Bayer CropScience says it’s about to roll out a canola hybrid with patented pod shatter-reduction technology, and some farmers who’ve tested it say it might mean parking their swather for good.
“For me that’s probably the most exciting trait of them all,” said farmer Frank Groeneweg of Edgeley, Sask. during a panel discussion during Bayer CropScience’s agronomy summit Nov. 27. Panellist Steve Larocque, who farms and operates Beyond Agronomy at Three Hills, Alta., agreed.
“Having better pod shatter reduction and tolerance is the future,” he said. “I would hope that every variety would give us that option.
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“We sold our swather four years ago and started straight cutting canola and haven’t looked back and don’t want to.”
No swather means one less operation and one less piece of equipment to buy, Larocque said, adding a swather costs around $180,000.
InVigor L140P, which is a mid- to early-maturing variety, matched the yields of InVigor 5440 and InVigor L130 when swathed at the normal swathing time, but yielded two and seven per cent more, respectively, when swathing was delayed or the crop was straight harvested, Bayer CropScience figures show.
L140P also has Bayer’s latest blackleg-resistance genes.
“It’s well suited for most of the Prairies, unless clubroot is an issue and then you go with a resistant variety,” said Bayer market development specialist Leighton Blashko.
Ninety-four per cent of western Canadian farmers still swath their canola. Ideally farmers should swath canola when 60 per cent of the seeds from the main stem have changed colour.
“A larger farmer can’t get it all swathed at the optimum time,” said panellist Murray Hartman, provincial oilseed specialist with Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development.
Studies show farmers lose five to six per cent of their potential canola yield because pods shatter, spilling the seed on the ground before harvest.
“So that’s five or six per cent right out of your pocket,” Hartman said. “I know a lot of farmers who will go out of their way to get a variety that is five or six per cent higher yielding.”
Wind damage
High winds at harvest can increase shatter losses to 20 per cent or more, Hartman added.
Strong winds across much of Western Canada in the fall of 2012 robbed farmers of two to four bushels an acre on average, costing them more than $500 million, according to Bayer CropScience estimates.
Larocque said his standing canola still yielded 30 bushels an acre despite winds of more than 100 kilometres an hour, while neighbours who had swathed harvested seven bushels an acre.
Less shattering not only boosts potential yields, but also results in fewer volunteers, making future weed control easier, Hartman said. It also means potentially fewer problems with canola diseases such as clubroot and blackleg.
“I see this trait as a direct return on investment as well as a risk management tool,” said panellist Wes Anderson, agronomy manager with Richardson Pioneer.
“I think a pod shatter trait will rapidly increase the number of acres that’ll be straight cut in Western Canada and make farmers more money.”
Limited supplies
Limited supplies of InVigor L140P will be available on a first-come, first-served basis this spring, said Blaine Woycheshin, Bayer CropScience’s manager oilseed crops — InVigor Seed. The company ran 22 trials across the West in 2013, but wants to “walk before it runs,” with the new technology, he said.
InVigor L140P will sell for a $10-an-acre premium over other InVigor seed, Woycheshin said later in an interview.
“There’s a yield advantage straight cutting and you save on the swather too, so you’ve got a double benefit,” he said. “It’s a win-win for the grower — time, money, flexibility.”
Bayer CropScience is also promoting its sclerotinia-tolerant canola, InVigor L160S and its clubroot-resistant canola, InVigor L135C.
InVigor L160S is tolerant, not resistant to sclerotinia, Blashko emphasized. Farmers can’t rely on it to stay disease free, especially in areas prone to high levels of sclerotinia such as Manitoba’s Red River Valley. However, it could fit with valley farmers who do not automatically apply a fungicide every growing season.
“I look at it very much as a risk management tool,” Anderson said.
Clubroot-resistant canola is important for the areas that have the disease and can play a role in preventing its spread, Anderson said.
“Clubroot is going to be coming sooner or later,” added Larocque.
