Organic winter wheat tops 100 bu/ac

Organic hard winter wheat yields were way off the charts for 2007 at a Montana State University research facility near Bozeman, leaving scientists trying to explain why. This is the fourth year the plot in question had been managed organically, using winter peas to fix nitrogen in the soil—and in place of synthetic nitrogen—for the cash crop that follows. The exceptional yields followed a dry July that saw only a tenth of an inch of rain, as well as record-breaking heat. Typically, researchers said, protein content can be a negative trait when comparing organic to conventional wheat, but at better than 12.5 percent the protein content in the high-yielding 2007 organic crop was also high.
 
Full Story