Production of specialty small grains in Ohio

In Ohio, soft red winter wheat is the predominantly produced small grain, with 530,000 acres planted in fall 2024 (USDA-NASS, 2024). Soft red winter wheat is commonly used for sponge cakes, cookies, crackers, and other confectionary products (U.S. Wheat Associates, 2023). Although soft red winter wheat is commonly produced by farmers in Ohio, there is interest in other classes of wheat or other small grains due to local demand and niche markets (Table 1).

In the United States, wheat is divided into six classes based on bran color (red or white), protein content (hard = high protein, soft = low protein), and growth habit (winter or spring), which influence end-use (Table 1). Ancient wheats, such as spelt, einkorn, and emmer, have been minimally changed by breeding efforts and are marketed by health food industries. Ancient wheat yields are often lower than modern wheat varieties, and grain often requires dehulling after harvest (Thapa et al., 2023); however, low fertilizer requirements and high consumer demand may offset challenges associated with ancient wheat production (Cadeddu et al., 2021). Other small grains, such as barley, oat, rye, and triticale, are commonly used as a forage or cover crop, but grain can be used as animal feed or within food or drink products.

A three-year experiment (2020–2021, 2021–2022, and 2022–2023) was established at the Northwest Agricultural Research Station in Wood County, Ohio, to compare soft red winter wheat yield with specialty small grain yield. Winter small grains were planted within two to 11 days of the county Hessian fly-free date of September 23 and harvested in July (Table 2). Spring small grains were planted in April and harvested in late July or early August. For all years, soybean was the previous crop and small grains were planted in row widths of 7.5-inches. The seeding rate varied by small grain type. Soft red winter wheat, soft white winter wheat, hard red winter wheat, hard white winter wheat, hard red spring wheat, and durum were seeded at 1.75 million seeds per acre. Spelt, winter and spring barley, triticale, and oat were seeded at 1.5 million seeds per acre. Winter rye for feed, einkorn, and emmer were seeded at 1 million seeds per acre while hybrid winter rye was seeded at 0.8 million seeds per acre.

The entire field area received minimum tillage each fall prior to planting. Nitrogen (N) fertilizer, ranging from 27 to 33 pounds (lb) per acre, was applied to the entire field area in the fall. Each spring, an additional 90 lb of N per acre was applied to the winter small grains (late March to mid-April) and spring small grains (mid-May to early June). The entire field had lime, phosphorus, and potassium applied as needed to maintain soil test levels appropriate for winter wheat production.

Winter small grains

Across the three-year experiment, the standard small grain for Ohio, soft red winter wheat had the highest yield, averaging 93 bushels (bu) per acre (Figure 1). Soft white winter wheat, hard red winter wheat, and hard white winter wheat grain yield was slightly lower, averaging 87, 81, and 85 bu per acre, respectively. The fall-planted ancient wheat (spelt) yielded an average of 47 bu per acre. Winter malting barley had an average yield of 82 bushels per acre and triticale had an average yield of 80 bu per acre. Hybrid winter rye yielded an average of 71 bu per acre while winter rye for feed yielded 59 bu per acre. The yield of all varieties of winter small grains is shown in Table 3.

Spring small grains

Hard red spring wheat and durum wheat yielded much lower than fall-planted wheat, averaging 39 and 35 bu per acre, respectively (Figure 1). The two spring-planted ancient wheats, einkorn and emmer, yielded even lower at 13 and 17 bu per acre, respectively. Spring barley for feed yielded an average of 51 bu per acre, and spring barley for malt yielded an average of 60 bu per acre. Of the spring small grains, oat had the largest yield at an average of 73 bu per acre; however, yields were extremely variable depending on the year and variety (Table 4).

Overall, spring small grains tended to have lower yields than the winter small grains. This is likely due to the shorter grain-fill period associated with spring small grains compared to winter small grains. Furthermore, spring-planted small grains are extremely sensitive to planting date. Spring-planted small grains yielded the highest amount in 2021 and 2023 when they were planted on April 5 and April 13, respectively. In 2022, the spring small grains were planted on April 20 due to wet weather, which resulted in lower grain yields (Table 5).

Other considerations

Although grain yield is an important parameter, there are several other important factors that need to be considered before producing specialty small grains.

Contracts or other agreements
Specialty small grains are not sold through traditional grain elevators that sell corn, soybean, and wheat, so a contract or other agreement should be in place before planting.

Grain quality parameters
Depending on the end-use, certain grain-quality parameters may need to be met. For example, hard red winter wheat should have a medium to high protein content of 10% to 13% (U.S. Wheat Associates, 2023). However, in an Ohio environment, protein content may be lower. In addition to protein, other quality parameters of test weight, grain plumpness, germination, and deoxynivalenol concentration may be important depending on end-use.

Agronomic best management practices
In Ohio, most small grain agronomic best management practices are based on soft red winter wheat. Guidelines are available for producing winter malting barley in Ohio (Lindsey et al., 2020), but are limited for other specialty small grains. Agronomic management of specialty small grains in Ohio is an area of research that needs to be further explored.

Acknowledgments

This experiment was conducted in Ohio as part of a larger study initiated and directed by Dr. Shawn Conley and Dr. Haleigh Ortmeier-Clarke at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Special thanks go to Matt Davis and Matt Hankinson for establishing and managing the experiment in Ohio.

References

Cadeddu, F., Motzo, R., Mureddu, F., & Giunta, F. (2021). Ancient wheat species are suitable to grain-only and grain plus herbage utilisations in marginal Mediterranean environments. Agronomy for Sustainable Development, 41(15).
doi:10.1007/s13593-021-00670-7

Lindsey, L., Shrestha, R., McGlinch, G., Culman, S., Loux, M., Paul, P., & Stockinger, E. (2020). Management of Ohio winter malting barley [PDF]. Retrieved from
stepupsoy.osu.edu/sites/hcs-soy/files/Malting%20Barley%20Handout-%20Spring%202020.pdf

Thapa, R.K., Eberle, C., and Youngquist, C. (2023). Ancient spring wheat production in Wyoming. Crop, Forage & Turfgrass Management, 9.
DOI:10.1002/cft2.20237

United States Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service (USDA-NASS). (2024). Quick stats tools [Webpage]. Retrieved from
quickstats.nass.usda.gov/results/3BA3C0D7-24AE-36BD-A06F-2C39A833B3B9

U.S. Wheat Associates. (2023). U.S. soft red winter crop quality data highlights [Webpage]. Retrieved from
uswheat.org/crop-quality/soft-red-winter

Written by Laura Lindsey, Professor, Horticulture and Crop Science, The Ohio State University.