Growing Wheat
All Growing Wheat Content
Farm Size in South Dakota: Where Are We Heading?
Agriculture is going through some difficult times not only in the United States, but globally as well. Aside from some short-lived price hikes for different products, the overall trend has been to higher costs of production and lower output prices.
Field Studies: Replicated Comparisons vs. Side-by-Side Comparisons
How should a basic study be set up or laid out in the field? One very common approach is to divide a field in half and compare the halves or possibly compare two fields in close proximity and see which variety or practice yields highest. This approach can end with very misleading results because of the variability that exists across a field or fields due to many factors.
Field Studies: What do You Mean 5 Bushels Per Acre is Not Significant?
Utilizing sound research results to help make decisions on the farm is a wise business practice. It can be confusing, however, when you see two numbers that are clearly not the same labeled as “not significantly different.”
Field Studies: Setting up a Trial
Increasingly, farmers are generating on-farm research data that encompasses a wide-range of practical topics. However, setting up those experiments so that the data is statistically valid is not necessarily common knowledge.
South Dakota Land Use Trends (2012-2017)
Significant education efforts for natural resource conservation have occurred in South Dakota during the last five years. Many stakeholder groups have brought awareness for soil health and water quality to the forefront.
Factors Affecting Wheat Production Decisions: Producer survey findings
Recent USDA data shows that during the past 3 years acres devoted to wheat production continue declining in both South Dakota and North Dakota (USDA, 2018). South Dakota wheat acres experienced a remarkable decrease of 31.5% during the past 3 years, compared with a relatively mild drop of 16.4% by North Dakota.
What Makes Winter Wheat a “Winter Wheat”?
For most of us wheat is wheat; however there is a distinct difference between spring and winter wheat, even though the vegetative characteristics of these two wheat types are very similar. Winter wheat can withstand freezing temperatures for extended periods of time during the early vegetative stage and requires exposure to freezing or near freezing temperature to trigger reproductive stage. In other words, if winter wheat does not go through a period of cold temperatures, then it will not produce seed. Two things needed for winter wheat to perform at optimally and produce good yields are- cold acclimation and vernalization.
SDSU Releases Two New Spring Wheat Varieties
Two new spring wheat varieties, Forefront and Advance are being increased by South Dakota Foundation Seed Growers and will be available to everybody in 2013.
Looking Back: A History of Wheat Production in SD
In spite of the open winter and some of the worst drought conditions in history, South Dakota ended up with a very good wheat crop in terms of yield and quality in 2012. The winter wheat yields averaged 50 bushels to the acre; second highest average yield in SD recorded history.
McFadden and Borlaug: Pioneering Rust-Resistant Wheat
During a brief period of time in the Dakota Territory in the late 1800’s, wheat acreage increased from just over 100,000 acres to well over a million acres. During one year in the height of this heyday, 1897, it has been stated that two-thirds of the world’s wheat was shipped from present-day Eureka, SD, and wagons bearing the crop rolled in from as far as 75 miles away.