Fw: Drought Makes Farmers Mind Their Peas and Sunflowers

**"Doreen Howard" doreenh@ticon.net>**

In view of the drought in many parts of the country, this may be of interest
to some of you who write local columns.
Doreen Howard
-------------------------------------------

----- Original Message -----
From: "ARS News Service" <NewsService@ars.usda.gov>
To: "ARS News subscriber" <doreenh@ticon.net>
Sent: Friday, July 19, 2002 8:27 AM
Subject: Drought Makes Farmers Mind Their Peas and Sunflowers


>
> STORY LEAD:
> Drought Makes Farmers Mind Their Peas and Sunflowers
>
> ___________________________________________
>
> ARS News Service
> Agricultural Research Service, USDA
> Don Comis, (301) 504-1625, comis@ars.usda.gov
> July 19, 2002
> ___________________________________________
>
> A continuing drought in parts of the Northern Plains is causing farmers in
> dry areas to rethink their crop choices.
>
> Some of these farmers put a new CD into their computers this past winter
> to help plan their spring plantings. The CD contained the new Crop
> Sequence Calculator, which showed that peas would be the best crop for
> drought, particularly when rotated with sunflowers.
>
> Last year, the earlier version of the calculator went to 2,300 people,
> mostly farmers. This year's version has already gone to 3,600.
>
> The calculator, developed by scientists at the Agricultural Research
> Service's Northern Great Plains Research Laboratory in Mandan, N.D., shows
> that growing peas one year and sunflowers the next year promises the
> highest sunflower yield–1,490 pounds an acre. By plugging in a typical
> price of nine cents a pound, farmers can see predicted gross earnings of
> $134 an acre. Clicking the "Production Economics" button reveals an
> estimated average net return of $42.41 for that rotation.
>
> That figure came from the 1999 and 2000 experiments in which ARS
> scientists at Mandan grew all 100 possible combinations of the 10 crops
> included in the calculator.
>
> The pea/sunflower combination is a winner because peas use little water
> and sunflowers are one of the deepest rooting crops. So when peas are
> grown first, they leave behind more water in the soil, and the sunflowers
> can go deeper into the soil to reach that water.
>
> The CD contains photo guides to the weeds, insects and plant diseases
> likely to pose problems. And it has slide shows that display research
> results and explain the basics of soil, water and pest management.
>
> More information on the Crop Sequence Calculator can be found in the July
> 2002 issue of Agricultural Research magazine, online at:
>  http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/jul02/rain0702.htm
>
> ARS is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific research
> agency.
>
> ___________________________________________
> * This is one of the news reports that ARS Information distributes to
> subscribers on weekdays.
> * Start, stop or change an e-mail subscription at
> www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/subscribe.htm
> * The latest news is always at www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/thelatest.htm
> * NewsService@ars.usda.gov | www.ars.usda.gov/is
> * Phone (301) 504-1638 | fax (301) 504-1648
>
>

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