What This Wheat Year Taught Farmers
About this episode
The episode discusses the challenges faced during a difficult wheat season in Oklahoma and the lessons learned from it.
This week on the Red Dirt Agronomy Podcast, Dave Deken, Brian Arnall Ph.D., and Josh Lofton Ph.D. sit down with Amanda Silva Ph.D., Oklahoma State University Extension small grains specialist, to unpack one of the toughest Oklahoma wheat seasons in recent memory. The conversation follows the crop from dry planting conditions through warm winter development, cool grain fill, scattered April rains, wheat streak mosaic pressure, and the uneven results showing up across variety trials from southwest Oklahoma to the Panhandle. The biggest lesson is that this year did not come down to one simple answer. Moisture timing drove much of the story, but planting date, variety maturity, stand establishment, disease pressure, and trial variability all shaped what producers saw in the field. Silva also explains why stressful seasons still matter for research: even when yields disappoint, Oklahoma’s wheat trials can reveal which management choices and varieties hold together when conditions get rough.
More episodes of Red Dirt Agronomy Podcast
- OSU Agronomy Farm: What Changes, What Stays
- Oklahoma Crops: Small Isn’t Bad
- Bring Pastures Back Fast: Recovery That Lasts - RDA 511
- How Soybeans Shape Oklahoma - RDA 510
- The New Rules Of Wheat Weed Control - RDA 509
- Insurance Basics That Keep You Farming - RDA 508
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