A UVM blog Out Croppings: Important crop news from the field!

Prevention of the spread of livestock disease is the responsibility of anyone who works with or on farms.  Be prepared to take the appropriate measures to protect the farms you visit and minimize the risk of introducing disease.

When visiting any livestock farm:

• Educate yourself on the current disease risks in your area and beyond.
  • Detections of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) in Livestock (usda.gov)
  • HPAI in Dairy Cows – An Emerging Animal Health Issue | Agency of Agriculture Food and Markets (vermont.gov)
  • HPAI_H5N1_in_U.S._Dairy_Cattle_Updates_and_Resources_051024.pdf (uvm.edu)
• Communicate with the producer prior to visiting about biosecurity measures and protocols, expectations and risk assessment for the visit.  Establish permission to visit the premise.
• Wear disposable, single use plastic boot covers (6ml thickness)

or sanitize boots upon entering the farm premise and when leaving with approved chemicals EPA’s Registered Antimicrobial Products Effective Against Avian Influenza [List M] | US EPA. There are many locations these products can be found including Amazon.com, https://farmerboyag.com, and farm supply stores.

• Limit farm visits to one farm per day

or wear disposable coveralls or change clothing between visits

• Avoid cross contamination from traveling between animal feeding areas, feed storage, milking facilities or transfer areas and animal housing
• Sanitize any sampling equipment upon entering and leaving the farm
• Park in identified parking areas.  Avoid driving in feeding areas, feed storage areas, milk transfer areas, equipment traffic lanes or animal housing.  Vehicle tires should be clean and free from organic matter.
• Wear disposable gloves when handling animals, feed or manure.  Wash hands with soap and water.
• Avoid direct contact with livestock.
• Make biosecurity practices easy: if you visit farms frequently keep a prepared tote in your vehicle with the supplies that you may need:
  • Clean boots
  • Boot wash bucket or tub and brush
  • Sanitizing chemical for boots and equipment
  • Disposable, single use plastic boot covers
  • Clean clothing, coveralls or disposable coveralls
  • Disposable gloves
  • Hand sanitizer
  • Trash bags
  • Water

When planning for and facilitating on farm events or workshops:

• Only do so with the owner’s permission and make sure the producer is comfortable with opening their farm to the public.  Consider the risk level of the participant audience for the event:

• Low risk: event participants present very little risk of introducing disease to the farm because they have no other livestock contact and do not frequently visit farms.
• Moderate risk: event participants present some risk of introducing disease to the farm because they regularly work on farms but have little to no contact with livestock or feed and follow biosecurity protocols during their farm visits.
• High risk: event participants present risk of introducing disease to the farm because they are regularly in direct contact with livestock.
Communicate with the producer and participants prior to the event about biosecurity measures, protocols and expectations for the event.

Provide biosecurity signage to the producer as needed; Establish and communicate boundaries for where participants may and may not have access to on the farm.  Printable signage is available at Biosecurity – National Dairy FARM Program

Clearly label or communicate where participants should park.  Avoid vehicles driving in feeding areas, feed storage, milk transfer areas, equipment traffic lanes or animal housing.  All vehicle tires should be clean and free from visible organic matter.

Provide disposable, single-use plastic boots for all participants.  Boots should not be removed during the event and should be replaced if they become damaged at any time while in use.

Provide waste collection and disposal of used plastic boots upon conclusion of the event.

Avoid direct contact between participants and livestock.

Provide hand sanitizer or hand washing stations to participants.

Avoid participant travel between animal feeding areas, feed storage, milking facilities or transfer areas and animal housing.

Be flexible in planning your event and be prepared to cancel if concern or risk increases.

Collect contact information for all participants in case follow-up communication is needed.

 Additional farm biosecurity resources, training and information:

Home – Healthy Farms Healthy Agriculture

Dairy-Cattle-Biosecurity-Recommendations-Influenza-V1.1.pdf (nmpf.org)

H5N1 in Dairy Cattle – NMPF

Foliar diseases in cereal grains are important to pay attention to as they can suppress photosynthetic mechanisms which are needed to produce a healthy grain head. Foliar diseases can lead to reduced vigor, growth, and yield. If your grain is infected earlier in the season there is a greater chance of yield loss, if favorable conditions remain.

Common Foliar Diseases of Grain

Septoria Leaf Blotch (SLB)

Affected Crops: Wheat, Barley, Rye

Septoria Leaf Blotch (Parastagonospora nodorum) infects mature leaves starting at the midrib. Symptoms appear as small necrotic spots and coalesce into brown oval lesions, surrounded by a yellow halo. As the lesion develops black pin-head structures (Pycnidia) can be seen which hold white to pinkish asexual spores. SLB infection increases as temperatures raise between 68-80 F and high humidity holds for long periods of time. Rain is essential for spore dispersal. Infection which occurs on the ear can lead to Glume blotch and cause infection to kernels.

Tan Spot

Affected Crops: Wheat, Barley, Rye

Tan Spot (Pyrenophora tritici-repentis) can be confused with SLB infection, spore identification is needed for the correct diagnosis. Tan Spot lesions develop in the mid to upper canopy and form lens-shaped necrotic lesions with a yellow halo. Once wet, the lesion darkens and produces olive-brown spores. The disease develops in a wide range of temperatures but prefers 60-82 F with long periods of moisture. Late season infection can cause bleaching on the grain spikes, along with the browning of glumes and kernels turning a red to pink hue.  

Barley Yellow Dwarf (BYD)

Affected Crops: Wheat, Barley, Oats, Rye, Triticale

BYD is a viral disease which is transmitted by aphid feeding. The tips of leaves tend to have a yellow or red discoloration, which can resemble a flame. Plants infected with BYD may be stunted. This virus is usually seen in patches among a field, but the size and distribution are dependent on the aphid’s activity. Be sure to monitor your fields for aphids to reduce the risk of having BYD transmitted to your crop.

Powdery Mildew (PM)

Affected Crops: Wheat, Barley, Oats, Rye, Triticale

Powdery mildew (Blumeria graminis) prefers cooler conditions between 60-72 F with high humidity, 80% or higher. White, cottony fungal growth can be noticed on the upper surface of the leaf while the underside is yellow. As it matures, dark reproductive structures will form on the leaf surface. Plants can be more susceptible at times of rapid growth or after nitrogen application.

Leaf Rust

Affected Crops: Most common wheat, but can affect barley, rye, and triticale

Leaf rust (Puccinia triticina) appears as small, orange-brown or reddish-brown lesions on the leaf surface, it can be found on the leaf sheath during periods of high infection. Leaf rust is common and can occur more frequently when temperatures are mild, between 59-77 F. Most often, leaf rust can overwinter on early drilled crops or previously infected volunteer plants.

Management

It is important to scout fields for signs of diseases or insects often, so you can manage risk properly. For many of these diseases managing a good crop rotation with non-host crops, weed and volunteer control, and not overapplying nitrogen may help reduce the risk of an outbreak.

For more information and resources check out UVM Extension NW Crops and Soils Program- Grain Information

All photo credits: Bugwood.org

Aroostook Hops, Westfield, ME

Project Summary (full report available at www.aroostookhops.com)

The purpose of this project was to determine if a broad-spectrum OMRI-certified insecticide can be used to control major pests of hops (including leafhoppers) to increase hop productivity without creating other pest management challenges or a reduction in beneficial arthropods. We used pyrethrin treatment in a one- and three-acre hopyard in several different regimes culminating in a final year of complete pyrethrin coverage. We sampled arthropods, plant biomass and yield, and hopperburn to determine if spray regime or location (edge versus interior) impacted measures of hop production and management. There was evidence from all three measures that pyrethrin positively impacted management of hops pests and improved yield in hops, without resulting in other pest management issues. Thus, we will continue to use and evaluation pyrethrin to target pest populations and we advise other farmers to consider this approach. However, there is evidence that leafhoppers are able to rapidly repopulate small hopyards and potential evidence of selection for resistance to pyrethrin treatment. Thus, this approach should utilize arthropod sampling or scouting to monitor effectiveness.

Summary of Important Findings

• Pyrethrin application may greatly reduce leafhopper abundance (although the effect may be short-lived)
• Plant biomass and wet yield was higher in pyrethrin treated plots
• Few to no aphids or two-spotted spider mites were detected during these years or in relation to pyrethrin application
• The predominant leafhopper pest was NOT potato leafhopper (Empoasca fabae), but was a similar species in the genus Hebata (formerly Empoasca)

This material is based upon work supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, through the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program under subaward number FNE21-977. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Rolling and crimping cereal rye is a strategy for cover crop termination in no-till systems, but the timing of rolling and crimping is crucial for success. Now is a good time to monitor the grow stage of your cereal rye. Rye should be rolled when plants reach anthesis (flowering). At this point the rye plants are mature enough that the stems will be “crimped” when flattened to the soil surface, crushing the cell walls of the stems. Rolling the rye too soon, prior to anthesis, will not kill the immature plants and the rye can “pop back up” and continue to grow. In Alburgh, VT, cereal rye planted in mid to late September will typically reach anthesis around the end of May or early June depending on weather conditions.

To learn more about roller crimping, check out the Roller Crimping Cover Crops in Vermont: Benefits and Risks factsheet.

For more information about no-till cropping systems, read our Guide to Implementing No-till Cropping Systems in the Northeast.

As part of the 2020 Grain Growers Webinar Series, Dr. Erin Silva of the University of Wisconsin, Plant Pathology, gave a presentation on Cover Crop Based No-Till and Interseeding Techniques. View the recording of that webinar here to learn more about roller crimping cereal rye for no-till production systems.

Alternative market classes of dry beans, such as navy, small red, and pinto, are valued by consumers for their culinary characteristics and visual appeal. Modern breeding efforts have expanded the market classes (beyond black beans) that can be direct-harvested, lowering the barrier to entry by reducing the need for specialized equipment.

Current management practices for organic dry beans can deplete the soil, relying on tillage and cultivation for weed management and harvesting. Direct-harvesting dry beans, specifically black beans, has shown promise in organic no-till systems and could reduce the negative impacts on soil health while suppressing weeds.

In 2023, the University of Vermont Extension Northwest Crops and Soils Program initiated a research trial to evaluate the performance of four dry bean market classes (black, navy, pinto, and small red) in an organic tilled system compared to an organic no till system. Check out the 2023 No-tillage and Dry Bean Variety Performance report to see how these varieties performed under different management systems.

This research is supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) NE SARE under federal award number LNE22-444 and by the USDA NIFA Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative (OREI) under federal award number 2022-51300-37881.

It’s almost go time! Be ready for 1^st cut to maximize quality.

The snow has finally left the fields and while the ground is still wet, the first cut will be upon us within a few weeks. While there is always so much to do, take the time to make sure you’re ready to head to the field when the time is right. Timing is everything and as we experienced last year, you just never know when that dry warm stretch is going to arrive.

With the first cut we are really trying to balance dry matter yield with forage quality, namely fiber digestibility. As cool season grasses mature, they move from leafy vegetative growth to reproductive growth. As they start to elongate, woodier stems grow to support seed heads. These stems contain more fiber, and a higher proportion of that fiber is less digestible. Figure 1 shows this transition in orchardgrass that was harvested weekly starting on 12-May and through 23-May when it began showing seed heads. At the early harvest when the plants were still vegetative, fiber content is low and fiber digestibility is high. As harvest is delayed a week, fiber content increases, in this case by about 2.5%, and fiber digestibility decreased by about 5%. As we reach heading, fiber content is now another 3% higher and fiber digestibility reduced by another 5%. Some research has shown a 0.5 lb milk increase for every 1% increase in fiber digestibility. That means delaying harvest too long can really impact milk production.                                                                 

Figure 1. Weekly changes in quality of orchardgrass.

The timing of this transition from vegetative to reproductive stages is going to largely depend on the species and varieties out in the field. Table 1 shows average heading dates we’ve noted in our perennial cool season grass variety trials over the last three years.

Even if you are running short on feed this spring, resist the temptation to go out and scalp the fields down to the ground! Mowing to the ground removes all the plant leaves but can also remove the plant crown and new side shoots (tillers).  Grasses store energy and new growth potential in their crown and the crown is found in the first 2 to 3 inches of the plant. When this is removed, instead of the plant collecting the sun’s rays to regrow the plant must draw on root energy reserves to elongate those leaves to restart photosynthesis. This takes longer and over time diminishes plant vigor and resilience to drought or other adverse conditions. Repeated low mowing will cause your stands to weaken and thin leading to overall reduced yield, quality, and persistence. While that crown holds energy for the plant, it is actually the least nutritious and digestible portion of the plant. Therefore, while you may be getting a little more tonnage, it is of low quality and increases the risk of soil contamination. This tradeoff is demonstrated in Figure 2 which shows yield and fiber digestibility at three cutting heights. We observed a 7% reduction in yield when cutting at 3.0” vs 1.5” but fiber digestibility increased by 5%.

Figure 2. Yield vs quality of forage cut at three heights.

Leaving more stubble in the field has some additional benefits too. Higher stubble can help lift the forage off the ground, allow for better air flow, and faster drying. Faster drying means more plant sugars available to encourage proper fermentation of the feed. More residual protects the soil and helps to maintain cooler ground temperatures. This can help retain moisture and keep the soil microorganisms cool. If the soil gets too hot, these microorganisms slow down or go dormant, limiting the soil’s ability to cycle nutrients and provide other critical functions.

For all these reasons, take the time to get ready for the first cut and be ready to roll by mid-May. Check over your equipment, install some high skid shoes, and go make some high-quality 1^st cut! For more information from our trials, visit our website https://www.uvm.edu/extension/nwcrops/research.