A series of “Cropping Decisions 2013” meetings have been scheduled for Dec 10-14 across northwest North Dakota. The NDSU Extension Service in Pierce County will be hosting one of these meetings at Otter Tail Power Meeting Room in Rugby on Monday, December 10th at 1:30 pm. The outlook for next year’s cropping season may be coupled with many questions ranging from what crop prices are going to do to what the upcoming growing season may have in store for producers. The “Cropping Decisions 2013” meeting series is designed to cover a variety of agronomic, management, and market issues that could be of concern to producers in the 2013 growing season.

Following the wetter than normal conditions experienced in northwestern North Dakota over the past few years, many producers have expressed concern about the increase in seep or salt affected areas in their fields and the reduction in productivity in these areas. Chris Augustin, area extension soil health specialist, will talk about soil health, the impacts of salinity on soil health and salinity management.

Joel Ransom, NDSU Extension Cereal Crops Agronomist, will cover the topic of “Fusarium Management”. Deoxynivalenol (DON) or vomitoxin, which is a mycotoxin associated with Fusarium Head Blight or scab, surfaced as an issue in much of the durum and some of the spring wheat in areas across northwestern North Dakota this fall. Ransom will cover why DON is a concern, management strategies to reduce the impacts of Fusarium Head Blight and DON, and disease forecasting models to aid in the decision to spray for scab.

Frayne Olson, NDSU Extension Crop Marketing Economist, will cover two related topics. The first is changes that are occurring in the Canadian grain marketing systems and the implications and possible impacts of those changes on markets in the United States. Second, he will provide a crop market outlook for the remainder of the marketing year and into the 2013 crop year. This will include an update on the supply and demand situation in view of weather factors that impacted many areas of US and what that might mean in terms of crop prices.

Cropping Decisions 2013 meetings will also be held at the following locations:

Dec. 10 – 9:00 amDrake, KC Hall

Dec. 10 – 1:30 pmRugby, Otter Tail Meeting Room

Dec. 11 – 9:00 amMohall, Emergency Services Building

Dec. 11 – 1:30 pm Bottineau County Courthouse

Dec. 12 – 9:00 amCrosby, Dakota Theater

Dec. 12 – 1:30 pmBowbells at the Burke County Courthouse and Williston at the Williams County Courthouse

Dec. 13 – 9:00 amStanley, Mountrail County South Complex

Dec. 13 – 1:30 pmWatford City, McKenzie County Courthouse Meeting Room

Dec. 14 – 9:00 amNorth Central Research Extension Center at Minot

The Cropping Decisions meetings are open to the public at no charge. For more information or details on these meetings, contact the Pierce County Extension office at 776-6234 or e-mail yolanda.goodman@ndsu.edu.