in-crop-weather State Indiana Crop Weather Week Ending Date April 24, 2011 IN-CW042511 AGRICULTURAL SUMMARY Severe weather moved across the state Tuesday night with 14 confirmed tornados which uprooted trees and caused damage to many homes and buildings, according to the Indiana Field Office of USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. Field work was at a standstill due to heavy rainfall, especially in central and southern areas. Some areas of the state have received record levels of rainfall for the month of April with more in the forecast. Planting of corn did not progress during the week and is approximately 13 days behind last year’s record setting pace and 10 days behind the 5-year average. Some winter wheat acreage is beginning to show signs of stress because of excess moisture. Potato growers in northern counties have made some progress with planting and fertilizing. FIELD CROPS REPORT There were 0.5 days suitable for field work. Two percent of the intended corn acreage has been planted compared with 50 percent last year and 15 percent for the 5-year average. Thirty-seven percent of the winter wheat acreage is jointed compared with 50 percent last year and 48 percent for the 5-year average. Winter wheat condition is rated 61 percent good to excellent compared with 71 percent last year at this time. Major activities during the week included: clearing fence rows and ditches, preparing planting and tillage equipment, hauling grain to market and taking care of livestock. LIVESTOCK, PASTURE AND RANGE REPORT Livestock remain in mostly good condition at this time. Pasture condition is rated 48 percent good to excellent compared with 77 percent last year. Pastures continue to improve with plenty of moisture and warmer temperatures. Hay supplies are rated 4 percent very short, 22 percent short, 70 percent adequate and 4 percent surplus. Crop Progress ------------------------------------------------------- : This : Last : Last : 5-Year Crop : Week : Week : Year : Avg ------------------------------------------------------- Percent Corn Planted 2 2 50 15 Winter Wheat Jointed 37 23 50 48 Crop Condition ---------------------------------------------------- : Very : : : : Excel- Crop : Poor : Poor : Fair : Good : lent ---------------------------------------------------- Percent Winter Wheat 1 7 31 49 12 Pasture 3 12 37 41 7 Soil Moisture & Days Suitable for Fieldwork ---------------------------------------- : This : Last : Last : Week : Week : Year ---------------------------------------- Percent Topsoil Very Short 0 1 0 Short 1 4 9 Adequate 29 58 71 Surplus 70 37 20 Subsoil Very Short 0 1 0 Short 4 10 7 Adequate 46 69 83 Surplus 50 20 10 Days Suitable .5 2.1 5.2 ---------------------------------------- CONTACT INFORMATION --Greg Preston, Director --Andy Higgins, Agricutlural Statistician E-Mail Address: nass-in@nass.usda.gov http://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/Indiana/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Other Agricultural Comments And News New Seed Corn Technology Comes With Risks, Entomologist Says Written by Christian Krupke and appears in the April 19, 2011 issue of AG Answers. Bags of corn seed that mix genetically modified hybrids with and without Bt toxins that kill insects provide farmers easier compliance with federal regulations but could, over time, hasten insect resistance to Bt, a Purdue University entomologist said. Although "refuge-in-a-bag" seed technology has been approved for use by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, questions still remain over its long-term effect on corn rootworms, the main pest targeted by the technology, said Christian Krupke. "Is a guarantee of 100 percent grower compliance with refuge regulations for corn rootworms worth a bit of a risk in terms of resistance development?" he said. "For many the answer is yes, because compliance has been declining in recent years." Refuge-in-a-bag products contain 90 percent Bt corn seed with 10 percent non-Bt "refuge" seed. Under EPA rules, farmers who plant Bt corn also must plant next to or around that corn non-Bt hybrids equaling 20 percent of the Bt acreage. With refuge-in-a-bag, farmers plant all the seed together. Refuge corn is interspersed in the field with Bt corn. The new seed technology covers only below-ground feeding rootworms at this time, however. Farmers growing Bt corn still need to plant a separate 20 percent refuge for corn borers, but that will change next year with a new product offering refuge-in-a-bag for all corn pests. Biologically speaking, refuge corn works in concert with Bt corn, which is genetically modified to express insecticide proteins from the Bacillus thuringiensis bacterium, to maintain the durability of the genetic traits in controlling many corn-feeding insects. "In the absence of refuge corn, any insects that survive exposure to Bt corn would mate with one another and pass along the genetic traits that helped them survive," Krupke said. "Refuge corn dilutes these genes with susceptible ones from beetles that fed on non-Bt corn and, therefore, should be susceptible." Refuge-in-a-bag does not completely remove the risk of Bt-immune insect populations, Krupke said. "The concern with refuge-in-a-bag, or seed mixes, has always been sub-lethal exposure with toxic plants and non-toxic plants standing side-by-side," he said. "You could have a young corn rootworm beetle larva emerge, feed on a toxic plant but not die, and then move over to a non-toxic plant and feed until reaching adulthood. The larva now has sub-lethal exposure to Bt. That's one of the ways that resistance can develop in an insect population more rapidly. "It's that old adage that whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger. We could be giving those larvae selective advantage in the long term. That was one of the reasons this technology wasn't embraced initially." Sub-lethal exposure works the other way, as well, Krupke said. Larvae could feed on a refuge corn plant and become larger, then move to a Bt plant to continue eating. Because the larvae are larger and it takes more Bt toxin to kill bigger insects, larvae might not ingest enough toxin to die, he said. On the other side of the issue, refuge-in-a-bag offers advantages to the traditional Bt/refuge planting system, Krupke said. "Compliance is unquestionably the main advantage," he said. "There's no doubt about it. This way a grower can dump the seed into the planter and go. There's no changing out seed or calculating refuge acres. "One of the other advantages with having Bt and refuge plants mixed together in a field is that you get the rootworm beetles closer together, which facilitates matings between beetles that might be Bt-resistant and those that are susceptible from the refuge." By doing some of the matchmaking work for resistant and non-resistant insects, the ratio of Bt to non-Bt seed in refuge-in-a-bag products can be reduced to 9-to-1, Krupke said. Refuge-in-a-bag is available on a limited basis this crop season, with more seed brands expected to add the technology in coming years. About 65 percent of the corn grown in the United States is Bt hybrids. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ New online tool helps Indiana farmers select cover crops WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. --- A new online tool to help farmers decide which cover crops will benefit their row crop rotation is now available in Indiana. Purdue University and the Midwest Cover Crops Council teamed up to release the MCCC Cover Crop Decision Tool, which uses consolidated cover crop information by state or province to assist farmers in making cover crop selections at the county level. Developing information for each state or province were university researchers, Extension educators, Natural Resources Conservation Service personnel, state departments of agriculture personnel, crop advisers, seed suppliers and farmers. Purdue agronomy professors Eileen Kladivko and Keith Johnson contributed to the project. "The MCCC hopes the cover crop selector tool will encourage the adoption of cover crops by providing the information and decision-making help necessary for farmers to successfully integrate cover crops into their cropping systems," Kladivko said. Users of the tool select their state or province and county. They also can give information on their cash crops, including planting and harvest dates, field information such as the soil drainage class, artificial drainage or flooding, and desired cover crop benefits. Designed to be user-friendly, the tool allows users to immediately see how their input changes their cover crop options. Users can generate an information sheet for a selected cover crop that provides additional information and references relevant to application within the state or province. The tool also has been completed for Michigan and Ohio, while other states and provinces are developing their information. When completed, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Ontario will be added to the Web-based system. A Natural Resources Conservation Service Innovation Grant, Michigan State University's Project GREEEN -Generating Research and Extension to meet Economic and Environmental Needs - and the Great Lakes Regional Water Program fund the project. The tool is available at http://mccc.msu.edu/SelectorTool/2011CCSelectorTool.pdf.  Writer: Keith Robinson, 765-494-2722, robins89@purdue.edu Source: Eileen Kladivko, 765-494-6372, Kladivko@purdue.edu  ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The INDIANA CROP & WEATHER REPORT (USPS 675-770), (ISSN 0442-817X) is issued weekly April through November by the USDA, NASS, Indiana Field Office, 1435 Win Hentschel Blvd, Suite 110, West Lafayette IN 47906-4151. For information on subscribing, send request to above address. POSTMASTER: Send address change to the USDA, NASS, Indiana Field Office, 1435 Win Hentschel Blvd, Suite 110, West Lafayette IN 47906-4151. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Weather Information Table Week of April 18-24, 2011 ------------------------------------------------------ | Past Week Weather Summary Data |------------------------------------- Station | Air | | Avg | Temperature | Precip. |4 in. |-----------------|-------------|Soil | Hi | Lo |Avg|DFN| Total | Days|Temp ------------------------------------------------------ Northwest (1) Chalmers_5W 69 32 48 -6 2.93 6 Francesville 67 31 47 -6 2.50 5 Valparaiso_AP_I 69 30 46 -7 1.46 5 Wanatah 68 27 43 -8 2.07 6 49 Winamac 69 31 47 -5 2.78 6 North Central (2) Plymouth 69 32 45 -8 2.42 6 South_Bend 69 31 45 -6 1.61 6 Young_America 70 32 49 -3 2.72 4 Northeast (3) Fort_Wayne 72 33 49 -3 2.25 5 Kendallville 70 32 45 -6 2.35 6 West Central (4) Greencastle 72 30 51 -4 5.43 5 Perrysville 71 31 52 -2 2.71 5 52 Spencer_Ag 73 32 53 +0 3.80 4 Terre_Haute_AFB 74 31 55 +2 4.27 4 W_Lafayette_6NW 71 24 50 -3 3.00 5 49 Central (5) Eagle_Creek_AP 71 34 55 +1 4.20 4 Greenfield 73 32 53 -1 5.41 6 Indianapolis_AP 71 33 55 +2 4.08 4 Indianapolis_SE 71 29 51 -3 4.54 4 Tipton_Ag 69 27 49 -3 3.29 5 53 East Central (6) Farmland 72 32 49 -2 2.06 5 55 New_Castle 71 30 51 +0 4.61 4 Southwest (7) Evansville 81 41 63 +5 4.71 5 Freelandville 77 37 56 +2 5.79 4 Shoals_8S 80 33 56 +2 4.92 4 Stendal 80 39 59 +3 5.69 4 Vincennes_5NE 80 35 58 +3 5.15 4 56 South Central (8) Leavenworth 80 39 59 +4 4.46 4 Oolitic 78 37 56 +2 5.61 4 55 Tell_City 79 41 60 +4 4.06 4 Southeast (9) Brookville 75 35 55 +3 4.50 5 Greensburg 75 34 55 +1 4.93 5 Seymour 75 37 55 +1 5.70 4 ------------------------------------------------------ Weather Information Table (continued) Week ending Sunday, April 24, 2011 -------------------------------------------------- | Accumulation |--------------------------------- | April 1, 2011 through Station | April 24, 2011 |--------------------------------- | Precipitation |GDD Base 50oF |--------------------------------- | | | | | | Total | DFN | Days|Total| DFN -------------------------------------------------- Northwest (1) Chalmers_5W 4.81 +1.96 14 65 -12 Francesville 4.47 +1.51 12 49 -6 Valparaiso_AP_I 2.79 -0.39 12 69 +17 Wanatah 4.18 +1.13 16 43 +5 Winamac 4.84 +1.88 16 54 -1 North Central (2) Plymouth 4.32 +1.23 14 47 -15 South_Bend 3.70 +0.59 14 63 +18 Young_America 4.94 +2.19 14 55 +2 Northeast (3) Fort_Wayne 3.56 +0.84 15 74 +25 Kendallville 4.66 +2.11 18 34 -14 West Central (4) Greencastle 7.85 +4.94 13 105 +16 Perrysville 4.12 +1.03 13 95 +24 Spencer_Ag 8.60 +5.44 13 137 +61 Terre_Haute_AFB 7.21 +4.16 13 162 +71 W_Lafayette_6NW 5.07 +2.14 14 83 +27 Central (5) Eagle_Creek_AP 6.19 +3.27 14 145 +62 Greenfield 9.79 +6.61 16 113 +49 Indianapolis_AP 6.36 +3.44 12 160 +77 Indianapolis_SE 8.62 +5.69 14 100 +26 Tipton_Ag 6.17 +3.06 14 69 +26 East Central (6) Farmland 5.03 +2.18 14 58 +19 New_Castle 8.52 +5.29 12 89 +46 Southwest (7) Evansville 8.18 +5.01 11 267 +118 Freelandville 9.28 +6.27 11 182 +78 Shoals_8S 8.59 +5.37 10 177 +74 Stendal 10.35 +6.83 11 227 +104 Vincennes_5NE 8.09 +5.08 9 184 +80 South Central (8) Leavenworth 9.19 +5.51 11 198 +91 Oolitic 9.81 +6.65 13 152 +65 Tell_City 8.45 +4.60 11 229 +97 Southeast (9) Brookville 8.59 +5.58 12 137 +75 Greensburg 9.26 +6.06 14 146 +70 Seymour 9.91 +6.81 10 144 +56 -------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2011: Agricultural Weather Information Service, Inc. All rights reserved. DFN = Departure From Normal GDD = Growing Degree Days. Precipitation (Rainfall or melted snow/ice) in inches. Precipitation Days = Days with precip of .01 inch or more. Air Temperatures in Degrees Fahrenheit. For more weather information, visit www.awis.com or call 1-888-798-9955.