Rice: Zwinger calls NASS report "bullish"

Jeremy Zwinger, whose Farm & Trade rice analysis is posted on our web site every week, sent along the following quick analysis of today’s NASS report:

• Total U.S. rice acres down 14%. “This is likely to be bullish factor for next 12 months.”
• California acres are down 1%. “This forces USDA to lower medium grain production by 2-3 million cwts, which means expected supplies must be reduced by 2-3 million in either domestic or export. The South only increased medium grain plantings by about 500,000 to 600,000 cwts. Taken all together, this should be considered a very bullish signal to the market, with low supplies and problems in other producing countries. Prices are very likely to increase in the coming year.”
• Long grain acres down 17%. This is “very bullish” when added to Iraq business, if it continues.
• This is the lowest planted acres in over a decade. “This speaks for itself.”

Cotton: California Steaming

California’s cotton crop has moved into a critical period in the last few days. Temperatures in the San Joaquin Valley – where most of the state’s cotton is grown – have shifted into triple-digits and will hang in that range well into the new week, based on all the forecasts we’ve seen lately.

Temperatures at or above 100 aren’t necessarily unusual in the SJV. But prolonged stretches can still disrupt pollination and otherwise stress plants. Earlier last week, forecasts called for daytime highs up to 111 or 112. Since then, the numbers have backed down a bit. But the Monday high predicted for Fresno is 109, and Bakersfield’s forecast calls for 110 on Monday.

That’s plenty hot, even without humidity. Dale Deshane, an independent PCA in Bakersfield, said late last week, “These kinds of temperatures aren’t good for any crop.”

Nighttime lows will mostly be easing into the 70s, albeit in the high 70s during one stretch. The big fear has been that lows would remain in the 80s or even low 90s, forcing plants to excessively use up carbohydrates – and yield potential – in order to respirate and cool off at night.

One thing perhaps going in the crop’s favor is that a relatively small amount of it has started blooming. A succession of storms blew through the central valley this spring, keeping growers from planting many acres before mid April. By now, cotton should have been in bloom throughout a wider part of the valley, but blooms didn’t start turning up in the extreme south valley this year until about about June 12, reports Deshane.

Weak cell signal? Here's your answer.

Until recently, Trey Bulloch and I spent a lot of time yelling at each other. Not out of anger, just simple necessity. Trey, a crop consultant based in Hattiesburg, Miss., works in a part of Mississippi that isn’t all that compatible with cellular communications.

The person who gave me Trey’s cell phone number a couple of years ago warned me, “He spends most of his time in cell-phone hell.”

I soon found out what that meant.

Calling Trey almost always resulted in fuzzy and garbled signals and one or two dropped calls during a normal conversation. People around me would close their office doors when I got on the phone with Trey because I was so loud that they couldn’t hear themselves think.

Trey works almost exclusively south of Interstate 20, a part of Mississippi with rolling and hilly terrain and vast stretches of thickly planted pine trees. A friend who did a stint in the cell-phone industry said that “except for mountains, pine trees are nature’s best insulator of cell phone signals.”

The resin, he explained, absorbs signals nearly as well as it sticks to your skin.

Along with the hills and the pine trees, cell towers are sparcely located in parts of south Mississippi. There just aren’t enough people in some places to ramp up the service connections.

So, it was surprising the first time I called Trey this season and found that the connection was nearly as clear as if he had been on a land line. I mentioned that to him, and he said that since last season he had invested in an amplifier that turns his half-watt digital phone into a three-watt phone. If you’re old enough, you may remember the three-watt days when most cell phones came in bags or they were hard-wired into your vehicle. Three-watt phones are still permissible, but with so many towers in most places now and the shift to digital and handheld units, nobody markets three-watt models anymore.

But you can buy amplifiers or boosters.

Trey’s came from SmoothTalker (http://smoothtalker.com), a Canadian company that manufactures and markets booster and antenna packages designed to add that extra 2.5 watts to many digital phones. According to the company’s web site, its digital phone boosters were the first ones ever approved by the U.S. FCC. The price starts at about $300, and kits are available that can be installed or moved from vehicle to vehicle.

On one hand, it seems like a lot to pay. But Trey doesn’t operate in the wide open spaces of, say, the Mississippi Delta or California’s San Joaquin Valley. Like most crop consultants, his pickup is his office, and it was worth the price to gain this much improvement in his telephone connection.

“There are places I can talk to my farmers now where it was impossible before,” says Trey, who works in cotton and is also Mississippi’s most experienced peanut consultant. “On one stretch of U.S. 61 between Port Gibson and Vicksburg, I don’t know of any company that provides adequate service for a regular cell phone. But I don’t have any trouble along there now.”

One quirk: at times, the boosted signal may find its way to rather distant towers, and a moving signal may not be seamlessly handed off from one tower (or cell) to another. If he’s driving along a highway, Trey says, his phone might show a solid five-bar signal, then it suddenly drops off to nothing.

“A second later, it jumps up to five bars again when another tower picks it up,” he says. “In that case, it’s better just to pull over when you have a good signal, rather than let the phone try to figure out which tower to use.”

The SmoothTalker system requires the use of a privacy handset. The handset and external antenna are interchangeable among many phones, Trey points out, but the boosters are designed for only certain models and/or cellular carriers.

“If you have to replace your phone later, that could limit you on which phone to buy,” he says. “Otherwise, you might have to buy a new booster, which is the main cost.”

Soybeans. rust confirmed in S. Florida sentinel plot

Florida reported a find of Asian soybean rust today on a sentinel plot near West Palm Beach, just north of Miami. Here's an excerpt from the report:

"This plot was identified as being near a source of rust, so its early infection is not surprising. At this time no other sentinel plot in Florida is known to be positive, although several others are near known rust infestations. On June 11-13, Tropical Storm Alberto moved through Florida. Although the western panhandle was not affected, Tallahassee received 4 inches of rain, with more rain and wind toward Jacksonville. The direction of the storm path was towards the northeast, so if any spores were carried from Florida and the southeast they would likely have ended up in the eastern seaboard. With this said, we feel the overall production of rust spores in Florida is still very low due to our previously dry conditions; the spore load would probably be greater with storms later in the season. Following Alberto the soils are saturated and there is considerable fog and dew formation, providing further opportunity for rust to develop. If Alberto does have an impact on soybean rust, we expect it to be observed in the sentinel plots during the next few weeks. The Florida kudzu canopy is fully developed and flowering. All other soybean sentinel plots are still negative and at R1-R3 maturity stages."

Crop management in the age of glyphosate

Mississippi State University sent us the following press release today:

Crop production in the age of glyphosate will be the featured topic at Delta Field Day 2006 held in Stoneville, Miss., on Thursday, July 20, at the Delta Research and Extension Center, or DREC, Charles W. Capps Entrepreneurial Center.

Key discussions will be glyphosate drift and glyphosate resistant horseweed, Italian ryegrass, and pigweed.

“I think this should be an exciting Field Day,” said DREC head Joe Street. “Herbicide drift has certainly impacted Delta crops in 2006, and glyphosate resistant weeds are becoming a more common problem for producers. As part of the program, we will be addressing these issues and the strategies for controlling them.”

Other popular topics on the agenda are Asian soybean rust, plant bug and other insect control and biological control of nematodes in cotton, according to Street.

“Producers will be able to get the most up to date information on these and other important agronomic issues from Mississippi State and USDA –ARS researchers at the event,” said Street.

The station head said he wants to emphasize that Field Day will be indoors this year with the once standard field tours now an after lunch option for those interested.

“We’ve also chosen to make Field Day a one day event this year,” he said. “Both the cotton and corn sessions and the rice and soybean sessions will be held on the same day.”

Street said by utilizing the Capps Center, more effective presentations can be made over a shorter period of time.

Registration for Field Day 2006 will begin at 8 a.m. in the Capps Center lobby. General discussion topics will start at 8:30 a.m. and continue until 9:15 a.m. Rice and soybean sessions will run simultaneously with cotton and corn sessions from 9:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.

Lunch will be served at no cost to all participants, and posters and interactive displays will be exhibited throughout the morning.

Directions are available online at www.msstate.edu/dept/drec

For more information, contact location coordinator Jody Stovall at (662) 686-9311.

Cotton: where's an Agdia kit when you really need it?

Tucker Miller, a Drew, Miss., crop consultant, said this week that he tested worm eggs recently with an Agdia Hel-ID kit.

Two facts are worth mentioning.

First, the eggs tested positive for neither bollworms nor budworms. Several of our contacts over the last couple of weeks have been perplexed about finding what look like Heliothis eggs, but they haven’t seen either kind of moth and aren’t finding hatched worms later. When this happened several years ago and eggs turned up negative for both species, it was first thought that the kits were defective. Agdia’s rep, Willie Bryant, flew into the Delta and worked closely with USDA and Mississippi State to determine what, esactly, was going on.

It finally was concluded that the eggs were probably laid by the granulate (or granulated) cutworm moth. That appears to be the case again this year in some places, although plenty of bollworms or budworms are already being found on cotton.

Second, Tucker Miller actually had a kit for testing the eggs. Agdia hasn’t manufactured the kits in at least two years. There were rural legends (the country equivalent of urban legends) that a few kits were still in circulation. Until Miller mentioned testing eggs this season, we assumed that the kits were, in fact, all gone.

So, where did he get them?

Miller would only say that he had come across “a source” for the kits. He uses them sparingly and only processes portions of a kit each time. That allows him to stretch three or four rounds of testing from a single kit. Miller said he had “five or six” of the kits left.

At the last Beltwide, the folks at Agdia’s booth said there were no plans to resume production.

The kits were a great concept. Why did they fail as a commercial product?

• Demand for the kits faded as more Bt cotton was planted, plus they were costly. Gus Lorenz, Arkansas IPM Coordinator, believes the kits ran about $45 each when first introduced, then the company jumped the price to about $90 two years later. “We kept telling the company that if it would bring the price down, more people would buy them,” Lorenz recalls. “But the company said there was no way it could sell them for less than that and make anything.”
• Processing also was time consuming, and consultants complained about coming in from a long day in the field and facing two hours of running kits through the various chemicals. At various stages the chemicals had to be in specific temperature ranges, too. It always sounded as complicated as processing color film.
  
• Agdia probably never sold as many as it originally projected. Chemical companies partly knocked the market out from under them by gathering eggs from consultants, running the tests and then issuing area reports about the results.

So, for any number of reasons, Hel-ID kits are gone now, save for a few here and there. Lorenz, like Miller, said this week that he has “a few stuck away for when I need them.”

Angus Catchot, Mississippi Extension Entomologist, said he had a handful of kits left, as well.

As it happens, this is turning into a year when the kits would come in quite handy. Figuring out that the mystery eggs are probably for granulate cutworms – or at least not those of budworms or bollworms – would likely save some spraying. Plus, we’re hearing about more egg laying, in general, on both Bt and non-Bt cotton, and there will be cases when it would be helpful to know which ones are being deposited.

“There’s probably more non-Bt cotton out there, too, since many growers seem to be going with a 20% refuge this season,” Catchot said. “It’s going to be tough deciding what worms are developing and how to treat them. Do you have a high enough percentage of bollworms to trust a pyrethroid? Or, are these budworms, and you’ve got to go with other chemistry?”

For his part, Miller was glad to have a Hel-ID kit to use when he started finding the eggs. And until now hadn’t been aware that the kits were no longer available.

“A couple of friends have asked lately if they could ‘borrow’ a kit from me,” Miller chuckled.

The joke, of course, is that when you borrow something you replace it later with the same thing. You borrow sugar. But Hel-ID kits can’t be replaced.

(See this week’s Mississippi Crop Situation Report for more on mystery eggs and granulate cutworms.)

Drought: long-term or short-term, not a pleasant scenario

Howard Cormier, Extension Agent in Vermilion Parish, La., sent the following note today:

“The weatherman said this morning we can expect no significant rain until the next tropical system or hurricane. Not a pleasant scenario.”

Howard, like most folks along the Gulf Coast, doesn’t like to think in those terms these days, not after 2005’s hurricane season. But that’s the reality. Much of the south is dry, from west Texas to Georgia. (Parts of the lower Southeast did get a respite from Alberto, but as dry as it’s been there this year, three inches of rain won’t last long.)

Late last week when I was making calls for PeanutFax – and before I heard about tropical storm Alberto brewing in the Caribbean – Dallas Hartzog said that it would take a tropical depression or storm to bring appreciable relief to farmers in southeast Alabama. Hartzog, Alabama Extension Peanut Specialist, said the region was so dry that scattered showers would not be enough. Extension workers and consultants in Florida and Georgia have essentially said the same thing.

One thing that some tropical storms or weak hurricanes seem to bring is atmospheric instability. After the system moves ashore, there can be periods when more summer showers develop in coastal regions. Garry McCauley, a Texas A&M rice researcher and acting Extension specialist, pointed that out to me a couple of years ago. I’ve since noticed that you tend to see strings of showers sometimes developing days or even a week later.

Granted, neither Garry nor I are meteorologists, and this may sound a bit like a couple of old guys sitting on a country porch trying to predict the weather based on how the crickets are chirping. But the thing that separates Garry and me from the country porch is that we can look at weather radar, and days after a hurricane we’re seeing more of those green blobs popping up along the Texas coast.

The thing that’s probably the most disturbing about Howard’s message this morning is that we seem to be in a monsoon weather pattern – either no rain or enough to drown people. India and Bangladesh, in other words.

The weather is changing, the climate is growing warmer. One science magazine recently showed aerial photos of Glacier National Park’s main ice formation now and compared to a few decades ago, and the glacier sheet is down to a sampling of what was once there.

All that water went somewhere. Howard Cormier will tell you it probably didn’t make it to Vermilion Parish.

The sweep net passes to a new generation

Mike Edwards of Edwards Ag Consulting, LLC, in Water Valley, Miss., said this week he has retired and turned the firm over to his son, Ty, who holds the distinction of being the only third-generation crop consultant in Mississippi – and, quite likely, one of the few in the nation.

The firm was started by Mike’s father, Tom, who passed away two years ago.

“I’ll still be checking crops,” says Mike. “But, basically, I’m in retirement, and Ty is in charge.”

Like Ty, Mike started as a field checker when he was 12.

Too bad "Dollar Cotton" was never made into a movie

President Bush announced today that he is setting aside a 140,000-square-mile swath of Pacific Ocean as the world's largest marine preserve.

What prompted this action from a president long-lambasted by environmentalists?

Several newspapers this morning said he decided to create the preserve after screening a documentary in April made by film maker Jean-Michel Cousteau, son of the late underwater explorer, Jacques Cousteau. The 65-minute film, produced for PBS, focuses on both the beauty of the ecosystem and the perils it faces.

Perhaps the best thing for the farm community to do at this point is to make sure Pressident Bush also catches "The Grapes Of Wrath."

Peanuts: Argentine firm offers high oleic peanut

Georgalos Peanut World (GPW), a peanut brokerage firm that provides us with bulletins on Argentina’s peanut crop and export activity, sent a notice today that it is offering Granoleic peanuts, a high oleic runner. The nut’s oil runs 75% to 82% oleic acid, GPW reports, and the percentage varies with planting date, location and temperatures during kernel maturation.

Higher oleic acid content – compared to linoleic acid content – improves shelf life, plus oleic is considered a healthier component in human consumption since it’s associated with HDL or “good” cholesterol. The peanut has good eating qualities, too, the GPW memo stated.

Commercial cultivation of Granoleic started in the 2003-04 crop year, and some were exported from the 2004-05, GPW reported. In 2005-06 season, 15,000 hectares were planted.

GPW is offering Granoleics at $90 per metric ton over the cost of regular Argentine peanut runners.

Soybean rust: Alberto no immediate threat

Tropical Storm Alberto was a “no show” for the Midsouth in terms of rain and probably won’t do much in the way of immediately spreading Asian soybean rust (ASR) through the Southeast, based on North Carolina State University’s latest ASR forecast. The hurricane came ashore on the northwestern side of Florida’s panhandle and has been moving across north Florida and southern Georgia on its way toward the Atlantic.

ASR sources – scattered kudzu patches in south Alabama, north Florida and southeast Georgia – haven’t generated enough spores yet to matter. Dry conditions since mid-May have not been conducive to spore development, and cool, dry weather in late winter and early spring didn’t encourage much spore production, either.

Any spores already generated from these scattered sites haven’t moved far and will be quickly washed away by rain, according to the forecast.

What the hurricane will do is create conditions that are more favorable to localized disease development where ASR is present, NCSU’s forecast page noted.

USDA releases Web-based Energy Estimator for Irrigation

Doane posted the following USDA release on our web site today:

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- USDA has released its "Energy Estimator for Irrigation," a Web-based calculator tool designed to help producers manage their irrigation water resources more efficiently.

The tool is available at www.usda.gov/energytools.

"Today we are providing yet another tool farmers and ranchers can use to achieve significant energy savings by modifying their irrigation systems," said Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns. "The Energy Estimators provide real energy and cost-saving solutions."

As more than 55 million acres of agricultural land are irrigated nationwide, according to USDA's 2002 Farm and Ranch Irrigation Survey, proper irrigation management can result in significant energy savings for producers individually and collectively. For instance, a producer can move from a high-pressure irrigation system to a low-pressure system and save up to $66 per acre based on spring 2006 prices.

Improving water efficiency by just 10 percent could reduce diesel consumption by 27 million gallons and save farmers and ranchers $55 million annually.

The "Energy Estimator for Irrigation" evaluates opportunities to save on energy costs and improve efficiency of irrigation management. It allows producers to estimate the energy cost of pumping water for irrigation on their farm. Producers can select their irrigation system and their power source, followed by well lift, pressure and price-per-unit of energy and select whether they use a flow meter, irrigation scheduling or a maintenance program. They must also select a crop from a list of commonly irrigated crops for their state, their irrigated acres and their gross application of irrigation water.

Once these criteria have been entered, the producer receives an analysis of current water use, the reduced water use associated with various treatment options, as well as the energy costs and savings of these treatment options. The analysis also identifies potential energy savings that can result from carrying out the recommendations of a pump plant evaluation.

USDA intends for producers to use the "Energy Estimator for Irrigation" for guidance rather than as a sole source for decision-making on irrigation water management. USDA recommends that producers take their irrigation analysis to their local USDA Service Center, Cooperative State Research Education and Extension Service office, irrigation or water district, or pump or utility companies for more field-specific assistance.

This is the third tool USDA has developed as part of its overall energy strategy to reduce the impacts of high energy costs and develop long-term solutions for agricultural producers. On Dec. 7, 2005, USDA released its first Web-based tool -- the Energy Estimator for Tillage -- to help farmers and ranchers calculate diesel fuel use and costs associated with various tillage practices.

The Energy Estimator for Nitrogen Fertilizer, released Feb. 24, 2006, estimates savings in nitrogen fertilizer applications and use.

Since launched in December 2005 through the present, the energy estimators for tillage and for nitrogen fertilizer have received more than 160,000 page views from 38,000 U.S. and international visitors. The "Energy Estimator for Tillage" has received the most page views -- more than 105,000 from nearly 27,000 visitors since its release. The "Energy Estimator for Nitrogen Fertilizer" has received more than 55,000 page views from nearly 11,000 visitors.

Additional information about USDA's "Energy Estimator for Irrigation" can be found online. Additional information about the USDA Energy Initiative is here.

SOURCE: USDA news release.

Bad year for rice insects?

Here are some extra comments that didn’t make it into Tuesday’s issue of RiceFax:

A BAD YEAR FOR RICE INSECTS? When I first started RiceFax eight years ago, a couple of friends – both cotton consultants – kidded me about publishing a newsletter that covered a crop where nothing ever happened. They knew, of course, that things do happen in rice, but compared to cotton and all the insect pressure it endures, rice often seems sedate.

This is one of those years, though, when rice insects appear to be a bit more volatile and widespread, at least in the Midsouth.

Several weeks ago, Johnny Saichuk started finding heaver-than-normal rice water weevil (RWW) pressure in central Louisiana. Since then, RWW has become a problem all the way into Missouri. Draining fields that far north to curtail RWW pressure happens rarely, but this year at least one field already has been drained. Brian V. Ottis, Rice Agronomist at the University of Missouri’s Delta REC in Portageville, put out an advisory on RWW scouting and treatment options this week.

Gus Lorenz, Arkansas Extension IPM Coordinator, said yesterday that RWW had blown up in numerous fields, and growers were spraying in places where they have not treated before. Nathan Buehring, Extension Rice Specialist in Mississippi, said Tuesday that RWW adults are not hard to find in many of his growers’ fields this season, either.

Lespedeza worms already have over spots in Arkansas this year. Loss of Icon, in part, has complicated both RWW and lespedeza control.

Also looming out there are rice stinkbugs (RSB), which were heavy in wheat and may become a factor in rice. For good reasons, though, nobody is fully predicting that.

RSB populations were heavy in July 2004 in Arkansas and into Mississippi, and it seemed that treatments would be widespread. Midsouth rice had taken a public relations hit the year before because more treatments should have been made that season for RSBs. Missed or delayed applications gave the insect an opening, and in 2003 growers shipped a lot of “pecky” rice to the mills.

So, in 2004 everyone was on their toes. When RSBs started gathering on field edges in July, growers, consultants and dealer reps were poised to pull the trigger. Some treatments were needed and made, but by the time most rice was vulnerable, the insect had taken a powder.

Maybe that will happen this year, too. But the fact that RWW and lespedeza worms already have hit, there is this feeling that one more shoe may drop.

MORE PUMPING, LESS DISEASE? South Louisiana remains dry, and much of the Midsouth is receiving scattered thunderstorms, at best. Drier conditions mean more pumping to build and maintain floods, but dry conditions also reduce disease pressure, a point made yesterday by Johnny Saichuk, Louisiana Extension Rice Specialist.

“Nobody wants to spend any more than they have to this year on diesel to pump water,” Saichuk said. “Those costs, however, might be partially offset by reduced fungicide costs and better yields if it remains dry. The oldtimers used to say that if you pumped a lot during the season you also made more rice. That meant less disease pressure and more sunshine.”

EAST TEXAS FLOODING: Last week, heavy rains caused flooding in areas east of Houston, and up to 18 inches fell in the Fannett community near Beaumont. David Mitchell with M&M Air Service said Monday that some rice was damaged by the flooding. But the water did not blow out levees to any extent, and growers were able to regulate their flood and prevent struggling rice from collapsing onto mud. “The water is all gone now,” Mitchell reported. “Rice yellowed pretty badly, but it doesn’t appear that much of it will be lost.”

Rice water weevils at surprising levels in Missouri

Brian V. Ottis, Rice Agronomist at the University of Missouri Delta REC, said this afternoon that rice water weevils have turned up in surprisingly high numbers in the state's rice this year. Loss of Icon, combined with open strips caused by Command overlapping, have likely contributed to the pressure. In one case, a Pemiscot County field had to be drained.

Ottis issued an advisory today. Click here to download it.

Peanuts: "lessers" get an opening with dry weather

While parts of the Southeast received rain over the weekend, it was spotty in many areas, and dry conditions linger -- and provide the kinds of conditions that favor lesser cornstalk borer infestations in peanuts.

We began hearing about "lessers" in southwest Georgia peanuts last week. They also are being dealt with in parts of north Florida. Tim Kelly with Southeastern Crop Consulting, Inc., in Barney, Ga., said in an email Sunday that his firm's growers in north Florida were "fighting lessers in peanuts, especially on the real sandy land."

Rice: 18" is a lot of rain but look to Alvin for the record

When we reported on the 18-inch one-day rainfall totals for some rice-production areas near Beaumont last week, Garry McCauley said he was pretty sure that wasn't close to a record for Texas. He recalled that a hurricane in the late 1970s deposited a far larger amount in a 24-hour period. McCauley, a rice researcher at the Eagle Lake REC and acting Extension Rice Specialist, checked the sear engines and forwarded this note to us:

"Tropical Storm Claudette brought a US rainfall record of 43" in 24 hours in and around Alvin in July 1979."

This "factoid" is part of a larger compendium of Texas trivia and bar-room teasers that has appeared over the years on various web sites and blogs. We're not sure of the original source. Click here to go to one site that carries the entire list.

Commodity groups disenhanted with Bush negotiators' Doha approach

Major commodity groups – among them, the National Cotton Council and USA Rice Federation – sent President Bush a strongly worded letter today expressing concerns about the status of Doha round negotiations. The groups cautioned that the U.S. offer to reduce trade-distorting domestic supports always has been presented as contingent on achieving the U.S. objective of increasing market access and reductions in other trade-distorting practices conducted by U.S. trading partners.

The groups basically believe that U.S. trade negotiators are caving in on market access.

A release from the NCC included the following points:

• The US offer on domestic supports always has been contingent on achieving commensurate market access.
• The US offer on domestic supports represents the most the groups could support and that support is contingent on achieving the market access objectives in the U.S. offer.
• Treatment of "sensitive" products for developed countries and "special" products for developing countries must be limited so as not to erode market access gains made through tariff reductions.
• Newly acceded countries must actively participate in the negotiations and offer improved market access.
• If any agreement falls short of U.S. objectives on market access, the U.S. offer on domestic supports must be scaled back "commensurate with this diminished market access result."
  

See the letter at http://www.cotton.org/issues/2006/doha.cfm.

Click here for the USA Rice Federation’s release.

Cotton: U. of Missouri tells growers to be aware of root-knot nematodes

Doane posted the following advisory on our content site this afternoon:

6/2/2006 -- Crop-threatening levels of root-knot nematodes are present in some, but not all, cotton fields in southeast Missouri, says Allen Wrather, University of Missouri professor.

During a recent survey of Missouri cotton fields by University of Missouri scientists, root-knot nematodes were found in 20 percent of the New Madrid County fields, 27 percent of Pemiscot County fields, and 43 percent of Dunklin County fields. This nematode is also present in some Scott County fields.

These nematodes can cause severe injury to cotton and will reduce yield. The symptoms of root-knot nematode injury will initially be visible 6-8 weeks after planting. Most years, the symptoms are visible during early- to mid-June.

Unfortunately, cotton planting this year has been delayed for some producers due to wet weather and symptoms may not be visible until late-June to early-July. The symptoms of root-knot nematode injury are stunted cotton plants and these plants may wilt more quickly than healthy plants during a hot afternoon. Plants injured by these nematodes will also have galls; swollen areas visible on infected roots.

Be cautious about diagnosing the cause of stunted cotton, because other factors such as low soil pH and drought may cause plants to be stunted. Ask your scout to tell you about areas in your fields where they observe this symptom and then determine the cause of the stunting.

Growers suspicious of nematode problems in their cotton should dig up roots soon after harvest and the stalks are shredded and look for galls on the roots.

Nothing can be done this year to protect cotton against these nematodes, but growers can take precautions to avoid this problem next year. There are no cotton varieties highly resistant to root-knot nematodes, but Stoneville 5599 is tolerant. These nematodes will reduce yield of this variety but not as much as they reduce yield of other varieties.

Growers should consider planting Avicta Complete Pak treated seed or using Temik at 3.5-5.0 pounds per acre in furrow when planting this or any other cotton variety.

Following these suggested procedures will give cotton farmers a better chance of producing higher yields and greater profits.

For more information contact Allen Wrather at the University of Missouri Delta Center (Phone: 573-379-5431, e-mail wratherj@missouri.edu or check the Delta Center Web page.

The University of Missouri-Delta Center Field Day is August 31, 2006.

SOURCE: University of Missouri Integrated Pest & Crop Management Newsletter, June 2, 2006.

Texas rice country still getting soaked, but south Lousiana remains dry

The rice production areas of Texas continue to receive rain, and some locations are up to 20 inches since late last week. Some of the heaviest amounts developed Monday. Many fields are still flooded, and that has lead leading to a host of concerns about damage to levees and the crop.

“In the areas where it’s rained, the least I’m hearing about is two inches, and there are places that have received 18 to 20 inches of rain since late last week,” says Garry McCauley, acting Rice Extension Specialist in Texas. In Jefferson and Chambers Counties a fair amount of rice is under water. Most of those areas got 15 inches or more. Liberty County also has submerged rice, and the Trinity River may still be coming out of its banks.”

The trick, McCauley adds, will be to patch levees as the water subsides and try to maintain a flood. Close attention to disease scouting will be necessary, too, he says. “Plants probably will be stretched a little and you don’t want to put too much N on that rice if you’ve still got another application to make,” McCauley advises.

Heaviest amounts fell east of Houston and west of El Campo. A strip up and down the Colorado River pretty much missed any of the rain, McCauley says. The Weather Channel noted earlier today that the Victoria area has received twice as much rain since Monday as it has in the rest of 2006 up to that point.

“We’ve been really dry,” he notes. “Now, we’re back up to our annual average for this time of the year, but most of that came this week.”

This succession of showers has still pretty much played out before reaching the southern parishes of Louisiana, which sustained heavy salt contamination from Hurricane Rita last September. That part of the state also is in a prolonged drought. For the period starting in April 2005, rainfall totals in parts of south Louisiana are running as much as 25 inches behind normal.

“We could have used six inches of rain this week without any trouble,” says Johnny Saichuk, Louisiana Extension Rice Specialist. “Most people, though, just got a few tenths.”