(upbeat music) - Good morning, Oklahoma.

I'm Kurtis Hair and welcome to SUNUP.

With the much needed rainfall that the state recently received, how did that impact summer crops?

We'll find out much more about that later in the show.

But first, are there any telltale signs that will let pecan growers know if they're gonna have a crop this year?

Becky Carroll gets us up to speed.

- We're at the Cimarron Valley research station in the pecan orchard, and these are Merrimack pecans.

And you can see they're showing a lot of flowers right now.

These are the male flowers and then I'll show you what the female flowers look like in just a minute.

But this is the time of year when growers are getting excited.

They see the potential of a future crop for the season.

Just because we see the flowers doesn't mean that we're going to have a crop this year, but it is a good sign to see lots of female flowers on the tree and they're just starting to peak out in some places now.

And so that's great news.

We've had lots of good rainfall and the drought conditions have kind of moved away from the pecan belt.

Right now, the insect pressure is not too bad but the growers need to be putting out pecan nut casebearer traps in the orchard.

And these are pheromone traps.

They hang them out early in May and they attract the male moths.

The pheromone is a female pheromone, and so it tracks the male moths so they can know when they need to start looking for eggs or damage and then time that spray, which is normally the end of May, first part of June, is when they're putting that on.

But the casebearer can do quite a bit of damage on those small pecans during that timeframe.

The 2022 crop was disappointing to say the least and we started off looking like it was gonna be a pretty decent year but we had less chilling hours than we wanted to going into the winter, so that kind of threw some kinks into the pollination and the crop formation after that.

And then we went into that long drought period and the pecans were very small and then a lot of trees just dropped the crop because they couldn't actually produce something.

So, pecans are really good about taking care of the tree itself and dropping things.

And so that crop wasn't gonna develop.

So they dropped a lot of those pecans.

And then the people that did have pecans, on October 19th, we had a very early fall freeze.

And those pecans that hadn't opened up due to late maturing or to the drought conditions, they just they need water to open up the shuck, they were frozen in the shuck.

And so if those shucks are tight to the shell they're not usable at that point.

We have the Oklahoma Pecan Growers Association their annual conference and trade show and that's June 1st through the third in Tulsa this year.

It's at the the Cox Business Convention Center in downtown Tulsa.

For more information about this event just go to the SUNUP website.

(upbeat music) - Welcome to the Mesonet Weather Report.

I'm Wes Lee.

Traveling around the state, it appears that our warm season crops are slow to get started this year.

This may be from either a lack of moisture early on or it may be due to cooler than normal soil temps for part of the spring season.

Soil moisture should not be a limiting factor now for most of the eastern three-fourths of the state.

On this 10 inch map of fractional water index you can see numbers near one in all of the green areas.

One is as high as the sensor can read at that particular depth.

Of course, the persistent drought areas in the southwest and panhandle still exist and show up as yellow or red.

Soil temperatures are now near normal statewide due to the recent warm weather we have encountered this week.

The three day average temperature at four inches midweek was mostly in the high sixties to low seventies, but as is shown in this smooth data chart for Caddo County they spent most of March and more than half of April below the long-term average normal for four inches.

Just as warm season plants are starting to grow well, we may slip back to below normal temperatures next week according to this forecast map.

Now here's Gary with a view of the 30 day rainfall.

- Thanks, Wes, and good morning everyone.

Well, now that the rainy season is actually here we get some more movement on the drought monitor map.

Let's get straight to that new figure and see where we're at.

Well, we had a little bit of reduction across central Oklahoma of that D2 D3 down to D1 D2, so we had a one category improvement across parts of central Oklahoma where some of those heavier rains fell across the past week.

Now we can only consider the rainfall from Tuesday at 7:00AM to the next Tuesday at 7:00AM, so any rain that's fallen after this Tuesday.

- We're not really going to consider for this week's drought monitor map.

So let's take a look at the last 30 days with that additional rainfall through Tuesday.

And we see a much better looking map than what we've seen for months across at least the Northwestern 2/3 of the state where rainfall really had gotten scarce.

So we have a wide scale, two to three to four inches, across much of the state, even as more than five inches in some areas, and in some cases, approaching six inches.

And we do see deficits, again, we're in the rainiest part of the year.

So even those three to four inch amounts, do produce deficits.

And we see that for the last 30 days, at least through Tuesday, where deficits across to far northeastern down through east central and down into south central Oklahoma from two to three inches and even close to four inches in some areas.

Now the other parts of the state were at least close to normal.

That's why we haven't had a complete reduction in drought across the state, because we're really just getting close to normal in some areas.

That shows up even better on the percent of normal map where we see those darker oranges and reds.

Those are areas that are less than 75%, and in some cases less than 50% of normal.

But given the time of year, even with those wide scale three to four inch amounts, we are still seeing deficits for many of those areas.

This is a spring rainy season.

We expect a little bit more than three to four inches in some cases.

So it's at least a good start to the spring rainy season as we get later into April through the early part of May.

Now we just need for it to continue.

That's it for this time.

We'll see you next time on the "Mezonet Weather Report".

- Well, as we discussed last week, the rain might not have helped the wheat crop so much, but Josh, when it comes to summer crops, did that help at all?

- The rain this time of year is always a good thing, especially in some areas where it's so was so dry, it just allowed folks to actually plant.

In fact, this corn field actually was planted into some moisture dried up on it a little bit.

So it was able to kind of, the corn, especially the bulk majority of the field that was not up, it allowed it to kind of come up.

So it does help.

It was a little later than what we would like, we would've liked it a couple weeks ago 'cause our typical planting timeframe is, you know, that later part of March, end of April, and then the first part of May.

And so it would've been nice to have it maybe end of March, 1st of April, but at this time of year, we're never gonna complain about rain.

Yeah, and in some areas, the rain might've come down a little too much too fast.

Yeah.

yeah.

The good thing is the bulk majority of state had a nice rain over a couple of days.

Even though it was a lot, we can get some ground ceiling to where we get moisture on the surface and it just does not accept anymore.

And, you know, for a period of time don't have that period for it to percolate down.

But hopefully, especially some of our growers that are no-till, some of 'em that have something on the surface, we're able to capture a bit more, and hopefully that helps out a little bit.

And I do want to go back to the timetable just because I said that it's late and that kind of is, we're at the back end of that typical planting window does not mean that you can't plant past it.

We've had growers for many years plant beyond what OSU currently recommends as our planting window, and do it with success.

The issue comes is there's a risk factor associated with it.

You know, it's that second week in July through the first part of August is typically hot.

It's typically very dry.

And what we don't want is critical growth stages of those crops such as our soybean, our corn, or grain sorghum, and our cotton, to be going through those really hot and dry conditions whenever it doesn't need to be or it needs a lot of moisture.

- So for those producers who are gonna be planting soon or have already planted, you know, with the heat, the climate prediction centers for May is, they're already predicting more hot, hopefully get moisture, but it's, they're predicting, you know, warmer temperatures than than usual.

How does that affect things?

- Well, it just depends, you know?

So something like a corn crop that usually gets planted in March or April and is typically very cool.

We have this very prolonged vegetative period which is very positive for corn, and milo for that matter.

Because we always talk when we're, when we're farming those two crops, what we're doing is we're farming sunlight, not really farming the crop.

The crop is capturing that sunlight.

So we want a large amount of sunlight early when we have good conditions, great conditions, we're able to kind of go through and do that.

You know, when we shorten that vegetative period, very similar to what we do when we plant double crop, when we plant in June, and it's already very hot and we're accumulating a lot of heat units is what we're concerned with, and that's a measure of how fast that crop develops.

We're already capturing a lot of heat units, it potentially progresses a lot faster, and that shortened vegetated period can be detrimental.

But that's not saying that we aren't gonna see these cool spells like we might experience this week to where we'll go back into the 70s, allow that crop to kind of slow down, you know, produce a lot of biomass.

That's what we really want, is some decent amount of biomass that the moisture in the soil can sustain, and then it to progress to reproductive growth when we're actually using that biomass to fill the grain.

- You mentioned double crops, so what's the situation there?

- Yeah, and a lot of that's gonna, gonna hinge on that wheat crop.

I don't know how earlier wheat crop or earl or late the wheat crop might be harvested, but that double crop is that summer crop system to where we harvest the wheat and then we plant summer crop immediately thereafter, or sometime very soon thereafter.

And that's a key for us, especially the areas that it was drier, that the drought has kind of hit a little bit harder.

- So that I-35 corridor and west, double crop is a big system for a lot of those folks because it is inherently a system that offsets that typically hot and dry period and moves those critical growth stages into late August and into September.

So, there is some benefit to that.

It's how much rain we're still gonna get, and that's a thing.

There's a lotta growers right now struggling with the do I go ahead and plant into this, knowing I'm at the back end of that window, or do I just hold off for my later window, which is either a double crop or a full season, just planted in mid-June.

And there's risks in both of them, and probably, there's about equal risks in both of them this year.

Typically, that double crop's a little riskier because we never know if it's gonna rain in June.

We never know how much more rain we're gonna get, and we're workin' on very, very, very shallow moisture right now.

If we get a good amount of rain next couple weeks, doesn't mean you can't pull the trigger, but you can also wait and see what that mid-June kinda brings us.

- All right, thanks Josh.

Josh Lofton, Cropping System Specialist, here at Oklahoma State University.

Well, the USDA released the May WASDE Report, so Kim, how important were those estimates?

- Well, those estimates are relatively important.

It's the first time USDA releases the estimates for the 23-24 crop year numbers.

I think the most important numbers though are the 22-23 crop years that, for wheat, that's ending in May, for corn and beans that end in August, and for cotton, it ends in July.

I think those numbers are important because they set the foundation for the next year, and your 23-24 estimates are for a full 12 months into the 23-24 crop year.

So we gotta know what the foundation is, and I think what the market concentrates most on is those 22-23 numbers.

- So talkin' about supply and demand for wheat, how's that looking?

- Well, I think the best way to look at that is ending stocks.

You could look at the stocks of use, but I like those ending stocks.

You look at the world for the 22-23 marketing year, 9.7 billion bushels.

Your average is 10.5.

World wheat stocks are tight.

You look at the industry's estimate for '23, this is not USDA's estimates, but it's what the market was trading before the release, was 9.5 billion.

So slightly lower ending stocks expected by the industry for next year.

You look at the US, 600 million, somewhere around there for ending stocks for 22-23.

950 million average, so well below average there.

The industry had ending stocks before the release at 600 million bushels, so looks like wheat stocks are gonna stay tight into the next marketing year.

- So what about corn and beans?

- The industry's lookin' for the world corn stocks to stay slightly below average.

You look at soybeans, US, 210 million up to 300 million, still below that 330 average.

The world for beans, 3.6 billion bushels goin' up to four, so slightly above the world's 3.8.

So looks like both corn and beans could have some price pressure, as we get into next year, if those 23-24 numbers are right, and they won't be.

- So, for wheat, what's driving wheat prices?

- Well, if you look at what's driving wheat prices, they're volatile right now.

We can talk about the drought.

We can talk about the short US crop.

We can talk about the drought in Argentina.

They're havin' problems gettin' that crop in, they're lowerin' those acres consistently.

Those things are impacting the prices, but you gotta look at what's goin' on in Russia.

We talk about that week after week.

You look at the last couple weeks, we saw a $1.40 price decline, and that looks like, looked like Russia and Ukraine was going to be able to ship wheat, that we got rain, maybe we could produce some wheat in the US, and then we had a $1.10 increase, when it was reported that Russia may shut off, and looks like they've shut off Ukraine's exports.

And when they do that, that adds risk to Russia shippin' wheat, increases their insurance, increases their ocean rates.

It results in higher prices, a lot of volatility.

So how does a producer sell wheat, when you've got a $1.40 down in a week or two and a $1.10 back up in a week or two?

- Third, third, and a third?

- A third, third, and a third.

You wanna stagger it into the market because you're not gonna predict those ups and down moves.

- All righty, thanks Kim.

Dr. Kim Anderson, Grain Marketing Specialist, here at Oklahoma State University.

- Good morning, Oklahoma, and welcome to Cow-Calf Corner.

I'm Mark Johnson, and this week's topic is reproductive track scoring on replacement heifers.

In a normal year in Oklahoma, if we've had normal wheat pasture or cool season grass, it's usually a pretty easy goal to get our 14 to 15 month old replacement heifers at 2/3 of their mature weight and ready for the beginning of breeding season.

And we know it's pretty well documented that over 90% of those heifers are gonna be fully pubertal and ready to breed up quick whenever we get ready to breed on 'em or turn out bulls.

In years that wheat pasture and cool season grass isn't quite as good, if we've got those heifers at about 55% of their mature weight, we know that well over 50% of 'em are gonna be fully pubertal by 14 to 15 months of age and ready to go.

- Well, this hasn't been a normal year and probably maybe not just a little bit below normal year.

So, as we look at the onset of breeding season where we typically wanna breed our heifers and have 'em calving a little bit ahead of the mature cow herd a year down the road, we might be looking at some heifers that are a little behind schedule in terms of body condition and target weights.

And frankly, we may look at 'em and kind of scratch our head and wonder.

And this is where the technology or reproductive track scoring comes into play.

Reproductive track scoring is a subjective measurement taken by practitioners.

It's proven to be a moderately heritable trait and a pretty repeatable trait among and between different practitioners.

The scoring system ranges from one to five.

A score of one means a heifer has not reached puberty.

Those reproductive organs are still pretty small.

A score of four to five means we have got a pubertal heifer that has got a corpus luteum, she's been cycling, she's actually ready to breed up and conceive and get pregnant.

This is a pretty handy management tool.

If we consult with our veterinarian, we can get reproductive track scoring done.

If we're setting out here taking a look at these heifers we're not quite sure if we've got 'em there yet.

Whether we're ready to turn out bulls right now or we're still looking at this a little bit down the road.

It can be a very effective means of knowing which heifers have reached puberty and are ready to breed, and which heifers aren't there yet.

We can use this to potentially target and feed for a little heavier weight gain, if we're still a few weeks away from breeding season.

We can use this as a selection criterion among our other breeding objectives as we look to identify those heifers that are ready to go.

As I always say, thanks for joining us on Cow Calf Corner, and I hope this helps.

May all your heifers breed up quickly for you this year.

(gentle music) - And now, we're looking at research and using salt water for crops.

SUNUP's Seth Fish put together this story.

- So, this project is about looking at the opportunities for conjunctively using salt water and freshwater that we have in southwestern Oklahoma.

We have naturally occurring salt water in southwestern Oklahoma, because of the geological formations.

And so, a lot of the tributaries that we have down there the water in there is pretty salty, so salinity level is high.

And then we have naturally occurring groundwater as well.

So, as the concerns about water availability decline and this year would be a good example, in 2022, a major reservoir down there that provides water for cotton irrigation has been, the level in the reservoir has been so low that they haven't been able to irrigate using that water in the reservoir.

- Actually, this project fits very well within the water for 2060 plan that the Oklahoma Water Resources Board is working to implement in the state.

So, the state legislature several years ago passed the Water for 2060 Act, which set the goal of using no more freshwater in the year 2060 than we did in the year 2010.

So, to meet growing demands and also to deal with declining water levels around the state, more and more we're gonna be looking at marginal quality water sources like we're looking at for this project.

So, in a dry year like this, this is really the kind of situation where using marginal quality water would really come into play.

The producers have very limited fresh water.

So, in a year like this, if this works, this would provide a more continuous source of water that we don't currently have access or that we're currently utilizing.

- To be able to evaluate the potential for conjunctive use of saltwater with freshwater, first, we need to have tools that can look at the impacts of applying water with higher salinity level on crops.

So, what would be the impact on crop yield?

What would be the impact on soil?

So, we have to get the surface water hydrology right and groundwater models set up and we have to run those salinity modules to be able to track salinity over in downstream areas, because we're also concerned about what happens to the watershed as a whole as we apply saline water for irrigation in one part of the basin.

What would be the potential impacts downstream?

Because we know that there are some other uses that may need different salinity levels.

So, we cannot just change salinity in one part of the watershed without regard for what happens downstream.

- Yes.

So, we play a supporting role to all the modeling efforts that Dr. Merci and his team are doing.

We're collecting water samples from seven surface water bodies in southwestern Oklahoma as well as three groundwater bodies to help them with the calibration and validation of their models.

So, that helps to make sure that their models are correct.

- [Scientist] So we're measuring electrical conductivity which is an indicator of the level of salinity in those water bodies and then we're also measuring flow in those rivers and streams, as well as groundwater depth as well.

- This issue is gonna become much more important in the years to come, in the decades to come, and that's why we're excited about developing this model and we're developing, assessing different scenarios of conjunctive use of freshwater with saltwater to support agricultural production.

It's extremely exciting, and like Dr. Merci said, it certainly has applicability throughout the southwestern U.S. but globally we're seeing the same situation all over the world where we have declining freshwater supplies, growing needs for food and for water, and so globally (upbeat music) we're having to look more and more towards these marginal quality waters and how we can better utilize them.

- Finally today, we find out what makes John Fenderson an OSU 2022 Distinguished Alumnus, video production manager, Craig Woods, put together this story.

- [Jenifer] John Fenderson's family has a long history with OSU.

His daughter was the 17th member of the family to attend the school.

- Yeah, we take a lot of pride in that and it's fixing to be 18.

I have a nephew here that's in school.

My dad was the first one to come to school here back in the forties.

- [Jenifer] His father was influential in John's decision when it was his turn to attend OSU.

- He was an agronomist and ag education major and when I was a little boy I used to come to Perkins with him to evaluate sorghum trials when he worked for the State Department of Agriculture.

That really spurred my interest in agronomy and kinda drove me towards agronomy.

- [Jenifer] John even tried out for the OSU basketball team.

- But it only took me one year to find out that academics was the only place I needed to be.

I didn't need to try to be a basketball player.

- [Jenifer] OSU had another big impact on his life when he met his future wife as a freshman.

- My sister and she were in the same sorority, they were in the Alpha Delta PI sorority, and it was dad's weekend and my dad was here, I was over there and we were playing cards and I think when that was over, she and I walked back to the dorm together and it was kind of history.

Four years later we got married.

She's from Altus, Oklahoma.

Her parents were farmer ranchers down there and I hit off pretty well with that aspect as well since she was a country girl, farm girl.

- [Jenifer] Over the next four decades the ag chemical industry went through a series of mergers and buyouts.

John eventually joined Monsanto which is now Bayer Crop Science.

- So I've been with Monsanto now, Bayer Crop Science, since 1997, so I'm working on 26 years.

It's been quite a ride.

I've been in the forefront of a biotechnology revolution and agriculture, it's been a lot of fun.

- [Jenifer] He received the 2007 Outstanding Weed Scientist Award from the Western Weed Science Society and has been instrumental in securing herbicide patents.

- I always like to think when I was working with producers I was working with them first and foremost to make sure that they were doing the things that were right for them.

- [Jenifer] But through it all, John has always been an avid supporter of OSU agriculture.

John was a critical partner in the implementation of No-Till and Canola.

- When we're doing a partnership in meetings and so if I go out in the state, or other states, often we're presenting with the industry.

So it's wonderful to have an industry partner that can have a unified voice with you.

John's always been a very close part of the Plant Soil Sciences department and industry collaboration.

Plus he's always coming into campus visiting with our seniors and our students about industry in the department.

- Over his 28 years, and in the private sector, he's hired at least 20 of our graduates into the work that he does in agronomy and agronomic services.

- [Jenifer] But for all the impact John's had on the lives of producers, students, and the agricultural industry as a whole, the call from Dr. Coon was still a surprise.

- When I called him back and he told me that I'd been selected as one of the distinguished alumni for the College of Agriculture, I was quite taken back and quite surprised to be real honest with you.

I am deeply, deeply honored and humbled.

(upbeat music) - [Jenifer] Celebrating John Fenderson.

2022 Ferguson College of Agriculture Distinguished Alumnus.

- And that about wraps it up for us today.

Now remember, if you saw something on the show you liked you can always visit our website, sunup.okstate.edu, or follow us on YouTube and social media.

I'm Curtis Hare, and remember, (upbeat music continues) Oklahoma Agriculture starts at sunup.