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, 2024). Although soft red winter wheat is commonly produced by farmers in Ohio, there may be interest in other classes of wheat or other small grains due to local demand and niche markets (Table 1).

In the U.S., 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.

Table 1. Small grains, primary production areas within the U.S., and common end-uses.

A three-year experiment (2020-2021, 2021-2022, 2022-2023) was established at the Northwest Agricultural Research Station in Wood County, Ohio, to compare soft red winter wheat yield to specialty small grains. Winter small grains were planted within 2 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 7.5-inch row width. 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/acre. Spelt, winter and spring barley, triticale, and oat were seeded at 1.5 million seeds/acre. Winter rye for feed, einkorn, and emmer were seeded at 1.0 million seeds/acre while hybrid winter rye was seeded at 0.8 million seeds/acre.

Table 2. Planting and harvesting dates for winter and spring small grains planted at the Northwest Agricultural Research Station in Wood County, Ohio.

The entire field area received minimum tillage each fall prior to planting. Nitrogen fertilizer, ranging from 27 to 33 lb N/acre, was applied to the entire field area in the fall. Each spring, an additional 90 lb N/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 area had lime, phosphorus, and potassium applied as needed to maintain soil test levels appropriate for winter wheat production.

Winter Small Grains. Across the three years, the standard small grain for Ohio, soft red winter wheat, yielded the greatest, averaging 93 bu/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/acre, respectively. The fall-planted ancient wheat, spelt, yielded an average of 47 bu/acre. Winter malting barley had an average yield of 82 bu/acre and triticale had an average yield of 80 bu/acre. Hybrid winter rye yielded an average of 71 bu/acre while winter rye for feed yielded 59 bu/acre. Yield of winter small grains by variety 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/acre, respectively (Figure 1). The two spring-planted ancient wheats, einkorn and emmer, yielded even lower at 13 and 17 bu/acre, respectively. Spring barley for feed yielded an average of 51 bu/acre, and spring barley for malt yielded an average of 60 bu/acre. Of the spring small grains, oat yielded the greatest at an average of 73 bu/acre; however, yields were extremely variable depending on the year and variety (Table 4).

Overall, spring small grains tended to yield lower 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 greatest 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).

Figure 1. Grain yield of winter and spring small grains. The shaded box shows the inter-quartile range, representing the middle 50% of the value. The solid line within each shaded box represents the median value. The upper and lower whiskers represent the maximum and minimum value, respectively.

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 like 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 10.0% to 13.0% (U.S. Wheat Associates, 2024). 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. There are guidelines for producing winter malting barley in Ohio (Lindsey et al., 2020), but limited guidelines for other specialty small grains. Agronomic management of specialty small grains in Ohio is an area of research that needs to be further explored.

Table 3. Grain yield of winter small grains. Different letters within a small grain type and year indicate a statistically significant difference in grain yield at 95% confidence.

Table 4. Grain yield of spring-planted small grains. Different letters within a small grain type and year indicate a statistically significant difference in grain yield at 95% confidence.

Acknowledgements

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., and 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.

Lindsey, L., Shrestha, R., McGlinch, G., Culman, S., Loux, M., Paul, P., and Stockinger, E. (2020). Management of Ohio Winter Malting Barley. Ohio State University Extension. https://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, e20237.

USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (USDA-NASS). (2024). Quick stats. USDA-NASS. https://quickstats.nass.usda.gov/results/3BA3C0D7-24AE-36BD-A06F-2C39A833B3B9

U.S. Wheat Associates. (2024). Soft Red Winter. https://www.uswheat.org/crop-quality/soft-red-winter/