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Owen Taylor, Editor

COTTON NEWS:

Closing Rice, 3-11: Continued free fall after USDA lowered grain exports (Read More)

K.Good's Farm Policy News, 3-11: Jobs Bill; Insurance- SURE; Competition; Climate; and Trade (Read More)

Closing Rice, 3-10: Sharply lower again. (Read More)

USA Rice Federation Daily, 3-10: Treasury Department To Implement Congressional Mandate for U.S.-Cuba Agricultural Trade. (Read More)

Closing Rice, 3-10: Sharply lower again. (Read More)

Hurricanes: AccuWeather Calls For More Active 2010 Season: Expect a 2010 hurricane season more like the one in 2008 than 2009. (Read More)

Diesel, gasoline prices up yet another week, 86 cents above year-ago price: Average U.S. diesel price running 86 cents a gallon above same period a year ago. (Read More)

K.Good's Farm Policy News, 3-10: FAPRI; Biofuels; Disaster Payment; Climate Change; Farm Bill; Trade. (Read More)

Closing Rice, 3-9: Small rebound today. (Read More)

Fight That Urge To Plant Into Vegetation - AMS Ag Report, E-Central Louisiana: How does the lineup of rice herbicides really compare to other crops? (Read More)

Rice Advocate, 3-5: Cuban Trade and Travel, H.R. 4645 (Read More)

Bayer Cuts Ignite Price: Also ramps up production. (Read More)

Arkansas: Rice Research News,3-3: "Roy J" is new high-yield and lodge resistant variety (Read More)

Diesel prices up 3 cents a gallon, 3-3: Gas prices also continue to increase (Read More)

Rice Advocate, 2-26: Producers Applaud Introduction of Cuba Trade and Travel Bill (Read More)

East-Central Louisiana 2010 Burndown And Planting Lags: Ruts remain a major issue for rice farmers (Read More)

Center for Agricultural Law and Taxation (CALT), 2-8: The Death (for the moment) of the Federal Estate Tax. (Read More)

Center for Agricultural Law and Taxation (CALT), 2-9: Top Ten Agricultural Law Developments of 2009 (Read More)

Mississippi Field Notes (Central Miss.), 2-8: Make sure your planting seed are good.| (Read More)

Texas Rice, Winter 2009: Cold Tolerance at Germination and Seedling Stages in Rice. (Read More)

Rice Industry Fears Job Losses, Economic Fall-Out from Ag Budget, 2-3: Farmers Applaud Sen. Blanche Lincoln, Other Ag Leaders for Opposing Plan (Read More)

EXCEL: The Louisiana: Projected 2010 Rice Farm Cash Flow Model: A Rice Production Farm Income and Expense Producer Decision Tool (Read More)

MANUAL: The Louisiana: Projected 2010 Rice Farm Cash Flow Model: PDF file with instructions for using the Excel spread sheet planner (Read More)

Louisiana: Rice Research Station News, 1-29: Two New Clearfield Varieties for 2010; Scout for Blast Early in the Season; White Tip Nematode; Comparison of Cruiser and Dermacor Seed Treatments; Blackbird Baiting Program. (Read More)

Diesel prices drop for second week in a row: National average down 4 cents, less in Gulf states and California (Read More)

Liberty-Link Traits Not Found In 2009 U.S. Rice Crop: Contamination cost sales, disrupted trade (Read More)

Louisiana: Projected 2010 Rice Farm Cash Flow Model, 1-25: A Rice Production Farm Income and Expense Producer Decision Tool. (Read More)

Soybeans still in the field? Look at them as a cover crop.|: Mississippi Field Notes (Central Miss.), 1-24 (Read More)

Tractor sales will remain weak in 2010, says association: Lower commodity and farm income numbers continue to depress buying enthusiasm (Read More)

10 Questions And Answers About Liberty-Link Soybeans: Overview from Georgia about where they fit with Roundup resistance in Palmer pigweed (Read More)

Rice Advocate, 1-15: USDA Proposes Cuts to Crop Insurance in SRA Negotiations. (Read More)

 

North Carolina:

Will this be a "plant bug year" in cotton?

AgFax.Com - Your Online Ag News Source

By Jack Bacheler

North Carolina Extension Cotton Entomologist

This week we received a couple of reports of square retentions headed down toward 80% associated with sweep net samples in the 5 to 10 range per 100 sweeps – right about at the threshold level for plant bugs.

One consultant called to say he had been in some cotton fields on July 1 in the Battleboro area (near the Nash and Edgecombe county line) and found some fields in the 60% square retention range. In the cotton fields that we’ve checked this week, 90% or above square retention has been the norm. It’s hard to say at this point if we’ll be treating more than our typical small proportion of fields for plants bugs.

On one hand, if this hot dry weather continues, cotton will likely become increasingly unattractive to plant bugs.

On the other hand, alternative cultivated plant bug hosts like corn and various weed hosts are now drying down quickly, releasing adult plant bugs into nearby cotton.

In any event, this is a particularly good time to check square retention, with follow-up sweepings or ground cloth samplings, if needed to find out if plant bugs are the culprit for low square retention. If a foliar spray is triggered for plant bug levels just above the recommended threshold, chloronicotinoids (like Centric or Trimax Pro) are advised for their milder impact on beneficial arthropods, which in turn might help hold down possible subsequent cotton aphid and spider mite problems.

Brown Stink Bugs Coming?

Presently, hard-to-control brown stink bugs, in various crops such as field corn, appear to present at moderate to high levels and greatly outnumber green stink bugs. Early preemptive sprays for brown stink bugs, which may or may not materialize as economic pests on cotton in the coming weeks, are not advised.

Remember that our recommended thresholds for stink bugs are 50% internal boll damage during the first week of bloom and 30% during week two, so the odds of treating during the initial two weeks of bloom are slim. The threshold then drops to 10% for weeks 3 through 5 or 6 of bloom when cotton is the most vulnerable to yield loss from stink bug feeding on medium-sized bolls.