AREA FARMERS COULD USE ONE MORE GOOD FREEZE

Another week of single-digit temperatures before planting time could benefit Southeast Missouri agriculture, says Tim Schnakenberg, an agronomy specialist with University of Missouri Outreach and Extension at Charleston.

"Last year's crops were victims of insects," said Schnakenberg. "The insect problem was really bad in cotton, soybeans and corn."

One insect deterrent for the coming season is a cold winter, said Schnakenberg. "A week of single-digit temperatures would help."

Cotton, corn and soybean production in Missouri was down in 1998, the Missouri Agricultural Statistics Service reported.

Some Southeast Missouri farmers, especially those in the Bootheel, are already looking to the day they can get into their fields, said Schnakenberg.

"Tillage would be under way now if the fields were dry," he said. "Farmers like to get in the fields in late winter and start preparing them for planting."

Schnakenberg said farmers in southern Missouri like to "get the crop in early and get it out early." Early, he said, means corn planting in late March. In areas to the north, corn planting usually takes place in April.

Farmers can hear more about crop management today during a special Crop Management Conference hosted by University of Missouri Outreach and Extension and the Missouri Soybean Association. The conference will be held at 8 a.m. at the Banquet Beyond the Bay Restaurant in Sikeston.

Schnakenberg will be one of the speakers. The featured speaker will be Dr. Earl Vories, agriculture engineer from the Northeast Research and Extension Center at Keiser, Ark.

Favorable weather helped produce record soybean and corn crops in the United States last year, but production of the two grains was down in Southeast Missouri.

Soybean production for 1998 totaled 2.76 billion bushels, the highest on record in the nation, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Last year's figure is 3 percent higher than 1997's, which was a record at 2.69 billion bushels.

Corn also had a good year nationally, with production estimated at 9.76 billion bushels, up 6 percent from the 1997 crop. The 1998 corn crop ranks second behind the record 10.1 billion bushels produced in 1994.

While soybean and corn had record years nationally, production was down in Missouri.

Missouri soybean production in 1998 totaled 170 million bushes, down 3 percent from a year ago. The Missouri Agricultural Statistical Service reported that farmers harvested 5 million acres of soybeans in the state, averaging 34 bushels per acre.

The corn crop in Missouri during 1998 totaled 285 million bushels, down 5 percent from a year ago. Yields averaged 114 bushels an acre.

"The corn not only suffered from insect damage but lack of weather cooperation," said Schnakenberg. "Everything started out great: Farmers got corn planted on time, and things looked good. But as we got into the season we had a lot of rain and clouds, and corn roots didn't get fully developed."

Hardest hit in the national agricultural crop scene was cotton production. Cotton was damaged throughout the nation by droughts that followed fierce storm activity, said the USDA.

The Missouri average last year was 471 pounds of cotton an acre, down sharply from the 695-pound average of the preceding year. Missouri produced about 350,000 bales last year, 38 percent fewer than in 1997.

"The insect problem was really bad on cotton," said Schnakenberg, "We had a warm winter the year before and insects were plentiful."