Air February 18, 2004

Thank you Gary, and good morning everyone.

I don't think anyone is upset to see some nice above freezing temperatures and sunshine to help reduce the ice and snow cover. And hopefully the melt is going into the soil, not into runoff! A couple of upcoming program notes to mention. A week from tomorrow, Thursday the 26th there will be a good no till program at Clay Center running from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. And if you sign up by the 23rd you'll even get a free meal. Call the extension office at 238-4161 to pre-register. And then on Friday, March 5th will be the 91st Annual Cattleman's Day at K-State. Again this year this even is back on campus at Weber Hall. The morning session is always fascinating and the afternoon speakers lead off with a BSE update and corresponding market fallout. Be sure to plan to attend this excellent annual event.

Received the annual report of what wheat varieties were being planted for the 2004 crop. And gee, big surprise, Jagger was number one in the state at 41%, which matched the planting rate in the east central district, which includes Geary County. In the east central district, 2137 came in second at 26% and Karl/Karl 92 was third at 7.2%. Statewide 2137 was second with only 8.6% of the acres and TAM 110 was third with 4.2%. In total, the top 10 varieties accounted for 70% of the total acres, compared to 78% of the acres last year for the top ten varieties. And Jagger dropped from 45% down to the 41% of this year. Jagalene, the new release from AgriPro that will be available to all producers in the fall of 2004 was already showing up at 3% and I will be willing to bet that it matches or exceeds Jagger next year. And the year after that be on the look out for Overly! It always concerns me when any one variety exceeds 33% of the total planted acres. I don't know how many of you remember the Southern Corn Leaf blight epidemic that swept across the country about 30 years ago - well the reason that happened was because over 80% of the corn hybrids out there had the same female parent, that was susecptible to this disease. With several good newe varieties on their way I think we can get a little more diversification going. Oh, one thing that is hidden in this report is the interesting fact that blends continue to gain ground and now account for over 15% of the acres planted. Hmmmmmmm

This is Chuck Otte, Geary County Extension Agent, with Ag Outlook 2004.

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