October 2000

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Hints For Shredding/Composting Autumn Leaves By Carol Savonen, Oregon State University Many kinds of leaves are an excellent addition to the compost pile. Leaves are nitrogen poor, but rich in minerals. And some, including oak and laurel leaves are especially slow to break down. Fallen leaves, if used in making compost, break down much more quickly if chopped into tinier pieces before being added to the heap, according to Ross Penhallegon, horticulturist with the Oregon State University Extension Service. Here's a way you can shred leaves into smaller pieces, even if you don't have a chipper-shredder - run over them with a mulching lawn mower. Then rake them up and mix them into your compost pile. If you have a lot of leaves, consider storing them after shredding in garbage bags or containers. Then occasionally layer them into your compost pile over the winter to add air to the pile. They can also be placed in the flowerbeds, where they do a great job of mulching the flower bulbs and protect them from hard winter freezes. Remember that raking, shredding or grinding up dry leaves is much easier than working with sodden matted ones. Do not add walnut leaves to a compost pile, as they contain material that affects the growth of certain other plants, warned Penhallegon. For more ideas about "Gardening with Composts, Mulches, and Row Covers," EC 1247, visit our on-line catalog. Our publications and video catalog at: http://eesc.orst.edu/agcomwebfile/edmat/ shows which publications are available on the Web and which can be ordered as printed publications. Coping With Cash Flow With Low Prices Farm & Ranch Column By Terence L. Day, Washington State University Considering the prices farmers receive for most crops these days, it may be more appropriate to talk about cash trickle than cash flow. It was only a year and a half ago that Gayle Willett, a Washington State University agricultural economist, was writing a publication, "Managing a Cash Flow Problem: Suggestions for Grain Producers." At that time Willett noted that cereal grain prices were declining and that growers would need to address cash flow problems. Today the price for white wheat delivered to Portland is about a half a dollar less than it was a year ago and many other commodity prices aren't doing very well either. The basics of what Willett wrote for grain producers are broad principles that apply to other types of farming as well. Fundamentally, we might view the cash flow problem as two spigots. Cash flows into the operation through one spigot and out through the other. Producers can't stay long in the business when the income spigot is trickling and the spigot that controls expenses is flowing. Willett, who now is retired, cautions farmers against shortening their planning horizon when they are experiencing cash flow problems. By focusing on making it through the next month or year, Willett says farmers operate on a crisis-to-crisis basis. Some current problems are caused by the lack of, or failure of, long-range planning. Willett says long-range planning may reveal the need to make fundamental operational changes. However, Willett notes that failure to deal with short-term cash flow problems could spell disaster for the operation. In other words, producers have to keep one eye on short-term problems and the other on long-term solutions. That may seem a bit cockeyed, but successful operators learn how to do it. Willett's bulletin gives advice on important steps towards managing today's cash-flow crisis. * Prepare an up-to-date and accurate balance sheet. "Many cash-flow management strategies will be based on information provided by the balance sheet," Willett says. * Prepare a monthly cash-flow projection for the coming year. Doing so will provide insights into causes of problems and suggest solutions. * Work closely with lenders and use standard financial tools to communicate with them about your credit needs. * Cash-flow problems can be caused by improperly structured debt, as well as by too much debt. If lenders can be convinced that the cash-flow problem is a temporary one, they likely will allow operators to reduce cash-flow by extending loans. * If operators have enough collateral to cover unpaid principal, their lender may allow them to pay interest only during a cash-flow bind. * Review production practices for areas where profits can be improved by reducing expenses. Willett suggests a look at soil fertility, pest control and tillage systems expenses. * Give financial management a higher priority. I'm just guessing that most producers would rather be out in the field or in the shop than wrestling a spreadsheet, but the business and finance end of the operation is just as vital as what happens in the field or with the equipment. * Make more time to aggressively pursue risk-management strategies. "In this era of widely fluctuating commodity prices and a substantially lower government safety net, effective risk management has become very important," Willett wrote. You might want to start with a visit to the Web page of the WSU Cooperative Extension Department of Agricultural Economics. The URL is http://farm.mngt.wsu.edu/. From there, select OnLine Publications and look for the publication by title. UI Opens Electronic Clearinghouse For Livestock Producers By Marlene Fritz, University of Idaho Idaho ranchers forced early off public rangelands by this year's fires and drought can make connections with owners of available pasture on a new University of Idaho Web site, http://www.ag.uidaho.edu/pasture/, beginning Sept. 20. C. Wilson Gray, University of Idaho extension agricultural economist and coordinator of the UI site, says producers in the market for grazing pastures will also find listings of such non-hay forages as wheat straw. The UI's electronic pasture and feed clearinghouse will link to an Idaho Hay Association site, www.idahohay.com, which lists producers of available hay. "There are countless ranchers who are really scrambling to find feed for their cattle due to the drought and fires," says Sara Braasch, executive vice-president of the Idaho Cattle Association. "At the same time, the terrible agricultural economy has a lot of farmers scrambling to find extra income from any possible source." Both producers needing and selling pasture and non-hay forages can contact the UI extension educator in their county to list their names, phone numbers and other pertinent data on the electronic clearinghouse. They can also call Gray at 208/736-3622, write him at pasturelist@uidaho.edu or enter the information themselves on the interactive Web site. Owners of Conservation Reserve Program ground that has been approved for emergency grazing through Nov. 30 may also list their acreage on the newly created site. The electronic clearinghouse is sponsored by the UI Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology, the UI Cooperative Extension System and the Idaho Cattle Association. 2001 NW Direct Seed Conference Teams Up With Spokane Ag Expo By Terence L. Day, Washington State University The 2001 Northwest Direct Seed Cropping Systems Conference will be held in conjunction with the Spokane Ag Expo&emdash;the largest Inland Northwest farm show. The conference will be Jan. 17-19, 2001 in the Spokane Doubletree Hotel-City Center. The Spokane Ag Expo will be Jan. 16-18 in the adjoining Washington State Ag Trade Center and Spokane Convention Center, and the Spokane Arena. Roger Veseth, cooperative extension conservation tillage specialist for Washington State University and University of Idaho, said it will be the first time that the two events have been combined. More than 1000 people are expected to attend. The program will offer 27 speakers including 13 growers from Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Montana, North Dakota, Chile, Germany, and New South Wales, Australia, as well as researchers and industry representatives from the Pacific Northwest, Canada and Colorado. * The program offers four in-depth sessions: * Northern Great Plains and International Experiences * Improving Soil Quality and Productivity * Crops, Rotations and Management Strategies * Pest Management Strategies. In addition, participants will hear presentations from nine Northwest growers on the transition to direct seed cropping systems. The growers are from across the precipitation zones of the Inland NW and utilize a variety of equipment and cropping systems. More than 300 exhibits on direct seed systems and other agricultural topics will be available for viewing at Spokane Ag Expo, beginning the day before the conference starts. Other early attractions include the Pacific Northwest Farm Forum and seminar series, and PNW Oilseeds Association Conference. The conference is being organized by the Pacific Northwest STEEP program and the newly-formed PNW Direct Seed Association. It will be co-sponsored by a number of agricultural industries, and developed in cooperation with over 10 PNW grower organizations and agricultural support groups and agencies. Conference pre-registration is $75 (spouses, $35) and includes entrance into the Spokane Ag Expo and Pacific Northwest Farm Forum, the in-depth Conference Proceedings, 2000 PNW STEEP research report, and Thursday lunch, and refreshment breaks. After January 10, registration will be $90 (spouses, $45). Spokane's Doubletree Hotel-City Center will offer low conference room rates through Dec. 29. To make reservations, call 800-222-TREE or 509-455-9600. Program and registration information is available from the conference office at (509) 547-5538, FAX 547-5563, e-mail maurer@owt.com, or visit the Web site at http://pnwsteep.wsu.edu/directseed/conf2k1/. For exhibitor information, contact the Spokane Area Chamber of Commerce Ag Bureau at 509-459-4114, e-mail dfiess@chamber.spokane.net, or visit their Web site at http://www.spokanechamber.org/agexpo/. More Church Bulletin Board Bloopers "The eighth graders will be presenting Shakespeare's Hamlet in the church basement on Friday at 7 PM. The congregation is invited to attend this tragedy." "A song fest was hell at the Methodist church Wednesday." "Today's Sermon: 'How Much Can a Man Drink?' with hymns from a full choir."

Don't Toss Those Tuberous Begonias! By Carol Savonen, Oregon State University Many people enjoy the lush blossoms of tuberous begonias in pots on patios and as outdoor hanging plants. There's no need to throw them away when cold weather hits and the tops die. The tubers can be saved over the winter and planted again the next spring for another year of showy color. * Take the following steps to save your potted tuberous begonia tubers: * Remove plant from pot before hard frosts occur. Cut back most of the top of the plant, leaving the ball of roots and soil intact. * Place in a dry, cool storage area (a basement or garage) and allow the tubers to cure for several weeks. * After curing, shake off the soil and remove the remaining stalks and roots. Any stalk or root left has the potential to rot and spread to the tuber. * Put them on screen trays or pack them in dry peat, sawdust, sand or other insulating material. * Store tubers in a dry, dark, cool (above freezing) area. In the spring, start begonia plants by placing the tubers on damp peat moss in a warm environment. When roots and tops have started, plant them in pots in rich, well drained potting soil. Bring outdoors when all danger of frost is past. For more information on "Preparing Winter Storage for Fuchsias, Geraniums and Tuberous Plants," FS 001, visit our on-line catalog. Our publications and video catalog at: http://eesc.orst.edu/agcomwebfile/edmat/ shows which publications are available on the Web and which can be ordered as printed publications. Counterparts A language instructor was explaining to her class that in French, nouns unlike their English counterparts, are grammatically designated as masculine or feminine. "House," in French, is feminine&emdash;"la maison.""Pencil," in French, is masculine "le crayon." One puzzled student asked, "What gender is 'computer'?" The teacher did not know, and the word wasn't in her French dictionary. So for fun she split the class into two groups appropriately enough, by gender and asked them to decide whether "computer" should be a masculine or feminine noun. Both groups were required to give four reasons for their recommendation. The men's group decided that computers should definitely be of the feminine gender ("la computer"), because: 1. No one but their creator understands their internal logic; 2. The native language they use to communicate with other computers is incomprehensible to everyone else; 3. Even the smallest mistakes are stored in long-term memory for possible later retrieval; and 4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your paycheck on accessories for it. The women's group, however, concluded that computers should be masculine ("le computer"), because: 1. In order to get their attention, you have to turn them on; 2. They have a lot of data but they are still clueless; 3. They are supposed to help you solve problems, but half the time they ARE the problem; and 4. As soon as you commit to one, you realize that if you'd waited a little longer, you could have gotten a better model. Weed Threat To Wheat Production Focus Of Idaho, Oregon Researchers By Bill Loftus, University of Idaho Developing ways to prevent the escape of genes from genetically modified wheat into the closely related weed, jointed goatgrass, will be the goal of a $900,000 research project by University of Idaho and Oregon State University. Idaho and Oregon researchers were the first to show that wheat and jointed goatgrass could cross naturally and form partially fertile hybrids, said Robert Zemetra, a UI wheat breeder at Moscow and one of four principal investigators on the project. OSU weed scientist Carol Mallory-Smith at Corvallis, another of the project leaders, and Zemetra published the results of their research in the journal Weed Science in 1998. Joining them on the four-year research project funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture will be UI weed scientist and extension specialist Don Morishita at Twin Falls and OSU crop scientist Oscar Riera-Lizarazu. The development of genetically modified crops promises to improve the productivity and profitability of the nation's farmers and to better meet consumer demands, the researchers said. Some fear that new genes could escape into crops' wild relatives, creating super weeds. In many crops, such as corn or soybeans, scientists say the threat is minimal because weedy relatives are absent. No genetically modified wheat is approved for production in the United States, Zemetra noted, and the research is geared to getting a handle on a problem before it exists. For wheat growers, however, jointed goatgrass already poses a real and present danger. Both Idaho and Oregon are part of an 11-state research program with Montana, Texas, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Wyoming, Utah and Washington to combat the weed. "Jointed goatgrass is a major problem for wheat farmers in the western United States," Zemetra said. "And part of the problem is because it is so closely related to wheat, it is difficult to control once it gets established in a field." Jointed goatgrass, an introduced weed, is found in 48 states and is particularly troublesome for winter wheat growers, infesting 5 million acres planted to the grain and another 2.5 million fallow acres. The economic loss is estimated at $45 million annually to reduced production and grain value. For Zemetra and Mallory-Smith, jointed goatgrass presents a challenging scientific subject. Zemetra said the weed is difficult to control because it is closely related to wheat, sharing a genome with it. Wheat has six sets of chromosomes, or genomes, two from each of its ancestors. Jointed goatgrass has four sets of chromosomes, two of them from a parent species it shares with wheat. Their similarities mean herbicides that kill jointed goatgrass, kill wheat, too. Strategies to use cultivation or other methods to control the weed also kill the crop. The problem has increased interest in the development of herbicide resistant wheat varieties through genetic engineering. That way, a herbicide could be sprayed on a wheat field, killing the weed and leaving the resistant wheat plants to grow without competition. A problem that could occur with a genetically modified plant is a gene crossing from crops to weeds. "One of the ideas is, could gene placement minimize or prevent the movement of a transgenic gene from wheat into a weedy species?," he said. It may be possible to prevent the herbicide-resistance gene from leaping from wheat to weed by inserting it into the two wheat genomes that are not shared by goatgrass, Zemetra said. The research will test the mechanisms at work in gene transfers between wheat and jointed goatgrass. The team will also develop management strategies that wheat growers will be able to use in the field to minimize the chances of gene transfers from wheat to weed, Zemetra said. The research could also apply to other polyploid crops, those with multiple sets of chromosomes, such as canola and rapeseed. "You could potentially extrapolate what we find out about the genome work from wheat to something like canola for determining how easy would a gene move and be retained in its weedy relatives," Zemetra said. "The ultimate goal of the project is to allow growers to reap the benefits of herbicide-resistant crops while minimizing the potential problems, such as herbicide-resistant weeds," he added. Something To Think About... Name This Country: 709,000 regular (active duty) service personnel 293,000 reserve troops; Eight standing Army divisions; 20 Air Force and Navy air wings with 2,000 combat aircraft; 232 strategic bombers; 13 strategic ballistic missile submarines with 3,114 nuclear warheads on 232 missiles; 500 ICBMs with 1,950 warheads; Four aircraft carriers, and; 121 surface combat ships and submarines, plus all the support bases, shipyards and logistical assets needed to sustain such a naval force. Is this country Russia? . . . No Red China ? . . . No Great Britain ? . . . Wrong Again, USA? . . . Hardly Give up?? Well, don't feel too bad if you are unable to identify this global superpower because this country no longer exists. It has vanished. These are the American military forces that have disappeared since the 1992 election of Bill Clinton and Al Gore. Sleep well, America. Please vote in the upcoming election. &emdash;And they say they are pro-military???!!! Montana Declared Agricultural Disaster Area Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman announced Sept. 18 that farmers and ranchers in all 56 Montana counties are eligible for emergency farm loans because of losses caused by drought and excessive heat this year. "The same extreme dry, hot weather that has contributed to severe wildfires has caused devastating pasture losses for Montana's cattle ranchers," said Secretary Glickman. "We at USDA are using every tool at our disposal to help." Many counties in Montana have been approved for emergency grazing of Conservation Reserve Program land. Contiguous counties in adjacent states are also eligible for emergency loans. In Idaho, this includes the counties of Bonner, Boundary, Clark, Clearwater, Fremont, Idaho, Lemhi, and Shoshone. In North Dakota, the counties are Bowman, Divide, Golden Valley, McKenzie, Slope, and Williams. In South Dakota, the counties are Butte and Harding County. In Wyoming, the counties are Big Horn, Campbell, Crook, Park, Sheridan, and Teton. This designation makes all qualified family-sized farm operators in Montana and contiguous counties eligible for low-interest emergency loans. Farmers in eligible counties have eight months from the date of this declaration to apply for the loans to help cover part of their actual losses. USDA's Farm Service Agency will consider each loan application on its own merits, taking into account the extent of losses, security available, repayment ability, and other eligibility requirements.

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