03 - The Unger Memorial Library - MyPlainview.com

Plainview Daily Herald
http://www.myplainview.com
SIX DAY FORECAST FOR PLAINVIEW
Sunday
Chilly with sunshine
50°/25°
Monday
Wednesday
Some clouds, then
sunshine
44°/21°
Thursday
Mostly sunny and chilly
Partly sunny and cold
49°/23°
35°/16°
Tuesday
Friday
Partly sunny
Sunny to partly cloudy
and warmer
49°/25°
45°/20°
To Get Your Full Local Forecast, Go To http:/www.MyPlainview.com
TRENDS FOR THE WEEK AHEAD
AGRICULTURE
TEMPERATURE
PRECIPITATION
AGRICULTURE FORECAST
REGIONAL SUMMARY
REGIONAL ALMANAC
Temperatures are the averages
for the week of 12/26 - 1/1.
Precipication values are totals for
the week.
City Hi Lo Prcp
Abilene 54 31 0.15
Amarillo 48 22 0.11
Austin 60 40 0.30
Clovis, NM 52 21 0.05
Corpus Christi 66 46 0.25
Dallas 53 34 0.30
Denver, CO 43 14 0.10
El Paso 56 32 0.10
Ft. Worth 54 29 0.24
Hobbs, NM 56 28 0.09
Houston 62 41 0.60
Lubbock 51 24 0.08
Midland 56 29 0.10
Oklahoma City 46 26 0.20
Red River, NM 39 10 0.10
Ruidoso, NM 41 16 0.25
San Antonio 61 38 0.25
Santa Fe, NM 47 14 0.10
Tulsa, OK 46 26 0.25
Wichita Falls 51 28 0.10
Chilly Sunday with sunshine. Winds northnortheast
6-12 mph. Expect a full day of
sunshine with average relative humidity 55%.
Monday: mostly sunny and chilly. Winds southsoutheast
4-8 mph. Expect 6-10 hours of
sunshine with average relative humidity 55%.
Tuesday: partly sunny. Winds south 7-14 mph.
Expect 4-8 hours of sunshine with average
relative humidity 65%. Wednesday: some
clouds, then sunshine. Winds northwest 10-20
mph.
Sunshine Sunday and Monday. Partly sunny
Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday: partly
sunny and cold. Friday and Saturday: sunny
to partly cloudy; warmer in eastern parts of
the area and near Plainview.
®
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Page 4B
Weather plays key role in agriculture in 2009
By RICHARD PORTER
Herald Agriculture Editor
Not surprisingly, weather
was the determining factor
for the 2009 crop year, and
was Mother Nature ever
schizophrenic.
According to John Lipe,
senior hydrologist and meteorologist
with the National
Weather Service in
Lubbock, the area got off
to a rough start because of
a relatively dry winter and
spring. In a Herald article
in August, Lipe said that the
moisture “cut off” in mid-
October of 2008 and didn’t
really turn back on until the
end of May.
Throughout the summer,
he continued, the region followed
a fairly normal moisture
pattern.
The rain went away again
in the fall, which led to excellent
harvest conditions
resulting in much of this
year’s cotton crop being out
of the fi elds by early December.
The fi rst bale of cotton
harvested in Hale County
came Sept. 9. It was grown
by Cooper Ellison and
ginned at Petersburg Co-op
Gin on Sept. 18.
Despite hot weather in
May and June, area cotton
seemed to struggle throughout
the growing season
when it came to accumulating
heat units, which lend in
the crop’s maturation.
In particular, according
to Dr. Randy Boman
of the AgriLife
Extension Center
north of Lubbock,
the dryland crop
across portions of
the South Plains
was hit hard by a
lack of moisture at critical
times early in the growing
season.
On the other hand, lateseason
cool temperatures
and rain meant a lot of the
cotton planted throughout
the region did not have time
to reach full maturity.
That became apparent as
much of the crop that came
into regional classing offi ces
showed low micronaire (a
measurement related to maturity).
Still, according to representatives
with Plains Cotton
Growers in Lubbock,
December projections from
the United States Department
of Agriculture placed
the crop for the High Plains
at approximately 3.9 million
bales. That is slightly above
the November estimate, but
in line with August projections.
Production across Texas
for Upland cotton was projected
at 5 million bales,
and for the United States the
estimates were for
12.225 million.
According to
information provided
by Hale
County Extension
Agent Scott
Adair, the county had a total
of 179,690 acres of cotton
planted in 2009.
Of that, 17,862 were lost
to a combination of drought,
disease and hail. The remaining
161,828 acres were
broken down into 108,810
irrigated and 53,018 dryland.
One area hit particularly
hard by adverse weather was
the northwestern part of the
county, which suffered considerable
damage from an
early-season hail storm.
Also, areas around Cotton
Center and Hale Center
lost some crops as the result
of storms in late July that
brought 60-70 mph winds
through the area.
While cotton and most
grains were able to survive
the attacks of Mother Nature,
Bryan Schrader, general
manager of Evans Grain
in Kress, said the wheat crop
was “a disaster.” Irrigated
acres only produced about
30-50 bushels per acre, he
said.
While the region saw extremely
dry weather in the
fall, forecasters have said the
region could be in for above
normal moisture because of
a possible El Nino weather
pattern.
The year ended with
three snowstorms, beginning
with a blizzard over
the Christmas holidays that
Adair said should provide
some much-needed moisture
for this year’s winter
wheat crop.
While crops in the ground
are a signifi cant part of the
ag industry on the High
Plains, the region saw some
other developments of
note.
First, January saw the retirement
of longtime Hale
County AgriLife Integrated
Pest Management Agent
Greg Cronholm. A native of
Dallas, Cronholm came to
Plainview in 1977 after get-
Herald file photo
DAMAGED GRAIN: Young plants were devastated in this field north of Plainview from a June hail storm.
Other storms, later in the summer, brought high winds that destroyed even more crops in western Hale
County.
Herald file photo
GETTING THE LOW DOWN: Swisher County farmer
Barry Evans (left) watches as a representative from
Texas Tech University’s nonwoven lab demonstrates
some of the lab’s technology.
ting his master’s degree at
Texas A&M.
That position has yet to be
refi lled.
Also in January, the 2009
Hale County Stock Show
sale totaled $161,407, well
above the $149,240 for
2008.
Plainview FFA member
Wes McCutcheon showed
the grand champion hog,
which was purchased by the
Plainview Buyers Club for
$1,100.
The grand champion lamb
was shown by Plainview
4-H member Steven Ebeling
and was purchased by
George and Carolyn Sides,
also for $1,100.
Ebeling also showed the
grand champion goat, which
was purchased by the Sideses
for $1,200.
The grand champion steer
was shown by Plainview
FFA member Madi McKay
and was purchased by the
Plainview Buyers Club for
$2,000, while the supreme
heifer was shown by Plainview
FFA member Layton
Schur. It was purchased by
the Plainview Buyers Club
for $1,600.
After closing its doors for
several months, Plainview’s
ethanol plant, Plainview
BioEnergy, restarted production
in mid-October.
The 100 million-gallon
facility owned by White
Energy began operation in
April 2008, but ceased production
in early 2009. The
plant’s parent company,
White Energy, fi led for
Chapter 11 bankruptcy on
May 7.
According to local general
manager Chuck Fryar,
Plainview BioEnergy was
able to keep much of its
staff intact during the down
months, meaning it was able
to restart with minimal disruptions.
From a research and development
standpoint, 2009 saw
some signifi cant developments
as Texas Tech University
opened its Nonwovens
and Advanced Materials
Laboratory in April. One of
the goals of the lab, located
at Reese Technology Center
west of Lubbock, is to create
value-added opportunities
for South Plains cotton.
Also in 2009, Bayer Crop
Science opened a new research
and development facility
in Lubbock aimed at
developing the company’s
own cotton varieties.
Finally, AgriTex Gas
opened in Plainview after
the company took over the
irrigation network most recently
owned by Ibus.
The company has 21 employees
with two regional
offi ces in Brownfi eld and
Hereford.
(Contact Richard Porter
at 806-296-1361 or porter@
plainviewdailyherald.com)
Texas Corn Producers Board will hold 2010 biennial election
LUBBOCK — The Texas
Corn Producers Board will
hold elections in three of its
fi ve voting regions to elect
fi ve board members where
current members’ seats are
expiring. The election will
be conducted by voting regions
and will be held from
Jan. 9-23.
There are three seats
open for election in Voting
Region Two, which consists
of Andrews, Archer,
Armstrong, Bailey, Baylor,
Borden, Briscoe, Callahan,
Castro, Childress, Clay,
Cochran, Collingsworth,
Cottle, Crosby, Dawson,
Deaf Smith, Dickens, Donley,
Eastland, Fisher, Floyd,
Foard, Gaines, Garza, Hale,
Hall, Hardeman, Haskell,
Hockley, Howard, Jack,
Jones, Kent, King, Knox,
Lamb, Lubbock, Lynn,
Martin, Mitchell, Motley,
Nolan, Palo Pinto, Parmer,
Randall, Scurry, Shackelford,
Stephens, Stonewall,
Swisher, Taylor, Terry, Throckmorton,
Wichita, Wilbarger,
Yoakum, and Young
counties.
There is one seat open for
election in Voting Region
Three and one seat open for
election in Voting Region
Five.
Ballots will be available
from the Texas AgriLife
Extension Service offi ce
in each of the 196 counties
where elections are being
conducted, from elevators
or processors in such counties
or through the mail
from the TCPB offi ce between
Jan. 9-23
For a ballot to be valid, it
Contact Richard
Porter at 296-1361
with your ag story
ideas.
YIR Year in Review
Year in Review
must be mailed to the TCPB,
4205 N. I-27, Lubbock, Texas
79403, with a postmark
date of no later than Jan. 23.
Ballots with a postmark date
later than Jan. 23 will not be
valid.
Voters will be voting for
qualifi ed candidates who
have sought nomination
within the respective TCPB
voting regions where elections
are to occur.
All voters otherwise qualifi
ed to vote as corn produc-
ers must reside in a county
within the TCPB voting
region where they seek to
vote. Voters can only vote
for candidates within the
TCPB voting region where
the voter resides. In addition
to the candidates on the ballot,
voters may also vote for
write-in candidates.
LOCAL ALMANAC
Statistics for the week ending Jan. 1 for:
Temperature Amarillo Lubbock
High for the week 52° 53°
Low for the week 11° 8°
Normal high 48° 51°
Normal low 24° 24°
Average temp. 31.6° 31.5°
Normal average temp. 35.1° 38.0°
Temp. departure
Precipitation
-3.5° -6.5°
Total for the week 0.12” 0.08”
Total for the month 0.00” 0.00”
Total for the year 0.00” 0.00”
Normal for the month 0.02” 0.02”
% of normal this month 0% 0%
% of normal this year 0% 0%
Growing Degree Days
Yesterday 0 0
Month to date 0 0
Season to date 4129 5117
ReelFeel Temperature®
8 a.m. Sunday 27° 27°
12 p.m. 45° 45°
4 p.m. 42° 43°
8 p.m. 29° 31°
The patented AccuWeather.com RealFeel
Temperature is an exclusive index of the
effects of temperature, wind, humidity, sunshine
intensity, cloudiness, precipitation, pressure
and elevation on the human body.
Forecast and graphics provided by AccuWeather.com ©2010
Proud to be your locally owned Purina Dealer
High quality feed for cattle, goats, lambs, and horses
Mineral Tubs
For the Health and performance of your herd
• Balanced mineral nutrition
• Weather resistance
• More consistent consumption
• Fly control
For further information or questions please call
United Farm Industries
(806) 293-5103 or Edmonson (806) 864-3358