parks & open space advisory committee agenda
TRANSCRIPT
Parks & Open Space Advisory Committee AGENDA
September 26, 2019 6:30 p.m.
Commissioners' Hearing Room, 3rd Floor Boulder County Courthouse, 1325 Pearl Street, Boulder, CO
Suggested Timetable
6:30 Call to Order
6:31 Approval of the July 25, 2019 Meeting Minutes ACTION REQUESTED: Minutes Approval
6:35 Public Participation - Items Not on the Agenda
Presentations
6:40 Restored Grasslands Model and Revegetation Success ACTION REQUESTED: None, Information item only PRESENTER:David Hirt, Senior Plant Ecologist
7:05 Improvement in Wildlife and Pollinator Habitat by Controlling Cheatgrass ACTION REQUESTED: None, Information item only PRESENTER:Steve Sauer, Weed Coordinator
2018-2019 Boulder County Small Grains Demonstration Results ACTION REQUESTED: None, Information item only PRESENTER:Blake Cooper, Agricultural Resources Manager
7:40 Director's Update
7:45 Adjourn
7/25/2019
DRAFT
Parks & Open Space Advisory Committee
MINUTES
July 25, 2019 6:30 p.m.
Commissioners' Hearing Room, 3rd Floor
Boulder County Courthouse, 1325 Pearl Street, Boulder, CO
Call to Order
The meeting was called to order at 6:30 PM by James Krug Members: Scott Miller Sue Anderson Kira Pasquesi James Krug Jenn Archuleta Paula Fitzgerald Trace Baker Heather Williams -- Excused Steven Meyrich -- Excused Staff: Renata Frye Eric Lane Jeff Moline Sandy Duff Janis Whisman Vivienne Jannatpour Nik Brockman Leah Rothbaum Al Hardy
Approval of the May 23, 2019 Meeting Minutes ACTION REQUESTED: Minutes Approval
ACTION: Baker moved approval of item. Archuleta seconded the motion. VOTE: AYES: Miller, Anderson, Pasquesi, Krug, Archuleta, Fitzgerald, Baker The motion to approve the May minutes carried unanimously.
Public Participation - Items Not on the Agenda
Diana Kristoff, 3867 Fletcher St., Loveland, CO. Front Range Nesting Bald Eagle Studies (FRNBES). She spoke about the department's policy for managing prairie dogs and asked that their group by considered a stakeholder and be notified before prairie dog management activities take place.
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7/25/2019
Dana Bove, 1935 Tincup Ct., Boulder, CO. FRNBES He spoke about staff activity that took place too close to a bald eagle nest. Eric Lane later addressed these concerns during the Director's Update portion of the meeting.
Presentations
Nichols Acquisition ACTION REQUESTED: Recommendation to BOCC PRESENTER: Sandy Duff, Senior Land Officer
ACTION: Fitzgerald moved approval of item. Baker seconded the motion. VOTE: AYES: Anderson, Pasquesi, Krug, Archuleta, Fitzgerald, Baker Motion carried unanimously.
Amendment to Management Plan for Carolyn Holmberg Preserve ACTION REQUESTED: Recommendation to BOCC PRESENTER: Jeff Moline, Resource Planning Manager Public Comments: Dave Wynes 696 Tamarisk Ct., Louisville, CO. He is with the Groundwork Ranch. He voiced concerns about a possible trail alignment that would pass by the ranch. Jaci Woodburn, 10730 Moore Cir., Westminster, CO. She is with the Groundwork Ranch. She voiced concerns about a possible trail alignment that would pass by the ranch.
ACTION: Anderson moved approval of item. Archuleta seconded the motion. VOTE: AYES: Miller, Anderson, Pasquesi, Krug, Archuleta, Fitzgerald, Baker Motion carried unanimously. Jenn Archuleta made a request that going forward, planners address the concerns voiced this evening by Ground Work Ranch, even though the current plan does not affect the area where the ranch is located.
Update on Resource Planning Projects ACTION REQUESTED: None, Information item only PRESENTER: Jeff Moline, Resource Planning Manager Information item only.
POSAC Bylaws Update ACTION REQUESTED: Recommendation to BOCC PRESENTER: Eric Lane, Director
ACTION: Fitzgerald moved approval of item. Anderson seconded the motion. VOTE: AYES: Miller, Anderson, Pasquesi, Krug, Archuleta, Fitzgerald, Baker Motion carried unanimously.
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7/25/2019
Director's Update
· 180 people for the CSU Weed Network Tour visited sites on Beech, Rabbit and Hall in Boulder County, and in Weld County. Folks from as far away as Delaware and Montana saw what we’d done there… Everyone really impressed with the Esplanade treatments. · The first artist for this year’s Artist-in-Residence arrived July 11 and there will be artists staying at the DeLonde ranch site until October 1. For their 5 day stay at Caribou Ranch, the County receives one piece of work from them. · In the county’s lawsuit against Crestone regarding the oil and gas lease on the Haley property, the judge decided that the lease has not expired as the county contended. The next step is for the BOCC to decide whether to appeal that decision. · We are conducting a survey and looking for responses from people with disabilities, as well as their family and friends or people who work with those who have disabilities. Survey is posted at BoCo.org/OpenSpaceSurvey. The project contact is Michelle Marotti at [email protected] or 303-678-6219. · The Brewbaker Creek Restoration on Lefthand Creek will begin next week. · A prescribed burn is planned for Monday, July 29, through Friday, Aug. 2, at the Ron Stewart Preserve at Rabbit Mountain, weather permitting. BoCo.org/burns · Parks & Open Space and the St. Vrain and Left Hand Water Conservancy District will host a reservoir flood repair project public information open house on Wednesday, July 31, in Longmont. Construction on Lake 4, West Lake, & A-Frame Pond flood repair project will begin in September. Our project planner is Justin Atherton-Wood at 303-678-6273 or [email protected]. · Acquisition of the Engle property (80 acres up Bunce School Road) is scheduled for August 7. · The Boulder Area Trails App is in final testing and is scheduled to launch in late August. www.TrailsApp.org. The Boulder Area Trails App includes trails from 12 agencies and is designed to connect local communities, enable users to find trails by use or type, allow users to plan routes, and link users to agency websites for more information
Adjourn
The meeting was adjourned at approximately 8:29 PM
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Parks & Open Space 5201 St. Vrain Road • Longmont, Colorado 80503 303-678-6200 • [email protected] www.BoulderCountyOpenSpace.org
Deb Gardner County Commissioner Elise Jones County Commissioner
Matt Jones County Commissioner
PARKS & OPEN SPACE ADVISORY COMMITTEE
TO: Parks & Open Space Advisory Committee DATE/TIME: Thursday, September 26, 6:30 p.m. LOCATION: Commissioners Hearing Room, 3rd floor, Boulder County Courthouse, 1325 Pearl Street, Boulder, CO AGENDA ITEM: Restored Grasslands Model and Revegetation Success PRESENTER: David Hirt, Senior Plant Ecologist ACTION REQUESTED: Information only
This presentation will look at the development of the Restored Grassland Model, as well as
its impetus for use in prairie dog relocation criteria. The model allows us to compare the
ecological functioning of restored grasslands versus native reference grasslands in Boulder
County. Data will be presented for a variety of metrics comparing four sites, restored from
nine to 21 years ago, with four reference sites. We will discuss what is working well and
what is lacking in our restored sites, as well as some possible next steps.
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Parks & Open Space 5201 St. Vrain Road • Longmont, Colorado 80503 303-678-6200 • [email protected] www.BoulderCountyOpenSpace.org
Deb Gardner County Commissioner Elise Jones County Commissioner
Matt Jones County Commissioner
PARKS & OPEN SPACE ADVISORY COMMITTEE
TO: Parks & Open Space Advisory Committee DATE/TIME: Thursday, September 26, 6:30 p.m. LOCATION: Commissioners Hearing Room, 3rd floor, Boulder County Courthouse, 1325 Pearl Street, Boulder, CO AGENDA ITEM: 2018-2019 Boulder County Small Grains Demonstration Results PRESENTER: Dr. Blake Cooper, Agricultural Resources Division Manager ACTION REQUESTED: Information only
We will provide a brief summary of the results obtained on the winter cereals (wheat and
barley) demonstration trial on the LUH property and the organic spring wheat demonstration
trials on the Zimdahl property. A hard copy of the full report will be circulated which will
cover not only the experimental design and yield results collected, but an economic
enterprise analysis and implications of variety choice on production practices and market
demand.
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Preliminary Report 2018-2019 Boulder County POS
Cereal Demonstration Trials
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The Boulder County Fall Cereal Demonstration Plot
On October 4th, 2018 we planted seven (7) leading winter wheat varieties on the Longmont United Hospital (LUH) property with Jules Van Thuyne’s (the tenant farmer) grain drill and GPS guided tractor in 75’ x 500’ = 0.86 Acre sized strip plots. (see planting map below). We also planted a repeated check cultivar, WB Aspen, on the left edge, middle and right edge of the entire block. On Oct 5th, 2018, we planted 3 European Winter malt barley varieties inside the western most WB Aspen check (see yellow highlighted section below). The prior crop was corn for grain, there was a good deal of corn residue, but the field had been well disked to prepare a seedbed. The following day the remainder of the entire LUH field was custom drilled with the same seed source of WB Aspen using a larger air-seeder type drill.
Seed Sources We want to express our appreciation for the local seed growers and breeding programs, both public and private, that provided or sold seed stocks for these trials We tried to include the most recent releases from the public and private sector in this trial. Breeding new varieties is the life-blood of crop improvement. We recognize and applaud the efforts of all those dedicated individuals who work daily to develop and produce the improved varieties that we grow. Specifically, we wish to acknowledge the Colorado Wheat Growers Assn. and Brad Erker for supplying seed of the latest CSU Plains Gold brand varieties; Limagrain Cereal Seeds and Zach Gaines and their associate grower Marc Arnusch of Keensburg, CO for supplying seed of the three winter barleys and the LCS wheats; Syngenta and Steve Askelson and their associate grower Knievel Seed in Wiggins, CO for supplying seed of the Syngenta winter wheats. We also thank the tenant Jules Van Thuyne for supplying the WB Aspen variety that was used as the repeated check cultivar and his surrounding field and for his excellent cooperation in conducting this years’ trial. A brief description of the varieties tested follows:
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Brief Variety Descriptions (Gleaned from multiple public and private sources)
WB ASPEN—A relatively early maturing, high yielding Hard White Winter Wheat (HWW) with excellent straw strength and relatively short stature (irrigated production) developed by Westbred. Aspen has good levels of winter hardiness. For a ‘white-wheat’ Aspen has a good level of pre-harvest sprout tolerance. Protein levels, test-weight, milling, in and baking properties are all acceptable. Aspen has excellent resistance to soilborne wheat mosaic virus (SBMV), but it is intermediate to susceptible to both wheat streak mosaic virus (WSMV) and barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV). Resistance to stripe rust is very good, but it is only intermediate for leaf rust, tan spot and Septoria blotch. Aspen is highly susceptible to Hessian Fly (HF). Some indications that later fall planting might help avoid HF and late spring frosts. This is the moving mean check variety (3 reps) and the balance of the tenant’s field. Aspen has consistently looked good in this year’s demonstration plots with good stands, fall vigor, and dark green color, However, WB Aspen also had a significant amount of head sterility with many individual florets only having a very small aborted remnant kernels (lost in combining) instead of well filled plump kernels. The exact cause of this head sterility is unknown, but it does not appear to be due to a late spring frost since other varieties with about the same relative maturity did not express this condition.
LCS CALYPSO—A consistently top yielding, two row winter malting barley. It is a fully European Brewing Convention (EBC) approved malt barley. With the warmer winters and extended cooler/wetter springs, we are seeing along the Front Range, winter barley could have a real place in the rotation. Bred primarily for European conditions, winter barleys in general will make better use of available water, provide valuable winter soil cover and crank out astounding yields when compared to spring malting barley. Calypso is resistant to powdery mildew and moderately resistant to many other foliar diseases of barley. It has intermediate height and maturity (most winter barleys are 10-14 days earlier maturity than most winter wheats). Straw strength is well above average (for barley) with very good levels of winter hardiness. A high percentage of plump kernels and test weight combine with excellent malt extract potential to make this a great choice for many local craft brews. The primary limitation would be local malthouse capacity.
LCS CASANOVA—A newly EBC approved two-row winter malting barley from Limagrain Cereal Seeds. Developed by the same Limagrain breeding program as Calypso, Casanova has only been tested nationally along the Atlantic coast of the US to date, at limited locations. Initial testing has shown Casanova to have similar tolerance to powdery mildew, leaf rust and fusarium head blight as Calypso. Straw strength and plant maturity are also similar. It has shown improved test weight compared to Calypso and is 3” shorter in height on average. Winter hardiness looks to be good, but not as strong as Calypso. In eastern testing, Casanova has been yield-competitive with Calypso. Malting quality evaluations from US grown material are currently underway.
LCS NEREA—A newly European Brewery Convention (EBC) approved two row winter malting barley from Limagrain Cereal Seeds. Nerea also comes from the same breeding program as Calypso. Key agronomic points of differentiation between Nerea and Calypso are maturity and plant height. Nerea is approximately one week earlier in maturing and 4” shorter. In eastern testing, Nerea yielded 8 bushels lower than Casanova. Malting quality evaluations from US grown material are currently underway.
SY SUNRISE—A Hard Red Winter Wheat (HRW) bred for very high yields under irrigated conditions. Like most Syngenta varieties, SY Sunrise has a short semi-dwarf stature with excellent straw strength. SY Sunrise is a medium late maturity variety with excellent test weight patterns and good levels of winter hardiness. Sunrise has good levels of protection against all three wheat rusts (stem, stripe, and leaf) and is intermediate to bacterial blight. Milling and baking qualities for SY Sunrise are acceptable. SY Sunrise requires growers sign a seed stewardship agreement (Growers must waive their Plant Variety Protection Act (PVPA) rights to plant back seed).
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SY MONUMENT—A medium late maturity, medium tall statured Hard Red Winter Wheat (HRW) widely adapted for the Central Plains region that is noted for its good drought tolerance and general disease protection. Straw strength is average. Monument has good levels of winterhardiness and is intermediate to good for quite a wide range of fungal and viral diseases. It is susceptible to Hessian fly. This variety is sold under standard PVPA regulations, which allow limited plant back provisions.
PLAINSGOLD SNOWMASS 2.0—This is an Ardent Mills exclusive version of the original Snowmass Hard White Winter Wheat (HWW) that is noted for improved straw strength and better stripe rust resistance than the original. Snowmass 2.0 is medium-height, medium-maturity, with good test weight patterns and carries resistance to wheat streak mosaic virus. Snowmass 2.0 also carries a contract premium from Ardent Mills to recognize the unique milling and baking properties they desire in a hard white wheat.
PLAINSGOLD CANVAS—A new high yielding Hard Red Winter Wheat (HRW) developed by CSU with medium maturity, medium short strong straw, and very good stripe and stem rust resistance. It also has very good WSMV and soilborne resistance. Canvas has excellent test weight and milling/baking quality. PLAINSGOLD CANVAS was just released to Colorado growers in the fall of 2018.
PLAINSGOLD CRESCENT AX—A new CoAXiumTM Hard Red Winter Wheat (HRW) variety with two genes of tolerance to the Aggressor™ herbicide. It is higher yielding, with improved quality compared to Incline AX. Crescent AX has medium height, medium-early maturity with very good straw, and is intermediate for stripe and leaf rust resistance. It has good resistance to WSMV and good test weight, as well as good milling and baking quality. Released to Colorado seed growers in the fall of 2018, Crescent AX is subject to a stewardship agreement covering both the use of Certified Seed and the recommended use of the AggressorTM herbicide to protect and extend the lifespan of this new wheat production system.
LCS FUSION AX—This is another new CoAXiumTM Hard Red Winter Wheat (HRW) with two genes for herbicide tolerance released through Limagrain Cereal Seeds for use with Aggressor TM herbicide wheat production system. LCS Fusion is of medium-tall stature and medium-late maturity with average straw strength. It is intermediate to WSMV and BYDV but is otherwise moderately susceptible to other foliar diseases, such as rusts and mildew. Fusion is also susceptible to the Hessian fly. Like all other CoAXium wheats, LCS Fusion is subject to a stewardship agreement covering both the use of Certified Seed and the use of AggressorTM herbicide to protect the lifespan of this new production system.
LCS REVERE—A new Hard Red Winter Wheat (HRW) released in the fall of 2018 by Limagrain Cereal Seeds that is broadly adapted to the Central Great Plains region. LCS Revere is noted as having very high yields, medium-height, medium-early maturity plants, with excellent levels of winter hardiness, drought tolerance, and resistance to stripe rust. It is intermediate to many other fungal and viral diseases. Milling and baking are just acceptable.
Weather and Visual Observations All the fall sown plots emerged well, with generally even stands except for a few small pockets where heavier corn residue resulted in thinner stands. This was felt to be so minimal that it did not warrant estimation. All the plots survived the relatively mild winter. The barleys did get burned back a bit in early February but greened right back up to full stands. The spring was cooler and wetter than normal (close to ideal for cereals). Weeds were sprayed, and top dress fertilizer applied to all plots and approximately four (4) inches of supplemental irrigation were provided in addition to natural precipitation. See weather graphs below:
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The winter of 2018 /19 was somewhat milder than normal. There were only seven (7) days where the minimum temperature fell below zero (0 F) and only three days with a daily minimum near -150 F. The last freeze (320 F) was on May 20th. Winter-kill was minimal even though we had minimal snow cover at some of the coldest periods.
Results On July 2, 2019 we held a Public Field Day with 60 people in attendance, which included these test plots as well as other experiments. On July 5 a moderate amount of hail fell on the plots... it appeared that the hail was more severe on the east side than the west side of the plots and because of this spatial variability we did not try to take a damage or shattering note per se. It is fair to estimate a 20-25% reduction in grain yield was the net result of the hail. The winter barleys had more shattering even though they were on the side with less hail. The Snowmass 2.0 variety of wheat also suffered more shattering than other wheats even though it was positioned roughly in the center of the test area. There was relatively little lodging, but the both Coaxium wheat varieties (LCS Fusion AX and Plains Gold Crescent AX) positioned toward the eastern edge of the field were taller with later maturity and had some lodging, but they also encountered less hail damage owing to their growth stage and growth habit.
The plots were all harvested on July 31, 2019 Using the tenant farmer’s John Deere combine with settings for air flow and cylinder speed held constant for all plots, the combine hopper from each strip was emptied into a weigh wagon that was graciously provided by Agfinity of Gilchrest, Colorado. Sub-samples (~10-15 Lbs.) were removed. Raw weights in Lbs./plot were converted into Bushels per acre (Bu/ac) using standard measures (wheat = 60 Lbs. / Bu; barley = 48 Lbs. / Bu). Most varieties were well below 13% moisture at harvest, but we did not adjust the yields
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for exact grain moisture at harvest, but we probably should have in retrospect as the later maturity varieties seemed to prevail, indicating a potential bias in the yield results.
Because the plots on the far eastern and western edges of the test block had portions of the strips that fell just outside the full arc of the center pivot reach (~dryland) we examined the data for spatial trends using the three repeated WB Aspen Check strips (situated on the left, right and middle of the entire test block). The check trend vs field position was significantly different than random and tightly fit a quadratic curve. Using the checks only as an iterative adjustment (3x iterations) we estimated a spatially adjusted yield. The varietal rankings did not change too much from the raw yield to the adjusted data. The mean of all 13 plots was 76.4 Bu/ac in the raw data and this was adjusted to 73.3 Bu/ac after the trend was partially removed with iterative adjustment. Effectively, the harvest data ‘is-what-it-is’ and the raw data should probably be used as the ‘official result’. The iterative adjusted data may however come in handy for further economic analysis. The data collected on this experiment is summarized in Table 1 below:
TABLE 1. DATA SUMMARY OF THE 2018-2019 WINTER CEREALS DEMONSTRATION PLOT
The relative rankings (other than the three individual check plots highlighted in dark green above, (which collapsed on the raw WB Aspen check mean of 63.8 Bu/ac) were almost the same for the raw and adjusted data. Based on the variance in the three repeated WB Aspen check strips we calculated estimated trial Standard Error of the means of 5.95 and 0.79 Bu/ac respectively for the raw data and the adjusted data columns.
2018-2019 Winter Cereal Demonstration Plots
Variety
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(lbs./ac)Winter BarleysLCS CALYPSO WB 32 3 49.6 16.0 3046 63.5 73.8 75.7 1212LCS CASSINOVA WB 29 3 49.2 15.4 2866 59.7 69.4 68.3 1052LCS NEREA WB 29 5 48.4 15.9 3112 64.8 75.4 71.7 1141Exp. Barley Means 30.0 3.7 49.1 15.8 3008.0 62.7 72.9 71.9 1134Winter WheatsLCS FUSION AX HRWW 37 7 61.5 11.3 4678 78.0 90.7 86.8 980CANVAS HRWW 35 4 63.5 11.8 4570 76.2 88.6 81.6 963CRESENT AX HRWW 39 6 62.5 12.3 4474 74.6 86.7 81.0 996SNOWMASS 2.0 HWWW 34 5 62.1 12.6 4430 73.8 85.9 78.3 986SY MONUMENT HRWW 35 4 61.4 12.8 4200 70.0 81.4 74.5 954SY SUNRISE HRWW 27 4 62.1 13.4 3742 62.4 72.5 67.0 898LCS REVERE HRWW 34 5 61.2 12.4 4017 67.0 77.8 76.9 954Exp. Wheat Means 34.4 5.0 62.0 12.4 4301.6 71.7 83.4 78.0 965WB ASPEN (West Check) HWWW 29 3 60.4 15.0 2946 49.1 57.1 62.9 944WB ASPEN (Mid Check) HWWW 34 3 60.5 14.5 3744 62.4 72.6 65.0 942WB ASPEN (east Check) HWWW 30 3 60.1 14.7 3196 53.3 61.9 63.6 936WB ASPEN (Check Mean) 30.7 3 60.3 14.7 3295 54.9 63.9 63.8 941Est. Std. Error of Mean 1.48 0.0 0.13 0.25 235.7 3.9 5.95 0.79 0.20
*1 early -9 late
WB = Winter Barley
HRWW = Hard Red Winter Wheat
HWWW = Hard White Winter Wheat
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The three winter barleys (light green highlight above) averaged 72.9 Bu/ac raw and 71.9 Bu/ac after adjustment. The seven experimental winter wheats averaged 83.4 Bu/ac raw and 78.0 Bu/ac after iterative adjustment of trends, respectively.
Several weeks after harvest there was noticeable evidence of shattered grain particularly on the LCS Calypso and LCS Cassinova Winter barley strips. The third winter barley (LCS Nerea) has less evidence of shattering while the winter wheat variety Snowmass 2.0 had more than most of the other wheat varieties.
The Boulder County Spring Wheat Demonstration Plot On March 28, 2019 we planted a demonstration plot of Hard Red Spring Wheat (HRSW) varieties on the Zimdahl property (which is a certified NOP Organic farm) with David Asbury as the tenant farmer. The varieties chosen were selected from recent public and private breeding program releases specifically for having highly desirable end-use milling and baking properties with secondary considerations for plant stature, lodging, maturity, and disease resistance. Under the organic production practices the farmer has been using, he has experienced serious issues with late weed competition in the variety SY Soren. SY Soren is noted as having a very erect and open growth habit, with relatively short straw with excellent standability. (SY Soren is a long-term standard for HRSW straw strength, but the relatively short straw and open habit make it less competitive with weeds, especially late in the season as harvest approaches). In fact, the main purpose of this demonstration was to find varieties that meet or exceed SY Soren in terms of end-use quality and general agronomic performance, but which might also be more competitive with late season weed pressure under local conditions. The field had been prepared prior to planting with a tillage pass and pre-bedding. The strips were drilled in two passes (up and back) with our own Great Plains No-Till drill and John Deere 7520 tractor (without GPS auto steer). Our drill has 15 coulters on 7.5 inch centers and generally followed the pre-formed beds, but occasionally ‘jumped beds’, which effectively resulted in strips that were ~18.75 ft wide and of variable length (670 ft – 915 ft) owing to the variable shape of the portion of field where the strips were located. We calculated the total area in each strip (0.29 – 0.39 acres each) using a standard width of 18.75 ft. and the variable length from a satellite GPS for each strip. On August 5, 2019 the entire strip of each variety was harvested with the tenant’s John Deere combine with settings for air, cylinder speed, etc. all held constant. The combine hopper from each strip was emptied into a weigh wagon that was graciously provided by Agfinity of Gilchrest, Colorado. Sub-samples (~10-15 Lbs.) were removed and grain moisture was recorded. The total weight of each plot was adjusted to a 13.5% constant moisture content and converted to Bu/plot using a slightly more conservative 60 Lb./Bu standard test weight than the official 58 Lb./Bu HRSW official conversion. This conservative conversion technically underestimates the final yield in terms of Bushels by ~3.3%. The harvest plot sizes were also conservatively estimated in that we first removed a 20 ft. headland from both ends of all strips (~ 0.017 acres) so the final harvested acreage for each strip was also slightly overestimated, which would underestimate the harvest yield per acre. All plots were treated the same so the results, while conservative, are in fact directly comparable within the trial. The sub-samples were sent, courtesy of Earl Wright of Colorado Organic Feeds, to Ardent Mills in Commerce City, CO where they were each measured for actual test weight and grain protein content (reported here) as well as other proprietary end-use quality evaluations (not reported here) to quantify each varieties suitability for Ardent’s milling and baking quality parameters.
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Plot map (with notations on plot size, seeding rate)
Seed Sources We want to express our appreciation for the seed growers and breeding programs, both public and private, that provided seed stocks for these trials. Specifically, we wish to acknowledge; Limagrain Cereal Seeds and Zach Gaines and their associate growers {Frederichs Seed of Foxhome MN; Howes Seeds of Casselton, ND; and Nelson Seeds of Thompson, ND} Dakota for supplying seed of the three winter barleys and the LCS wheats and most the public released varieties as well; Syngenta and Steve Askelson and their associate growers Nelson Seeds and Howe Seeds for supplying seed of the Syngenta Spring Wheats. We especially thank Mark Lubbers and Westbred for complementary seed and shipping fees of all the Westbred spring wheats. David Asbury provided farm-saved seed of the variety SY Soren that surrounded the test plots in his field. We acknowledge the dedicated folks who bred and produced the superior genetics of seed we used in these trials. Because this was a NOP Certified Organic farm, we had to request that all seed lots were untreated, which is not the norm in the Dakotas. This request required some special effort in very cold Dakota winter weather to pull untreated lots, bag and ship the seed for our trials. As noted above, one of the main variables we wanted to evaluate in this demonstration trial was the ability of the varieties to out-compete late weeds under organic production practices in addition to agronomic performance and end-use quality. One of the varieties tested was a composite 50:50 blend of two single varieties (LCS Rebel and UMN Lang). The genetics tested were mostly cutting-edge new releases from the hard spring wheat region, and we found them to be generally well adapted to our local conditions. A brief description of the varieties tested follows:
South (Asbury's SY Soren)
~ 670' ----> along south edge
Shelley 0.29 ac
VitPro 0.30 ac
WB 6668 0.31 ac
LCS Trigger 0.31 ac
Bolles 0.33 ac
SY Ingmar 0.34 ac
<---- EAST WEST ----
WB7202CLP 0.35 ac
Lang MN 0.36 ac
Cooper Comp. (Rebel + Lang MN) 0.36 ac
should be close to 117 Lb rate
LCS Rebel from here to the end0.37 ac
~ 18.75 ft wide maybe a bit light 90 lb/ ac seeding
each strip SY Valda on SY Valda0.38 ac
2 passes of 15 rows on 7.5" centers = 18.75 ft wide strips only 1.75 passes but heavy
WB 9479 ~200 lb/ac seeding rate0.39 ac
> 915 ft----> along north edge overlapped with Dave's Soren
North ( Asbury's SY Soren)
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Hard Spring Wheat, Brief Variety Descriptions WB 9479—Hard red Spring Wheat (HRS) released in 2017 by WestBred. WB 9479 is relatively short in stature with above-average straw strength and medium-early maturity. Yields in the Upper Midwest are average with above average protein content. WB 9479 is highly resistant to all three types of rust (stripe, stem, and leaf); it is intermediate to fusarium head blight and tan spot, but it is highly susceptible to bacterial leaf blight. Milling and Baking properties are good, particularly strong farinograph stability. We accidentally seeded this variety at a very high (~ 2x) seeding rate and it still stood well and competed with weeds well. A higher seeding rate may be one option to help with weed competition on shorter stature varieties. SY Valda—Hard Red Spring Wheat (HRSW) released by Syngenta in 2015 that is broadly adapted to the HRSW region. Valda is of medium height and medium maturity and has good straw strength. Valda should compete with weeds better than SY Soren in organic systems. In the Upper Midwest, Valda is a relatively balanced variety with yields above average and protein slightly below average. Valda is resistant to stem rust and leaf rust, moderate to fusarium head blight, but only intermediate to susceptible to stripe rust, tan spot, and bacterial leaf blight. Milling and baking properties are good, with medium farinograph stability. LCS Rebel—Hard Red Spring Wheat (HRS) released by Limagrain in 2017 that is well adapted to a large part of the HRSW region. Rebel is of medium-tall plant height and medium-early maturity and has average straw strength. Rebel has large seed size and good test weight patterns. LCS Rebel is resistant to stem rust, but intermediate to moderately susceptible to most other wheat diseases. LCS Rebel recently replaced Glenn as the SWQAC quality standard for the western HRSW region. Yields and protein are both above average. It has very highly desirable milling and baking properties, similar quality profile to Glenn, with a nice medium-strong farinograph stability. Potentially a great quality choice for Ardent Mills and should outcompete SY Soren for organic weed competition. Cooper Composite—This is just a 50:50 composite blend of LCS Rebel and Lang (on either side of this strip). Composites often have certain advantages over single varieties, namely, they are more stable and resilient to environmental conditions and frequently outperform the expected average of the individual components due to ‘complementarity’ for abiotic and biotic stresses. Due to a separate phenomenon called ‘convergence’ the blend often looks like a single variety in terms of overall appearance. Quality traits are predictably very close to the mean of the single components, but also tend to be more stable over time. Tripartite mixtures are probably the ideal, but this two-variety blend was chosen specifically to address weed competition under organic practices and to deliver superior end-use quality since both LCS Rebel and Lang are slightly taller but have very strong quality traits. Lang MN—Hard Red Spring Wheat (HRS) released by Univ. of Minn. in 2017 that is well adapted to the eastern part of the HRSW region. Lang MN is of medium-tall height and medium-late maturity and has average straw strength. Lang MN is resistant to stem rust, leaf rust and stripe rust, but intermediate to moderately susceptible to most other diseases. Yields in the upper Midwest are average and protein levels are consistently above average. Lang also has very highly desirable milling and baking properties, with a nice medium-strong farinograph stability. Potentially another great choice for Ardent and should outcompete SY Soren for organic weed competition. WB 7202 CLP—This is a ClearfieldTM production system Hard White Spring Wheat (HWS) that allows in crop use of ALS type herbicides. It is best adapted to the Pacific Northwest (PNW) region, but it was included in this demonstration at the request of Ardent Mills for its white wheat end-use advantages. It should do very well in Colorado under irrigation due to its high yield potential and test weight, short stature, excellent straw strength, and acceptable levels of protein content. WB 7202 CLP literature indicates excellent resistance to stripe rust (but that may be to races found in the PNW and not in CO). Milling and baking are both consistently good. This variety requires that growers sign a Seed Stewardship agreement to only plant certified seed as well as some additional restrictions on the use of ALS herbicides as part of the Clearfield Production System however, this will be of no practical value for an organic grower. SY Ingmar—Is the “Son of Soren” Hard Red Spring Wheat (HRSW) and was released by Syngenta Seeds in 2014, about 3 years after SY Soren. Due to the related genetics, Soren and Ingmar are very similar in type having the classic short semi-dwarf growth habit and excellent straw strength typical of so many AgriPro spring wheats. SY Ingmar is a medium maturity wheat and is also a ‘balanced’ wheat type with very good yield potential and above average test weight and protein levels, disease protection is also generally like Soren. Dave Asbury has planted SY
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Soren for the past two seasons, and it certainly has the straw strength and maturity right for our climate, but it can have a hard time competing with (kochia) weeds late in the season under irrigated organic farming practices. Soren Ingmar has excellent milling (flour extraction) and good baking characteristics, with medium strong farinograph stability. Bolles—A Hard Red Spring Wheat (HRS) released by University of Minnesota in 2015 that is well adapted to the HRSW region. Bolles is a taller height and later maturity wheat with below average straw strength. Bolles’ claim to fame is its consistently high-level of protein content. It is moderately resistant to stem rust and leaf rust, but intermediate to stripe rust and moderately susceptible to most other diseases including bacterial blight. Yields in the upper Midwest are (depending on who you believe) slightly below average, but protein levels are consistently well above average. Bolles has highly desirable milling and baking properties, with a medium-strong farinograph stability and lots of water absorption and loaf volume potential due to shear protein content. Potentially Bolles is another great choice for Ardent Mills and it should outcompete SY Soren for organic weed competition, but the big if’s will be if it can stand under irrigation and yield with the shorter varieties here in Colorado and/or not get fried by late heat or lack of irrigation due to it later maturity. The 2019 experiment demonstrated that Bolles was not as tall and late in our conditions as it is in the upper Midwest, so it could have a definite place in Colorado. LCS Trigger—Hard Red Spring Wheat (HRS) released by Limagrain in 2016 that was developed with 100% Brazilian genetics and is very well adapted to the southern part of the HRSW region. Trigger is of medium-tall plant height and medium-late maturity and has better than average straw strength. LCS Trigger’s claim to fame is unhinged yield potential combined with an excellent overall disease protection package. LCS Trigger is very resistant to all three rusts, is better than most for bacterial blight, and has good protection to Fusarium head blight. It has very desirable milling qualities and although protein content is consistently on the low side, because Trigger carries the 7OE glutenin gene, baking properties are quite good (it doesn’t have a lot of protein, but the protein it has is very functional). WB 9668—This Hard Red Spring Wheat (HRS) is a medium maturity short semi-dwarf with excellent straw strength. It was bred primarily for the PNW/Montana region with a target to irrigated acres. The literature suggests it has excellent yield potential, but also lists high end protein content... so unless Westbred has found the magic bullet, something must give, because you typically cannot have both high yield and high protein. It has excellent stripe rust resistance (and the races in Montana would be like those in CO). WB 9668 is also resistant to leaf rust, bacterial blight, powdery mildew, and Hessian fly. This variety has very good milling and baking properties. If it can stand up to all the claims, this could be a winner for irrigated production. However, based on the 2019 experimental results this variety was by far the least competitive with weeds of all the varieties tested. It could be an excellent choice in the future for ‘conventional’ irrigated production with herbicides, but it would not be the ideal choice for organic production for the sole limitation of very poor weed competition; unless competition could be improved with a higher seeding rate, which WB 9668 should be able to achieve given its straw strength. (see Fig 1a). ND VitPro—This HRS variety was released in 2016 by NDSU. It is medium height and medium early in maturity. North Dakota State University (NDSU) literature suggests this is a variety that is a little shorter and has better straw strength than the contemporary NDSU varieties, which tend to be taller and have weaker straw. The line is supposed to have a high percentage of vitreous (hard) kernels and extremely high levels of grain protein. Yields are below average, but protein levels are consistently very high based on upper Midwest performance data. The disease protection package is ok, except for tan spot and bacterial blight which are both susceptible. Milling and baking are very good. If this variety can stay standing under Colorado irrigated conditions, it could be a consideration based on end-use quality including organic production. The 2019 results suggest that ND VitPro had adequate straw strength and weed competitiveness for organic production. Shelley—This HRS variety was released by University of Minnesota in 2016. It is medium in height and medium late in maturity. Straw strength is rated as average. Yields in the upper Midwest have been well above average (like Faller / Prosper); protein is below average, but slightly higher than Faller. Disease package is just average, except for stem rust which is resistant, other rusts are intermediate to MS and it is susceptible to bacterial blight. Shelley has a very high % flour extraction, which millers will like, but its baking quality is more in the acceptable category, with low water absorption and only average farinograph stability.
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Results There was quite the range of weed control observed in the experimental strip plots. As expected, some of the shorter plant height varieties (like WB 9668 and Shelly) had a harder time competing with late season weeds than taller varieties (like Bolles, Lang, SY Valda). The value of proper variety choice is clear in Figure 1a. below which is a side-by-side view from inside the combine of WB 9668 and LCS Trigger. Because our drill did not line up precisely with the pre-formed beds there are places where the drill jumped from bed to bed leaving a narrow strip of bare ground with more weeds. We compared the average weed load in the plot and did not consider these narrow bare patches. There were portions of the tenants SY SOREN variety in the field around the demonstration plots that had significant late season weed pressure. {See Figure 1b. below}.
Figure 1a. Example of variety choice on weed control from the combine (on the left WB 9668, in the center LCS Trigger)
Figure 1b. Example of heavy weed pressure in a portion of the farmer’s SY Soren field surrounding the plots.
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Table 2. Data Summary of 2019 Organic Spring Wheat Plot. Note expectation of Rebel and Lang vs the Cooper Composite, which shows the composite will be close (or slightly superior) to the expected mean of the components in the blend.
General Discussion and Conclusions We hope that this information will help our tenant farmers’ make better informed decisions about which varieties to grow in future years, recognizing that the buyer may very well have specific variety recommendations to meet the demands and milling and baking specifications of an end-user. We also want to point out that these demonstration plots were just that, sub-acre sized plots that were not replicated (beyond a repeated check in the winter trials) so we really cannot declare with confidence the statistical precision of the data. We also acknowledge that 2018-2019 was a unique growing season and these results are one-year estimates of the varieties’ future potential in Boulder County. Typically, results over two to three years are more predictive of future results than a single years’ results.
The winter barley results were disappointing. These three high yielding European Malt barleys have the potential to achieve almost 200 Bu/ac yields, yet they only averaged 72.9 Bu/ac in our demonstration trial. The grain protein of the winter barley averaged 15.8% (higher than most of the winter wheats) and well above desired malting barley protein levels (~9.0 < 12% max). Admittedly, the barley strips were managed as part of a winter wheat trial with fertility levels to match, but the lower yield combined with elevated protein on the winter barley would be counterproductive to the desired condition (i.e. the barley would have been rejected for malting use. Feed barley is not going to be an economically viable option at almost any attainable yield level). Winter barley would be advantageous in our rotations, but only if we can produce high yield/low protein (malt barley). Based on the results from this year, we would be hard-pressed to recommend growers forward contract any significant acreage of winter barley, at least until we can show better results. Promixity Malting (with a new regional malting facility in the San Luis Valley) made a nice presentation and offer for our growers to forward contract malt barley at $9.55/100# (~
Variety Mkt Class Height
(in)
Relative Maturity
(1-9)
Bu/Ac Harvest Moisture
( %)
WGA NIR
Protein%
Test Weight (lb/bu)
Protein
Lbs / acSY VALDA HRSW 34 5 97.4 11.1 12.6 62.2 1227LCS TRIGGER HRSW 37 5 92.6 7.6 12.3 60.6 1139LCS REBEL HRSW 42 5 88.1 14.0 14.1 61.7 1242COOPER-COMPOSITE HRSW 41 5 85.0 13.7 14.2 61.5 1207Expected 1:1 Rebel:Lang HRSW 40.5 4.5 83.7 13.9 14.1 62.2 1180UMN LANG HRSW 39 4 79.3 13.8 14.1 62.7 1118WB 7202 CLP HRSW 31 5 86.5 13.3 13.3 62.3 1150WB 9479 HRSW 31 4 86.4 11.8 14.0 62.3 1210SHELLEY HRSW 28 5 82.9 10.9 13.2 63.1 1094WB 9668 HRSW 25 4 78.7 11.2 14.6 62.2 1149SY INGMAR HRSW 34 5 78.4 13.7 14.0 61.9 1098BOLLES HRSW 35 5 77.6 13.3 15.4 62.1 1195ND VITPRO HRSW 34 4 70.1 13.7 14.9 60.0 1044SY SOREN (Asbury) HRSW 35 5 65.0 13.7 13.9 62.0 904Exp. Wheat Means 34.3 4.7 83.6 12.3 13.9 61.9 1156
2019 Organic Spring Wheat Demonstration Plots
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$4.60 / Bu). Assuming a better yield of 120 Bu/ac that would gross out at about $550/ac; but only if it met the malting specifications. Feed barley typically trades at a significant discount to malting barley price making it economically unattractive and a risky business. The requirement to temporarily store the harvest on-farm is also a large impediment to not only winter barley, but grain crops in general, pointing out a major limitation on Boulder County Open Space where we currently have limited storage capacity.
In general, the winter wheat results were more typical of local production, but even the wheats did not do as well as expected given the favorable growing weather this season. Most notably, the repeated check cultivar WB Aspen emerged well in the fall and had a nice dark green vigorous growth habit thru the winter months and into early spring. At maturity however, WB Aspen was markedly sterile, with many heads having only one to two filled kernels and 25+ aborted kernels that were so shriveled that they all went out the back of the combine with the chaff. WB Aspen is an early variety, but we do not believe this was the result of a late freeze that killed the pollen. Seeds were set in almost all florets but then for some unknown reason many of the kernels aborted. The two highest yielding winter wheats were both new CoAxiumTM herbicide-tolerant varieties. Both the Plains Gold Cresent AX and the LCS Fusion AX were taller and later than the rest of the wheat varieties tested. Both were showing some signs of lodging 14 days before harvest, which could pose a problem under high yield irrigated production. They did create what looked to be a lot more biomass and that biomass did help contribute to the higher yields in 2019. We felt that all the varieties were of acceptable grain moisture at harvest, but because we did not correct for actual harvest moisture on the winter plots we cannot absolutely rule out that some of the extra yield was just due to higher harvest moistures. The Coaxium TM production system would permit control of grassy weeds like cheat grass and feral rye that are common (particularly in dry land summer fallow rotations) in the northern front range of Colorado. For situations where these grassy weeds are perennial problems, this new production system offers a huge benefit. Even though the technology is not Genetically Engineered (GMO or GE), the use of the AggressorTM companion herbicide would not be permitted in organic production systems, and we should probably allow a few more years of testing before we openly recommend the adoption of this new system. We do expect incorporation of this technology into improved genetics are coming in the near future.
The Organic Spring Wheat Demonstration was very successful, not only with respect to yield and grain protein scores, but in terms of ability to compete with late season weed pressure under organic production systems. The average yield across all varieties was 83.6 Bu/ac with an average of 13.9% grain protein or equivalent to the spring wheat standard basis of 14%. The variety Bolles was especially interesting in this trial. In the upper Midwest Bolles is notoriously tall and late and while it is noted as having very high protein content, the yields are often not at the top because of the inverse relationship of yield to protein. In this demonstration trial Bolles was markedly shorter and earlier than it is in the Dakotas and it had the highest grain protein of 15.4% and a respectable yield of 77.6 Bu/ac. One experimental ‘variety’ was a composite blend of equal parts of LCS Rebel and UMN Lang. The composite was slightly better than the expected mean of the two individual components (which is a typical phenomenon and one that we can exploit in the future to achieve good performance across the board, including weed control and end-use quality). This crop was forward contracted to Ardent Mills through Colorado Organic Feed (Earl Wright of Wellington, Colorado) at a very respectable price of $16/Bu, loaded out into a semi-truck in the field. See Economics section for comparison enterprise accounts. Obtaining adequate grain protein is one other challenge in organic production systems where the use of synthetic nitrogen to boost protein is not permitted. The fact that the spring wheat yielded as much as it did with the levels of protein is a testament to David Asbury’s farming skill using organic production methods.
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Economics We have not had time to prepare a complete enterprise accounting for these different crops. But just looking at the gross income for now sheds a lot of light on the economics and it essentially shows that organic spring wheat is a “no brainer” more profitable crop vs these other small grain options (if you can figure out how to grow it organically and if the local market can bear additional supply over time.)
Table 3. Gross return per acre.
Assumes an approximate price at local elevator and the mean yields of the market class from the demonstration trials. Note the 15.9 % Grain protein on the 2019 winter barley would prevent malting grade resulting in a much lower price per bushel for ‘feed barley’. If yield was higher and protein lower to make malting grade, winter barley could gross > $500/ac.
We will attempt a complete Enterprise Accounting of the various crops later this fall as time permits. Given the estimated total cost (variable + fixed) to produce winter wheat of ~ $275/ac, you can see the yield levels we observed on winter barley, and hard red winter wheat are near or below production cost break-even points. Organic spring wheat has a real profit potential at the yield levels and prices received in 2019, but the question then becomes can this be sustained over time. A slightly different way of looking at this would be to estimate the break-even price with a conservative average yield of 75 Bu/ac and a conservative estimate of $300/acre of production cost for organic spring wheat translates to a break-even price of ~ $4.00/Bu. Every $1.00 increment in price over $4.00 would result in ~ $75/ac of net profit, so a $6.00/Bu price would net ~$150/ac and $12.00/Bu would result in approximately $600 net per acre.
Gross Income
(Sept 11, 2019)
Mean Yield
(Bu / ac)
Mean Protein
%
Price
($ / Bu)
Gross Income ($ / ac)
Winter Barley 73.0 15.9 * 2.85$ 208$ Red Winter Wheat 83.0 12.4 3.50$ 291$ White Winter Wheat 75.0 13.7 4.60$ 345$ Organic Spring Wheat 83.6 13.9 16.00$ 1,338$
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