Louisiana farmers planted approximately 400,000 acres of wheat in 2008 – almost four times what was planted just two years earlier. Better prices have led to the crop’s comeback.

LSU AgCenter plant pathologist Dr. Boyd Padgett discusses fungicide trials and disease control at a recent wheat and oat field day at the AgCenter’s Macon Ridge Research Station at Winnsboro.

Amber waves of grain are becoming more common in Louisiana as better prices have led wheat to make a dramatic comeback.

Last year the state’s farmers harvested 228,000 acres of wheat, up from 110,000 acres in 2006. For 2008, the total increased to approximately 400,000 acres, according to LSU AgCenter wheat breeder Dr. Steve Harrison. He said the 70 percent jump in the past two years can be attributed to the price increasing from the range of $3 a bushel to $7 per bushel.

The state’s record acreage total was approximately 500,000 in 1985, Harrison recalled, and that also reflected higher prices.

After prices fell in the mid-1980s, however, wheat was considered a secondary crop in Louisiana, Harrison said.

"It’s been treated as a redheaded stepchild," he said, although the LSU AgCenter expert stressed that Louisiana wheat farmers can compete with their counterparts to the north.

"Our yields compare favorably to any part of the country, and most of our acreage is double-cropped," he said.

The latest Louisiana Summary of Agriculture and Natural Resources from the LSU AgCenter shows the state’s 613 wheat farmers had an average yield of 59 bushels per acre in 2007. According to statistics from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the national average wheat yield in 2007 was 42 bushels an acre.

Wheat is a low-input crop that could cost $100 to $220 an acre to produce, Harrison said, adding that wheat has low seed and chemical costs and relatively low nitrogen requirements.

A wheat crop provides cash flow in May and June when growers are paying for inputs for summer crops. "Most years it’s a very good crop," Harrison said.

As a wheat breeder, Harrison works to develop improved varieties. That means he has to consider a wide range of traits, including disease and insect resistance and good yields.

Harrison participates in SunGrains, a consortium that includes the LSU AgCenter, Clemson University, the University of Florida, North Carolina State University and the University of Georgia. The group collaborates on variety development for the southeastern United States, and SunGrains breeders exchange breeding material and test each other’s lines across a wide range of environments.

"You get a lot more and better data sooner," Harrison stressed about the collaborative effort, which sometimes reveals potential varieties that grow well in one state but were developed by breeders in another state.

"The SunGrains group probably accounts for 80 percent of the wheat acreage in Louisiana and the majority of wheat varieties grown in the region," Harrison said.

Wheat breeding is largely a function of public institutions rather than private companies, he said.

Breeding a new variety typically requires a decade of selection, testing and seed increases, Harrison said. To cut a year or more off that time, he has an arrangement to grow wheat in South America during the summer which permits production of two generations in a year.

Many traits have to be considered in developing a new variety for Louisiana growers. For example, varieties grown in Louisiana have to be tolerant of the state’s tendency for wet growing conditions.

Disease resistance also is a big requirement for Southern growers, Harrison said, explaining different diseases, particularly rust, can cost farmers money that has to be spent on fungicides.

Another pest that has to be considered in new varieties is the Hessian fly – a small insect that feeds on wheat seedlings. Harrison said the fly leaves behind a toxin that can make a plant develop poorly. The LSU AgCenter-released variety AGS 2060 is resistant to the insect, he said.

Harrison expects Louisiana farmers to plant 400,000 acres or more of wheat this fall because of continuing good prices. In addition, he said the seed supply should be more plentiful.

Dr. Boyd Padgett, LSU AgCenter plant pathologist, said Harrison’s breeding program has developed varieties that have good disease resistance. But rust problems develop and subside from year to year, he said.

In Southwest Louisiana and other parts of the United States, scab or headblight disease also is a problem, and the LSU AgCenter is part of a national effort to address the problem.

Harrison, Padgett and LSU AgCenter researcher Dr. Don Groth are cooperating in developing wheat varieties with genetic resistance to headblight.

Regarding another pest, LSU AgCenter weed scientist Dr. Bill Williams said Italian ryegrass poses the biggest weed problem for Louisiana wheat growers. It is competitive with wheat, and producers can be penalized by grain elevators for having high amounts of Italian ryegrass seed in their harvested crop.

Fields with high populations of ryegrass likely will require two herbicide applications, Williams said, with one in November or December and a follow-up in February.

The herbicides used in the fall should have residual activity, like Finesse and Sencor. Products with no residual action – such as Osprey, Axiom and Hoelon – are better-suited for the spring, Williams advised.

Farmers who save wheat seed should consider whether their fields have high ryegrass infestations. If that’s the case, Williams advised, it would be wiser to use certified seed to prevent problems.

The LSU AgCenter expert also said weeds that are more typical in the Midwest, such as cheatgrass and bromegrass, fortunately are not posing problems in Louisiana yet, but he said those are likely to increase as more wheat is produced – especially in fields that remain in wheat year in and year out.–Bruce Schultz

(This article was published in the 2008 edition of the Louisiana Soybean & Grain Research & Promotion Board Report.)