More Is Better When it Comes to Pigweed Control in Wheat Stubble

Weed control in wheat stubble following harvest has become more difficult with the proliferation of glyphosate-resistant Palmer amaranth and waterhemp - which we are lumping together here as pigweeds.  A tour near Salina, Kansas, on August 3 demonstrated the effectiveness of a few common weed treatments after wheat harvest. 

There is some good news in the fight against pigweeds: There are options that provide good control of these nasty weeds. The bad news is this: Glyphosate, sadly, no longer appears to be one of them.
"We're finding more and more disasters," admits Dallas Peterson, weed control specialist at Kansas State University. "We cannot continue to keep doing the same weed control treatment we've always done."

Cooperator Taylor Currie, who farms near Gypsum, Kansas, worked with KSU Extension to develop five postharvest herbicide treatments on a field of clean wheat stubble harvested in June and sprayed July 20. He used Turbo Tee nozzles, triple-rinsing the sprayer after each treatment. Prior to wheat planting in fall 2014, the field was disked because glyphosate treatments weren't providing weed control. Currie also spread manure on the farm last year.

• Crop rotation and chemistry selection for pigweed control

These were the treatments, with approximate cost per acre (not counting cost of application) and the weed specialists' comments following:

1. 32 oz/acre Buccaneer 5 Plus (generic glyphosate)/13 pounds dry AMS. $7.44 per acre. Peterson comments: This provided about 50% control of pigweeds, but those that survived were healthy and producing seed. Each pigweed can produce nearly .5 million seeds.
   
2. 32 oz/acre Buccaneer 5 Plus/27.5 oz 2,4-D Amine 4/13 pounds dry AMS. $11.05 per acre. Peterson comments: This provided slightly better control of pigweeds than the first treatment, but still plenty of healthy pigweeds remained. Healthy pigweeds can grow 2 inches (or more) per day.
   
3. 32 oz/acre Buccaneer 5 Plus/27.5 oz 3,4-D Amine 4/1 ounce Sharpen/12 oz MSO/13 pounds dry AMS. $18.52 per acre. Peterson comments: The Sharpen dinged the pigweeds pretty well, but they were beginning to come back. Whether they produce as much viable seed as the other treatments remains to be seen. Sharpen is inconsistent. It burns down weeds fast, but two weeks later you may see new sprouts coming on. It works well on small pigweeds, but two ounces may be better. Two weeks after spraying, there are some weeds with green stems; these will survive.
   
4. 3 pts/acre Gramoxone SL/1 qt per 100 gallons non-Ionic Surfactant (NIS). $15.20 per acre. Peterson comments: The Gramoxone smoked the pigweeds, although there is still some green in the stem, and these weeds could regrow. Growers need to use 15 gallons of water per acre. Rate is important; 3 pints per acre works better than 2. This can be mixed with atrazine or metribuzin to heat it up a bit. It is a contact herbicide and is more dangerous to handle: Use gloves and a mask.
   
5. 3 pts/acre Gramoxone SL/2 oz Sharpen/1 qt per 100 gallons NIS/12 oz MSO. $30 per acre. Peterson comments: The results of Treatment 5 are very similar to Treatment 4. We hoped that by adding Sharpen we would get a bit of residual control. We did get a little additional effect, but not sure if it is worth nearly $15 more per acre. 

Peterson told producers in attendance that mixing modes of action is paramount when trying to control pigweeds. Prior to planting a spring crop, growers must use a preemerge herbicide, hit pigweeds when they are young - preferably 3 to 4 inches tall - and be sure to use a postemerge herbicide.

Soybeans for Sudden Death Syndrome

 

Sudden death syndrome (SDS) was detected in mid-April-planted soybeans at the University of Illinois' Northwestern Research Center in Warren County, Illinois. This confirmation comes three weeks earlier than the first sign of the disease in 2014.

Weather throughout the 2015 planting and growing season has been favorable for SDS, according to Purdue Extension. The disease is worst when soybeans are planted early into cool, wet soils and when soils are saturated from ample rainfall throughout the summer. SDS affects soybeans in many Midwest states and some areas to the south, including Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, and Tennessee. 

On July 15, Arkansas Research and Extension announced a confirmed case of SDS in Desha County, Arkansas. Since 2012, 38 counties have had confirmed distribution of SDS in Minnesota. 

Symptoms
The onset of SDS usually occurs early in the season, beginning by infecting the roots. Symptoms usually don’t surface until late July or August.  SDS is a soilborne fungus Fusarium virgulifome, which overwinters in the soil and may survive for an extended period of time.

SDS infects the roots and sends a toxin up through the plant that causes yellowing and dead tissue between veins. When scouting, look for yellow between leaf veins, and split open the lower stem and taproot. The lower stem and taproot will appear tan to light brown compared to a healthy plant, and the middle portion of the stem will remain white or cream-colored.

Yellow spots become larger, brown lesions as the disease progresses, and leaves may cup or curl. Eventually, leaves will detach from petioles, and brown to grey-color areas will form in the tissue of the lower stem.

Management
While few in-season management options exist, there are things you can do to protect future soybean crops.

University of Minnesota Extension suggests planting soybean varieties with the highest level of SDS resistance soybean cyst nematode (SCN). Minimizing soil compaction and improving drainage to reduce excess soil moisture will also help ward off the disease. Crop rotation and tillage practices can reduce the risk of SDS in soybeans.

“While there is some evidence that changing planting dates or tillage practices may have an effect on SDS control, we don’t recommend farmers change these practices solely for this reason,” said Daren Mueller, ISU plant pathology assistant professor. “Farmers should use the most effective tillage practices and planting dates for their entire operation, not in an attempt to control one disease because of all the factors involved.”

This year, a new fungicide seed treatment, ILeVO, was introduced to the market with the potential to protect against SDS. The On-Farm Network is testing ILeVO in a collaborative project with Iowa State University and Bayer CropScience. Learn more here.

       

Why Nigeria must never accept GMOs, by expert

AN international environmentalist and agriculturist, Dr. Vandana Shiva, has raised the alarm over proposed introduction of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) into Nigeria and other African countries, with the signing of the Biosafety law, describing it as suicidal.

She warned that the introduction of the crop into Nigeria is another means the GMO originator ‘Mosanto’ and other food corporations from the West want to use to make huge profits out of Africa and enslave farmers at the expense of their well-being. Shiva who disclosed this at a press briefing organised by Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) in Abuja, said “Monsanto and other food corporations from the West are out in Africa to make huge profits and enslave African farmers at the expense of their well-being.”
She maintained that GMOs are not the best science and technology for food production and survival of Africans, rather the approach is deadly to the soil and human existence.

Shiva gave examples of the devastation GMOs have caused in India, United States of America and other parts of the world where they have adopted the method in food production.
According to her, many farmers are now indebted to Monsanto, because they owe to get seeds and this has trapped farmers in dependency and debt, and some farmers, out of frustration of huge debts, have committed suicide.

Shiva said: “The pressure on Africa to adopt uniform seed laws such as those promoted under African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) is all aimed at seed colonization of Africa and must be resisted. “The same goes with the promotion of GMOs through the weak Bio-safety bills such as the one signed into law in Nigeria in the last week of the previous presidency. “The unrelenting attack on our staple foods, including our cassava, cowpea (beans), corn and banana must be halted.
The planting of genetically modified cotton in Burkina Faso was held up as a great success, yielding bumper harvests and enriching farmers.

Recently, Burkina Faso stopped planting BT. Cotton. What example will they bring up next? Will Nigeria walk into that trap with her eyes open? “While these costly inputs make super-profits for giant corporations, they destroy our soils, and trap our farmers in dependency and debt.

With over 300,000 farmers’ suicides already recorded in India, the harmful nature of this agricultural model is without doubt.” She accused food corporations of failure to deliver on their promises to communities, rather use sugar-coated words to convince and confuse African governments to accept their commodity at the detriment of the health of the soil and human beings who consume them.

The adoption of genetically engineered seeds and organisms, and chemical fertilizers by African nations has been described as suicidal as they do not deliver on any of their promises but rather have yielded a harvest of pains, deprivation and deaths.

Earlier in his speech, Director of HOMEF, Nnimmo Bassey, said the situation of farmers in Africa, especially Nigeria, was terrible due to various abuses the soil suffers and it has negatively affected their well-being.
Bassey also urged the government to be careful with certain technologies that will not help the agricultural sector, and avoid the devastation done by oil companies on the land and waters of Niger Delta region.

UNIABUJA gets agriculture and others accredited

The Vice-Chancellor, University of Abuja (UniAbuja), Prof. Michael Adikwu, said the institution now has full accreditation to offer courses in Agriculture, Engineering and Veterinary Medicine.


Prof. Michael Adikwu said that the initial accreditation challenge experienced by the institution had been overcome.

“Let me start with agriculture. That was one of the courses that were problematic; we have full accreditation for that now; so we don’t have problem in that area,’’ he said.

“Before I came on board, there was also a problem with engineering; some of the students were farmed out, sent to other universities.

“So, they (the university) had some contact with them and there were few courses they needed to come back and complete and that has been done, and we have graduated two sets put together.
‘’So, we do not have problem with that currently,’’ he said.

On veterinary medicine, Adikwu said that the issue with the course had been sorted out and that the department had started graduating students.
He said that the only department in the university yet to be accredited was medicine, adding that it was being expected.

“They have had the first accreditation; they were successful.
“For medicine, you have to do serial accreditations; they needed to do one for the basic clinical sciences and then the final accreditation.

“So, we are preparing for that and very soon, they too will cross the fence,” he explained.
He said that the university had acquired the basic infrastructure needed for teaching medical students, adding that the institution presently had three sets of students ready for graduation.

The vice chancellor disclosed that the university recently lost its accreditation for law and microbiology programmes because it overshot its admission quota.

He explained that the loss of accreditation for the courses could only stop the university from admitting fresh students for them, adding, however, that the matter would be resolved soon.
He said that the loss of accreditation for law was because the number of students admitted for the programme was high.

According to him, the Council for Legal Education said we should admit 100 students but we were admitting more than 400.

“I know of some other universities which are taking 700 students and they also lost accreditation. Once that is corrected, we will get our accreditation back,’’ Adikwu said.
“We also do not have accreditation for microbiology; I do not think that it is punitive; I think that it is corrective.

“Once the number of our students normalises, we will get our accreditation back,” he stated.

The vice-chancellor, however, said that the corrective measure would not affect the students currently in the law and microbiology programmes, stating that they would graduate soon.

According to him, ”our Faculty of Law is doing very well as it has performed wonderfully in both local and international completions.”

Agribotix US and Eco BCG announces the launch of Agribotix LatAm

Agribotix-U.S. of Boulder, Colorado and Eco BCG of Woodbury, Minnesota today announce their Joint Venture in launching Agribotix-Latin America, offering state-of-the art unmanned drone flights and cloud-based data and imaging analytics for the agricultural market. Agribotix-Latin America’s headquarters are in Panama City, Panama with additional offices in Mexico City and Santiago, Chile. Drone sales, flight training and services and technical support will be offered throughout Latin America by both authorized dealers and direct personnel.

Landowners and agriculture producers across the world are using unmanned drone flights above their fields to provide them precise information and imaging to more rapidly and efficiently optimize their crop yields. The ability to use “eyes in the sky” helps owners save valuable time and costs to determine at any given time the appropriate use of water, fertilizer and other inputs, manpower and farm equipment at any specific location. The goal of drone technology is to provide faster, more actionable intelligence that can reduce costs and risks while improving yields and income. Agribotix-Latin America will offer two types of drones with their data services as well as offer the same analytical services for those who already own and operate their own drones.



“Using this new technologies we can deliver not only the best optimization of your resources, but also help you reduce the environmental impact they cause. This is the new era of the precision agriculture” Dr. Sergio Castillo from Agribotix LatAm noted.

Landowners, crop operators, agronomists and authorized dealers will be able to directly download their drone camera images directly through the Agribotix-Latin America web site (http://latam.agribotix.com/) in order for Agribotix specialists to create high resolution images and intelligence in a matter of hours for analysis and use back in the field.



Two different packages of images and data analytics will be offered - Basic and Professional. Professional will be more valuable for those landowners using variable rate application or seeding methods whereby drone data can be downloaded into field tractors for specific input applications. Basic package includes: geo -referenced map of crop health and high resolution RGB Orthomosaic map . Professional package includes: Basic Package and vector map geo referenced management zones being used with other program like SMS or SST and others for making a variable applications map used tractors

Contacts
For press information, please contact:
Estela May Sánchez
esanchez@ecobcg.com
(507) 396-2042

For interested customers and dealers, please contact:
Milquiades Gaitan
mgaitan@ecobcg.com
(507) 396-2042

About Agribotix-U.S.
Founded in Boulder, Colorado in 2013, Agribotix delivers agricultural intelligence to increase yields and profits using drone-enabled technologies. Agribotix offers two core solutions: a turnkey package which includes a long-range drone designed for agriculture, coupled with a leading cloud-based data analysis and reporting solution; and, for customers that have a drone, an affordable, self-serve data processing and analysis service. Both solutions provide customers with actionable intelligence that results in substantially reduced field inputs, improved yield and increased profits for growers. Data products include zone maps to aid in precision fertilization, weed reports for geolocating resistant patches and estimating coverage, and specialized reporting. For more information, visit www.agribotix.com.


About Eco BCG
Eco BCG® is a multinational company whose corporate mission is to provide technology solutions and economic growth to an environmentally sensitive world.
Founded in 1999, Eco BCG® develops and manages projects for governments and private industry to solve their most expensive operating and environmental issues: reducing energy consumption, generating sources of power, diverting landfill waste, treating water systems without chemicals, and improving agriculture practices. By delivering proven innovation, we help clients increase the value of their existing assets and better manage risk and costs. For more information, visit www.ecobcg.com or call (703) 434-0059 (U.S.).

Estela May Sánchez
Eco BCG
(507) 3962042
email us here

Senate bemoans EU ban on Nigeria’s agricultural products

The senate has expressed “serious” concern over the ban on ‎Nigeria’s agricultural products by the European Union (EU). 

The EU announced the ban on some of Nigeria’s agricultural products last week. According to Francis Alimikhena, deputy chief‎ whip, who moved a motion praying the senate to urge the federal government to direct the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to be alive in its regulatory oversights over food and agricultural products to ensure their global acceptance, the banned products include beans, sesame seeds, melon seeds, dried fish, dried meat, peanut chips and palm oil. 

Alimikhena observed that the economy was set for a further slide‎ as a result of the ban on the agricultural products. He noted that for some time, EU had been warning Nigeria that these products constitute danger to human health as they contain high levels of pesticide “as a result of‎ which 50 notifications were issued on the matter and nothing significant was done to reverse the situation”. “For instance, in 2013, 24 agro-products of Nigerian origin exported‎ to the UK were rejected while the figure increased to 42 in 2014,” he said. He added that the “banned beans” were found to contain between 0.03mg kilograms to 4.6mg /kg of dichlorvos (pesticides) contrary to acceptable limits. 

Consequently, the senate expressed concern that the EU ban was a setback for “a nation that is desperate to expand its export basket to boost domestic agricultural activities and to increase forex earnings and create jobs”.

 It further expressed concern that the action of the EU “suggests that Nigeria’s unfavourable ‎balance of trade position with European countries would worsen as it shall be exporting few agricultural products”. After a passionate debate on the matter,‎ the senate mandated its committee on health, when constituted, to look into the issue with a view to overturning the EU ban. It also urged “the federal and state government to invest more in the production of agricultural produce for export, particularly cash crops such as cocoa, oil palm, groundnut and rubber trees‎, which are veritable and historical foreign exchange earners”.

The senate has expressed “serious” concern over the ban on ‎Nigeria’s agricultural products by the European Union (EU). The EU announced the ban on some of Nigeria’s agricultural products last week. According to Francis Alimikhena, deputy chief‎ whip, who moved a motion praying the senate to urge the federal government to direct the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to be alive in its regulatory oversights over food and agricultural products to ensure their global acceptance, the banned products include beans, sesame seeds, melon seeds, dried fish, dried meat, peanut chips and palm oil. Alimikhena observed that the economy was set for a further slide‎ as a result of the ban on the agricultural products. He noted that for some time, EU had been warning Nigeria that these products constitute danger to human health as they contain high levels of pesticide “as a result of‎ which 50 notifications were issued on the matter and nothing significant was done to reverse the situation”. “For instance, in 2013, 24 agro-products of Nigerian origin exported‎ to the UK were rejected while the figure increased to 42 in 2014,” he said. He added that the “banned beans” were found to contain between 0.03mg kilograms to 4.6mg /kg of dichlorvos (pesticides) contrary to acceptable limits. Consequently, the senate expressed concern that the EU ban was a setback for “a nation that is desperate to expand its export basket to boost domestic agricultural activities and to increase forex earnings and create jobs”. It further expressed concern that the action of the EU “suggests that Nigeria’s unfavourable ‎balance of trade position with European countries would worsen as it shall be exporting few agricultural products”. After a passionate debate on the matter,‎ the senate mandated its committee on health, when constituted, to look into the issue with a view to overturning the EU ban. It also urged “the federal and state government to invest more in the production of agricultural produce for export, particularly cash crops such as cocoa, oil palm, groundnut and rubber trees‎, which are veritable and historical foreign exchange earners”. Follow us on twitter @thecableng

Read more at: https://www.thecable.ng/senate-bemoans-eu-ban-nigerias-agricultural-products

revamping the wheat production sub sector

There seems to be hope at sight as the Federal Government is already revamping the wheat production sub sector through her Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) being driven by the Lake Chad Research Institute.

Last Thursday, 23th, July, at IAR, Zaria, the Executive Director of the lake chad research Institute, Dr. Olusina Olabanji is very optimist that production of wheat from 2.0 tons per hectare will be increased to 6.0 per hectare throught the newly improved released seeds variety- LACRI whit-5 and LACRI whit 6 that have potentials of high yield, good baking quality and early maturing. 

This he said would checkmate over £4 billion spent annually on wheat importation adding the wheat acceleration programme of government will create job for farmers, processors and users of wheat flours. 

 
Already the wheat stakeholders meeting held this week at the Institute for Agricultural Research "IAR" Zaria has scientifically mapped out government strategy of giving inputs support to farmers at all producing states. The increase in the seed procurement through the FG Growth Enhancement Support (GES) between 2012 till date is a reflection of government decision to positively repositioned the crop for farmers' advantage as production has been enhanced in about ten states