Sorghum U/Wheat U farmer panel discuss inputs, challenges and the future

High Plains Journal’s Sorghum U/Wheat U event—which was held Aug. 11 in Wichita, Kansas—kicked off with a farmer panel made up of four wheat and sorghum growers from across Kansas.

The panelists included Craig Meeker, a sixth-generation farmer from Wellington, Kansas, and vice chairman of the National Sorghum Growers Association; Derek Sawyer, a fourth-generation farmer and rancher from McPherson County, Kansas, who grows wheat, corn, sorghum, and soybeans; Kevin Kniebel, who co-owns Kniebel Farms and Cattle Co. in the Flint Hills of Kansas and currently serves as the chair of Grain Sorghum Commission; and Tim Turek, who resides in south central Kansas and operates a diversified crop and cow-calf enterprise. Brent Bean, director of agronomy for the United Sorghum Checkoff Program, moderated the panel.

First, the panelists identified some of the challenges they face growing wheat and sorghum in their geographic areas and how they work to overcome them. Several panelists acknowledged disease and pests as a major challenge. Turek said Wheat Streak Mosaic Virus had been one of his biggest issues in this year’s wheat crop.

“It all boils down to volunteer control,” Turek said. “When we start having double-crop beans in the area and you have a little bit of wheat in there and don’t control it, you have to start eliminating that green bridge and try to get rid of the host for the wheat curl mite.”

Not surprisingly, Meeker noted moisture as another challenge that stands out, especially in weather patterns like the High Plains is experiencing now. He said choosing certain varieties that can hold up to drought conditions can greatly improves a crop’s potential and yield ability.

When the growers were asked if they strive for quality or quantity when they raise a crop, Turek said the goal is to do both, but that can be very difficult to achieve and sometimes it comes down to what the buyers in your area are looking for. For Sawyer, it makes more financial sense to shoot for more bushels per acre when it comes to wheat.

“If you gave me a choice between quality or quantity, bushels and pounds pay,” Sawyer said. “In our area, it gets hard to find that extra little bit of money that you get for the quality of wheat especially. It varies from farm to farm and you’ve all got to look and see where you can find the money that’s coming in.”

Meeker, on the other hand, juggles the task of growing high quality and quantity wheat.

“My goal on my farm is not only to have a lot of bushels, but to have a lot of bushels that people want,” he explained.

Bean said sorghum is sometimes thought of as a low-input and low-cost crop and asked the panelists how they treat their sorghum fields. Kniebel said sorghum has developed a bad reputation for falling over and part of that is because producers do not provide the crop with nutrients it needs.

“We treat our sorghum as well as we treat corn,” he said. “If it shows it needs fertility, we fertilize it the same as we do our corn. That enhances its drought tolerance, standability, test weight on the grain and overall plant health.”

Next, the growers discussed input costs and how to balance making management choices that can pay off at harvest time. Turek said he is in the camp of spending extra to increase yield, which will make costs come down per bushel with a high quality crop.

“Usually it works, but my dad is on the other side of it,” Turek said. “He doesn’t like to spend that late money and there were a couple years he nailed it, and my brother and I are still paying the bills for stuff that didn’t work. Sometimes that old wisdom is worth listening to.”

Meeker sees inputs as a much-needed investment into the quality of his crop.

“I’m a firm believer in fertility and dollars and cents play a huge part in that,” Meeker said. “I’m cheap, we put a lot of anhydrous down, but we don’t put it all down at the beginning. We spread it out and we target a late season application of nitrogen in wheat and the protein content really makes up for whatever you knock down.”

Additionally, he said every acre of wheat he raises gets fungicide application.

“Whether you think it needs it or not, you can go out there and find disease if you really look,” Meeker said.

Kniebel agreed, saying insecticide on sorghum is not expensive and it does not take very many bushels to pay for the product.

Finally, the panelists discussed some of the new technologies they expect to make agriculture more efficient in the future. Sawyer said the new chemicals in production and on the horizon make him look forward to the improvements he can make to future crops.

“I still remember the angst that my grandpa had when he would look at his soybean field that he couldn’t cultivate anymore and still see those pig weeds that you just couldn’t get rid of,” Sawyer said. “The technology is coming along with Crop Protection Services with Roundup and dicamba, and man those make me sleep a lot better at night when I see those products are out there. I know we’ve got to be careful with them or we’ll lose their effectiveness. I look forward to the days when the next product comes along.”

Lacey Vilhauer can be reached at 620-227-1871 or [email protected].