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CapitalPress.com
Friday, August 6, 2021
Drought threatens fall wheat planting in parts of E. Washington
Researcher: ‘We need a soaker’
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
LIND, Wash. — A dearth of soil
moisture due to drought might not
allow researchers to plant wheat
this fall at Washington State Uni-
versity’s dryland research sta-
tion, and farmers in other parts
of the region might face the same
problem.
Seed zone volumetric water
content measurements last week
showed less than 9% at 5 inches,
Bill Schillinger, director of the sta-
tion at Lind, Wash., told the Capi-
tal Press.
Dryland wheat farmers need at
least 10% water volume at 5 inches
deep to have a realistic chance of a
wheat seedling emerging.
The
instrument
measures
water to a depth of 13 inches. The
researchers need to be sure there
is water below the level of seed
placement to move up and replace
what’s being diminished, Schil-
linger said.
The station has a tendency to
lose even more water in August,
Schillinger said. The nights are
cooler, setting up a gradient for the
Matthew Weaver/Capital Press File
Washington State University Dryland Research Station director Bill
Schillinger says soil moisture levels have dropped low enough that
fall planting is in question at the station.
movement of water from a warmer
area to a cooler area.
“If it’s dry now, it will likely be
drier a month from now when the
farmers start seeding,” Schillinger
said.
In the past century, there have
only been two crop years drier than
2021, Schillinger said. Crop year
precipitation is measured between
Sept. 1 and Aug. 31.
The average crop-year precip-
itation was 4.8 inches in 1930 and
4.36 inches in 1977. This year the
average is 4.9 inches, with August
remaining to be seen.
“This is not the driest,” Schil-
linger said. He paused. “It might be
the worst, with all the timing.”
The 100-year average precip-
itation at the Lind station is 9.63
inches.
At least a “good, solid” half-inch
of rain over one or two days would
be the best solution.
“We need a soaker,” Schillinger
said. “Oh, my God, that would
change everything.”
Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer posts fi ve-year gain
By BRAD CARLSON
Capital Press
The Eastern Snake Plain
Aquifer gained 2.3 mil-
lion acre-feet of water in
the past fi ve years despite
losing 550,000 in the last
year due to low snowpack
and runoff , the Idaho Water
Resource Board said.
The aquifer lies beneath
much of southeastern and
south-central Idaho. Its
decline over decades refl ects
factors including drought,
increased residential and
commercial water use, and
improved, less leaky irriga-
tion infrastructure.
State-led recharge opera-
tions from October to April
return available surface
water to it. The aquifer also
benefi ts from other man-
agement practices by the
state and water users.
“We have to persevere
through the dry years,”
IWRB hydrologist Mike
McVay said in a release
from the board. “That’s
hard. But we have to keep
moving forward with the
program and make the most
of the wet years to recharge
the aquifer.”
The board’s recharge
program aims to send an
annual average of 250,000
acre-feet into the aquifer. A
2015 settlement agreement
between the Surface Water
Coalition, which includes
canal companies, and
the Idaho Ground Water
Appropriators requires a
240,000-acre-foot annual
reduction in consumptive
use. Additionally, a coa-
lition of cities is reduc-
ing annual usage by 7,650
acre-feet.
The board said the aqui-
fer would contain 1.2 mil-
lion acre-feet less water
without these programs.
The state recharge pro-
gram in 2020-21 returned
just over 130,000 acre-
feet of available surface
water back into the aqui-
fer, manager Wesley Hipke
said. The year-earlier total
was 450,000 on decent
overall supply and addi-
tional recharge capacity
built.
From fall 2014 to
spring 2021, the board has
returned an annual aver-
age of 260,000 acre-feet
to the aquifer, he said. The
board had not developed
much recharge capacity in
the fi rst two years, which
were fairly dry. As capacity
increased, recharge oper-
ations took greater advan-
tage of four high-water
years and a solid 2019-20.
It would need to “wet up,”
reaching the moisture line in
the soil below. That’s import-
ant because the moisture below
won’t go through a dry layer of
soil to surface moisture. The seed-
lings become drought-stressed and
yields suff er.
If such surface moisture
increases after a “wet up” rain,
Schillinger recommends farmers
plant.
It wouldn’t be the fi rst time the
station hasn’t been able to plant in
the fall, Schillinger said. Research-
ers are able to plant about 90%
of the time. The moisture would
slowly replenish in the soil, recharg-
ing over winter.
“But it’s not a rosy story for next
year’s winter wheat crop if we can’t
plant early for high yield potential,”
he said.
In Schillinger’s experimental tri-
als on Ron Jirava’s farm in Ritz-
ville, 15 miles northeast of Lind,
measurements showed 11.5%
moisture at 5 inches, meaning that
winter wheat planted now would
likely result in a stand.
“Will we get a stand if it doesn’t
rain in the next month at Ritzville?
We will see,” Schillinger said.
Schillinger has historically
been to establish an early stand
in Ritzville.
The prime seeding time is
about the last week of August
through Sept. 15, Schillinger said.
An early stand of wheat is import-
ant in south-central Washington’s
dry region. Farmers generally take
a 35% yield hit if they have to wait
until fall rains, which typically
begin in October.
“The later you plant the wheat,
the less its yield potential,” he said.
A “wet up” rain between Aug.
1 and Sept. 15 is about 22% likely.
“Not good, but it could hap-
pen,” Schillinger said. “If that hap-
pens, it could be a game-changer.”
If so, Schillinger recommends
farmers “seriously consider drop-
ping everything” and planting win-
ter canola 1.5 inches deep.
“With 28 cents a pound, ooh, that
is way worth the chance,” he said.
What can we learn from a
drought like this?
“They happen,” Schillinger
said.
His advice to farmers:
“Hang in there, it will get bet-
ter,” he said. “We’ve been through
this before. So have your fathers,
grandfathers and great-grandfa-
thers. And you’re still here.”
Cattle numbers declining
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
USDA’s mid-year cattle
inventory and cattle on feed
reports were both bullish for
cattle producers, showing
year-over-year declines in
cattle numbers.
Total inventory of all
U.S. beef and dairy cattle
on July 1 was down 1.3%
to 100.9 million head. The
number of cattle being fed
for slaughter in large feed-
lots was also down 1.3% to
11.3 million.
The inventory report also
suggests tighter supplies
ahead. While the 2021 calf
crop is projected to be only
slightly lower year over
year, the number of beef
cows was down 2% and
replacement beef heifers
were down 2.3%.
The report also estimated
feeder cattle supplies out-
side of large feedlots at
1.6% lower than a year ear-
lier, with the total inventory
in all feedlots, not just large
ones, down 1.5%.
Both of the reports were
positive in direction, and
both were bullish in what
was expected, said Don
Close, senior animal protein
analyst with Rabobank.
The industry was antic-
ipating the right direction,
but the decline in numbers
was more aggressive than
the market anticipated, he
said.
S. John Collins/Baker City Herald File
Total inventory of all U.S. beef and dairy cattle on July
1, 2021, was down 1.3% to 100.9 million head. The
number of cattle being fed for slaughter in large feed-
lots was also down 1.3% to 11.3 million.
“We actually got positive
news for a change,” he said.
The decline in cattle on
feed showed the market is
fi nally working through
the backlog of COVID cat-
tle. The decline in over-
all inventory was more of
an indication of drought
in the West, with produc-
ers unwilling to buy hay at
these high prices, he said.
Every category in the
inventory report was on the
low side, but the 2% decline
in beef cow numbers was a
big surprise, he said.
Cattle
markets
are
already starting to see some
recovery, with fed cattle
trending toward $130 per
hundredweight by year’s
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end. That price could rally
to $135 in the spring, he
said.
Given the price of feeder
cattle, there’s a slug of cal-
culated feed yard breakev-
ens at $135 to $140, even
as high as $150 from some
auction prices out there, he
said.
“The prices these guys
are willing to pay for feeder
cattle looks like they’re bet-
ting it all to me,” he said.
The Chicago Mercan-
tile Exchange feeder cattle
index on 850-weight steers
is in the $152 to $154 slot.
Fall future prices are in the
low to mid $160 level, he
said.
“I think the market’s
ahead of itself, particularly
with the feeding uncertainty
and vulnerability in the corn
market,” he said.
Given the drought, he
thinks calves and feeder cat-
tle are both going to move
earlier this year. The bulk
of those cattle could already
have moved by October and
early November, he said.
Farther out, a smaller calf
crop and additional cow liq-
uidation could bring a size-
able decline in feeder cat-
tle outside feed yards a year
from now, he said.
Hazelnut Growers Bargaining Association
Annual Meeting
August 31 st , 2021 @ West Salem Roth’s
RSVP by August 20 th
•➢ 8:30 a.m. Coffee & Refreshments
•➢ 9:00 a.m. Meeting
Board member elections to be held
Hazelnut Growers’ Bargaining Association’s Annual Meeting
August 31 st , 2021
West Salem Roth’s
8:30am Coffee & Refreshments
9:00am Meeting
Board member elections to be held.
Must be a member to attend. Contact (TBD) to join: (TBD)
Please RSVP by August 20 th to attend: (Contact info TBD)
Must be a member to attend.
To join, see contact information below.
Please RSVP by August 20 th
PO BOX 767, Amity OR 97101 • 503-930-2316
S237123-1
Contact Heather McKee
503-930-2316
hmckee@integratedseed.com
S255802-1