Small Grains

Learn Small Grain crop information regarding tillage, irrigation, economics, pests, fertility, and weeds.

Planting

 


Tillage

The Ten Most Common Mistakes in Using No-Till

Interest in no-till (NT) crop production practices has increased greatly among Utah farmers and ranchers in recent years. The primary benefits of implementing a cropping system with little or no tillage includes improved soil quality (improved soil moistu...


Irrigation

25 Rules of Thumb for Field Crops

University Extension services are widely known for scientific information on best practices for field crop production. Many Extension experts commonly offer the same tips or "rules of thumb" to growers. This article is certainly not a comprehensive list o...

4R’s of Irrigation Management

The research community and fertilizer industry have developed and utilized a framework termed “4R nutrient management” to help improve fertilizer stewardship. For decades, national and international organizations and institutes such as The Fertilizer Inst...

Accurate Irrigation Water Flow Measurement in Pipes

Accurate flow measurement is important to irrigation water management and water rights accounting and protection. Accurate flow measurement is essential in ensuring equitable water distribution to water rights holders and shareholders within irrigation co...

Defense Against Drought

Utah’s climate can often be harsh and unpredictable. As the nation’s second driest state, Utah is commonly subject to droughts. Extensive statewide droughts have often lasted 5 to 6 years. It is imperative that farmers are well prepared to defend against ...

Deficit Irrigation of Pastures

Deficit irrigation is any irrigation level that does not meet the crop’s full evapotranspiration (ET) demand, meaning evaporation from plant and soil surface and transpiration through plant growth.

Energy Conservation with Irrigation Water Management

Irrigators in Utah experienced rapidly increasing energy costs from the mid 1970s to the late 1980s. These costs remain relatively high. Those who are pumping from deep wells are particularly interested in ways to cut back on energy use without doing away...

How Good is Your Water Measurement?

Accurate water measurement is essential to maintaining equity of water delivery within an irrigation company or water districts. Good management of our scarce water resource is dependent upon quantifying supplies and uses with accurate measurement techniq...

Irrigation Canal Lining?

Irrigation canals placed in native soil or lined with earth can have seepage water losses varying from 20 percent to more than 50 percent. Well designed, new compacted earth lined canals can have reduced seepage losses similar to concrete lined channels. ...

Managing Saline and Sodic Soils and Irrigation Water

Salt is important in plant and soil management. Excessive salt concentrations in soil can cause water to be less available to plants because of the osmotic forces of salt in the soil water. Excessive concentrations of some salt ions can also be toxic to p...

Mobile Drip Irrigation for Pivots and Laterals

New technologies like MDI have the potential to improve irrigation efficiency thereby increasing water available to the crop and conserving water by reducing loss. If you are considering MDI on your farm, it will be important to carefully review its poten...

Sodic Soils in Utah

Sodic soils are soils with excess sodium. Sodic soils are encountered with increasing frequency in Utah, usually in the lower, flatter areas of our valleys. Sodic soils probably developed over many years when the water table was high and the soils were to...


Economics

Characteristics of Organic Wheat Growers

A recent study was conducted with wheat growers in the western U.S. which found notable differences in the grower and farm characteristics that influence organic adoption, including older age and the lack of importance of gender and farming experience. Th...

Premium Potential for Organic Wheat Products

This Extension fact sheet provides an overview of the premiums consumers in the Western U.S. are willing to pay for organic wheat products, as well as their knowledge of organic production methods, and opinions and attitudes toward organic food products i...

Small Grains 2008 Commodity Insurance Fact Sheet

Insurable types of small grains are Wheat, Barley, and Oats that are grown for the production of grain, not forage. Irrigated, non‑irrigated and other production practices are insurable in many counties, as are fall‑ and spring‑planted crops.


Pests

Boom Sprayer Calibration for Pesticide Applications

To protect your investment in agricultural pesticides, a boom sprayer should be calibrated at the start of the season and whenever application conditions change. Also, sprayer output should be periodically checked throughout the season to assure proper ap...

Pesticide Use on Utah's Small Grain Crops

A survey of Utah small grain growers was conducted in the fall of 1996 by personnel of Utah State University Extension Entomology. The majority of the survey was related to integrated pest management practices but included a section devoted to pesticide u...


Fertility

Cover Crops for Utah

The purpose of this fact sheet is to provide the current state of knowledge on cover crop management for Utah based on USU research and local grower experience.

Diagnostic Testing for Nitrogen Soil Fertility

Environmental concerns over nitrate contamination of ground water, and the desire of land managers to increase the efficiency of their fertilizer investment, can both be satisfied more completely through diagnostic testing for nitrogen (N) soil fertility....

Fertigation Facts

The purpose of this fact sheet is to provide general information on forms of fertigation for primary plant nutrient, fertigation timing, and fertigation economics.

Measuring and Building Soil Health

Scientific communities have researched and debated the issues and benefits of soil sustainability and conservation for decades. From those efforts, “soil health” has emerged as the educational face of efforts to protect and improve the quality and product...

Sodic Soils in Utah

Sodic soils are soils with excess sodium. Sodic soils are encountered with increasing frequency in Utah, usually in the lower, flatter areas of our valleys. Sodic soils probably developed over many years when the water table was high and the soils were to...

Soil Sampling Guide for Crops

Why conduct soil sampling for crops? The answer is simple and intuitive for most involved in agriculture. Regular soil sampling, testing, and associated guidance on fertilization and soil amendments help develop and maintain more productive and healthy


Disease

Barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV)

Barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV) is found worldwide. It infects small grains like barley, wheat, oats and rice as well as many wild grass species. There are two strains of the barley yellow dwarf virus: BYDV-MAV and BYDV-PAV.

Dwarf Bunt in Winter Wheat

The disease first appeared in Utah in the early 1930s in Cache County near the city of Paradise. The disease was soon found in Box Elder County near Hansel Valley. The outbreak of dwarf bunt became so severe that it affected other crops, such as barley.

Snow Mold on Small Grains

Snow molds are diseases caused by fungi that attack small grain crops under snow cover or in cool, wet weather. There are three important types of snow mold fungi that can infect small grains (wheat, barley, and rye) in Utah and they can occur together on...

Speeding Snowmelt to Control Snow Mold

Snow molds are diseases caused by fungi growing under snow cover or in cool, wet weather. Winter wheat can be infected by three types of snow molds, while turf grasses can be infected by two kinds of snow molds.

Wheat Stripe Rust

Stripe rust, or yellow rust, is primarily a foliar fungal disease of wheat, although it can infect spike and stem tissues. If the pathogen infects the spike (head) it causes extensive quality and grain yield loss. The disease is caused by the fungus Pucci...


Weeds

Fortifying Farms and Ranches Against Weed Invasion

Although there is a lot of truth to the above statement, anyone who has made a living in agriculture on a farm or ranch would probably agree that the list of certainties could easily be expanded to include weeds. Since the time of the earliest U.S. settle...

Noxious Weed Field Guide for Utah

Invasive noxious weeds have been described as a raging biological wildfire – out of control, spreading rapidly, and causing enormous economic losses. Millions of acres in North America have been invaded or are at risk of being invaded by weeds, including ...