The Press-Dispatch

c-10 Pike county Planter sWcD newsletter May and june 2014 the Press-Dispatch the Press-Dispatch Pike county Planter sWcD newsletter May and june 2014 c- 11 Pike County SWCD SuperviSorS Mike Whaley, Chairman Norman Dillon, Vice Chairman Jason Dickson, Supervisor David Flint, Supervisor Paul Lake, Supervisor Kelly Atkins, Associate Supervisor Brad Smith, Associate Supervisor Sam Whiteleather, Associate Supervisor Staff S. Erica Burkemper-Fischer, District Administrator and Newsletter Editor Chuck White, SWCD Soil Technician Matt Robinette, SWCD Soil Technician Travis Gogel, NRCS District Conservationist Chris Shoults, NRCS Soil Conservationist SWCD/NRCS HouRS Monday through friday 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Due to the nature of the work that the SWCD and NRCS staf f performs, at times there will be no one in the office. Call 812-354-6120 ext .3 before visiting. Farm Service Agency county committee Robert Weitkampt II, Chairman Keith Breidenbaugh, Member Jeff Davis, Member Katrina Seitz, Minority Advisor Staff Amy Barber, County Executive Director Amy Foust, Program Technician Lisa Gladdish, Program Technician Brenda Nicholson, Program Technician FSA oFFiCe HouRS: Monday through friday 8 a.m.-4:30pm inside: SWCD Drill for rent PAge D-2 Rain barrels for sale PAge D-3 on-Farm Network ® indiana PAge D-2 The corn planting date conundrum PAge D-2 Fig. 2. Percent departure from trend yield versus percent of corn acres planted by May 15 in Indiana, 1993 - 2012. Fig. 3. The planting date conundrum relative to absolute yield potential: A delayed planted crop in one year (B) can yield better than a crop planted on the optimum date in another year (C). Pike County Soil and Water Conservation District Newsletter Pike County Soil and Water Conservation District Newsletter Planter Planter May / June 2014 Volume 5, Issue 3 special section published bimonthly by The Press-dispatch arbor Day celebrated in fourth Grade classrooms The corn planting date conundrum certified Livestock producer program Join the more than 90 livestock producers from across Indiana who publicly demonstrate their commitment to animal care, environmental stewardship, food safety, biosecurity, emergency planning and community relations by becoming a Certified Livestock Producer. WHy SHoulD All liveSToCk PRoDuCeRS beCome CeRTiFieD? Consumer confidence is important to all producers The average American is three to four generations removed from the farm and less than two percent are involved in agriculture. With fewer and fewer people in- volved in agriculture each year, consumers are becoming more and more interested in learning where their food comes from and how it is produced. They want to know that farmers care about their cows, the environ- ment and about producing wholesome, safe food for consumers. iNCeNTiveS In addition to improving consumer confi- dence in modern agriculture, the Certified Livestock Producer Program provides the following for certified producers: • Five percent discount on Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance farm policies • Fifty dollar reimbursement from MWI Veterinar y Supply for the veterinarian trip charge associated with the biosecurity section • Five percent discount on Townsends Sales Livestock Equipment • Ten percent discount on Cherry Brother Designs Farm Source Systems (Farm emergency plans) • Various discounts on Cowco Inc. live- stock equipment and custom signs exCluSive beNeFiTS FoR CeRTiFieD PRoDuCeRS Certified producers also receive a Certi- fied Livestock Producer sign for their farm, use of the official logo on marketing materi- als, a subscription to the exclusive semi-an- nual CLPP Connector newsletter for certified producers, an invitation to the Certified Live- stock Producer luncheon at the Indiana State Fair, opportunities to participate in various events to inform consumers about modern agriculture and farm practices, and more. For more information on the certifica- tion process, contact Livestock Program Manager Kimmi Devaney at KDevaney@ isda.in.gov or 317-450-3570. applications are due to Kimmi Devaney by May 30, 2014. We look for ward to working with you to improve Indiana agriculture. by r.l. (bob) nielsen Agronomy Dept. Purdue University Conventional wisdom says that the prime planting window to maximize corn yields in much of Indiana opens about April 20 and closes about May 10. This "window" typically opens about one week later across the northern tier of Indiana counties (later warmup) and about one week earlier across the southern tier of Indiana counties (ear- lier warmup). Ver y little corn, if any, has been planted in Indiana or elsewhere across the Corn Belt as of April 21 (USDA- NASS, 2013). By itself, this is not much cause for concern because typically only a relatively small percentage of acres is ever planted by this date in Indiana. However, the specter of seriously de- layed planting is clearly on the horizon because little other spring fieldwork has been completed due to the frequent and sometimes excessive rainfall in recent weeks. For some growers, tillage operations, herbicide applications, and nitrogen fertilizer applications must be completed first before they can consider planting their crops. • Early planting favors higher yields, but does not guarantee higher yields. • Statewide averages for planting date and yield are not strongly related. • Planting date is but one of many yield influencing factors. What are the consequences of a de- layed start to planting? How important a predictor of statewide corn yield is planting date anyway? Does late plant- ing in and of itself guarantee lower than normal yields? Good questions, but the effect of planting date on statewide aver- age corn yield is not clear cut. If one reviews USDA-NASS crop progress reports for the past 20 years (USDA-NASS, 2013), there is not a strong relationship between planting date and absolute yield on a statewide basis for Indiana. Specifically, depar- tures from annual trend yields are not strongly related to corn planting progress. Figures 1 and 2 illustrate this relationship for two measures of plant- ing progress; percent acres planted by April 30 or by May 15. Even though one can statistically define a mathematical relationship between departure from trend yield and planting progress by April 30 or May 15, the relationship only accounts for 22 to 24 percent of the vari- ability in yield trend departures from year to year. In other words, a number of yield influencing factors (yifs) in addition to planting date also affect the ultimate absolute yield for a given year. HeRe'S THe CoNuNDRum Why is it that ever y corn agronomist known to man preaches about the im- portance of timely planting and yet the statewide statistical data suggests that recent years that ultimately yielded better than any crop they have ever had.............. because the remainder of the growing season following the delayed planting was exceptional. For example, the crop years 2012 and 2009 represent early and late planting date years in Indiana. About 94% of the state's crop was planted by May 15 in 2012, but only 20% of the crop was planted by May 15 of 2009 (Fig. 2). Yet, the earlier planted 2012 crop yielded 38.7% BELOW trend yield for that year and the later planted 2009 crop yielded 9.3% ABOVE trend yield. Why? Important differences in YIFs between the years other than simply the planting dates. Bottom Line Let's not succumb quite yet to fearmongering triggered by the prospects of a delayed start to corn planting in 2013. "Mudding in" a crop early to avoid planting late will almost always end up being an unwise decision. While important, planting date is only one of many yield-influencing factors for corn. Another reason that it is probably too early to fearmonger about the anticipated late start to planting is that growers have the machinery capacity to "catch up" quickly once the weather and soil conditions become favorable for planting. The 1992 planting season began as one of the slowest but quickly recovered within two weeks to a respectable pace and finished the season with the largest POSITIVE departure from trend yield in the past 20 years (Fig. 4). We also know from past years' experiences that, on average, 50% of the state's corn crop is typically planted over about an 21-day period (Fig. 5). Furthermore, it is not unheard of for growers to plant 45 to 50% of the state's crop in a single week given good working conditions (Fig. 6). Figures Fig. 1. Percent departure from trend yield versus percent of corn acres planted by April 30 in Indiana, 1993 - 2012. fig. 1. Percent departure from trend yield versus percent of corn acres planted by april 30 in indiana, 1993 - 2012. by erica burkemper-fischer District Administrator On Friday, April 25, 2014, Arbor Day was celebrated for a third straight year among Pike County fourth graders, with the help of the SWCD office. More than 160 elementar y students and teachers took home a Persimmon tree seedling that was ready to plant that weekend. The SWCD office chose to go with a Persim- mon tree instead of the traditional pine tree due to the national push on pollina- tion. The honey bee population has been in a rapid decline and in an effort to boost their activities, the SWCD office opted for a pollinating tree species. The SWCD enlisted the help of the DNR Tree Nurser y in Vallonia, Ind., and discussed which tree species would be a good fit to the growing conditions in Pike County. The foresters at the DNR nurser y recom- mended the Persimmon tree—a hardy, easy to grow tree that is great for the home gardener, attracts native wildlife and is sure to increase the pollination, too. Arbor Day was founded in 1872 by Julius Sterling Morton in Nebraska City, Neb. By the 1920s, each state in the United States had passed public laws that stipulated a certain day to be Arbor Day or Arbor and Bird Day obser vance. A National Arbor Day is celebrated ever y year on the last Friday in April. The customar y obser vance is to plant a tree. On the first Arbor Day, April 10, 1872, an estimated one million trees were planted. Since 2010, the Pike County SWCD office has passed out over 500 trees to fourth graders in our county. right: in the week following arbor Day, persimmon trees were bagged and tagged with instruc- tions on planting the seedlings. above: already di- vided up and ready for their new homes, the tree seedlings were passed out on friday, april 25, 2014, to all the fourth grade stu- dents and teachers in Pike county. planting date accounts for only 23 percent of the variability in statewide yields from year to year? Let's look more closely about this seeming conundrum. It is true that corn grain yield potential declines with delayed planting after about May 1 (Myers & Wiebold, 2013, Nafziger, 2008; Nafziger, 2011). Estimated yield loss per day with delayed planting varies from about 0.3 percent per day early in May to about 1 percent per day by the end of May. Yield potential goes down with delayed planting because of a number of factors, including a shorter growing season, greater insect and disease pressure, and higher risk of hot, dr y conditions during pollination. However, the good news is that planting date is only one of many YIFs for corn. What is important to understand is that yield loss due to delayed planting is relative to the maximum possible yield in a given year. In other words, if all the other YIFs work together to determine that the maximum possible yield this year for the optimum planting date is 220 bu/ac, then the consequence of a 10- day planting delay beyond April 30 (at 0.3 percent decrease per day) would be a yield potential of about 213 bu/ac (i.e., 220 bushel potential minus [10 days x 0.3 percent] due to delayed planting). However, if all the other YIFs work together to determine that the maximum pos- sible yield this year for the optimum planting date is only 150 bu/ac, then the consequence of a 10-day planting delay beyond May 1 (at 0.3 percent decrease per day) would be a yield potential of about 146 bu/ac (i.e., 150 bu/ac potential minus [10 days x 0.3 percent] due to delayed planting). Make sense? Consequently, it is possible for early-planted corn in one year to yield more than, less than, or equal to later-planted corn in another year depending on the exact combination of YIFs for each year. Figure 3 illus- trates this often confusing concept. In that graph, a delayed planting of corn (B) in an other wise high yield- ing year may still be higher yielding than a crop planted on the optimum planting date (C) in an other wise lower yielding year. Farmers know this to be true because some have had June-planted crops in recent years that ultimately yielded better than any crop they have ever had... because the remainder of the grow- ing season following the delayed planting was exceptional. For example, the crop years 2012 and 2009 represent early and late planting date years in Indiana. About 94 percent of the state's crop was planted by May 15 in 2012, but only 20 percent of the crop was planted by May 15 of 2009 (Fig. 2). Yet, the earlier planted 2012 crop yielded 38.7 percent below trend yield for that year and the later planted 2009 crop yielded 9.3 percent above trend yield. Why? Important differences in YIFs between the years other than simply the planting dates. boTTom liNe Let's not succumb quite yet to fear mongering triggered by the prospects of a delayed start to corn planting in 2013. "Mudding in" a crop early to avoid planting late will almost always end up being an unwise decision. While important, planting date is only one of many yield-influencing factors for corn. Another reason that it is probably too early to fear monger about the anticipated late start to planting is that growers have the machiner y ca- pacity to "catch up" quickly once the weather and soil conditions become favorable for planting. The 1992 planting season began as one of the slowest but quickly recovered within two weeks to a respectable pace and finished the season with the largest positive departure from trend yield in the past 20 years (Fig. 4). We also know from past years' experiences that, on average, 50 percent of the state's corn crop is typically planted over about an 21-day period (Fig. 5). Furthermore, it is not unheard of for growers to plant 45 to 50 percent of the state's crop in a single week given good working conditions (Fig. 6). Fig. 2. Percent departure from trend yield versus percent of corn acres planted by May 15 in Indiana, 1993 - 2012. Fig. 3. The planting date conundrum relative to absolute yield potential: A delayed planted crop in one year (B) can yield better than a crop planted on the optimum date in another year (C). Fig. 2. Percent departure from trend yield versus percent of corn acres planted by May 15 in Indiana, 1993 - 2012. Fig. 3. The planting date conundrum relative to absolute yield potential: A delayed planted crop in one year (B) can yield better than a crop planted on the optimum date in another year (C). Fig. 4. Departure from trend yield vs. the date 50% of crop was planted, Indiana corn, 1983 - 2012. Fig. 5. Corn planting progress in Indiana during the years 1993 - 2012. Fig. 4. Departure from trend yield vs. the date 50% of crop was planted, Indiana corn, 1983 - 2012. Fig. 5. Corn planting progress in Indiana during the years 1993 - 2012. Fig. 6. The fastest single week of corn planting progress in Indiana for individual years from 1993 - 2012. pLantinG continued from page 10 fig. 2. Percent departure from trend yield versus percent of corn acres planted by May 15 in indiana, 1993 - 2012. fig. 3. the planting date conundrum relative to absolute yield potential: a delayed planted crop in one year (b) can yield better than a crop plant- ed on the optimum date in another year (c). fig. 4. Departure from trend yield vs. the date 50% of crop was plant- ed, indiana corn, 1983 - 2012. fig. 5. corn planting progress in indiana during the years 1993 - 2012. fig. 6. the fastest single week of corn planting progress in indiana for individual years from 1993 - 2012. Gibson SWcD hires Watershed coordinator by ann ice Gibson SWCD Education Coordinator Gibson County SWCD has hired Julie Loehr as the Watershed Coordinator for the Lower Patoka River. The position involves directing activities towards a healthier envi- ronment by improving water quality through technical, financial and educational resources and events, including implementa- tion of best manage- ment practices to improve and conser ve natural resources within the Lower Pa- toka River Watershed. She will also coordinate meetings and field days and report progress to IDEM. Loehr says she is excited and looks for ward to meeting with landowners, since part of her duties include implementation of a cost-share program funded by a 319 Grant. Loehr states that landowners in the Lower Patoka watershed can contact her to discuss the cost-share program and Best Manage- ment Practices offered to help improve water quality in the critical areas. Imple- mentation will be within the Lower Patoka River watershed with an intense focus on the three sub-watersheds of Houchins Cutoff/ Indian Creek, Yellow/Goose Creeks and Trippett Ditch. Loehr states that the public as a whole, and landowners specifically, need to realize the importance of conser vation, especially protection of our water quality. "Only 3 per- cent of all the water on earth is fresh water," Loehr states, "with less than 1 percent in our surface waters. It's ver y important to protect what we have." By coordinating efforts between landowners, Gibson Co. SWCD and IDEM, Loehr will be helping to protect the watershed and thus water quality in the Lower Patoka River area. Loehr states she is ready to begin helping landowners implement sound management practices to help protect water quality in this portion of Gibson County. Landowners interested in talking with Loehr can call the Gibson County SWCD office at 812-385-5033, Ext. 116. sWCd drill available for rent the truex flex ii 7ft Warm season no-till Grass Drill is available for rent to county residents on a first come first serve basis. the cost for the drill is $8 per acre, with a flat fee of $60 if used less than eight (8) acres. this drill can be pulled down the road with a pickup to the field location using a straight pin hook up. it also requires a minimum of a 30hP tractor with hydraulics to operate. contact the sWcD office at 812-354-6120 ext. 3 for more details if you are interested in renting the drill. all potential renters must first fill out a rental agreement before picking up the drill. the sWcD also has orange survey flags available for purchase in bundles of 100 for $8 per bundle. on-farm network ® indiana signing up new members On-Farm Network® will be signing up new participants this year in most of the counties in Southwest Indiana. We have several groups going and plenty of room left for new participants. The Lower Wabash is one group that we are signing up and anyone interested should con- tact: Linda Pow- ell, Resource Specialist, 229 S 2nd Avenue, Princeton, IN 47670. Cell 812 698-2278, lpowell@isda.in.gov. Or contact the Pike Co. SWCD at 812-354- 6120 Ext. 3. The On-Farm Network® is a group of crop producers interested in economics, stewardship, and reducing their environ- mental footprint. The goal of the Indiana On-Farm Net- work® is to advance two critical com- ponents to driving improved farm-level performance: 1) access to and education on the use of effective, affordable tools and strategies to assess and verify on-farm environmental and economic performance and 2) coordination of data collection, analysis and feedback to farmers using these tools at the individual farm level and in aggregate across multiple farms in a geographic region. Participating farmers use precision ag tools and technologies to conduct research on their own farms. Through the On-Farm Network®, farmers use this data from their own farms and others in their area to evaluate the effectiveness, and economic pros and cons of different management practices, such as nutrient application rates, timing, and form. Farmers not only evaluate the effectiveness of different practices on their own farm, but benefit from aggregate data across multiple farms and years. The end result is farmer-driven adaptive management in real time, farmers gather- ing and making beneficial changes based on data from their own fields and those of others. The farmers are in the driver's seat, which significantly increases buy in to the results and willingness to make long-term changes. Key tools include the cornstalk nitrate test (CSNT), aerial imager y, and replicated strip trials. julie loehr Haying opportunities at patoka river Wildlife refuge The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser vice (FWS) is seeking bids for haying various warm- season grassland tracts on Patoka River National Wildlife Refuge, near Oakland City. Operators will have an opportunity to bid on three different areas totaling 13, 16 and 8 acres, respectively. Interested parties should contact Heath Hamilton (heath_hamilton@ fws.gov, 812-749-3199) by June 1, 2014, to obtain more information and a bid package. see PlantinG on page 11

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