Crops Research

Learn about Utah’s irrigation history, from early Indigenous systems to modern technology. Explore how irrigation has shaped agriculture and water use in Utah.

This fact sheet examines technologies for adding moisture to alfalfa windrows before baling. It compares their effects on bale moisture, weight, yield, forage quality, storage, appearance, and economic value.

Research-based guidance on interseeding cover crops into corn in the Intermountain West, covering timing, species selection, irrigation, row spacing, and yield impacts.

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...

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...

Small grain forages such as barley, oats, rye, triticale, and wheat provide versatile options for hay, silage, and pasture across Utah and the western U.S. This USU Extension guide outlines best management practices for species selection, planting, nutrie...

This guide explains how to properly collect and handle representative forage samples to ensure accurate lab analyses that support fair marketing, effective livestock rations, and improved animal performance.

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...

Wild licorice (Glycyrrhiza lepidota) is a perennial legume native to North America, spreading aggressively through seeds and rhizomes, making it a problematic invasive species in pastures. While it has some nutritional benefits, livestock avoid it, leadin...

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...

Most safflower in Northern Utah and Southern Idaho is grown under dryland conditions; however, irrigated safflower can provide higher yields and increase net returns. The objectives of the studies were to determine impact of irrigation on safflower yield ...

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...

Guide to Irrigation Sprinkler Packages for Pivots and Laterals

This fact sheet provides information about the following topics in the context of the Great Salt Lake and its basin: Great Salt Lake facts, Human effects on the size of the lake, Changes to population and land use, Agricultural water use, Agriculture and ...

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...

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

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...

The objective of this project is to study the response of pasture grass varieties to weather, irrigation, and fertility in a field experimental plot at a high elevation. The water variable is accomplished with a line source sprinkler irrigation system. Tw...

The suitability of a water source for irrigation depends on the water quality, and some sources may be altogether unsuitable for practical use.

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...

This article is a summary of several estimates of the extent of agricultural irrigation in Utah and some associated trends.

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.

Deficit irrigation strategies with varying effectiveness can be employed in many cases to maximize production and profit. These strategies can include modifying irrigation schedules, concentrating irrigation to critical crop growth stages, reducing rates,...

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...

Precision irrigation is a process involving technology and specialized equipment to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of agriculture irrigation management. This management process is beneficial in allocating water based on spatial variability throu...

It is important to consider the possible hydrologic impacts of irrigation optimization efforts to avoid implementing practices that have little appreciable effect relative to the desired outcome. Examples of desired outcomes include increasing supply reli...

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

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...

Making the effort to properly mix chemicals and calibrate sprayers can save money and headaches in the long run. This fact sheet provides simple guidelines for calibrating boom sprayers.

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...

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...

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...

Utah State University (USU) Extension strives to provide research-based information and knowledge to help agricultural producers. Producers often have questions about several aspects of field crop production. This article is not comprehensive of all ques...

Pocket gophers, common in Utah, are burrowing rodents causing significant damage to agriculture and infrastructure by consuming plants and damaging fields, equipment, and utility systems. Effective management involves understanding their behavior and usin...

In this fact sheet, we calculated average reference evapotranspiration and precipitation data for multiple locations in Utah, USA. To accomplish this, we collected the data from the Utah Climate Center and compiled it to show an average of 20 years of dat...

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. ...

Generating power from solar energy used to be one of the most expensive options in Utah. This scenario is changing. According to the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE, 2021), the cost of solar power production went down by 90% between 2009 and 2...

Preparing a pesticide solution is sometimes confusing or intimidating. The instructions for preparing the mixture in the spray tank are not always straight forward and the language is not always standardized.

2008 Commodity Insurance Fact Sheet for Corn in the following counties: Beaver, Box Elder, Cache, Carbon, Davis, Duchese, Emery, Grand, Iron, Juab, Millard, Salt Lake, Sanpete, Sevier, Tooele, Uintah, Utah, and Weber.

The purpose of this fact sheet is to help the reader understand the concepts and formulas in determining GDD.

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. Tables in this research is intended to be a gu...

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...

If sprayers are not properly calibrated, it can result in over or under-application of chemicals, causing damage, reduced pest control, and potential safety concerns. Making the effort to properly mix chemicals and calibrate sprayers can save money and in...

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.

A VFD can make sense in a variety of irrigation applications. Here are 6 of the major applications where one might consider a VFD (also see Henry and Stringham, 2013 and USDA-NRCS, 2010):

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...

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...

Northern Utah growers produced approximately 23 million pounds of safflower second only to California in U.S. production.

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.

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...

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...

Cannabis sativa is the scientific name of the plant that includes both hemp and marijuana. It is one of the oldest cultivated plants in human history and has been grown for seed, fiber, oil, and medicine. There are generally three recognized subspecies (C...

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.

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...

A guide to the best chemigation practices

The purpose of this fact sheet is to date and to provide insight into some of the opportunities and limitations to quinoa production in 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.

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...

Properly harvested and stored, corn silage is extremely palatable, superior to other forages in energy content, a great fiber source, and relatively consistent in quality. The high palatability of corn silage encourages feed intake which contributes to hi...

A recent study of wheat producers in the western United States found that wheat growers were actually transitioning out of organic production due to concerns about pest control and profitability. This fact sheet provides an overview of the study results b...

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 ...

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...

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...

Western corn rootworm, Diabrotica virgifera virgifera, is one of the most devastating corn insect pests in the United States. In some years, corn rootworms can cause up to $1 billion in yield loss and control costs. In Utah, western corn rootworm has been...

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...

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 ...

Crop rotation is an important practice in the production of field and forage crops, with well-known benefits of improving the soil (moisture, structure, fertility, and organic matter), minimizing pests and diseases, and providing economic diversification....

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.

Nitrogen fertilizer is one of the most expensive crop inputs. It is an essential nutrient for most crops and often increases yield more than any other nutrient. Small grains are no exception to this. Alfalfa is the dominant crop in Utah in terms of area a...

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...

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...

Teff (sometimes spelled tef) [Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter] is a relatively new forage crop to Utah that has grown in popularity in recent years. It is an annual, warm-season grass that is native to Ethiopia. Teff has fine stems, shallow roots and is no...

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...

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...

In Utah, there are typically three generations of corn earworm (CEW) each year. The first generation of adults either come from overwintering pupae (southern and central Utah) or migrate into northern Utah. The adult moth is tannish brown with a 1 1/2 inc...

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...

Size and scope and crop production costs and returns for counties in Utah.

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.

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 ...

If you are connected to a municipal system, your water is probably categorized as “culinary or municipal water” and is used for everything from drinking and bathing to washing the car to watering tomatoes. However the Utah Division of Water Rights takes a...

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....

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...

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.

Urea (46-0-0) usually has the lowest cost per pound of nitrogen compared to other single-element nitrogen fertilizers. However, urea undergoes unique chemical transformations when field applied and severe losses in efficiency may result if special managem...

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.

Crop Revenue Coverage(CRC), provides revenue protection against a yield loss, a price decline, or a combination of both. CRC is available for these crop and counties Beaver, Box Elder, Cache, Carbon, Davis, Duchesne, Emery, Garfield, Iron, Juab, Millard, ...

On an field scale, using soil and manure test data together with crop nutrient use information to balance manure and fertilizer nutrients with crop needs.

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. This research contains sample costs and return...

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...

This report summarizes on-farm performance of irrigated silage corn hybrids at Benson (Cache County) in 2006. The site is at 4439 ft elevation and has a long-term average of 2800 corn growing degree days (50/86° F) per year. Hybrids were seeded with a six...

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. This research contains sample costs and return...

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. This research contains sample costs and return...

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.

Enterprise budgets are created to help a grower to understand all the costs and returns associated with producing a crop and are usually expressed on a per-unit basis, such as per acre.

Center pivot irrigation systems are the most popular form of irrigation in the western United States. A significant problem with center pivots is wheel track rutting. Deep wheel tracks can cause overirrigation because the pivot moves slower than intended ...

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...

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.

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 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...

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...

Sorghum-Sudangrass, or “Sudex,” is a hybrid of forage sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) and sudangrass (S. bicolor var. Sudanese). Both are high-producing, rapidly growing, warm-season, annual summer crops. While most annual and perennial grasses grown in Utah ar...

This how-to guide will cover benefits and best practices for conducting successful on-farm research.

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...