Mac Young, Levi Russell, Rob Hogan, Steve Amosson, and DeDe Jones, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, Department of Agricultural Economics:    The Profitability-Irrigation Analyzer, an Excel-based, decision aid tool is available for crop producers in the Texas High Plains and South Texas. The decision tool assists producers in making management decisions by allowing them to analyze the optimal crop mix to plant under both irrigation and non-irrigation. Many producers in the Northern and Southern High Plains of Texas have been introduced to the tool and have found it… Read More →

Clark Neely, State Small Grains Agronomist:   Warmer temperatures are helping some wheat producers in Texas while hurting others at the same time. As temperatures warm into the 80’s for much of the state, incidence of stripe rust is starting to fade in areas from South Texas north through the Texas Blacklands (Figure 1). However, some areas of high stripe rust pressure remain throughout portions of West Central Texas (Figure 2). With flag leaves recently emerged or nearly emerged in most locations, growers need to scout fields regularly… Read More →

Paul A. Baumann, Josh McGinty, Gaylon Morgan:   The answer to this question may be due to herbicide resistance. Glyphosate (Roundup) herbicide is very effective for controlling weedy sunflower species. However, in 2014, there were several instances where sunflowers sprayed at the appropriate stage of growth survived in Central Texas. In most cases, glyphosate activity was initially observed at the growing points; however, the plants later re-sprouted from the lower stem and were able to reproduce before crop harvest. See Figure 1. . Seed was collected from plants… Read More →

Levi A. Russell Assistant Professor & Extension Economist Department of Agricultural Economics Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Corpus Christi:   This article summarizes the loss ratios and number of acres insured for four of the major crops in Texas in 2013 and 2014. The four crops covered in this article are corn, cotton, grain sorghum, and wheat. The insurance policies discussed are RP and RP-HPE. It’s important to understand the loss ratios I’ve calculated in the table below. The loss ratio is calculated by dividing the indemnity payment received… Read More →

Thomas Isakeit, Professor and Extension Plant Pathologist, t-isakeit@tamu.edu:   As a requirement of one of the federal grants that supports my research and educational programs for mycotoxin reduction in corn, I must obtain feedback from growers about their mycotoxin problems and control approaches. This past winter, with the help of county agents, I received an excellent response from growers surveyed at four AgriLife Extension meetings where I made presentations. These meetings were: Bell County Crops Conference, Upper Gulf Coast Feed Grain Production Conference, Wilson County Winter Ag Conference,… Read More →

Gaylon Morgan, State Extension Cotton Agronomist, gmorgan@ag.tamu.edu:   Along with variety selection, seed quality should be on cotton producers’ minds, especially considering the wet and cool spring in South and East Texas and current cotton prices. Also, one of the most popular thoughts this winter has been to reduce seeding rates in order to cut seed costs. This is a viable option for many. However, reducing seeding rates should only be considered in conjunction with high quality seed and near optimum planting conditions. When reducing the seeding rates,… Read More →

Josh McGinty (joshua.mcginty@ag.tamu.edu), Paul Baumann, and Pete Dotray Department of Soil & Crop Sciences You’ve all seen the horror stories about glyphosate (Roundup) resistant pigweed infestations in the Southeastern United States. Texas farmers largely dodged the bullet until 2005, when reports of resistance started to trickle in. Texas A&M AgriLife Extension and Research first confirmed glyphosate resistant common waterhemp in Central and Southeast Texas. This was followed by the confirmation of resistant Palmer amaranth on the Southern High Plains in 2010. Since that time, these researchers have conducted… Read More →

By Robert Bowling (robert.bowling@ag.tamu.edu)  CORN: Much of the 2015 south Texas corn crop is planted and has emerged. Abundant fall and    winter rain has filled soil moisture profiles and the prospects are high for an above average corn crop. Monitoring insect pests is critical to avoid bumps that could derail production goals. Early season pests that may interfere with normal early-season plant development include cutworms, flea beetles, and chinch bugs. Cutworms: Several moth species commonly known as cutworms can be severe pests of corn. The larval or immature… Read More →