Crops Mr. Wisness
Hard Red Spring Wheat Durum Wheat Barley Flax Sunflower Oats Dry Edible Beans Sugarbeets Potatoes Rye Hay Winter Wheat Corn Soybeans Crops Important to ND
Wheat • Commercial Classes • Hard Red Spring Wheat • Bread • Hard Red Winter Wheat • Bread • Durum • Pasta • Soft Red Winter • Cake, biscuit, cracker, pastry • White • Pastry
Wheat • Most important world crop; both in acreage and production • Approximately 75 to 80% US acreage is winter wheat • Requires a cold period before switching to reproductive growth (vernalization) • In general, wheat is unsatisfactory on very sandy soils or poorly drained soils
Wheat • Cool-season crop • Minimum Temp. • 37-39 degrees F • Optimum Temp. • 77 degrees F • Maximum Temp. • 86-89 degrees F
Wheat grades • Based on quality and condition • Quality • Plumpness, soundness, foreign material • Condition • High moisture, odor, smut • Legal Weight • 60 pounds per bushel • US Grade #1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or US Sample Grade
Hard Red Spring Wheat • North Dakota ranks #1 • Can be grown under a wide range of soil conditions and rainfall • Best adapted to fertile, well drained silt and clay loam soils • In early stages of development, can withstand temperatures as low as 15 degrees F
Hard Red Spring Wheat • Winters in ND are too severe for winter wheat • Limited rainfall during the growing period results in wheat that is high in protein content • HRSW contains a large amount of gluten • A proteinlike, semielastic substance which permits the dough to leaven or expand into large, light porous loaves
Durum Wheat • ND ranks #1 • Grown because it withstands drought better and is more resistant to most diseases than HRSW • Flour not suited for breadmaking • Made into semolina • A granular flour used in making pasta products
HRSW and Durum • Diseases • Smut • Black Stem Rust • Scab • Ergot • Wheat Stem Sawfly
Oats • Ranks 5th in world for cereals • ND ranks #1 • Cool season crop
Uses of Oat grain • Livestock feed • More than 80 % is used for feed or exported • High in protein content • Excellent feed for horses • Used as a forage crop for hay • Food products • < 5 % used for food for humans • Rolled oats used for oatmeal, oatcakes, and cookies
Barley • ND ranks #1 • Used for: • Livestock feed • Malting purposes • Human Food • In the US • Feed is approximately 65 to 70 % • Malt is approximately 25 to 30 %
Barley • Cool-season crop • Summer annual in North Dakota and Great Plains • Widely adapted because it is dependable under salinity, frost or drought
Barley • Classes • 6-row barley • 3 spikelets per rachis node • 1 fertile floret per spikelet • 2-row barley • 3 spikelets per rachis node • Only central spikelet has a fertile floret
Barley • Malting Barley • Used for brewing • Must be plump, uniform, high in quality, low in nitrogen or protein, and bright in color • Free from broken and skinned kernels • Contain no more than 13 % moisture for storage
Rye • Cool-season crop • Mostly grown as a winter annual • Leading producing countries are in Europe (Russia and Germany) • Hardiest of all the cereals • More productive than other grains on infertile, sandy or acidic soils
Rye • Only small grain that is cross-pollinated • causes it to be very susceptible to ergot • Another problem • Can mix with wheat in the field or seed • Uses of Rye grain • 50 to 60 % is fed or exported • Food products • Rye bread is dense and rises slightly • Usually mixed with wheat flour
Flax • ND ranks #1 • Cool season crop • Tolerates frost in the seedling stage • Requires 18 to 30 inches of moisture annually • Poor competitor with weeds • Good cultural practices and herbicides are important
Flax • Used to make linseed oil • Seed contains 35 to 45 percent oil • Paints and varnishes • Linoleum and oilcloth • Printers ink • Linseed oil meal for livestock feed • 35 percent protein that is 85 percent digestible
Sunflowers • ND ranks #1 • Classes • Oil-type • 90 % of US acreage • Edible and industrial oil • Non-oil type • 10% of US acreage • Whole roasted • Shelled for baking and candies • Bird Food
Sunflowers • Uses • Edible oil is major use • Sunflower Oil Meal • Whole kernel and nutmeat specialty markets
Sunflowers • Characteristics • Cross-pollinated • Short-day plant • Relatively draught tolerant and grows well on many soil type
Soybeans • World’s most important edible vegetable oil • US is world’s leading producer • Short day plant • Warm Season plant • Member of the legume family
Soybeans • A minimum of 120 frost-free days, with a mean summer temperature above 70 degrees F is needed to produce acceptable yields • Self-pollinated • Harvesting • In fall when seedpods turn yellow and dry down to about 14 percent moisture • Cut and threshed by a combine
Soybeans • Uses • Edible oil • Seed is 20 to 24 % oil • Soybean Oil Meal • Popular Feed for Livestock • Green Manure crop
Sugarbeets • Red River Valley is leading producer in US • Must have a contract with a factory • Account for 35 to 40 % of world’s sugar production • Biennial for seed production
Sugarbeets • Cool-season crop • Optimum temperature for growth is 75 degrees F • Cool autumn weather favors sugar storage • Uses • Sugar • By-products • Beet Pulp • Molasses (Livestock feed)
Sugarbeets • Harvesting • Normally at end of first season of growth • Approximately 5 to 7 months after planting
Potatoes • Tubers originate as swellings at the ends of rhizomes • Herbaceous perennial dicot but grown as an annual • Cool-season crop (Northern lattitudes) • Well-distributed rainfall of 12 to 24 inches over a 3 to 4 month growing season is best
Potatoes • Uses • Carbohydrate source • Tuber is 65 to 80 % starch • Human consumption • Fresh - 35 % • Frozen - 35% • Dehydrated, chips, canned - 20 % • Livestock feed
Potatoes • Grown from vegetative parts, not seed • Growers sow pieces of potato from which new plants grow and produce tubers
Corn • Types of corn • Dent (Yellow or White Class) • Field corn grown in US • Popcorn • Can explode to 20 times its size • Flint • Field corn grown in South America & Europe • Flour • used in making breads
Corn • Important World Food Crop • Grown in every US state • Warm-season crop • Minimum temperature is 50 degrees F • Maximum temperature is 86 degrees F • Very little corn is grown where the mean summer temp. is less than 66 degrees F • Short-day plant • Cross-pollinated
Corn • Uses • Livestock feed • 85 to 90 % of US production is used for feed • Human uses • Food • High fructose corn syrup • Ethanol
Forage crops • Alfalfa • Sweetclover • Smooth bromegrass • Wheatgrass • Kentucky Bluegrass • Sudangrass • Millets
Forage crops • Crops grown as feed for animals and used in the form of pasture, hay or silage • There are 3.5 million acres of hay in ND • Approximately one half of that is alfalfa • Livestock feed • 60 % of all feed units consumed by livestock in the US are furnished by forages • 95 % of all feed units consumed by beef cows in ND are furnished by forages
Forage crops • Other benefits • Soil improvement • Soil protection • Fixation of atmospheric nitrogen
