Educational Seminar Offered to Wheat Growers

A web-based grower education seminar (webinar) on World Wheat Supply, Demand, and Prices hosted by the Idaho Wheat Commissions will held Thursday, April 26 at 8:00 a.m. MDT, 7:00 a.m. PDT.

Vince Peterson, Vice President of Overseas Operations for U.S. Wheat Associates will discuss global factors behind this year’s exports, review world stock supplies and give his perspective on world plantings, production and prices. The webinar will be approximately one hour.  Participation is simple and free!  Log onto the website at http://connect.cals.uidaho.edu/wheat (requires Adobe Flash Player which is installed on most computers) and enter your name as a participant.

Peterson is an active leader in the grain industry, having served on the board of directors of both the Portland Merchants Exchange and the Pacific Grain Export Association. He speaks internationally on the world wheat market and has presented expert witness testimony before Congress and served on a CFTC investigative subcommittee. Before joining USW, Peterson gained a dozen years of practical trade and commercial experience through working as an export grain merchandiser with Garnac Grain and as a domestic grain procurement manager and merchandiser with General Mills.

Peterson earned a bachelor’s degree in industrial administration and economics from Iowa State University.

Stripe Rust Webinar Tomorrow -- Wednesday, April 4

The Idaho Wheat Commission will be presenting a web-based grower education seminar (webinar) on Stripe Rust on Wednesday, April 4 at 7:30 a.m. MDT. The webinar will be approximately one hour. Participation is free! Log onto the website at http://connect.cals.uidaho.edu/wheat (requires Adobe Flash Player which is installed on most computers) and enter your name as a participant. Guest presenter Juliet Marshall, Associate Professor of Agronomy and Cereals Cropping Systems at the University of Idaho, Department of Plant, Soils and Entomological Sciences will look at the stripe rust epidemic in 2011 and how the disease reduced yields and increased production costs in both winter and spring wheat. Marshall will review the life cycle of the disease, the unusual environmental conditions that allowed the epidemic to develop, and examine the potential for a repeat performance in the upcoming year. We will look at various control recommendations, including the selection of resistant varieties, fungicide applications, and various production practices that can reduce the infection and spread in the upcoming cropping season.