Northeast Buckwheat Growers Newsletter
No. 23 June 2007
Edited by Thomas Björkman,
Cornell-NYSAES, Geneva,
NY
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raising buckwheat in the Northeast?
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Contents
Field
Day on August 28, 2007
The thirteenth annual Northeast Buckwheat Field Day will held August
28, 2007 in Geneva, NY from 1:00 to 3:30 pm
This year’s field day will be at the New York State
Agricultural
Experiment Station research farm, the same venue as in 2006. The
Experiment Station is celebrating its 125th year!
One demonstration will show the effect of varying the seeding date. We
have seen differences in the duration of flowering, and in plant size
in the past. A demonstration of field preparation will show the
performance of no-till, as well as time between incorporation of crop
residue and sowing buckwheat.
Field day information link.
The research farm is at 1097 County Road 4, about a mile west of the
Geneva Experiment Station towards Seneca Castle.
Seed
and Grain Prices rise
For Birkett Mills, the 2007 price
for growers $2 higher than 2006 and continues a significant rising
trend over several years. The 2007 contract rate is $15/cwt, organic is
$17 with a 50 ac minimum. The contracts specify Koto seeds, which costs
$20 per 50 lb bag, or $22 for organic seed.
Cover crop seed is also available, with no variety specified. The cost
for that is $19, or $22 for organic.
AgriCulver
is selling Large-seeded or Forage buckwheat for $27 per bag, with a
discount for large quantities. Ernst Conservation Seed in Meadville, PA
lists cover crop buckwheat for $15 per bu this year. 
Cliff Orr
of Birkett Mills reports that buckwheat flour demand is up for use in
multigrain bread and the latest fast-food product, multigrain chips.
You will see buckwheat listed on these chips from the major processors,
and chances are good that it was grown here.
Production
notes
In doing trials with buckwheat for cover crops in the last two years, I
have had the chance to see plantings fail when we try things that a
grain producer shouldn’t. One thing has become very clear.
Hard
ground does not let buckwheat thrive. We have encountered hard ground
mainly where the soil has been over-worked and no longer supports
enough aggregates. For the most part, buckwheat growers don’t
have the time to work the ground so much that it gets in that state.
However, it can happen if the soil is too wet or too dry when it is
worked. One of the great advantages of the relatively late planting
date for buckwheat is that there is more chance to prepare the ground
on a day when the soil is just right. Buckwheat will help hold that
tilth for the next crop as well.
The late planting date also creates some potential for double cropping.
No-till farmers can put buckwheat after wheat, at least in warmer
areas, because the ground is not too hard. However,
conventionally tilled ground may be too hard and dry for buckwheat to
grow well. We found that no-till planting after peas does not work
because the ground is much too hard for successful establishment.
Preston
County Buckwheat Festival
The Preston County Buckwheat Festival, will be Sept. 27-30, 2007 in
Kingwood, West Virginia. The web site for the festival won an award
last year. The West Virginia Association of Fairs and Festivals honored
the it with the first-place Communications Award in the Web site
category. You can find out about the biggest buckwheat festival in the
US at their website, Buckwheatfest.com.
The schedule is already in place, including animal judging, car show,
firemen’s parade, fireworks, an appearance by Gov. Manchin
and,
of course, buckwheat pancakes. Chuck Miller is the general chairman and
Jonathan Mauldin has the honorable title of King Buckwheat
LXVI!
Canadian
buckwheat production
Buckwheat production in Canada has been declining substantially in the
last few years. 2004 was a terrible washout, which depressed average
yields. Two respectable crop years followed, but the planted area
dropped by 25 to 30%.
Canada: Buckwheat Supply and Disposition
| Crop
Year |
2003 |
2004 |
2005 |
2007 |
2007 (F) |
| Seeded Area (1000 ha) |
9 |
9 |
7 |
6 |
5 |
| Yield (t/ha) |
1.11 |
0.71 |
1.33 |
1.17 |
1.00 |
| Production (1000 tons) |
10 |
5 |
8 |
7 |
5 |
| Average Price ($C/ton) |
355 |
355 |
355 |
355 |
350-380 |
Source: Statistics Canada
March 12, 2007
For 2007-08, Stan Skrypetz of Agriculture and AgriFood
Canada
forecasts that the area seeded to buckwheat will decrease further
because of good prices for other crops. The average price is expected
to increase because of the lower supply. Production is expected to be
half of what it was is 2003. The forecast area for all of Canada is
only about 12,000 acres.
Research
news
Many growers ask about planting depth. We did a greenhouse study in
field soil to find out how planting depth affects the time to emergence
and the final stand. Rapid emergence is how buckwheat gets ahead of
weeds, so five days is the goal. A good gap-free stand is important.
The basis for the 50 lb/ac recommended seeding rate is that 2/3 of the
seeds make strong plants.
The data suggest planting no deeper than an inch. Shallower seeding is
good in excellent soil conditions that allow it. In the field, seeds
that are too shallow may be lost because it is too dry, because they
are exposed to air, or because they are eaten by birds. Deeper planting
may be necessary if there is not moisture in the top, but the crop will
not do as well. Soil preparation that brings moisture closer to the
surface allows shallower sowing and faster emergence.
 |
 |
| The deeper the seed is planted, the slower it comes up.
Emergence in 5 days is a good goal. |
Deeper planting reduces emergence. Seeding below an
inch may cause thin stands. |
Another issue to consider with planting depth is the risk of
waterlogging during germination. The most common cause of lost stands
of buckwheat is seed rot. Usually the seeds rot because the seed zone
soil is saturated with water for a few hours in the days after
seeding. The seed should be at a depth where water can
percolate
quickly. Silty soils often form a wet crust at the surface after a hard
rain. The seed needs to be below the crust. Soils with a plow or disk
pan get a waterlogged zone a few inches deep. Based on your knowledge
of the soil, estimate the depth that will drain quickly after a
thunderstorm. Good soil management makes the good zone bigger.
Avoiding
contamination
In 2006, an Australian company ran into an export problem with
pesticide contamination in their buckwheat. Japanese buyers rejected a
load when they found a pesticide that exceeded the new Japanese limits
(though not US limits). The event stopped buckwheat exports to Japan
for a while, causing trouble for many buckwheat growers. It turns out
the problem arose from some simple miscommunication on the farm. Geoff
Brown of Buckwheat Enterprises Pty Ltd. kindly offered Northeastern
buckwheat growers some advice on avoiding a similar situation.
First, check labels before applying a pesticide. In Australia, a new
buckwheat grower’s employee used a familiar insecticide,
dimethoate, to control a familiar insect long before harvest. He did
not check the label to learn that it wasn’t to be
used on
buckwheat. This is the residue that was detected.
Second, the contaminant need not be applied to the crop. A second
insecticide residue was also high enough to reject the load in Japan.
It came from a chlorpyrifos application to an earlier crop, but there
was enough left to leave a residue on the buckwheat. Chlorpyrifos is a
pesticide that has been under particular scrutiny lately. If you are
using up the remaining stocks of a pesticide like chlorpyrifos where
some registered uses have been cancelled, check to see whether it is
persistent and can show up in later buckwheat crops. If you are raising
buckwheat for export, such pesticide use could be a decision factor in
selecting fields. With materials like chlorpyrifos, spray drift and
treated storage and handling equipment can also potentially cause
residues to reach the Japanese limits. Mr. Brown pencils out the limit
at a quarter teaspoon material in 100 tons of grain.
Third, contamination need not be pesticides. Mr. Brown notes that they
get tested for aflatoxin as well. In 2005, some Chinese buckwheat was
rejected by Japanese buyers for this contaminant. Aflatoxin from mold
is a big concern for Northeastern wheat growers. While this mold has
not been reported on buckwheat, we really don’t know much
about
the potential.
NBGA on the WWW
Buckwheat and the
Northeast Buckwheat Growers Association are on the World Wide Web. An
on-line Buckwheat
Production Guide for the Northeast and back issues of this
newsletter are available there. www.nysaes.cornell.edu/hort/buckwheat/.
Only
members get mailings
This
newsletter goes out to those who have signed up as members of NBGA. If
you know of growers who would be interested in joining, please have
them drop a line or make a quick phone call. There is no charge to join.
In the past
many non-members were included on the mailing list, but we have had to
drop people who never responded. We also limit newsletter circulation
to the Northeast. People elsewhere are welcome to read the newsletter
on
the web site.
We have
members who are growers, processors/seed industry and extension. The
complete list is distributed to members annually.
Northeast
Buckwheat Growers Association
Send comments, questions and membership requests to:
Dr. Thomas Björkman, Department of Horticultural Sciences
Cornell University-NYSAES, Geneva, NY 14456 (315) 787-2218
or email tnb1 @
cornell.edu
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