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| Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences Weekly Vision is e-mailed weekly to faculty and staff of Bumpers College and the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, Division of Agriculture. This service is primarily for timely announcement of news and events for the AAES and Bumpers College. Submit items to hmedders@uark.edu. You may also wish to submit items to headline@uark.edu for posting on "UA Daily Headlines" for campus-wide distribution. |
| Aug. 10, 2009 |
1. Resistant weeds research among RREC field day topics, Wednesday
2. Pine Tree Station field day to focus on rice sustainability, Aug. 20
3. NEREC field day answers herbicide resistant pigweed questions -- VIDEO
4. Rice processors review research at industry alliance meeting
5. Turf crowd turns out for field day at Division of Agriculture center
6. High-oil soybeans in the Arkansas variety development pipeline
7. Bumpers College launches Twitter page
8. Justus Teaching Seminar and Idea Exchange, Aug. 19
9. AEAB team wins national case study contest
10. Hardwoods field day rescheduled
11. CORRECTION: Arkansas CARET delegates
12. Save the dates for faculty reception and scholarship luncheon
13. Save the Date for Division of Agriculture Awards Luncheon, Jan. 8
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1. Resistant weeds research among RREC field day topics, Wednesday
Weed control to prevent or manage herbicide resistance in rice and soybeans, which is a growing problem for Arkansas farmers, will be one of the topics at the annual Rice Research and Extension Center field day Aug. 12.
Reece Langley, USA Rice Federation vice president for government affairs, will be the keynote speaker at an inside program following field tours, which begin at 8 a.m.
The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture center is nine miles east of Stuttgart on Hwy. 130.
Center director Chris Deren said Division of Agriculture weed scientists Bob Scott and Jason Norsworthy will lead a one-hour tour of research plots where herbicide treatments are being studied. The weed research tour will depart at 8 a.m. and 9:30 a.m.
Three other tours will focus on:
* rice varieties with departures at 8 a.m., 9 a.m. and 10 a.m.;
* rice and soybean fertility, diseases and insects with departures at 8 a.m., 8:30 a.m., 9 a.m. and 9:30 a.m.; and
* rice quality, tillage and the economics of irrigation at 8 a.m. and 9:30 a.m.
Reece Langley will discuss legislative issue affecting the rice industry during an indoor program, starting about 10:45 a.m. Short updates will be given by chairmen of the rice, soybean, wheat and corn/grain sorghum research and promotion boards and Dave Gealy of the USDA-ARS Dale Bumpers National Rice Research Center.
On the weed tour, Norsworthy and Scott will discuss tests of new herbicides, strategies to prevent herbicide resistance and practices for managing fields with resistant weed populations.
"Resistance is the number one issue we are facing in rice weed control," Norsworthy said.
The herbicide-resistant population of barnyardgrass, which is the most troublesome weed in rice fields, is growing rapidly, Norsworthy said, based on his screening of samples of weeds that survive herbicide treatments in farmers' fields.
"About 50 percent of the samples of barnyardgrass herbicide failures I have screened over the past three years have been propanil resistant," Norsworthy said.
Propanil is in one of five basic herbicide chemistries for rice that include various herbicide brand names. Herbicide resistance in Arkansas has been confirmed in four of the five chemistries, Norsworthy said.
"We are quickly running out of modes of action. We need new chemistries," said Norsworthy, who is an associate professor of crop, soil, and environmental sciences based in Fayetteville. Scott is a professor of crop, soil, and environmental sciences based at the extension field research center at Lonoke.
Keys to preventing herbicide resistance include use of different herbicide chemistries and proper application to ensure complete control in a field, Norsworthy said. One healthy barnyard grass plant can produce 100,000 seeds, so just a few plants in a field can create a large soil bank of resistant weed seed, he said.
A field day program is online at http://riceresearchcenter.com. _________________________________________
2. Pine Tree Station field day to focus on rice sustainability, Aug. 20
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| SUSTAINABILITY -- Jennifer James, USA Rice Federation Sustainability Task Force chairman, to speak at Pine Tree Field Day |
Jennifer James, a Jackson County rice producer and chairman of the new USA Rice Federation Sustainability Task Force, will speak at a crops field day Thursday, Aug. 20, at the Pine Tree Research Station.
The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture research station is eight miles west of Colt on Hwy. 306.
Station Director Roger Eason said a two-hour tour of research plots, starting at 9 a.m., will be followed by James' presentation and a sponsored lunch in the station's large meeting facility.
"The U.S. rice industry has a long history of protecting its natural resources and ecosystems," federation Chairman Jamie Warshaw said. "With the creation of the Sustainability Task Force, the industry now has the means to advance these principles and practices, and to communicate the industry's commitment to sustainably produced rice to policy-makers, consumers and customers."
In addition to James, task force members from rice-producing states include Ray Vester of Stuttgart, Bill Reed of Riceland Foods, Keith Glover of Producers Rice Mill and Glenn Nevins of Anheuser-Busch. An advisory group of rice researchers includes Terry Siebenmorgen in Arkansas and others from rice-producing states.
Research tour topics and Division of Agriculture scientists at each stop will include:
-- Weed control in rice, Jason Norsworthy;
-- Weed control in soybeans, Chase Bell;
-- Soybean fertility, Jeremy Ross;
-- Rice breeding program, Karen Moldenhauer;
-- Rice water weevil and grape colapsis, Gus Lorenz;
-- Rice fertility, Rick Norman; and
-- Soybean diseases and Asian rust update, Scott Monfort.
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3. NEREC field day answers herbicide resistant pigweed questions -- VIDEO
Farmers, agricultural consultants and county agents who turned out for a field day at the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture's Northeast Research and Extension Center all had at least one question in common: what to do about herbicide resistant pigweed?
Ken Smith, extension weed scientist at the Division of Agriculture's Southeast Research and Extension Center in Monticello, said that eight years ago, morning glory was the problem weed on every grower's mind. Today, "herbicide-resistant pigweed has choked out the morning glory," he said.
Smith discusses the problem and management of herbicide resistant pigweed in a Division of Agriculture Web video: http://aaes.uark.edu/nerec_video.html
The growing problem is glyphosate resistant Palmer amaranth, known best to farmers as Roundup resistant pigweed. First confirmed in Mississippi County in 2005, Smith said, the problematic weed has spread to most of the counties in eastern Arkansas.
Research technician Ryan Doherty said glyphosate resistant pigweed has been confirmed in 21 counties throughout the state. A research location has been established to study control programs in a field situation. Research on those plots is revealing the nature of the resistance and helping to develop management strategies.
Doherty said the most resistant pigweed population identified by division scientists was found in Lincoln County.
"The farmer had already put two 22-ounce applications of Roundup on that field before he called us," Doherty said. "We put on another 44-ounce application of Roundup and it didn't hurt it at all." Even another application of 128 ounces of Roundup did not kill the pigweed biotype found in that field. Doherty said all those plants probably came from a single female plant.
Smith said division scientists confirmed this month that there are two distinct patterns of distribution in Arkansas from pigweed plants with two different mechanisms of tolerance. In one pattern, called segregated, the herbicide resistant plants are scattered throughout the field randomly among plants that are not resistant. Spraying these fields with glyphosate kills about 80 percent of the pigweed. The remaining plants are scattered randomly throughout the field. Smith cautioned that resistance is creeping up in these pigweed populations; 80 percent may be killed this year, but next year it may be only 70 percent.
Smith calls the second pattern non-segregated. In these fields, the resistant plants are clustered tightly together and glyphosate herbicide does not kill any of them. "All the offspring of these plants have high levels of resistance," he said.
"When you see these," Smith advised, "Do whatever you have to do to take them out."
Smith said Division of Agriculture scientists had devised a number of strategies to control glyphosate resistant pigweed, most involving a combination of different herbicides beginning with a preplant application. Roundup is still a valuable weed control product, he said, because it controls more than 100 other weeds. But it will have to be part of a new program for weed control.
"There is no prescription that works in every cotton or soybean field," Smith said. "But in any program, soil residual herbicides are going to be essential for controlling these pests."
Smith said farmers should overlap soil residual applications to keep them on the field all the time. He recommended scouting for pigweed at the same time growers would be scouting for insects. Catching and killing pigweed before it matures and goes to seed is important in controlling the spread of the weed.
Agricultural economist Bob Stark said glyphosate resistant Palmer amaranth is the main economic concern among all herbicide resistant weeds.
Stark said there are a lot of different chemical choices, but Division of Agriculture economists were putting together an economic analysis of four management strategies. The key point, he said, was to begin planning now for next season, to consider what herbicides are available and to consult county extension agents about what plans will work best.
"I know we don't have the 2009 crop in yet," Stark said, "but this is not too early to begin looking at 2010."
An overnight thunderstorm forced the field day program indoors because the fields and roads on the Northeast Research and Extension Center were too muddy to drive or walk on. Other topics covered:
- Entomologists Tina Teague and Glenn Studebaker discussed management of insect pests, particularly tarnished plant bugs. They gave an update on insecticide efficacy based on division research programs.
- In a series of presentations by agricultural economists, Archie Flanders described comparative costs and returns for field crops, Bob Stark discussed the economic impact of herbicide resistant weeds and Scott Stiles gave an update and talked about the inherent risks for commodity prices.
- Crop specialists Jason Kelley, Tom Barber, Jeremy Ross and Chuck Wilson discussed crop conditions and challenges for corn, sorghum, wheat, cotton, soybeans and rice.
- Erika Chudy, district director for Arkansas Congressman Marion Berry gave a legislative update and said the congressman will be in Arkansas in coming weeks during a Congressional recess.
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4. Rice processors review research at industry alliance meeting
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| RPP WORKERS -- Faculty, students and staff in the Rice Processing Program are picture between meetings of the Rice Processing Industry Alliance in the Poultry Science Center and Arkansas Union Aug. 5 and 6. |
Rice processing industry representatives gathered for their annual industry alliance meeting at the University of Arkansas Aug. 5 and 6 to review research they support in the Rice Processing Program of the U of A System’s statewide Division of Agriculture.
“We conduct research to improve the efficiency of current processing operations and to help the industry develop improved processes and products,” said Terry Siebenmorgen, University Professor of food science and director of the Rice Processing Program.
Processors from several rice-growing states and other countries participate in the program, including those with operations in Arkansas, such as Riceland Foods, Producers Rice Mill, Busch Agricultural Resources, RiceTec, Mars Foods, Kelloggs and Riviana Foods. Equipment suppliers including GSI, Buhler and Perten Instruments are also heavily involved in the program.
“The program aims to enhance the quality and value of rice and rice products,” Siebenmorgen said.
Rice is the most valuable Arkansas crop. The state’s farmers planted about 1.4 million acres of rice in 2009 and will produce nearly half of all the rice grown in the United States. They will receive about $1.5 billion for the crop, and processing and marketing of consumer products will multiply the value added to the state’s economy.
Maintaining the high quality of Arkansas-grown rice requires close attention to the environment and practices before and during harvest, during handling of harvested grain and in the rice mill, Siebenmorgen said.
A major research focus is managing grain moisture content at every stage, Siebenmorgen said. Other topics include quality components of different rice varieties and hybrids, methods of quality assessment, milling technology and cooking and nutritional studies.
Three keynote speakers addressed sustainability issues related to profitability for producers, environmental and energy impacts and meeting consumer needs and desires.
Jessica Lundberg, board chair of Lundberg Family Farms in Richvale, Calif., described the family’s organic rice business. The market for organic foods is growing at a rate of about 10 percent a year, Lundberg said. Organic food consumers want to feel good about products they buy, not only in their perception of health and nutrition, but also in their perception of environmental and social impacts, she said.
Darrin Nutter, a University of Arkansas mechanical engineer, reported on a “life cycle analysis” of energy used in the dairy industry. Nutter is a leader in the nationwide project to document energy use at every stage of milk production.
Nutter said dairy industry leaders have used the data to identify ways they can reduce energy use to lower costs and the amount of carbon they add to the environment. The life cycle analysis results were presented at a dairy industry meeting this spring co-sponsored by the Division of Agriculture’s Center for Agricultural and Rural Sustainability.
Jennifer James, a Jackson County rice farmer and chair of the USA Rice Federation’s Sustainability Task Force, said the rice industry must be proactive in addressing environmental and energy issues.
“We are working with university researchers to develop a science-based program of best management practices for sustainability,” James said. It is in the best interest of the U.S. rice industry to have a pro-sustainability profile, she said.
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5. Turf crowd turns out for field day at Division of Agriculture center
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| GRUB MANAGEMENT -- Graduate student Tara Wood discusses research on managing white grubs, which are Japanese beetle larvae, in different varieties of grass. |
It's a turf crowd that scientists and their graduate students perform for at the Turfgrass Field Day, but attendance has grown each year of the annual event at the Arkansas Agricultural Research and Extension Center 2.5 miles north of the University of Arkansas campus on Hwy. 112.
The turfgrass research area includes the largest putting green in Arkansas. It's used for bentgrass research and is part of a horticultural research, extension and teaching complex provided by the University of Arkansas System's statewide Division of Agriculture.
Assistant Professor Aaron Patton, who coordinates the event, said most of the approximately 260 field day visitors work in the lawn care, golf course, athletic field and sod farm industries. The field day was held every other year until 2007 when it became a yearly event.
"I think we are meeting a real need by providing updates on research, demonstrations of recommended practices and new technology, and a trade show, which had 20 vendors this year," Patton said. "It's also good for networking with other turf people, vendors and university people."
The field day includes pesticide recertification training for turf managers in Arkansas and Oklahoma.
A tour of research projects and demonstrations included a range of topics, such as grass variety trials, variety selection for various purposes including drought tolerance, managing putting greens, fertilization, and control of plant diseases, insect pests and weeds.
Reports on turf research and extension projects are provided in the "Arkansas Turfgrass Report" published annually by the division's Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station. To see the report online and event announcements, visit the Turfgrass Science Web site at turf.uark.edu.
Results of turfgrass variety trials in Arkansas and other states in the National Turfgrass Evaluation Program are online at www.ntep.org.
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6. High-oil soybeans in the Arkansas variety development pipeline
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| BUSY AS BEES -- Caroline Gray and other University of Arkansas graduate students are busy as bees this summer. She places pollen from a male parent on the stigma in the flower of a female parent in one of about 9,000 attempts to combine desirable genetic traits of selected plants in the soybean breeding program at the Arkansas Agricultural Research and Extension Center, Division of Agriculture, University of Arkansas System, in Fayetteville. |
"If we build it they will come," could be the motto for an initiative to develop Arkansas adapted soybean varieties with higher than average oil and protein content in the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture's soybean breeding program.
Soybeans that yield more oil and protein are more valuable for use in food, feed, fuel and many other products, but farmers aren't paid for the difference unless they contract with a specialty products firm. The main market for farmers is the generic commodity market.
In a few years, producers may be in a position to add marketing options with new varieties that routinely produce 15 pounds of oil per bushel compared to the current average of about 12 pounds in varieties with comparable yields, said Bryan Stobaugh, a Division of Agriculture researcher.
Stobaugh discussed the high-oil soybean breeding objective at a July 30 field day on crops for biofuel production at the Division of Agriculture's Rohwer Research Station in Desha County, which is a unit of the Southeast Research and Extension Center at Monticello.
The research plot tour for the field day was rained out, but researchers gave presentations on their projects to develop the information farmers will need to produce "next generation" cellulosic biofuel feedstock crops such as switchgrass, cottonwood and sweet sorghum.
Future Energy Crops. When emerging technology to refine fuel products from the cellulose in plant stems and leaves becomes economically feasible, a commodity market for "energy crops" could develop for Arkansas farmers, agricultural economist Michael Popp said.
Popp and other field day speakers discussed the environmental and economic implications, as well production requirements, for such a major addition to the state's agricultural sector.
Matt Pelkki, a natural resource economist with cottonwood and switchgrass studies at Rohwer, said lumber companies already use biomass to fuel wood-burning power plants, and they market biomass pellets for wood-burning furnaces. Such use could greatly expand if electric utilities are required to use a mandated percentage of renewable energy sources, he said.
"In Arkansas, its not likely to be wind or solar, but it could be biomass," Pelkki said of meeting a renewable energy source mandate.
Renewable alternative fuels have already had a major impact on Arkansas agriculture. Increased demand for corn, soybeans and other oilseeds used for biofuel has resulted in higher crop prices and larger acreages of those crops.
High-Oil Soybeans. Development of high-oil soybeans is an example of Division of Agriculture support for producing feedstock for the current biodiesel markets.
Stobaugh is a graduate student assistant of Pengyin Chen, who directs the division's statewide soybean breeding program based at the Arkansas Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Fayetteville. He is the son of Conway County farmer Robert Stobaugh, a longtime promoter of biodiesel production and use.
The elder Stobaugh, who attended the field day, said he would expect soybean buyers servicing the biodiesel industry to pay a premium to farmers who can deliver high-oil soybeans.
The average oil content of commodity soybeans in Arkansas is about 20 percent, Bryan Stobaugh said. Breeding lines developed by Chen over a period of years average 25 percent oil, which translates into three pounds more oil from a bushel of beans.
Chen's high-oil breeding lines maintain comparable levels of protein as current varieties, but yield is lower. Stobaugh said the yield component is being steadily improved by backcrossing, but it will take several years to reach the desired combination.
The target is high oil, average or better protein, and high yield for a variety release, Stobaugh said. Chen is also considering earlier release of a high-oil variety with a small yield drag, which would benefit growers who get paid for oil content until the high-yield, high-oil target is reached.
Meanwhile, Stobaugh said a high-yielding Group IV variety is near the end of the pipeline for release. Genetically pure foundation seed grown in 2010 should be available to seed growers in 2011.
'Osage,' an Arkansas variety released in 2007 by the Division of Agriculture, was used as a high-yield check variety in the 2008 and 2009 USDA Uniform Trials, due to its excellent performance for yield and other traits across a range of environments, Stobaugh said.
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7. Bumpers College launches Twitter page
Bumpers College is starting to tweet to the world. The college now has a Twitter page at http://twitter.com/bumperscollege. Twitter is a social media outlet known for limiting its posts to no more than 140 characters.
It's not necessary to have a Twitter account to see what the college posts there, but anyone who does have an account is encouraged to become a "follower" of Bumpers College to receive all the college's posts announcements on their own Twitter home page. Anyone with an account needs only to go to the college's Twitter page and hit the "follow" button.
The college will post links to its news releases, announcements of events and other information from personnel who want to get the word out quickly to the college's friends.
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8. Justus Teaching Seminar and Idea Exchange, Aug. 19
The Justus Teaching Seminar and Idea Exchange focused on using technology to improve instruction is scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 19, 9 11:30 a.m. Coffee, juice and muffins will be available at 8:30 a.m. in the lobby of AFLS along with posters and displays.
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9. AEAB team wins national case study contest
A team of M.S. students from AEAB won first place in the annual agribusiness case study competition for graduate students at the American Agricultural Economics Association meeting July 29- Aug. 1 in Portland. Team members are Brandon McFadden, Katherine McGraw and Sandra Popova. Advisors are Michael Thomsen and Michael Popp. Six teams entered this year's competition. The UA team has placed in the top three the last four years.
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10. Hardwoods field day rescheduled
The Hardwood Workshop (landowner field day) scheduled for the Livestock and Forestry Station near Batesville has been rescheduled from Oct. 21 to Wednesday, Oct. 28, with a rain date of Wednesday, November 4.
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11. CORRECTION: Arkansas CARET delegates
An article in last week's "Vision eXtra" about the Division of Agriculture hosting the Southern Region Administrative Heads Section of the Council on Agricultural Research, Extension and Teaching (CARET) Aug. 1-3, said the CARET delegate from Arkansas is Dow Brantley, a Lonoke County rice producer.
Arkansas is also represented by CARET delegates Debbie Moreland of Pulaski County and John Kuykendall of UA, Pine Bluff.
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12. Save the dates for faculty reception and scholarship luncheon
The annual Fall Faculty reception is scheduled for September 24 and the Bumpers College Scholarship Luncheon will be October 9.
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13. Save the date for Division of Agriculture Awards Luncheon, Jan. 8
Faculty and staff awards will be presented at the Division of Agriculture Awards Luncheon Jan. 8, 2010, in Little Rock.
AAES and Bumpers College Web sites:
http://aaes.uark.edu/
http://bumperscollege.uark.edu/