Grain, Oil, and Specialty FieldCrop Production
By Larry Stine
Estherville Lincoln Central High School
Original Power Point Created by Larry Stine
Modified by Georgia Agricultural Education Curriculum Office
June 2002
1
Competencies:
define important terms used in crop
production
 identify major crops grown for grain, oil,
and special purposes
 classify field crops according to use and
thermo requirements
 describe how to select field crops, varieties,
and seed
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Competencies:
prepare proper seedbeds for grain, oil, and
specialty crops
 plant field crops
 describe current irrigation practices for field
crops to meet their water needs
 control pests in field crops
 harvest and store field crops

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Terms to Know
Field Crops
 Grain Crops
 Malting
 Forage
 Cover Crops
 Green Manure Crops
 Oilseed Crops
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Terms to Know
Linen
 Linseed Oil
 Ginning
 Seed Pieces
 Cash Crop
 Thermo
 Cereal Crops
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Terms to Know
Seed Legume Crops
 Root Crops
 Sugar Crops
 Tuber Crops
 Stimulant Crops
 Conventional Tillage
 No-till
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Term to Know
Row Crop Planters
 Drill Planters
 Broadcast Planters
 Irrigation
 Sprinklers
 Surface Irrigation
 Mechanical Pest Control
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Terms to Know
Cultural Control
 Biological Control
 Genetic Control
 Chemical Control
 Threshing
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History of Crop Production
Began about 10,000 years ago
 Changed early humans from hunters to
farmers
 Observed what animals were eating
 Trial and error and thousands of years of
selection
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In the United States
Occupies more than 450 million acres
 Acreage represents about 20% of the U.S.
 About 2% of American workers are in
production agriculture
 11% of personal income in U.S. spent on
food
 Helps to maintain balance of trade
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Major Field Crops in the United
States
Seven major grain crops in the United
States
 Are grasses grown for their edible seeds
 Major Grain Crops:

Corn
Wheat
Barley
Oats
Rye
Rice
Grain Sorghum
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Corn

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Most important field
crop in the U.S.
35-40% of total
production from
midwest
50% of corn produced
in the world
Origin in Central
America
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Corn
Less than 10% of U.S. production is for
human consumption
 Major classifications:

Dent corn
Flint corn
Popcorn
Sweet corn
Flour or soft corn
Pod corn
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Wheat

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Most important grain crop in
the world
2nd to corn in U.S.
Primarily for human
consumption
Ground into flour:
bread
cakes
cereal
macaroni/noodles
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Wheat

Types of Wheat:
Common
Durum
Club
Poulard
Polish
Emmer
Spelt

Classes of Common Wheat:
Soft red winter
Hard red spring
Hard red winter
White
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Barley

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Ranks fifth among
grain crops in U.S.
Most is used in
livestock feed
Same feed value as
corn
Production for malting
is also important
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Oats
Fourth in acres produced in the United States
 Value is well documented for livestock:

Adding bulk to the diet
Adding protein to the diet
5% is made into oatmeal and cookies
 Used in production of plastics, pesticides, and
preservatives
 Important in paper and brewing industries
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Rye
Least economically important grain crop
 25-35% of rye acreage used for grain
 Remainder used for forage:

Cover crop
Green manure crop

Rye grown for grain is used for livestock
feed, flour, whiskey & alcohol production
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Rice
Major grain crop grown for food for over half
the people in the world
 Only commercially grown grain crop that can
grow and thrive in standing water
 Types grown in U.S.:

Short grain
Medium grain
Long grain

Majority used for human consumption
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Sorghum
In U.S. used primarily for livestock feed
 About equal to corn in food value
 Other uses include:

Forage
Manufacture of syrup or sugar
Making of brooms

Third most important U.S. grain crop
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Sorghum

Types of sorghum:
Grain
Forage
Syrup
Grass
Broomcorn
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Oilseed Crops
Crops grown for the production of oil from
their seeds
 Growing in importance each year
 Important crops are:

Soybeans
Safflower
Peanuts
Flax
Corn
Sunflower
Cottonseed
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Soybeans
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60 million acres in U.S.
Average yield 34 bu/acre
Gross $11 billion/year
Oil and grain products are
major uses
Meal fed to livestock
Also used for hay, pasture,
and other forage
100’s of other uses
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Peanuts
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Actually a pea and not a nut
Grown primarily in the South
One ton will yield:
500 lbs. oil
800 lbs. meal
700 lbs. shell


Meal used for livestock feed and
in human diets
Other foods include peanut
butter and dry roasted peanuts
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Safflower
Production for oil occurs mainly in
California
 Plants grow 2 to 5 feet high with heads
resembling Canadian thistles
 25-35 percent oil
 Used in production of paint and other
industrial products
 Used for cooking oil and low cholesterol
diets
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Flax
Originally, the production was for fiber
 Fibers were used to produce linen
 Oil is called linseed oil
 Important raw product in many types of paint
 100’s of uses in industry
 Meal is excellent source of protein for animal
feeds
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Sunflowers
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Production of oil-type
important in recent years
90% of production oil-type
49-53% oil
Meal has 14-19% protein
Meal used for livestock feed
Oil used for margarine and
cooking oil
Oil can substitute for diesel
fuel in tractors
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Specialty Crops

Include:
Fiber Crops
Sugar Crops
Stimulant Crops

Examples include:
Cotton
Sugar beets
Sugarcane
Tobacco
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Cotton
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Originated in Central and
South America
Important crop in South
since colonial times
Need warm temperatures
and a long growing season
Can produce up to three
crops per year under
irrigation
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Cotton
Over 15 million bales of cotton produced in
U.S. per year
 9 million bales used in textile industry, rest is
exported
 Removing seed from cotton is called ginning
 Seed is processed to remove the oil which
contributes to vegetable oil needs
 Meal is used for animal feed
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Sugar Beets
Accounts for about 35% of the refined sugar
produced in the U.S.
 Produces a thick, fleshy storage root
 Center of production is the western states
and the upper Midwest
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Sugar Cane
Accounts for 65% of the sugar refined in the U.S.
 Crop is a grass grown from sections of stalk called
seed pieces
 Takes about 2 years to reach harvesting stage in
Hawaii
 Takes 7 months until harvest in the southern states
 Can harvest several times before replanting
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Tobacco
Original North American product used by Native
Americans
 Produced as a cash crop
 Production dropped in the 1980’s and increased
again in the 1990’s
 Requires large amounts of labor and is adapted to
small farming operations
 Warm temperatures and plenty of rainfall are
required for optimum production
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Classification of Field Crops

Three ways of classifying field crops:
Use
Thermo requirements
Life span

Classification by use:
Cereal crops-grown for their edible seeds
Seed legume crops-nitrogen-fixing crops that
produce edible seeds
Root crops-grown for their thick, fleshy
storage roots
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Classification of Field Crops
Forage crops-grown for hay, silage, or
pastures for livestock feed
Sugar crops-grown for their ability to store
sugars in their stems or roots
Oil crops-produced for the oil content of their
seeds
Tuber crops-grown for their thickened,
underground storage stems
Stimulant crops-grown for their ability to
stimulate the sense of the user
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Classification of Field Crops

Thermo classifications:
Warm season
Cool season
Warm season crops must have warm
temperatures in order to live and grow
 Cool season crops often need a period of
cool weather in order to attain maximum
production
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Classification of Field Crops

Classification by life span:
Annual
Biennial
Perennial
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Factors to consider for the selection of field crops:
1. Crops that will grow and produce the desired yields
under the type of climate available.
2. Crops that are adapted to the type of soil available.
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Classification of Field Crops
3. Demand on market available for the crop to be
produced.
4. Labor requirements and availability of labor for the
crop.
5. Machinery and equipment necessary to grow the crop.
6. Availability of enough land to justify production
of the crop.
7. Pest-control problems.
8. Expected yields.
9. Anticipated production costs.
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Seedbed Preparation


Purpose is to provide
conditions favorable
for germination and
growth
Eliminating
competition from
weeds and crop
residues is a
consideration
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Seedbed Preparation
Can increase availability of soil nutrients
 Should not be overworked
 Fineness of seedbed is dependent on size of
seed
 Should contain enough fertility to
encourage germination and growth
 Control and elimination of weeds, insects,
and diseases is an important consideration
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Seedbed Preparation

Three categories of tillage preparation:
Conventional tillage-land is plowed with a
moldboard plow
Minimum tillage-seedbed is prepared only
enough so that the seed can make contact with
the soil and germinate
No-till-planting seeds directly into the residue
of the previous crop
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Planting Field Crops

Three general types of planters:
Row crop planters-plant seeds in precise rows with even spacing
within the rows
Drill planters-plant seeds in narrow rows at high population rates
Broadcast planters-scatter the seed in a random pattern on top of the
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seedbed
Planting Field Crops

Other considerations include:
Date to plant
Germination rate of seeds
Uniformity of seed
Weather conditions
Insect and disease control problems
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Meeting Water Needs of Crops
Ideally 1/2 of pore space is filled with water
 About 1/2 of the water in the pore spaces
are available for plant use
 Factors affecting water availability include:
Type of soil
Natural rainfall
Water-table levels
Prevailing winds
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Meeting Water Needs of Crops
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Irrigation may be the answer to obtaining profitable yields
Irrigation has been practiced for over 5,000 years
Egyptians used water from the Nile River for irrigation
Chinese and Native Americans used irrigation
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Meeting Water Needs of Crops

Major methods of supplying irrigation water
to crops:
Sprinklers-spray water through the air, much
like rainfall
Surface irrigation-water gets to the crop by
gravity, flowing over the surface of the soil or
in ditches or furrows
Subsurface irrigation-supplies water to the
roots of crops underground
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Pest Control in Field Crops
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Control of pests in field crops
often determines profits
Pests include:
Diseases
Weeds
Insects
Animals
Economic losses total billions
of dollars each year
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Pest Control in Field Crops

Three main categories of losses:
Reduced yields
Reduced quality
Spoilage

Methods of controlling pests in field crops:
Mechanical pest control Genetic control
Cultural pest control
Chemical control
Biological pest control
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Mechanical Pest Control
Anything that affects the environment of the
pest or the pest itself
 Cultivation is the normal mechanical
control of weeds
 Other types include:

Pulling or mowing weeds
Use of screens, barriers, traps, and electricity
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Cultural Control
Adapting farming practices to control pests
 Includes:

Timing farming operations to eliminate pests
Rotating crops
Planting resistant varieties
Planting trap crops that are more attractive to
insects than is the primary crop
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Biological Control
Involves the use of predators or diseases as
the control mechanisms
 Examples:

Release of sterile male insects
Uses of baits and repellents

Important that the control be specific to the
intended pest
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Genetic Control
Development of varieties of crops that are
resistant to pests
 May involve making the crop less attractive
to pest because of:

Taste
Shape
Blooming time
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Chemical Control
Involves the use of pesticides to control
pests
 Excellent management practices must be
exercised
 Care in pest identification and selection of
the chemical are important
 Dosage, runoff, and pesticide residues need
to be monitored
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Harvesting and Storing Field
Crops
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Harvesting at proper
stage of maturity is a
key to maximizing
profits
Culmination of a
growing season of
work and anticipation
of the rewards of a job
well done
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Harvesting and Storing Field
Crops
Development of mechanical harvesting
equipment
 Primary harvesting machine is the combine
which performs the tasks of:

Cutting the crop
Threshing the crop
Separating crop from debris
Cleaning the crop
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Harvesting and Storing Field
Crops

Threats to quality of stored crops include:
Heat
Moisture
Fungi
Insects
Rodents

Production of field crops generates more income
for American agriculturists than any other
production enterprise
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