Ag field day tackles host of topics

Farmers may be experiencing several issues this year: an early warm period, little rainfall and the constant threat of insects tearing through the crops.

This year’s field day in Creston addressed those exact threats.

Farm owners from Flathead, Lincoln, Lake and Sanders counties gathered Wednesday at Montana State University’s Northwestern Agricultural Resource Center to learn about research collected over the last year.

Guest speakers from MSU, including department deans and the university president, presented the data and explained what it could mean for farmers and ranchers in the region.

“This trip is very important for various reasons,” MSU President Waded Cruzado said. “We have to leave our offices in Bozeman behind to get to know the people of our state and its regions. It galvanizes our commitment to the land grant mission.”

The focus of this year’s field day featured issues such as water use and efficiency, canola planting dates and economic development.

The biggest issue discussed was the development of the destructive orange wheat blossom midge, a small insect responsible for chewing through millions of dollars of Montana wheat since 2006. The midge is a historic pest that used to buzz through crops in Europe, Asia and Canada before reaching the Flathead Valley, the first place in Montana and the United States to get hit.

In some cases, areas that were set to produce up to 32 bushels of wheat per acre were eaten down to just 0.4 bushels, according to Dr. Luther Talbert from the Department of Plant Pathology and Plant Science at MSU.

“Honestly, nowhere in the world has had the midge pressure like where we’re standing right now,” he said. “It’s the highest population ever recorded.”

The solution is a new strain of a winter wheat nicknamed Egan that naturally produces a chemical that kills 100 percent of the orange wheat blossom midge. Talbert said the chemical, known as SM1, is a defensive chemical released when the plant knows that it’s being eaten.

The Northwestern Agricultural Resource Center collaborated with researchers in Canada and North Dakota to develop Egan, which produces a healthy crop across the dry lands of Montana and North Dakota. Egan also is resistant to stripe rust, a plant disease common in the Flathead area.

Egan seeds, however, won’t be available for purchase until next year. Researchers will take the rest of the year to find the best option to keep the midge from eventually building a resistance to SM1.

Other on-site presentations Wednesday included efficient uses of limited irrigation and rainfall. Cutting irrigation early on winter wheat showed almost no negative effects in the crops produced at the research center.

Canola planting dates were another focus. Research showed that yields could drop up to a bushel per day when planted after April 22. The revenue loss was calculated to roughly $8 per acre per day.

Montana State uses eight research centers across the state examining agriculture in Montana’s largely diverse geography. But research collaboration doesn’t end at state lines, Cruzado said, as programs in North Dakota, Idaho and other nearby states have made contributions to current data.

“We’ve started building this network that can really surpass the needs of agricultural departments,” she said. “We reach out to teams in those states to have a stronger approach. Collaboration is the name of the game.”

Reporter Seaborn Larson may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at slarson@dailyinterlake.com.