Search for “small grains”

On August 17, nearly 80 people gathered in Ames to attend our first conference focused exclusively on small grains. We opened with lunch and a keynote from Don Halcomb, the chairman of the Kentucky Small Grain Promotion Council, sharing the history of how growers in Kentucky came together to create a small grains association and a […]

October is a busy month in the fields – not only are corn and soybean harvest underway, but it’s time to plant winter small grains for next year’s harvest. Our small grains shared learning call this month therefore featured Paul Mugge and Dick Sloan, farmers who have been growing winter small grains for several years, […]

“Since the last people to grow small grains in this area were our grandparents or our great-grandparents a lot of small grains production [knowledge] seems like it’s through story telling. Some people say, well I’ve heard from my grandfather, that if you let small grains go down, it means they have a higher test weight. […]

After taking a break in May we got back onto our monthly small grains shared learning call on June 9. One of our pilot program farmers from Blooming Prairie, Minnesota, Mark Ditlevson, took the floor at the beginning of the call to discuss his fungicide and fertilizer regime for his small grains and his set […]

After taking a several month hiatus from our shared learning calls, in September we jumped back into the swing of things with a call on crop insurance options for small grains. Mark Gutierrez and Criag Christianson from the regional Risk Management Agency (RMA) office in Minneapolis joined us to review the available policies for these […]

By now, small grains have been planted and farmers have turned their attention to planting corn, and later to soybeans, but farmers must remember to continue to monitor small grains development during this busy planting time in order to achieve good quality grain. The March 10 shared learning call focused on best practices for fertilizer, […]

We have the second video presentation up from last month’s conference – “Rotationally Raised: Making Small Grains Work”. This presentation is by South Dakota farmer Lee Brockmueller, who presented about how small grains benefit his crops, bottom line and livestock. His presentations cover all the basics of raising both winter wheat and oats, from variety […]

The first season of Rotationally Raised has come to a close. We hope you learned a lot about production, and that you’ve decided that small grains could work on your farm. That said, in this episode, we shift the focus a bit to include the bigger picture. Members of Practical Farmers of Iowa want to […]

In my new role at Practical Farmers, one of the really exciting projects I’ll be working on is developing a small grains marketing pilot. Practical Farmers has gathered a group of farmers and small grains buyers throughout Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin to work through the logistics of growing and selling these crops in the upper […]

When considering whether or not to grow small grains, one of the main things farmers consider is: can I sell them? In order to answer this big question, farmers often have to answer several smaller questions about who they can sell to, the logistics of how to sell, and what quality metrics and thresholds are expected. […]