Extension Service steps up crops tours

By JULIET BRISKIN | Central Texas Edition

July 19, 2001 -- One valuable role of the Texas Agricultural Extension Service is to provide producers with the latest information available on everything from forage production to heifer replacement programs. On July 12 the McLennan County Extension Service hosted a crops tour near West.

The first stop on the tour was the Richard Holy Farm where participants were addressed by Dr. Robert Lemon, Extension cotton specialist.

The stop provided tour participants a chance to view six different cotton varieties. "Cotton and fiber quality is really on the top of the list right now," said Lemon. "The quality is critical to the success and the future stability of the U.S. cotton industry."

"Fiber quality is an issue not just at the grower level, but at the manufacturing level as well," said Lemon. "Manufacturing is constantly looking to improve production with faster machinery, and growers have to keep up by providing cotton fiber that can hold up to these new machines."

According to Lemon, the agriculture industry as a whole embraces new technology more than any other segment of industry in the U.S. "I think we can use transgenic cotton as a case in point for that," said Lemon. " If you take a look back to where we were in 1996 in terms of transgenic cotton plants in Texas, it wasn't very much. Maybe about 2000 acres. If you look at last year's numbers, over 50 percent of all the cotton grown in Texas was some transgenic variety."

The Holy Farm, in cooperation with the Extension service, is growing some commercial cotton varieties that, according to Lemon, will hopefully be far superior to what has been seen in the past. "There is a big difference between what we do here in Texas compared to other parts of the country. We are under a very harsh environment as far as crop production is concerned. Taking high level fiber quality characteristics and putting those in a short season cotton environment is challenging."

According to Lemon, the big challenge from a Texas perspective is finding the kind of cotton that fits into early season production systems and marrying yield potential with fiber quality. Across the U.S. and Texas trials are being held to help develop cotton that will do both.

Doug Pustejovsky, from Delta & Pine Land Company (DPL), was on hand to discuss some of the products his company is developing. "As far as quality, exceptional, but what I'm really excited about is the earliness of our experimental variety X99MO3."

According to Pustejovsky, the most superior variety from DPL right now is 491. "In the Delta and all over the U.S., staple and strength from the DPL 491 trials was phenomenal," he said. "Its earliness factor is something I have been pleasantly surprised with and this will be in technology at least a year before the X99MO3."

Before leaving the first stop, Lemon addressed the topic of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). "Genetically modified organisms are technology that producers have utilized to produce crops in a much more efficient manner," he said. "We have reduced the loading rate of pesticides in the environment by using GMOs."

"The problem we have with GMOs is that there are a lot of folks out there that are concerned about potential problems environmentally and for human health," said Lemon. "As an agricultural community our job is to educate folks about the value and safeness of GMOs."

Doug Andrews, McLennan County Extension agent, briefly addressed the topic of public concern regarding GMO's. "From what I understand one of the fears is allergens and the other is possible creation of super bugs or weeds." he said. "We have to respect those concerns. The people, your client, the end users are worried and we have a responsibility to transfer the correct information, as we get it, to them."

The next stop on the tour was the Kutscherousky Farm where a corn variety trial is being held. Andrews addressed the group about the value of corn sileage production. "There is a lot of corn being put up for sileage within fifty miles of here," said Andrews. "One reason for that is the existence of a large market for corn sileage, especially from the dairy producers."

According to Andrews, corn sileage needs to be harvested at about 60-65 percent moisture. "You want some grain on there," he said, "because you get the high yields from grain and forage."

"The time you cut it is extremely important;" said Andrews, "then how its hauled and how its stored is vital." According to Andrews corn sileage has become an excellent alternative market for corn producers. "Consider this if you are looking for another market for your crops," he said. "It's a bit tricky and it needs to be done right or it won't work for you. But remember, we do have specialists that can help you with developing a corn silage production program if you need it."

For more information about upcoming educational events sponsored by the Texas Agricultural Extension Service contact your local Extension agent.