Learn about Alfalfa planting, tillage, irrigation, economics, pests, disease, and weeds.
A long-term Utah study shows that a one-time livestock compost application can improve soil health, moisture retention, and dryland wheat yields for more than two decades. The results highlight compost’s lasting, non-nutritive benefits for improving droug...
Learn how to select the best alfalfa variety for your operation by understanding key factors like yield potential, fall dormancy, winter hardiness, and pest resistance. This USU Extension guide helps Utah growers make informed, profitable decisions for lo...
Alfalfa is the most important crop in Utah, both in terms of acreage and revenue. Although often overlooked, one of the most critical decisions made in alfalfa production is determining which variety to plant. This report summarizes dry matter (DM) yields...
it is critical to weigh the many reasons why alfalfa is actually a quite suitable crop for the West. Below are 10 of the key reasons why alfalfa is suitable in western regions:
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...
This fact sheet explores how irrigation technologies, crop genetics, and soil management practices influence water use efficiency in Utah’s pivot and lateral systems. It highlights research findings using the SMET model to help producers improve water pro...
This peer-reviewed fact sheet from Utah State University Extension summarizes a statewide survey of surface irrigators, highlighting current practices, barriers, and opportunities for water optimization in Utah agriculture. It emphasizes the importance of...
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...
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 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...
A guide to the best chemigation practices
As water demand and scarcity increase simultaneously over the coming decades, water managers and growers will need to optimize water use on their irrigated lands. These challenges have been especially noticeable as the Western U.S.faces a prolonged “megad...
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 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.
Crop variety selection is one of the most important choices on the farm. Crop genetics determine a significant portion of the yield potential and resource use efficiency. Crop types and genetics that use water more efficiently will become increasingly imp...
The Great Basin is primarily located in Nevada, western Utah, and small sections of southern Oregon and Idaho. The Great Basin is noted for its arid conditions and high percentage of publically owned land. The potential for solar energy generation in the ...
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...
Guide to Irrigation Sprinkler Packages for Pivots and Laterals
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...
There are many good things about surface irrigation, but the labor requirements and large water withdrawals can diminish its feasibility in situations with limited access to labor or water. In this fact sheet, we will describe two of these systems current...
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. ...
When deciding which irrigation systems to adopt, permit, or promote, it is important to consider how their efficiency and losses affect the water balance of Utah’s watersheds and drainage basins. Irrigators have no control over precipitation and only limi...
The suitability of a water source for irrigation depends on the water quality, and some sources may be altogether unsuitable for practical use.
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...
In semiarid soils of the Western U.S., altering soil pH is not easily accomplished nor straightforward. Recall that pH is a measure of the acidity or alkalinity of a substance. More specifically, Utah’s soil pH range can be 1,000 times more acidic or alka...
Enterprise budgets are the building blocks of a farm or ranch. They represent estimates of income and expenses for a specific period of time using a set of production practices and inputs for that enterprise.
Size and scope and crop production costs and returns for counties in Utah.
Alfalfa Stem Nematode (ASN) is a nearly microscopic roundworm that enters the alfalfa plant and lives in the stems and leaves, usually above ground. Under ideal conditions (wet weather in late winter or early spring, at 59-70°F), ASN can complete its life...
The alfalfa weevil is a major pest throughout Utah. It is a beetle with one generation per year. Eggs hatch in the spring and the grub-like immature weevils (larvae) feed by chewing on the alfalfa foliage. In high numbers, alfalfa weevils can cause severe...
Aphids belong in the order Hemiptera and family Aphididae. Aphids are common insects in field and forage crops, with at least six kinds in Utah alfalfa. Aphids can be distinguished from other insects in alfalfa with a hand lens. In general, aphids are sof...
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...
Valley pocket gophers (Thomomys bottae) are a common agricultural pest in many areas of Utah, Nevada and California. Pocket gophers predominantly eat roots, although they will pull vegetation into their burrows, and eat plants immediately adjacent to thei...
Pesticides are substances that control unwanted organisms. A pesticide can be used to prevent, destroy, repel, or mitigate pests. Common pest organisms include insects, plants, fungi, bacteria, plant-parasitic nematodes, viruses, snails and slugs, and nui...
Downy mildew is an obligate parasite. Even though they look like fungi they are not. They belong to the Oomycota and are more closely related to algae than true fungi. The most common alfalfa downy mildew species in the USA is Peronospora trifoliorum. In ...
A long-term Utah study shows that a one-time livestock compost application can improve soil health, moisture retention, and dryland wheat yields for more than two decades. The results highlight compost’s lasting, non-nutritive benefits for improving droug...
This study examines Utah agricultural producers' motivations and challenges in adopting soil health practices. It highlights the lack of localized resources and transferable knowledge as barriers, while emphasizing producers' desire to gain insights, enha...
This report summarizes a 2024 survey of Utah producers, highlighting their strong support for soil health, varied adoption of practices, and gaps in knowledge. It emphasizes the need for region-specific information and outreach to enhance soil health mana...
The report highlights that crop advisors in Utah and Idaho are increasingly addressing soil health, though barriers like cost, lack of localized information, and disagreements about soil health practices persist. Advisors from the NRCS are the most active...
Biochar is a charcoal product formed from heating a high carbon material in an environment with limited oxygen. By heating in this type of environment, much of the carbon biomass is retained. This process is referred to as pyrolysis. The materials that ar...
The importance of rotating out of a declining alfalfa stand is well established. As the alfalfa stand ages, forage yield and quality decline, while weed, insect, and disease pressures increase.
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.
The purpose of this fact sheet is to provide general information on forms of fertigation for primary plant nutrient, fertigation timing, and fertigation economics.
In semiarid soils of the Western U.S., altering soil pH is not easily accomplished nor straightforward. Recall that pH is a measure of the acidity or alkalinity of a substance. More specifically, Utah’s soil pH range can be 1,000 times more acidic or alka...
This fact sheet will describe advantages and disadvantages, setup, and some basics of best management practices and economics. This fact sheet will describe advantages and disadvantages, setup, and some basics of best management practices and economics.
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...
This how-to guide will cover benefits and best practices for conducting successful on-farm research.
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
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...
Goatsrue is an aggressive invasive plant and a declared Utah state noxious weed (Category 1B). It was introduced into the Cache Valley in 1891 and spread through the irrigation canals, streams, and rivers of the Bear River drainage. Cache County has one o...
Scotch thistle (Onopordum acanthium) is an invasive species native to Eurasia. It was likely introduced into North America during the late 19th century (Young & Evans, 1969). Due to the plant’s size and prickles, a stand can damage pasture productivity, r...
Dyer's woad (Isatis tinctoria) was introduced into Utah during the mid-19th century as a source of indigo dye. The plant escaped cultivation and has spread across rangelands, foothills, and other sites throughout the Intermountain West.
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 ...
