eric Cantor, the House majority leader, has said cuts in farm subsidies are one area of potential agreement between Republicans and the Obama administration. Direct payments not tied to crop prices may be particularly vulnerable.

Nationally, farmers received more than 260 billion of dozens of grant programs since 1995, according to the Environmental Working Group analysis.

"We are already anticipating that something will happen," said Randy Suess, whose farm is located north of Colfax. He is one of several producers interviewed last week who said they would consider paring retroactive payments in good times as long as support is when markets are falling.

The federal money spent in Whitman County, a mix of payments and loans, has provided a safety net that helped keep farmers and the businesses that cater to them afloat through years of low grain prices. The spending peaked in the year 2000. Now flowing at diminished rates, the subsidies help bolster farmers' profit margins.

Central Idaho Extension: Southern Idaho Strip Rust Update

Much of the stripe rust in winter wheat is starting to shut down, especially in those varieties with high-temperature adult plant resistance (HTAP). We are, at this stage, past the application window for applying fungicides to control stripe rust in winter wheat. In any case, further application in winter wheat would not be economically beneficial.  Most of the winter wheat is in or past the grain fill stage. In our spring grain, significant damage can still occur depending upon growth stage. The preharvest intervals for most of the fungicides vary from 45 – 30 days, depending upon the fungicide. PLEASE READ AND FOLLOW THE LABEL INSTRUCTIONS. DO NOT spray past the recommended preharvest interval. Spring grains are now in grain fill in the lower elevations, flowering in the Idaho Falls region, and still at stem extension in the upper elevation areas. Some of the spring lines with HTAP are showing higher than expected stripe rust infection (UI Pettit) while HTAP in Alturas, for example, is holding. Those fields that have been sprayed with fungicides at herbicide timing did very well in reducing infection compared to those that were not sprayed, although stripe rust is re-establishing if a second fungicide application was not applied. Attached is an excel file with ratings of the winter and spring wheat varieties in the extension variety trials in Aberdeen. PLEASE NOTE that the disease pressure at that location is extraordinary. While I included both the seedling and adult reaction of the spring wheat, I did not for the winter wheat, but there are two ratings in the spring/summer and I included the raw data of two replications (untreated with fungicides). The infection type is rated on a 0 to 9 scale, with 0 being immune, 1, 2, 3 resistant, 4,5,6 intermediate, and 7, 8, 9 being susceptible. A rating of 9 means the plant was heavily infected with no chlorosis, and high levels of sporulation. If you would like further information/ clarification on the definitions of infection TYPE, let me know. In addition, there is a rating on the percent leaf area affected in the entire plot. Some varieties have a susceptible reaction, with lower levels of diseased tissue. There was a tremendous amount of necrosis this year, hence the mixed reaction types.

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