Small Grains

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...

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...

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

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.

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...

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 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. ...

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...

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 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...

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.

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...

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...

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

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, ...

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...

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.

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 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.

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....

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...

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...

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...

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

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

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.

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...

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.

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 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...

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.

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...

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 ...