Head Blight In my wheat

Resistance Definition
Resistance may be defined as ‘a heritable change in the sensitivity of a pest population that is reflected in the repeated failure of a product to achieve the expected level of control when used according to the label recommendation for that pest species’. Cross-resistance occurs when resistance to one insecticide confers resistance to another insecticide, even where the insect has not been exposed to the latter product. Clearly, because pest insect populations are usually large in size and they breed quickly, there is always a risk that insecticide resistance may evolve, especially when insecticides are misused or over-used.

I applied fungicide to my Imagine wheat this summer to try and cut down the fussarium risk. I used "Bumper" amd "Tilt" mixed together with some Lorsban to control wheat midge. I had the control right at mid flower and used 16 gal per acre of h2o. Control really really stinks. I wish I had left a check. This sucks! I know that I will have little "DOM" fungus and the crop may even yield 35 plus, but I know we lost 5 or 6 bu. to head blight. And as an added bonus this stuff has zero chance of being graded any higher than a 3.

I will be working on fungus resistance the next couple of years for sure.

Is Sugar Ethanol Better Than Corn-Based? - Newsweek Business - MSNBC.com

Is Sugar Ethanol Better Than Corn-Based? - Newsweek Business - MSNBC.com

I have heard this from various souces " sugar ethanol is the only ethanol that can be produced without gov. subsidy. The posted BusinessWeek article expores that a little further

The pic. at right is a cane worker in the field.

Farm commodities are new stars - International Herald Tribune

Farm commodities are new stars - International Herald Tribune

Real bull article on ag commodities. I'm buying some commodity etfs.

How to Add Oomph to ‘Organic’ - New York Times

How to Add Oomph to ‘Organic’ - New York Times

Organic farming is "hot". Interesting points in this article. The billions spent on organic food by consumers. The lack of interest by the USDA. The possible corruption of the stantards.

wikipedia ag map: I though this was kinda cool

Brazil Wine

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2007/05/14/business/20070515_WINE_SLIDESHOW_8.html

Bull report on Canadian Special Crops

Canada's 2007/08 Special Crop Ending Stocks Decline

Zero Till Close To Natural Order As A Carbon Sink

Green Car Congress: Conventional Plowing Is Skinning Our Agricultural Fields

This is pretty interesting! The author's findings point to zero till farming helping "offset" carbon emissions by as much as half of emissions and surely more than 10%.

Other points I noted:

• the contention that great civilizations only lasted as long as there soil
• we are running out of productive land (DUH)
• just how common is zero till(?) Being from the Canadian Prairies and specifically the southwest of Manitoba zero till is the only type of farming we see. I naively thought everyone did this (duh on my part!)

American Farmers "take" On Inflated Prices

DTNAg.com

Good post from DTN. I don't agree fuel and fertilizer will return to really low prices, but things will settle out.

Without U.S. Rules, Biotech Food Lacks Investors - New York Times

Without U.S. Rules, Biotech Food Lacks Investors - New York Times

GMO animals feel kind of creepy to me. I know in my head this should not make a difference, but in my heart " eeww" creepy. Pig/Roundworm cross "eeww". Goat/human manipulation "even more eeewww"

I hope this doesn't happen, but if there is money to be made I think it will find a home. If not in America they can ship offshore, its a big world with lots of hunger people and less sensitive people