John W. Burns
Uniform Cereal Variety Testing
Wheat and barley are the economic engines of the majority of the dryland cropland in eastern Washington; the state is ranked fifth in the nation in wheat production and fourth in the nation in barley production. The diversity of dryland and irrigated cropping regions in Washington results in wheat and barley (2.23 million acres of wheat and 205,000 acres of barley in 2006) being produced in a wide array of climatic zones with varied management practices. Variety adaptation issues are major components in cropping systems. It is critical that growers have the information they need to make the best possible decisions with the extremes in diversification of variety selection that is occurring.
To address emerging issues, John Burns and his collaborators establish uniform cereal variety testing nurseries in 13 counties of eastern Washington at 30 locations. The program also supports WSU and USDA/ARS wheat breeding programs to assist in determining variety release recommendations to the Washington Agricultural Research Center. Typically, replicated evaluation trials include over 150 wheat or barley varieties/experimental lines. Procedures include testing protocols for grain grading, wheat quality, fertility management, and testing cultivars that have novel traits. The estimated economic value of the program could exceed $40 million per year if growers adopted only varieties having the highest three-year average yields in the Variety Testing Program trials at specific geographic production zones.
John Burns integrates an aggressive Extension variety testing crop tour program that includes field tours at each of the nursery locations and annually engages over 1000 farmer and agribusiness personnel. His Extension work also extends into more formal classroom-type environments where he presents results of his research at annual grower meetings and seed industry conferences.
Related Pages:
Contact Information
John W. Burns
Extension Specialist
Department of Crop and Soil Sciences
Washington State University
PO Box 646420
Johnson Hall 169
Pullman, WA 99164-6420
Telephone: 509-335-5831
Fax: 509-335-1758
E-mail: burnsjw@wsu.edu
Growing up on a wheat farm in southeastern Washington only 70 miles away from WSU and experiencing the positive impacts that research and extension programs made on his family’s farming operation, John W. Burns developed his interest in agronomy and a desire to make it a career path. Most notably, he remembers the devastating impact that rust had on his father’s wheat crop in the 1960s and the influence that Dr. Orville Vogel’s research made on wheat production at WSU when Gaines winter wheat was developed. John earned his B.S. (’71) and M.S. (’73) degrees in agronomy from WSU, spent two years in the Army, and joined WSU Extension in 1975 in an agronomy position with the WSU Grant/Adams Area Extension office. During his career with WSU Extension, his agronomy programs have included seven years working with irrigated crops in the Columbia Basin, 18 years working with dryland cropping systems in Whitman County and serving as WSU Extension Agronomist with the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences since 2000. His current position is highly centered on conducting the WSU Extension Uniform Cereal Variety Testing Program that is responsible for annual variety testing and performance of over 150 wheat and barley varieties/experimental lines at nearly 30 locations across 13 counties of eastern Washington.
Heading using the h3tag
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.