AF CONTRIBUTOR |LETHBRIDGE
It’s not easy being a duck, what with coyotes and foxes eating your eggs for breakfast and hunters taking potshots at you all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico.
But an even greater threat – the farmer. Once you’ve got your nest nicely established, along comes an air seeder to turn it under – unless you’ve chosen a field which was seeded last fall.
Hence the program by Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) to increase its agronomy support for farmers growing wildlife-friendly crops, especially winter wheat, thanks to new partnerships with Viterra, Bayer and Agrium.
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The partnership helps the companies forge closer relationships with their customers, while DUC can increase waterfowl populations by providing better nesting habitat.
“Some duck species, especially the northern pintail, prefer to nest on cropland,” says Paul Thoroughgood, a regional agronomist with DUC. “Pintail numbers haven’t recovered despite wetter years.”
Thoroughgood says nests in winter wheat or dormant-seeded canola fields are 24 times more productive than nests in spring-seeded fields. In winter crops, the birds have cover, relatively few predators and no seeding operations to destroy their nests. And, if the birds’ first nest is destroyed, they lay fewer eggs in a second nest and the young are not as big, so they’re more likely to be lost during migration.
DUC has funded winter wheat breeding for many years and now supports Ag Canada’s winter wheat agronomy project as well. DUC is also enhancing its one-to-one agronomy support, particularly for novice growers. Two-thirds of farmers who try winter wheat keep it in their farming system, says Thoroughgood.
“The crop has something to offer them, either better net income or time management,” he says. “We want to make sure novice growers have a positive experience, so winter wheat becomes part of their rotations.”
Good management needed
For this fall, about 40 novice winter wheat growers in Alberta will work with a DUC agronomist to strengthen their agronomics to give their crops the best chance possible. “Many farmers are afraid of winter wheat or don’t believe it will grow in their area,” says Autumn Holmes-Saltzman, DUC agronomist for southern Alberta. “Today, with zero till and dependable varieties, winter wheat will grow virtually anywhere in Alberta. As long as you plan ahead, scout diligently, and use the tools available, it’s a win-win crop, for you and the environment.”
Winter wheat can outyield spring wheat by up to 40 per cent and you can plan on an extra 20 per cent, because it can take advantage of early moisture and the long, warm days of June. Several varieties produce protein levels that meet milling standards and feed and ethanol markets also accept winter wheat.
The crop has rotational benefits because its earlier growth provides unfavourable conditions for weeds, insects and diseases that thrive in spring crops. It also spreads the farm workload.
“A crop seeded on time is usually ready to combine well before other crops, even peas,” Holmes-Saltzman says. “And, in a spring like this year or last, it’s one crop you don’t have to stress over, it’s in the ground, using up all that extra water. In a dry spring, winter wheat can make use of any early moisture and beat the July heat that can knock back the yield potential of spring crops.”
Some people see winter wheat as a low-input, easily managed crop. Holmes-Saltzman doesn’t agree. “Give your winter wheat a chance to shine,” she says. “It has a very high yield potential, better than spring wheat. It’s worth the inputs to protect that yield potential.”
Pest insects haven’t been an issue in winter wheat so far. But, wheat stem sawfly in Montana has adapted to attack the crop and midge is spreading. Downy brome and Japanese brome can be an issue too.
“The main thing with winter wheat is to plan,” Holmes-Saltzman says. “Think about the stubble you want to seed into, canola works well, and seed fields you want to put into winter wheat early so the crop’s off early.
DUC also has a program to support a switch from annual crops to perennial forage through a partnership with Viterra. It pays $20 an acre for cropland you put into forages, provided you buy seed from Viterra and commit to keeping the land into forages for the next 10 years.
Agronomists are available to help with any agronomic issues. Ducks Unlimited also has programs that support preserving or restoring wetlands.
