DIS-Lancntor Fannins Saturday, May 27, 1989
UNIVERSITY PARK (Centre
Co.) Some weather experts are
saying that we may be at the
beginning of a drought cycle simi
lar to the cycle from the mid-‘sos
to the mid-‘6os. ‘This may or may
not be true,” says Dr. Elwood Hat
ley, Penn State professor of agro
nomy. “Unfortunately we have no
control over the weather, but a
little planning can take at least
some of the risk out.”
It is important to keep in mind
the economics of crop manage
ment. “Switching crops may
reduce risks from a production
standpoint, but it is a waste of
resources if the alternative crop
cannot be sold at a profit or util
ized on the farm,” says Hatley.
“Once the cropping decisions are
made, good management of your
farm will reduce the risks and ulti
mately increase profits.”
Hatley says the economics of
sound management are clear. Four
types of information are useful in
developing a strategy to minimize
the impact of weather-related
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stress:
• long range weather patterns
• the capacity of various soils to
hold water
• the ability of various plants to
withstand environmental stress
• management techniques
“All of this information must fit
together like a puzzle to form a
management plan,” says Hatley.
Pennsylvania farmers should
monitor long-range forecasts and
incorporate appropriate changes
into an overall production plan.
“You don’t have to be a meteor
ologist to know that from mid-
July through August it is going to
be hot and probably dry in Pen
nsylvania,” says Hatley. Even
though long-range forecasts are
not reliable they do indicate gen
eral weather patterns for specific
areas.
“Manage all of your resources
to minimize the impact of drought
and environmental stress,” he
adds. “While drought cannot be
predicted or avoided, fanners can
take measures to reduce the
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effects.”
Soils vary in ability to hold
water for future plant use. Water
holding capacity is determined by
soil depth and soil texture. Sandy
or coarse soil will not retain as
much water as clay or fine
textured soil. The depth of soil
available for root growth is a
major determinant of how much
water is available for plant use. A
deep, fine-textured soil will have a
greater amount of water available
for plant use than a shallow
coarse-tcxtured soil and will not
require rain as often during the
growing season. “Field records
are an excellent predictor of a
soil’s water-holding capacity,”
says Hatley. “These records are
the key in determining what to
plant and how to manage a specif
ic field.”
Plants can be managed to help
provide a hedge against environ
mental stress. The amount of
stress a plant can tolerate varies
greatly with the stage of growth.
Stress is most severe during the
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reproductive stage of plant
growth. This means that damage is
less severe if stress happens dur
ing germination, vegetation, grain
fill or the maturity stage. Farmers
can plant some crops so the repro
ductive stage arrives during the
least stressful period or in a field
where the effects of drought will
not be so severe.
Deciding what species to plant
is a management tool to reduce
environmental stress. “For exam
ple,” says Hatley, “in some fields
it might be safer to plant sorghum
than corn. Sorghum is more
drought tolerant than com. Unlike
com, sorghum has the capability
of going dormant if put under
stress. Com will just keep trying
to grow, even under extreme
drought conditions.”
Also, com has a reproductive
period of only about two weeks. If
com is severely stressed during
that period, the crop can be lost.
Soybeans, on the other hand, have
a reproductive period of about five
weeks. During that period the
plants can adapt to drought condi-
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lions. If soybeans are stressed they
can abort up to 60 percent of their
blossoms and still make a crop.
In some cases it may be possi
ble to select plants with a different
root system as another hedge
against drought. Sunflowers can
survive drought conditions better
than com because they are able to
absorb more water from the soil.
Varying plant types is yet
another hedge against drought.
Cool season grains, such as spring
oats and spring barley, will be at
their reproductive stage in early to
mid-June or about 60 days after
emergence. Warm season grasses,
such as com, will reach their
reproductive stage from mid-July
to early-August. On the other
hand, winter grains, such as winter
wheat, will reach the reproductive
stage as early as mid-May. Hatley
says that having crops which
reach the sensitive reproductive
stage at various times during the
growing season provides alterna
tives. “You’re more likely to pro
duce a crop with more than one
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