With short water supplies looming over many farmers' fields this year, planting small grain crops that mature earlier and use less water is particularly tempting, says Brad Brown, University of Idaho Extension crop management specialist at Parma. Among those spring-planted small grain crops, hard reds or hard whites may be the best option for some growers, he says, because hard wheat prices are typically stronger than soft wheat prices and because market premiums for higher proteins in hard wheats can help offset reduced returns if drought shrinks yields.

Since 1982, hard red spring wheat with 14 percent protein levels has brought an average $47 an acre more in gross returns than soft white spring wheat. Hard red winter wheat whose proteins have reached 12 percent has returned an average $12 more per acre than soft white winter wheat.
 

The rub is that Pacific Northwest hard wheats don't consistently reach protein levels that the marketplace will reward. Economic penalties for falling short can be up to three times the premiums, and managing nitrogen for both high yields and high proteins has proven especially frustrating in the region's high rainfall and irrigated systems.
 

A new 16-page publication by soil scientists from four Pacific Northwest land-grant universities will help growers minimize the uncertainties associated with producing high-protein hard wheats. By providing growers with a better understanding of the principles of wheat nitrogen utilization, the relationships of protein to yield and available nitrogen, and nitrogen management for hard wheat, the publication should enable them to more consistently produce high yields of hard wheat with acceptable protein, the authors say.
 

Growers who couldn't plant soft white winter wheat last fall because of wet conditions and who are planting hard red spring wheats for the first time this year may find the publication especially useful, says Brown, its lead author.
 

Entitled "Nitrogen Management for Hard Wheat Protein Enhancement," the new publication includes the results of recent research conducted in the Pacific Northwest. Although its focus is on irrigated wheat, many of the principles it outlines apply to rainfed wheat as well.
 

In addition to Brown, its authors include Mal Westcott of Montana State University, Neil Christensen of Oregon State University, Bill Pan of Washington State University and Jeff Stark of the University of Idaho.
 

The publication can be downloaded from www.info.ag.uidaho.edu. Click on Catalog, CALS Publishing Catalog, then New Releases in 2005.  To order it by phone, call (208) 885-7982.