Obit: Eldon Lundberg, Organic Rice Pioneer

Eldon Albert Lundberg, the eldest of four brothers who built Lundberg Family Farms into the nation’s leading producer of organic rice and related products, died Saturday, June 26, in Richvale, California, where he lived. He was 82.

A native of Phelps County, Nebraska, Lundberg's parents moved west when he was a boy, settling in the small rice-farming town of Richvale in the Sacramento Valley. Raised on the farm founded by his parents, Lundberg began farming with his father Albert in 1948, while studying Civil Engineering at Chico State College.

In 1969, the four Lundberg brothers - Eldon, Wendell, Harlan, and Homer - built their rice milling operations, which launched the Lundberg Family Farms brand of rice products.

While organic rice already was available, mostly from small farming operations, the Lundbergs brought a higher degree of commercialization to the business, gaining shelf space in major supermarkets.

Eldon Lundberg served as president of the family business as the company established direct links with consumers over the next 25 years. During his tenure as president, Lundberg Family Farms grew into the nation’s top producer of organic and eco-farmed rice and rice products. In 1997, Eldon’s son, Grant, became CEO, and in 1999, Lundberg retired from day-to-day management.


He served on the board of directors of the Butte County Rice Growers Association and was a longtime member of the U.S. Rice Council.

Louisiana's Weird Corn Year Continues

This has been a weird year for Louisiana corn.

First, some corn had enough spider mite pressure that it had to be treated. Off hand, nobody we spoke with could ever remember that happening in the state. Treating mites in corn is fairly common in arid parts of the country, like California's San Joaquin Valley where growers typical spray mites on corn in areas that receive little or no rain during the season.

Through much of the spring and into the summer, parts of Louisiana actually received less rain, in fact, than areas around, say, Bakersfield and Fresno in California.

Louisiana's cropping season and surrounding landscape were thrown out of whack early. Winter and early spring rains kept vegetation growing and also shut farmers out of the field when they needed to do prep work. All that likely gave pests a chance to build in wild hosts, both inside and on the edges of fields

Then as the extended dry period gripped the state, temperatures rose sharply and have lingered in the high 90s to low triple digits since late May.

If there was going to be a year to treat spider mites in Louisiana corn, this would have been it.

And now farmers and their crop advisers are facing the reality that corn has also taken an economic hit from corn earworms, something that nobody would have thought possible.

The pest typically nibbles away at the tip of the cob, which produces kernels that never quite make it through the harvesting process, anyway, because of their size and odd placement on the tapering ear.

This year, though, that part of the cob was mostly blank due to heat-induced pollination problems. Plus, a larger-than-normal earworm moth flight developed early, putting more pressure on the crop. When worms couldn't find small, tasty kernels on the cob's tip, they moved down the cob and at into kernels that actually are bigger, valuable and harvestable.

"Where we might only see one worm in a cob – mainly because they tend to eat competing worms when they find them on the tip – we found cobs with 2 or even 3 worms," said Roger Leonard, LSU Research Entomologist. "Instead of sitting on the tip but, they moved down the cob on different sides and never bumped into each other. When we have any kind of injury, it tends to be late when we higher persistent pressure and more larvae in there."

Leonard said he had never seen this happen before and didn't think that it was possible to sustain economic loss like this on any kind of scale.

"This was turning up in the Yieldgard and Herculex corn, as well as hybrids without those traits," he added.

As not to leave soybeans out, brown stink bugs are turning up in some soybeans, mainly in south-central Louisiana. But these aren't the regular brown stink bugs, though some probably are in the mix.

Several stink bugs kind of get lumped into the "brown" category, although the one commonly called "brown" is the one that tends to be an annual problem.

"There are at least 2 species out there where we're dealing with them right now -- our regular brown and a somewhat smaller one that is kind of around but hardly ever in big numbers," Leonard said. "It's not common enough that it's been given any kind of common name. They’re both managed the same way and need to be treated when they hit action thresholds. More and more fields there are being treated.”

- Owen Taylor

How Do You Control Spider Mites In Soybeans?

The short answer to the question is, "Not very well."

The question, itself, came up this week in a conversation with Ames Herbert, Virginia Extension Entomologist, who said that he'd received several farmer calls about spider mites in soybeans north of the James River, an area with mostly a corn-soybean rotation, unlike areas to the south that tend to have more cotton and peanuts.

Samples sent to him from infested soybeans contained a large number of adults "and tons of eggs," as Herbert put it.

"We have limited options for treating mites in beans," Herbert said. "The new-generation miticides used in cotton aren’t labeled for soybeans. Brigade and related chemistries are somewhat effective. Dimethoate and Lorsban also are used."

But dimethoate, he added, might be "a little quirky" because it has a pH issue, and water has to be adjusted if the pH is too high. Plus, it has to be stored properly.

"So, make sure you’re using fresh material if that’s your choice, not something that's been in the warehouse for several years," Herbert cautioned.

Lorsban can be effective, he noted, but it has some phytotoxicity issues sometimes.

"The big problem with mites – regardless of the material – is that growers often wait until they’ve got a near-salvage situation, with large numbers of adults, plus eggs," Herbert said. "You can knock out the adults on the first round but still probably have to come back in 5 to 7 days with a second treatment to take out the hatchlings. That’s the only way to break that kind of cycle. It’s a tough, expensive pest and, unfortunately, tends to show up in drier seasons."

Herbert added: "That area (where mites were being found in beans) really isn’t that dry, so this doesn’t bode well for mite problems this season."

- Owen Taylor 

Diesel Prices Nudging Up After Declines Since Mid May

From the U.S. Energy Information Administration this morning...

The national average price for diesel fuel at the highway pump rose for the first time since May 10, 2010, climbing three cents to $2.96 per gallon, $0.35 above the price a year ago.

• With the exception of the Rocky Mountains, prices increased throughout the country.
• The average on the East Coast increased two and a half cents to $2.97 per gallon and the Gulf Coast went up over three cents to $2.91 per gallon.
• The average in the Midwest moved up more than four cents to $2.94 per gallon.
• The Rocky Mountain price dipped a penny to $2.98 per gallon. T
• he West Coast price moved up four cents to $3.09 per gallon and the average in California jumped six cents to $3.13 per gallon.

For the first time in six weeks, the U.S. average price for regular gasoline increased, moving up four cents to settle at $2.74 per gallon, 5 cents higher than last year.

• Although prices went up in all regions of the country, the range of change was considerable, from less than a half cent in the Rocky Mountains to seven cents in the Midwest.
• The average on the East Coast increased three cents to $2.69 per gallon, while the Midwest price jumped seven cents to $2.71 per gallon.
• Despite an increase of two cents, the average on the Gulf Coast remained the lowest of any region at $2.60 per gallon.
• Increasing less than a half cent, the average in the Rocky Mountains was essentially unchanged at $2.77 per gallon.
• The West Coast average climbed four cents to $3.03 per gallon, while the price in California moved up nearly a nickel to $3.10 per gallon.

Readers Of The Purple Sage: This Bush Predicts Rain

Bob Rose’s Weather Blog podcast this week focuses on the Texas purple sage, a common bush in drier parts of Texas that seems to predict rain. Nicknamed “The Barometer Bush,” it seems sensitive to weather changes and often opens its flowers a few days ahead of a rain.

Rose is chief meteorologist with the Lower Colorado River Authority. This is the Colorado River in Texas, not to be confused with the one that forms the Grand Canyon. Its upland reservoirs supply water to Austin, Texas, and irrigation supplies to a good deal of the farming country west of Houston, especially that part of the state’s rice belt.

I try never to miss one of his video blogs. He’ll give me a quick “heads up” on weather patterns affecting portions of Texas we cover with RiceFax, our weekly report. Plus, I also tend to come away with useful or entertaining bits of weather information that Rose plugs into his podcasts.

Here’s his report…

PureSense Releases Irrigation Monitoring App For The iPhone

PureSense Environmental Inc. announced earlier this week that its Irrigation Manager iPhone application is now available through the iTunes App Store.

Built as a mobile platform for PureSense subscribers, the PureSense app brings the reporting capabilities of Irrigation Manager to the iPhone, allowing the grower to be more informed, efficient and mobile than ever before.

Cory Wyatt with Eastside Management in Modesto, CA manages over 5,400 acres of almonds with PureSense and was a tester for the Irrigation Manager iPhone app beta version.

"With the new app, I'm able to know anything about my soil moisture without having to find a computer," said Wyatt. "It confirms that the irrigation decisions which I've made are actually happening."

Mississippi-Based USDA Team Unlocking Sorghum's Weed-Fighting Traits

Interesting piece from Dennis O'Brien, a USDA public affairs writer...

By unlocking the genetic secrets of sorghum, Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists have found a way to make one of the world's most important cereal crops a better option for growers. Researchers at the ARS Natural Products Utilization Unit in Oxford, Miss. also may have opened a door to reducing pesticide use in the production of other crops.

Sorghum secretes a compound known as sorgoleone that is instrumental in helping the plant combat weeds. But in a way it does its job too well. Certain crops don't grow well in fields where sorghum has been raised, causing problems for growers who want to plant different crops on those fields.

The research team at Oxford included molecular biologist Scott Baerson, chemist Agnes Rimando, research leader Stephen O. Duke, plant physiologist Franck E. Dayan, molecular biologist Zhiqiang Pan, and plant physiologist Daniel Cook, who now works at the ARS Poisonous Plant Research Laboratory in Logan, Utah.

The team started with two pieces of evidence that helped them address the problem. Previous studies showed that sorgoleone is produced in the plant root hairs, and that a special type of enzyme within the plant plays a major role in sorgoleone production.

Using a strategy called sequence tagging, the scientists searched an established sorghum genome database for gene sequences associated with that class of enzymes. They found two gene sequences expressed in the plant root hair cells that produced the enzymes. When they silenced the two gene sequences, it dramatically reduced sorgoleone levels in the sorghum plants produced.

The results, published in The Plant Cell, could lead to sorghum lines without the soil toxicity problem, as well as lines with higher levels of sorgoleone that offer superior weed-fighting capabilities without posing environmental hazards. This discovery will enable researchers to look for similar gene sequences in other crops to increase their natural pest-fighting capabilities and reduce the need for pesticides.

Baerson and his colleagues have already identified similar sequences in rice that are involved in production of defense-related enzymes.

ARS molecular biologist Zhiqiang Pan is part of team that has found two gene sequences controlling sorghum's production of sorgoleone, a compound that stops weeds from growing nearby but may also keep some crops from growing well in fields where sorghum has been raised. Click the image for more information about it.

Diesel Prices Continue To Decline

Here's a synopsis from today's diesel price survey report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration...

The national average price for diesel fuel fell for the fifth week in a row, dropping two cents to $2.93 per gallon, $0.36 above a year ago.

• Prices fell in all regions of the country as the East Coast declined two cents to $2.95 per gallon.
• The Midwest price dipped a cent to $2.89 per gallon.
• The Gulf Coast and Rocky Mountain averages fell about three cents to $2.87 per gallon and $2.99 per gallon, respectively.
• The average on the West Coast slid less than half a cent to $3.05 per gallon.
• In California, the average was unchanged at $3.07 per gallon.

The U.S. average price for regular gasoline has declined for five consecutive weeks.

• Prices dropped by over 2 cents to hit $2.70 per gallon, 3 cents higher than a year ago. Over the last five weeks, the price for regular gasoline has decreased by over 20 cents per gallon.
• The averages fell in all regions of the country with the East Coast price falling by about three cents to $2.66 per gallon.
• The Midwest and Rocky Mountain averages slipped two cents to $2.64 per gallon and $2.77 per gallon, respectively.
• The lowest price was found in the Gulf Coast at $2.58 per gallon, after a decline of more than 3 cents.
• The prices on the West Coast and in California dipped a penny and a half to $2.99 per gallon and $3.05 per gallon, respectively.

California Farmers Fighting European Grapevine Moth May Have Enviro-Friendly Options

USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in California is offering voluntary, environmentally-friendly control options to California farmers near confirmed trappings of the foreign pest, European Grapevine Moth (EGVM). So far EGVM has been found in Fresno, Mendocino, Merced, Monterey, Napa, Solano, and Sonoma counties.  One million dollars has been set aside by NRCS to assist grape farmers with Integrated Pest Management (IPM).

More details here.

I remember dial-up.

It's been many years since I had to live with a dial-up internet connection on a day-to-day basis. It was a miracle then, but now it's just one more story that my kids don't want to hear.

I now take my high speed internet service for granted, except when I pay the bill. And, I don't even need that service when I check my email or surf the web on my handy, dandy smart phone (yet, another bill to pay). I just hop on the 3G trail.

But, recently I had to put together a family reunion in a very, very rural piney woods part of Louisiana.

When I announced that all communication would be via email, I was surprised to learn that some of my relatives still suffer from "sorry, i only have dial-up" illness. It's so much trouble to connect and then wait, that they don't check email often enough to even have the account. And, yes, some of them feel like it's "too much trouble" to even own a computer. My solution: I wrote the email, printed it out and then visited the U.S. post office. Ah, the miracle of reliable delivery really does still exist.

Let me also explain that electricity didn't come to this particular spot in Louisiana until 1953, when my grandmother went door to door signing people up. The story is she used part of her "egg money" to pay whatever it took to get that service down her road. Her indoor plumbing came along just before John Kennedy took office in 1960. And, I'm not sure she ever got a telephone.

So, you can see why I was excited to learn that a part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) might actually help out my relatives as well as thousands of other folks. Coincidentally, the projects are expected to create about 5,000 immediate and direct jobs

Over $1 billion in loans and grants has been awarded for 68 broadband projects in 31 states and one territory in the first of two scheduled funding rounds from the Recovery Act. That sounds like a cure for a lot of "dial-up."

According to a USDA press release, three types of projects received awards:

• Last-mile remote projects, which will provide broadband service to households and other users in rural areas located at least 50 miles from the nearest non-rural area.

• Last-mile non-remote projects, which will provide broadband service to households and other users located less than 50 miles from the nearest non-rural area.

• Middle-mile projects, which will provide necessary "backbone" services such as interoffice transport, backhaul, Internet connectivity, or special access to rural areas.

The projects will bring broadband service to an estimated 529,249 households, 92,754 businesses and 3,332 anchor institutions across more than 172,000 square miles – a geographic area approximately the size of the state of California. These projects will also provide services to 19 Tribal lands. A second round of successful applicants will be announced later in the 2010 fiscal year.

And, to add to my excitement, I found in Connecting Rural America that Louisiana was included in the grants, among such other states as: Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Virginia, Texas, West Virginia, Tennessee and Missouri.

I'm counting on broadband delivery for the next family reunion invite.

Thanks for reading.

Debra Ferguson

Oklahoma State Launches Comprehensive Ag Machinery Web Site

Farmers and others involved in production ag have a new source of information on the efficient use of ag machiner. The Oklahoma State University Agricultural Machinery Systems website contains information from the departments of biosystems and ag engineering, as well as educational material generated at other universities.

Randy Taylor, OSU Cooperative Extension engineer, machinery systems, said agriculture machinery represents one of the largest costs associated with growing crops in the Great Plains.

“Furthermore, ag machinery is common across the country, so information generated in other states can be just as valuable as that generated in Oklahoma. This makes sharing information between states more feasible,” Taylor said.

Information on the site can be found on applications systems, engines, grain harvesting, hay and forage harvesting, machinery management, power transfer, precision agriculture technology, tillage systems management and tractors.

“This website was established as a source of information regarding the efficient use of agriculture machinery. The material is organized in a manner that lets users find their needed information,” Taylor said. “This site is unique in that material from many sources can be accessed in one location. There are also links to other useful sites.”

- Owen Taylor

Hurricane And Tropical Storms In The Gulf: How Activity Stacks Up On The Calendar

What are the odds that a hurricane will be active in the Gulf of Mexico during any given period, but particularly during harvest season?

This chart gives at least some indication. It was posted on the U.S. Energy Information Administration web site with an article about potential disruptions to Gulf of Mexico oil production this year.

It shows the frequency of Gulf hurricanes and tropical storms from and the number of days on a given date that these storms were active. It covers the years 1910 to 2009.

What the chart can't show is how many storms affected land or where they hit. But it does illustrate the inherent risk for anyone harvesting fiber or grain in the South.

Give a Tractor, Get a Vacation

It seems the Reefs Hotel and Club in Southhampton, Bermuda, has plenty of rooms but one less tractor, and they are making the most of the situation. According to Ben Tutt, The Reefs managing director, "Every morning, we rake and groom our private pink sand beach to keep it pristine for our guests. It takes quite a bit of manpower and the aid of a sturdy tractor. Unfortunately, our tractor called it quits and, being on an island, has made it difficult to find a good replacement."

The Reefs Resoort

According to a press release The Reefs issued, it will trade a classy island getwaway for a replacement tractor.
"Anyone with a new tractor that meets the resort's requirements can trade it for a vacation in an elegantly appointed three-bedroom residence at The Reefs Club," the release stated. "The relaxing vacation is inclusive of daily breakfast, afternoon tea and gourmet dinner nightly."
And not just any tractor will do.

The hotel's management specifically wants a "new or nearly new" 23-horsepower Kubota B2320 tractor or equivalent. Oh, and don't forget the front loader and a trailer hitch.

More details here.

I hate fire ants.

So, who doesn't?

You never forget your first fire ant encounter. A part of your body is unexpectedly set on fire throwing you into a sort of dance with a lot of yelping.

Somehow I avoided fire ants until the late 1980s when I was interviewing Dr. Normie Buehring at the North Mississippi Research and Extension Center at Verona. I thought I had just asked a really bad question when he started pulling my arm and yelling at me to move. Then I looked down and saw my shoes covered in ants, followed quickly by a raging pain on both feet. Looking back, I am amazed how quickly I shed shoes, socks and managed to keep my pants on -- much to Dr. Behring’s appreciation, I’m sure.

So, it was with a bit of morbid fascination, I learned of a “virtual museum” that is all about the fire ant.

The Museum of Novel Fire Ant Control Methods and Products pays homage to decades of inventions tried by many in a guerilla warfare battle to rid the earth of the red fire ant.

The museum was created by the Imported Fire Ants Community of Practice, a virtual on-line community of agricultural extension professionals including members of land-grant universities, USDA APHIS and ARS, county and state governments.

The web page catalogs an amazing number of methods and products that “constitute excellent examples of ingenuity in the U.S. and worldwide.” In other words, some of the methods are ridiculous but there is no lack of effort or inspiration when it comes to finding a fire ant killer.

Here’s a sampling of some of the things I learned:

• Although the U.S. had two native fire ant species, they were fairly unnoticed until the alien fire ants arrived by ship in Mobile, Alabama, somewhere between 1918 and the late 1920s. Their official presence was first reported in 1929.

• The little buggers are expert invaders. By 1953, according to a USDA survey, the imported fire ants had invaded 102 counties in 10 states. In 2010, the more aggressive red fire ant has replaced the black imported fire ant and the two native species across the southeastern United States.

• The McCoy Stamper was probably the first non-chemical ant control device. It was actually a windmill built in Lubbock, Texas with the intent to “run over” worker ants as they emerged from the mound. Another favorite of mine is The Antser, a grinder with rotating tines meant to stir the ant beds and throw a little water into the action.

But, I don’t want to have all the fun. Take a look for yourself.

Texas In Line For A Hot Summer, But Maybe Not As Hot As 2009

How hot will it get in Texas this summer?

Meteorologist Bob Rose with the Austin-based Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA)says it will be plenty hot, based on the number of likely days at or above 100. But he still doesn't believe there will be as many of those days as the state saw in 2009.

LCRA manages reservoirs on the Colorado River of Texas that supply water to a large portion of Texas farm country west of Houston and also supply water to Austin and other cities. We make it a point to follow his forecasts.

Rose posted the following podcast on his blog, outlining his outlook for summer heat.

Arkansas Rice Farmer Named To EPA's Ag Advisory Committee

Arkansas rice farmer Ray Vester, of Stuttgart, was named today to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Farm, Ranch, and Rural Communities Committee (FRRCC), according to a report posted in the USA Rice Federation’s Rice Daily e-letter.

The FRRCC is an independent committee that advises EPA on a wide range of environmental issues of importance to agriculture and rural communities.

According to the report:

FRCC members for the 2010-12 term include representatives from academia, industry, non-governmental organizations, and state, local, and tribal governments. Committee members were selected from a large pool of applicants responding to a request for nominations published last November in the Federal Register. FRRCC meetings will be open and the group is expected to meet twice annually, generally in Washington.

Vester, a rice farmer for more than 40 years, is the current chairman of USA Rice Federation's Environmental Regulatory subcommittee. In addition, he is a member of the Arkansas Rice Producers' Group board of directors, the USA Rice Federation Sustainability Task Force and the Biotechnology Task Force. Vester is also a member of the Arkansas State Plant Board.

Spicey, Yes, But Chili Peppers May Also Help Burn Fat

Scientists from South Korea are reporting new evidence that capsaicin, the stuff that gives chili peppers their kick, may cause weight loss and fight fat buildup by triggering certain beneficial protein changes in the body. Their study, which could lead to new treatments for obesity, appears in American Chemical Society's monthly Journal of Proteome Research.

Laboratory studies have hinted that capsaicin may help fight obesity by decreasing calorie intake, shrinking fat tissue, and lowering fat levels in the blood. Nobody, however, knows exactly how capsaicin might trigger such beneficial effects.

In an effort to find out, the scientists fed high-fat diets with or without capsaicin to lab rats used to study obesity. The capsaicin-treated rats lost 8 percent of their body weight and showed changes in levels of at least 20 key proteins found in fat. The altered proteins work to break down fats, the scientists say.