Small Grains News & Updates

Greetings,

What a slew of winter weather! On the bright side, all those winter small grains are nestled cozily beneath all this snow we've been getting.

I am still looking for about 3 more growers to participate in the Oatly pilot program which guarantees an oat market for three years paired with $25/ac cost share for the following cover crop. Check out more details below and let me know at alisha@practicalfarmers.org if you're interested in participating.

Cheers,

Alisha

Market & Cost Share Opportunity for Oat Growers Near St. Ansgar, IA

The oat milk company Oatly, Grain Millers and Practical Farmers are launching a new program to source US grown oats in 2019 from farmers using cover crops and extended rotation best practices. Participating farmers would receive forward contracts on their oats and cost share through PFI at $25/acre. Farmers are required to frost seed a clover or other legume cover crop into their oats or apply for a livestock exception to plant a diverse summer mix if livestock will graze the field. Oats must be produced conventionally and first-time oat growers are preferred.

For more information about the program check out this informational sheet and if you're interested in participating contact alisha@practicalfarmers.org or Beth.Stebbins@grainmillers.com to talk through program requirements and eligibility.

Mar 1 Call on Estimating Nitrogen from a Legume Cover Crop or Mix Going to Corn

On March 1, we'll have two cost share farmers on the line to discuss their cover crop planted in 2017 and how they accounted for the nitrogen it generated in order to reduce their nitrogen application to corn in 2018. Jeremy Gustafson who farms near Boone, IA and Daryl DeGroot who farms near Hull, IA will share their experiences with cover crop mixes and a straight underseeding of alfalfa or clover and how they accounted for the nitrogen it produced in order to reduce N applications to their 2018 corn.

This call will be held from noon to 1 pm on Friday March 1. To join dial 641-715-3620 and enter passcode 357330# when prompted.

Blog Online from Call on Effectively Using Variety Trial Information to Select Oats

Variety trial data can be difficult to parse into a decision on what oat to plant this year. To guide us through the process Melanie Caffe-Treml is an assistant professor and oat breeder at South Dakota State University spoke on our February call about how to interpret variety trial results to select a top-performing variety in your area and how to parse the 2018 results in a historically bad year for small grains.

You can read the entire blog on our website. Our discussion on this call was particularly broad covering a lot of topics so you might also want to check out the call notes.

Read the Recap Blog

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