Summer fallow is a common strategy for producing winter wheat in the drier regions of the inland Pacific Northwest. Farmers have historically used summer fallow every third year in the intermediate rainfall zone of the…
Dr. Xianming Chen (ARS Plant Pathologist) released an updated stripe rust forecast Thursday, June 2, 2022 focusing on Whitman County, WA and Latah County, ID. In contrast to previous reports, stripe rust was common on…
The first and most important step in any pest management program is to make sure the pest in question has been correctly identified. Failing to miss this step can cost both time and money and…
Dr. Xianming Chen (ARS Plant Pathologist) released an updated stripe rust forecast last Monday, April 18, 2022. Consistent with his last update from early March, no stripe rust was found on wheat in their survey…
Spring crops are quickly going into the ground and herbicide applications are being applied to winter wheat, and a lot of difficult decisions are being made during this unprecedented time. Unprecedented times included input scarcity…
The 2022 crop tour season will soon be starting and provides opportunities to view field trials and interact with Washington State University personnel. The list below provides an outline of when each small grain variety…
The Pullman-based Plant Pest Diagnostic Clinic has reopened! In June Cassandra Bates joined the WSU Plant Pathology Department as the diagnostician and manager of the Plant Pest Diagnostic Clinic. Cassandra received her Master of Science in…
Dr. Xianming Chen’s (ARS Plant Pathologist) March 7, 2022 stripe rust update says that stripe rust will be in the moderate range for the 2022 growing season. His predicted yield loss of 20-40% is based…
The Washington Grain Commission held its 2022 Wheat and Barley Research Review on February 15th in Pullman. This annual review provides growers and other industry members the opportunity to see results from research the Commission funded the…
With record high fertilizer prices, it is more important than ever to efficiently use our fertilizer resources. The WSU Small Grains website has a number of useful tools and calculators for assisting in developing nitrogen…
Are you a dryland producer impacted by the 2021 drought? The Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) needs your help! We humbly request your participation in a survey of soil management practices, and how those practices…
In the 1990s, when I was beginning my academic career at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Panhandle Research and Extension Center in Scottsbluff, Monsanto still held the patent for glyphosate, and it could only be purchased…
Soil health is often defined as the ability of the soil to function as a vital living ecosystem. When the underlying functionality of soil is supported within the agroecosystem it often results in many benefits on…
What a difference a year makes! It is not an understatement to say that 2021 was a challenging year for wheat production across Washington state due to the drought, and that was particularly true for…
Soil health is often defined as the ability of the soil to function as a vital living ecosystem. When the underlying functionality of soil is supported within the agroecosystem it often results in many benefits on…
Soil health is often defined as the ability of the soil to function as a vital living ecosystem. When the underlying functionality of soil is supported within the agroecosystem it often results in many benefits…
The 2021 WSU Weed Control Report is now available on the Wheat and Small Grains website. Drew Lyon and Ian Burke, WSU weed scientists, manage numerous field studies to evaluate new herbicides, and new uses…
Thanks to a tightening of wheat stocks-to-use ratios in both the domestic and international markets, prices remain at a near decade high (figure 1). However…
As the snow begins to fall, memories of the 2021 crop season begin to fade and thoughts about what lies ahead in 2022 start to take center stage. I would like to use this Timely…
It’s no secret that 2021 will go down in the record books as one of the driest years on record for Washington State and the PNW as a whole. In fact, yields were down on…
The Wheat and Small Grains Extension team is happy to announce the development of a new Spring Canola Nitrogen Rate Calculator. The calculator estimates the (nitrogen) N fertilizer rate required to grow a particular yield…
With winter canola heading into dormancy, it’s time to finalize your fertility plans for winter canola. Most research from the University of Idaho, Oregon State University, and Washington State University has shown that most of…
The University of Idaho needs our help! Researchers with the Department of Entomology are working on USDA-funded project titled “Harnessing artificial intelligence for implementing integrated pest management in small-grain production systems”. The project goal is…
Have you ever had a bad day on the farm? The tractor wouldn’t start or the pickup truck had a flat tire? The answer is most likely yes. Things like this can be frustrating especially…
Some questions have been raised concerning the determination of the price used in calculating revenue crop insurance payments for Washington wheat producers. Selecting an insurance plan can be complicated, and there are lots of options…