A4o : Lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 1, 2002 New Insight On Pollinators May Aid Strawberry Production TROY, Ohio A steady rain fall soaks strawberry fields in this town just outside of Dayton, but the weather doesn’t deter Ohio State University entomologists from trekking through standing water and mud to record the growth progression of strawberry blooms food for many insects whose pollination transforms the flowers into fruit. “The blooms have to be open wide enough for the insects to get in and pollinate,” said Ohio State research assistant Diane Hartzl er, pointing to blooms that were either partially or fully open. “If the blooms don’t get pollinated, the result is irregular fruit, or no fruit at all.” Though no pollinators were to be seen on this wet day, such ob servations are giving university researchers a better handle as to how insects, namely native feral or wild bees, affect strawberry fruit set, development and yield. “People used to think that honey bees were the main polli nators of strawberry plants. They pollinate brambles like raspber ries and blackberries,” said Roger Williams, Ohio State leader of Conservation Sign-Up Through June 30 LANCASTER (Lancaster Co.) The Farm Service Agency will be accepting ap plications through June 30 for the Environmental Quality In centive Program (EQIP). This sign-up period will be held for farms located in the Chickies Creek Watershed. EQIP works primarily in areas where there are signifi cant natural resource con cerns, such as soil erosion, water quality and quantity, wildlife habitat, wetlands, and forest and grazing lands. Pri ority is given to areas where state or local governments offer financial, technical, or educational assistance and to areas where agricultural im provements will help meet water quality objectives. Activ ities must be carried out according to a conservation plan. EQIP is one of several fed eral, state, and local conserva- tion programs that fanners can use to solve their natural resource concerns. EQIP offers financial, educational, and STEEL BALE BOXES small fruit entomology with the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center in Wooster, Ohio. “Though other insects like ants and beetles help pollinate strawberries, we have found that the primary pollinators are native bees.” Williams said the startling con clusion came after three years of identifying bee species that were visiting strawberry fields in Wooster and Moreland, Ohio. The researchers recorded 19 dif ferent species, all of which were native except the honey bee. Bee species included carpenter bees, leaf cutting bees, orchid bees, bumble bees, digger bees, cuckoo bees and small, metallic bees of the family Halictidae. “We didn’t know what to ex pect as not much literature exists that describes strawberry pollina tors,” said Williams. Williams and his associates have expanded their research to other areas of the state in the hopes of compiling a comprehen sive guide of bee pollinators. The goal of their work is to more clearly define which species polli nate strawberry plants, how field technical help to install or implement structural, vegeta tive, and management prac tices called for in five- to 10-year contracts. These practices which in clude manure management systems, pest management and erosion control help im prove and maintain the health of natural resources. Cost sharing may pay up to 75 per cent of the costs of certain conservation practices. Half of the funding for EQIP is tar geted to livestock-related nat ural resource concerns and the remainder to other significant conservation priorities. Contracts are awarded on a competitive basis among ap plicants in the Chickies Wa tershed. Proposals are ranked using a scoring system based on ballpark estimate of total program costs of the practices planned. Requests can be made at the Farm Service Agency, located at the Farm and Home Center, 1383 Arca dia Rd., Lancaster, or phone (717) 397-6235. placement affects pollination and ultimately establish a new market of beekeeping in Ohio. “More and more growers want to get their crop off earlier in the season. If we can identify which bee species pollinate fields in cer tain areas, then we may be able to create a new opportunity for beekeepers to provide those spe cies to the grower,” said Wil liams. The honey bee, European in origin, clearly dominates the bee keeping industry in Ohio. More than 5,000 apiaries, or places where colonies are kept, exist in More Rain Could Mean Higher Corn Prices COLUMBUS, Ohio Corn prices are likely to increase within the next several weeks if wet weather persists throughout the eastern Corn Belt, says an Ohio State University Extension agricultural economist. “Based upon the Chicago Board of Trade, com prices right now are $2.30 and could climb 10 to 12 cents higher be cause of the weather,” said Matt Roberts. “I think the real ques tion is what it will be like the next two weeks. If wet weather continues for both Indiana and Ohio, we’ll see those com prices start to rise and soybean prices soften.” Excessive rainfall in Indiana, Ohio and parts of Illinois has significantly delayed both com and soybean planting. Ohio com growers only have 17 per cent of the com crop planted, compared to 74 percent this same time last year. Planting is two weeks behind the five-year average. Six percent of the soy bean crop has been planted so far, compared to 70 percent last year. Roberts said that growers are remaining optimistic that they will get their com crop in the ground on time. “The window WATERLESS TOILETS “SUN-MAR” Composting Toilets Several models available including non-electric • NO Septic System • NO Chemicals Save the Environment! Recycle Back to Nature! FREE: ► gl PAINTING i I c Interior/Exterior 4 L Including Aerial Work i L. Specialists in Sand Blasting and A r Spray Painting Farm Buildings 1 F Also Roof Coating • Water Blasting j ►r • Repair All Types of j Spray Equipment - Pumps & Guns M f Fisher's Painting 1 k 4056 A Newport Rd. 4 r Kinzers, PA 17535 J W On Rt 772 Across From T Pequea Valley School 2 r 717-768-3Z39 1 every county in the state. Honey bees are essential to Ohio’s vege table production, as the insects account for 80 percent of all crop pollination. Though honey bees do polli nate strawberry plants, Williams said it’s clear that native bees are the main pollinators, a discovery that could give both strawberry production and beekeeping a boost. “One reason why we want to look into identifying and possibly marketing native bees is because of the recent problems honey bees have with mites and diseases,” for planting corn still has not closed,” he said. “It’s very rea sonable given Ohio’s typical growing conditions that one can plant corn through the end of May and still see very good yields given a good growing sea son.” He added, however, that if growers are pushed to the limit, a significant shift from com to soybean acreage could occur that might impact farm profita bility over the long term. “Given the new Farm Bill, if we see a significant shift to soy beans, that might begin to im pact farm profitability simply because soybean support is not as generous as it has been in the past,” said Roberts. The government’s loan rate for soybeans in the 2002 Farm Bill is set at $5 per bushel, down from $5.26, while com was in creased from $1.89 to $1.98 per bushel. “The changes in prices changes the relative profitability of those crops,” said Roberts. “By switching acreage from com to soybeans, there will probably be some implications, but it’s still a little bit early to worry about the impacts of large scale shifts.” said that analysts are said Williams. “Also if the straw berry plant doesn’t get pollinated, it affects fruit size, fruit quality and overall market value.” Williams said that where strawberry fields are located in the landscape might also have an impact on how often the plants are pollinated. In their studies, the researchers found that straw berry fields located near native habitats, like woods, swamps, ponds and prairies, had higher berry development and less de formed berries, than those straw berry fields found in and around residential areas. calculating a shift back to larger soybean acreage than what was originally forecasted in the USDA’s annual prospective plantings report released in March. “There is little doubt that if the wet weather persists for another week or so, that the com harvest will be smaller than currently projected,” he said. Despite the grim outlook on com planting, Roberts specu lates that the situation is not se vere enough to drive farmers to collect their government pay ments. “I don’t think we are any where near the point where we are talking about abandonment where people are taking pay ments because they couldn’t get their crop planted at all or where those acres that got planted were flooded so bad that it killed the seedlings,” said Roberts. “If growers haven’t gotten anything in the ground for com, there is still a window where they can get soybeans in the ground. 1 think they would prefer to try to plant something than take payments and have those fields sit idle for the rest of the season.” Roberts added that it wouldn’t be until mid-June be fore any indication surfaces that farmers have made claims on abandonment payments. 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