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August 2006 Topics:

• Have you considered seeding hard white wheat?
• Teaching children healthy choices

Have you considered seeding hard white wheat this fall?

Drew Lyon, Extension Dryland Crops Specialist, Scottsbluff
Robert Klein, Extension Cropping Systems Specialist, North Platte

Hard white wheat has some significant advantages over hard red winter wheat. Millers, bakers and consumers prefer white wheat whenever they have a choice. Despite this preference for white wheat, the United States continues to produce much more hard red winter and other types of wheat than it does hard white wheat. A number of recent occurrences could begin to change how Nebraska growers view white wheat production.

The first of these occurrences is the dramatic increase in availability of certified “Antelope” seed. Antelope hard white winter wheat was jointly developed by the USDA-ARS, Wheat Sorghum and Forages Unit and the University of Nebraska Department of Agronomy & Horticulture. Antelope seems especially well-adapted to western Nebraska irrigated production. In university irrigated variety trials from western Nebraska, the five-year average yield for Antelope from 2001 through 2005 was 91.2 bushels/acre. Only Wesley, with a five-year average of 93.4 bushels/acre, yielded more than Antelope. In fact, three of the top five varieties were hard white wheat. In addition to Antelope, these included NuFrontier and NuHorizon. Visit the Virtual Wheat Tour at: www.panhandle.unl.edu/wheat for the most up-to-date information on variety performance and recommendations for Nebraska.

The other recent occurrence that may influence white wheat production is the price of wheat. Relatively strong wheat prices make irrigated wheat competitive with other crops traditionally grown with irrigation. It may be easier to find irrigated growers willing to make the switch from hard red winter wheat to hard white wheat than it has been to get dryland growers to make the change.
Wheat is generally not the primary crop for irrigated growers, and they are more likely to be willing to switch their entire production from hard red winter wheat to hard white wheat. Dryland wheat growers, however, are generally more reliant on wheat in their production systems and may be more hesitant to make a complete switch to hard white wheat. Handling both hard red and hard white wheat’s in the same operation, while not impossible, requires greater management and may not be seen as worth the effort by many dryland wheat growers.

Virtually all of the hard white wheat cultivars currently available for production are strong strawed and perform well under irrigation. Another advantage of growing hard white wheat under irrigation is that volunteer wheat is not generally a concern in irrigated rotations because wheat is not typically grown in these rotations more than once every three to five years. The combination of rotation length and application of irrigation water depletes the seed bank of wheat seed between wheat crops and greatly reduces the risk of volunteer red wheat contaminating the hard white wheat crop.

All production practices (seeding date, seeding rate, fertilization, and harvesting) are alike for hard white wheat and hard red winter wheat. Susceptibility to preharvest sprouting of hard white wheat has been a major production concern. Rain, high humidity, and low temperatures after ripening may cause the grain to sprout in the spike. In reality, however, there is a wide range in susceptibility to preharvest sprouting among white and red winter wheat varieties. Some hard red winter wheat varieties are actually more susceptible to preharvest sprouting than some hard white wheat varieties. If preharvest sprouting is a concern, be sure to select a wheat variety that has low susceptibility to sprouting. The risk of preharvest sprouting is much less in the semi-arid areas of western Nebraska than in the sub-humid areas of central and eastern Nebraska.

Only a few grain buyers are set up to handle and market hard white wheat at this time. You need to identify a buyer for your white wheat grain before you place the first kernel of wheat in the ground! There is no guarantee of a buyer at harvest if you have not made prior arrangements. On-farm grain storage may be an indispensable aspect of white wheat production at this point in time due to the fact that many elevators may not have sufficient demand to dedicate storage space for white wheat.

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Teaching children healthy choices

Linda Boeckner, PhD, RD, Extension Nutrition Specialist
Panhandle Research and Extension Center

Who can argue against having healthy children? There’s likely to be many American parents who would agree that their child’s health is very important, yet evidence suggests that we’ve lost our way in helping children toward healthful lifestyles. Sounding the “overweight” alarm may not be helping either. Adding layers of guilt about how we feed children, and sending elements of fear about fatness, have done little to help American parents and other adults unravel the positive steps that could lead to healthier lifestyles in our children.

There’s much to be done to teach children of all sizes and ages about the healthy choices they can make. Step One is for parents and other adults who are role models for children to practice healthy lifestyles themselves. The message becomes much more clear when the actions mimic the words.

Building a healthy lifestyle is complex and it starts at a very early age when we expose children to a variety of healthy foods. Toddlers love to explore their food environments. Parents need to get comfortable in and take responsibility for their roles of providing healthy foods on a regular schedule, and in an environment that is positive and supports learning about food. If parents are a little foggy about what healthy foods are, or how often children should eat, or what makes a positive eating environment, they can find resources to help. Check out websites, visit the library, contact the local Extension office. The “Eat Smart, Play Hard” website at www.fns.usda.gov/eatsmartplayhard is a good website for starters.

As your children grow and enter their school years, stay tuned to their eating and mealtime needs. Make it your business to find out what they are eating at school lunch and continue to take responsibility to plan ahead, do the shopping and have healthful meals and snacks when they are at home. Learn about portion sizes that are appropriate for your child’s age. You might be surprised to learn that “kids meals” at many restaurants often have adult-sized portions.

Along with learning about healthy food choices, engage your children in creative and fun play and limit time spent in front of the television or computer screen. Here again, adults will make a bigger impression if they join in the fun and play times with their children, and limit their own “screen” time. As a family, begin by making a list of play activities for your children to do and those things that you will do together as a family.

An often overlooked aspect for promoting health in our children is the amount of sleep they need. Children do better physically and mentally when they have had a good night’s sleep. Summertime often bring later bedtimes that can be balanced by sleeping later in the morning. When school time begins, children need to head to bed at earlier hours so that they can get enough sleep and still meet their school schedule. The National Sleep Foundation says that children ages 5-12 need 10-11 hours of sleep every night. You can be ready for school days if you begin in August to move bedtime to earlier hours and encourage quieter activities before bed to ease your child into sleep.

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