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Multi-State Farm Day Held In Walnut Hill Wednesday
February 14, 2008
A multi-state Farm Day was held Wednesday at the Walnut Hill Community Center. About 150 farmers and agriculture industry members attended the event sponsored by the University of Florida IFAS Extension Office, the Alabama Cooperative Extension System and the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Service.
The day’s events included presentations by several industry experts, as well as the opportunity for attendees to earn continuing education and commercial applicator credits. There were also representatives on hand with information booths from several agricultural related companies.
The day’s speakers included Dr. Dale Monks from Auburn University on “Cotton Varieties and Production”; Dr. David Wright and Dr. Amanda Gevens from the University of Florida on “Corn Production in the Coastal South” and “Wheat:What to Do Now to Finish the Crop”; Dr. Dennis Delaney and Dr. Ed Sikora from Auburn on “Soybeans-Production and Disease Control”; Dr. John Beasley from the University of Georgia on “Peanuts: Varieties, Disease Control, and Cost-Cutting Measures”; Dr. Ron Smith from Auburn with a “Cotton Insect Update”; and Dr. Marshall Lamb from the ARS Peanut Research Lab on “Economics, Marketing and a Crystal Ball Look into 2008 Prices”.
Dr. Smith (pictured left), an entomologist with Auburn, told those in attendance that the increase production of wheat across the area will lead to a increase in stinkbugs (that’s any of numerous hemipterous insects of the family Pentatomidae for those of you in the know).
“There’s going to be a lot more stink bugs this year because of the wheat,” Smith said, “and possibly even more in 2009.”
Stink bugs live about two months and reproduce several times per year. They love to follow a progression from wheat fields, to corn to cotton and finally to late season soybeans; so they post a threat to most crops grown in the area.
Smith stressed the importance of monitoring new cotton bolls for stink bugs because they can destroy the boll very quickly.
Dr. Marshall (pictured top of page) from the ARS Peanut Research Lab said peanut prices are up, and now is the time for farmers to book at least half of their crops. Booking a crop involves setting the price in advance that the purchaser will pay once the crop is harvested.
“If you haven’t contracted your peanuts yet, now is the time to make money,” he said. “Get contracted now or you expose yourself.”
Marshall expects peanut prices to remain high to satisfy demand, and additional acreage needs to be planted.
Soybean prices also are looking up for 2008, he said. “But we encourage people not to put soybeans into a peanut rotation. But at $11-$12 per bushel it will happen.”
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