Last year, the Canola Council of Canada asked that question to both farmers and agronomy experts and tallied up what they said. On both sides, crop rotation and nutrient management were the top survey answers.

Before getting further into the survey results though, let’s dive deeper into the perspective of three different farmers.

Andrea De Roo would use agronomy to make better use of available moisture. Christi Friesen wants to reduce competition among canola plants. Scott Mowbray leans toward genetics with improved vigour and cold tolerance so he can seed earlier.

De Roo, a farmer and agronomist from Fairlight, Sask., said that “timely rains and cooler temperatures during flowering to prevent heat blast could give us a big boost.”

No farmer can control the weather, however. Instead, she’s looking at agronomy practices to manage the moisture risk.

“Seeding earlier would solve some of this,” De Roo said. “That gives the crop the opportunity to use early rains and soil moisture more efficiently and shift our flower timing out of seasonal periods of hot temperatures. But we also risk getting hit with frost if we’re too early.”

Friesen, who farms at Brownvale in the Alberta Peace River region, continues to tweak her seeding rate to reach the target canola plant population. The recommended canola plant stand is five to eight plants per square foot.

“Last year, some places were well over 10 plants per square foot and canola in those places choked itself out,” Friesen said. “I think we can lower our seeding rate to find that balance where the plant will flourish and give us the most yield potential. Going into 2025-26, this issue is something we are working on.”

Scott Mowbray, who farms near Cartwright in southern Manitoba, wants a soothsaying tool to spit out the right seeding date. “Having a crystal ball to tell me the exact right time to seed would be most helpful,” he said.

Save that, he would love to see some genetic improvements. “If we could seed even a couple of weeks sooner and not have to stress about slow emergence and flea beetle damage, I think we’d see canola flowering at a more ideal time, with less flower blast and more yield,” he said.

Winter hardiness might be another genetic aspect worth pursuing he added. That would open up the door to fall seeding canola.

In the shorter term, “probably the one thing would be helpful is extending our rotations,” Mowbray said. “We have a three-year rotation for canola right now, but extending it to a four- or five-year should help with disease and insect pressure.”

Survey echoes eyes on rotation

A more diverse rotation was among the choices agronomists and producers had in the 2024 canola council survey. Respondents could only pick one change from the list.

Growers spread their answers over a fairly broad range. The top answer — use more diverse crop rotation — garnered 17 per cent of votes. Next was better nutrient management, at 15 per cent.

Agronomy providers had those same practices in the top two spots, but at 27 and 37 per cent respectively, identifying an extended break between canola crops and improved nutrient management as strong factors in canola yield improvement.

“I’m glad to see the survey results support the other ideas I would have listed as an agronomist,” De Roo says. “Since widening our rotations and (putting more) focus on balancing nutrients by field and zone, we’ve seen our yields stabilize across the farm and increase to some extent.”

Rotation is a proven benefit for blackleg, clubroot and verticillium stripe management in particular, and all three diseases can inflict heavy damage. Balanced nutrition is also well-proven to boost yield.

“These best practices are not a surprise,” said Jason Casselman, agronomy specialist for the Canola Council of Canada. “Canola growers can build yield with the right genetics for each field, a stand of five to eight plants per square foot, and balanced nutrient in line with their yield targets.”

Even with these basics in place though, it takes favourable weather and pest management to carry higher yields through to harvest, Casselman added.

The post One change to improve Prairie canola yield appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

“A perfect example was 2020 — we hit it out of the ballpark with the best yield we ever had, and then in 2021, we saw the worst yield we ever had,” said the Nobleford-area farmer.

“In 2020, we saw 85 to 90 bushels per acre, and in 2021, we had six to eight bushels an acre. These drastic changes really keep us thinking.”

Every year, Buckman tries to tick off the boxes that will help close the yield gap in his spring wheat crop. He employs a four-year rotation (alternating cereals, oilseeds, and pulses), soil tests to determine residual nutrients, and applies fertilizer and other inputs at the right time.

But because he’s a dryland farmer in a relatively dry area, his yield is “so dependent on the weather.”

“We adjust our practices as much as we can as long as it’s cost effective,” said Buckman. “We soil sample every year and plan for a 40- to 50-bushel-an-acre crop, but it sure can vary.

“We can plan all we want for optimum production, but if Mother Nature doesn’t give us the rain, we have to be really careful.”

Last year really brought that lesson home when Buckman tried to top-dress his fertilizer application before it rained — and then didn’t get any rain.

“You know southern Alberta weather — it can change in a heartbeat,” said Buckman. “Last year, we got caught because we put lots of fertilizer down thinking it was going to be a good year, and then the end of June hit and our temperatures (ranged) from 30 to 35° for two weeks straight. That hurt us.”

But a new study aims to take the guesswork out of closing the yield gap for Prairie farmers.

“The project goal is to identify the key factors that prevent CWRS wheat producers from obtaining the yields that are potentially achievable on farms,” said Sheri Strydhorst, agronomy research specialist with Alberta Wheat and Barley, one of the groups funding the research.

“In Canada and the U.S., lots of wheat is produced, but still, both countries rarely surpass average yields of 50 bushels per acre. We know that much more potential is out there.”

Yield potential can be tricky to measure, but essentially, it’s the maximum you can expect “when there aren’t limitations from water or nutrients or damage from pests and diseases,” said Strydhorst.

Those potential yields will vary based on the time and the location, but international studies have found that, in general, yields are between 40 and 70 per cent of their potential.

“That means there’s a lot of yield that farmers are potentially missing out on,” said Strydhorst.

Some of that potential could only be gained by spending like crazy on inputs, but a fair-size chunk of it is achievable, she said.

“Producers could economically increase their yields by 10 to 40 per cent with improved management. That’s why we want to do this — to help farmers close that yield gap while being economical and environmentally sound.”

Low-hanging fruit

The research team, led by senior federal research scientist Brian Beres, is looking at the agronomic causes of these yield gaps by surveying farmers across the Prairies about their production practices.

The goal is to determine what gives them the best bang for their buck.

“We don’t want producers spending money on practices that don’t make economic sense,” said Strydhorst. “Once we get enough data together, if we see for instance that the lower-yielding fields tend to have lower plant populations, then that information can be communicated to the broader industry.”

As part of this project, the research team is hoping to survey a broad selection of producers and conduct an in-depth analysis of their CWRS wheat production data from 2019 and 2020 on both dryland and irrigated fields.

“What works in Oyen might not necessarily be what’s needed in Lacombe, so the study is broken out into seven different geographic zones where there’s similar soil and rainfall conditions,” said Strydhorst. “We’re trying to understand within each of those geographic areas what would be beneficial.”

Buckman, who is participating in the study, sees the value in these regional results.

“We can have a rainfall that, from home to 25 miles away, can range from two or three inches to nothing, depending on where the storms go,” he said.

The survey includes questions about variety; yield; quality; timing of seeding and harvest; input applications and rates; and any weather events, among other agronomic information. That data will be analyzed in collaboration with Kansas State University’s Global Yield Gap Atlas, which has been used to estimate yield gaps in 15 crops in 62 different countries.

“We’re working with a system that’s really highly proven, but there hasn’t been this information on yield gaps on the Canadian Prairies yet,” said Strydhorst.

“With this compiled data, the hope is really to give producers that direction that they can implement to improve management practices that will make the biggest impact on their yield.”

Those practices will vary from farm to farm, but with this survey and data analysis, spring wheat growers will be better prepared to identify — and close — the yield gap on their own operations.

“Everyone always wants to do better, but sometimes you don’t know what the low-hanging fruit is — the best things to do that will make the most difference in your yields,” said Strydhorst.

“I think at the end of the day, it will help farmers zero in on what agronomic practices are most critical to improve on their operation. It really prioritizes where effort should be spent to get the best returns from their improved management.”

To learn more about the project or to complete the survey, visit farmingsmarter.com.

The post New initiative aims to increase Prairie wheat yields appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

That includes farmers, even though degraded soil is significantly reducing their yields, according to University of Manitoba soil scientist David Lobb.

“Soil erosion accounts for a loss of about 10 per cent,” he said. “Farmers are only getting about 90 per cent of their yield because of soil erosion.”

That lost yield currently costs farmers about $3 billion a year, according to an economic analysis done by Lobb — a study he conducted to draw attention to the issue of soil health.

“Politicians should look at this and say, ‘Huh, we’re investing about a million annually in soil conservation programs while we’re losing $3 billion a year — there’s a bit of disparity there,” he said in an interview. “They should be realizing that. They’re not yet.”

The Soil Conservation Council of Canada has taken a different approach to raising awareness of soil health — a clever campaign called Soil Your Undies aimed at illustrating how healthy soil should function.

But the issue still isn’t top of mind for most people, said the council’s executive director.

“Soils are getting talked about as part of operations, but not in terms of conservation and health,” said Jim Tokarchuk. “The programs and initiatives that support soil health are pretty slim.”

It’s actually worse than that, Lobb told the Senate agriculture committee earlier this month.

In his presentation to the committee, he said that in the 1980s, the federal government had 35 people collecting and analyzing soil data but that number has fallen to half a dozen and “it won’t be much longer and it will be zero.”

“This is a role that only the federal government can play and it is one it has completely neglected,” Lobb told the committee.

Soil health became a big issue in the early 1980s, he said, after a study found that erosion was costing farmers $1 billion a year (in today’s dollars) in lost yields. Not only has that figure tripled since then, but it does not include the cost of additional inputs to make up for lost fertility.

“It would be reasonable to assume that these costs exceed the cost of that lost crop yield,” he told the senators.

And while some producers have begun exploring practices such as cover crops or adding annuals to perennial forages, there’s also been an upswing in tillage (albeit the minimum-till variety) in recent years, said Tokarchuk.

“Our message to people is to do as little tillage as you can,” he said. “One of the fundamentals of keeping soil healthy is disturbing it less.”

Even limited tillage breaks down soil structure and negatively affects microbial life, he said.

“We ask you to think about it, do as little as you can, and disturb the biology of the soil as little as you can,” said Tokarchuk.

As well, conservation tillage doesn’t regenerate the soil, it simply stops wind and water erosion from happening, Lobb said.

“That’s how come we have areas that may not be experiencing much soil loss now, but because of the historical soil loss, they still have a major problem,” he said. “If you’ve lost organic matter and productivity, once you’ve lost a bit of it, it’s very difficult to get it back.”

Lobb is an expert on ‘tillage translocation’ — a type of soil erosion caused by tillage that slowly sees soil move downhill from knolls and high spots in the field. He spoke about that issue at FarmTech this winter and how landscape restoration (physically moving soil from those low spots to knolls and hills) can improve overall fertility in a field.

But more needs to be done to properly assess the problem of lost fertility and promote methods to reverse it, he said.

“It’s astounding how little we know about some of the things that are truly important in managing the soil resource,” Lobb told the agriculture committee.

Soil health and soil conservation isn’t just an issue for farmers, but for all of society, added Tokarchuk.

“We need to make soil health as important to all Canadians as air and water,” he said. “We have household conversations in Canada about air and water quality. Everyone is thinking about that.

“Soil is the third leg of the stool that people need to think about. If we don’t get urban people involved in that, we’re going to fail. We’re not going to have the pressure on urban governments, industry, and (other groups) for people to consider soil health to be equal to air and water in the minds of Canadians.”

Climate change presents an opportunity and a threat, Tokarchuk added.

On the one hand, increasing soil organic matter would sequester more carbon. On the other, “with higher temperatures and lower precipitation, it is more difficult to maintain soil organic matter,” he said.

Farmers need to push to make soil health a priority, said Lobb, adding his study showing they are losing $3 billion a year in reduced yields demonstrates the problem wasn’t fixed by reduced tillage and summerfallow.

“Farmers need to be aware of this story because it impacts their bottom line,” he said. “Politicians need to realize it because they need to make some investments into the industry.”

– With staff files

The post Soil degradation the forgotten issue appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

“A good crop rotation is one where there is an adequate variety of crops grown so that any one type of crop is grown only once every three or four years,” says Harry Brook, crop specialist at the Alberta Ag-Info Centre. “A rotation like this can reduce pest costs, prolong the usefulness of pest control products, and improve the bottom line. Limiting or shortening the rotation may provide short-term financial benefits but in the long term, could severely limit future cropping options.”

One example that Brook uses is clubroot. “Once you have clubroot, it is there for the long haul. These soil-borne spores can remain viable in the soil for up to 20 years. If you have it, many counties will require the land be put on a four- or five-year canola-free crop rotation. However, resistance in a crop is not helped when the crop rotation is just wheat followed by canola.”

A variety of crop types can add to the health of the soil. “Pulses in a rotation improve soil health and reduce fertilizer costs,” adds Brook. “Peas, lentils and fababeans all capture nitrogen from the air and encourage beneficial bacteria and fungi that can benefit following crops.”

“Permanent forages in the crop rotation provide even more benefits,” Brook says. “They reduce the weed seeds present in the soil, increase organic matter, and are an excellent break for crop diseases and insect pests. Also, a varied crop rotation can help diversify a farm operation, reducing financial risk. It also spreads out machinery use, making them more efficient.”

Moisture use efficiency also improves with a varied crop rotation. Canola, wheat, and peas all root to different depths and extract moisture from different parts of the soil.

Permanent forages in rotation can also address soils problem such as soil salinity or acidity. Seeded in a field for three to five years, they are an excellent break from annual crops and add to the soil organic matter.

“A diverse crop rotation also naturally varies the pesticides used and reduces the chance of resistance developing to pest control products,” adds Brook. “Conversely, a tight rotation can quickly develop weed, insect or disease problems, requiring greater expense to control the issue.

The post Make a difference with good crop rotation appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

“Recent research has shown that 95 to 99 per cent of spores die over a two-year break,” said Dan Orchard, agronomy specialist with the Canola Council of Canada.

“We were told it lasts for 18 or 20 years, so we didn’t think crop rotation would have the impact that it does have.

“This is very key information that we didn’t know.”

Growing canola every other year has become the preferred rotation for many (although some are still growing back-to-back canola crops despite the risks). But as clubroot spreads — at a rate of 300 new fields a year in Alberta — more and more producers are coming around to the idea of extending their rotations, said Orchard, who spoke at a recent Alberta Canola Powering Your Profits event.

“Rotation is starting to catch on now,” he said. “People are starting to proactively manage clubroot by rotating and not waiting until they get clubroot.”

But the new research has an ominous flip side — once infestations reach a certain level, clubroot can turn into a monster that could take a generation to beat back.

Canola crops typically won’t start dying from clubroot until the spore load in the soil reaches around 100,000 spores per gram of soil. So fields with low spore loads could become symptom free once they’re rotated out of canola or another host crop for two years.

“If you’re at 100,000 spores and only one per cent of them live, you shouldn’t see symptoms after a two-year break,” said Orchard. “That break from canola is really key.”

But in fields with millions of spores — like those in much of central Alberta — the two-year break won’t decrease the spore loads enough to prevent the plants from dying.

“That’s the issue in north-central Alberta,” said Orchard. “Our spore loads got so high from not rotating long enough out of canola that it’s really a lot more difficult to control now.”

Any of the spores that are hardy enough to survive past a two-year break from canola will live in the soil for up to 18 years, he added.

“There’s always going to be some in the soil. It’s impossible to eradicate, but certainly we can do our best to decrease spore levels.”

Managing clubroot

There are a few ways producers can do that, in addition to extending their rotations.

“I think everybody will end up having clubroot. It’s just that difficult to keep away,” said Orchard. “But a lot of the ways clubroot spreads is in your control.”

It’s not going to be easy, he added. The canola council has a series of recommended prevention strategies that simply aren’t being followed by most producers because of the time and work associated with them.

“We found that growers would read the checklist until they got to something they couldn’t do, and then they’d just throw the list away,” said Orchard.

“Really, the only management technique I’ve seen deployed in the last 10 years is resistance.”

And that resistance is starting to break down.

New strains of clubroot have adapted to overcome the resistance in current genetics, and to date, more than 150 fields in Alberta have a new pathotype that can’t be controlled with current resistant varieties.

“If that soil is spread to your farm, that’s where the trouble begins,” he said. “If we don’t change something from that first round of clubroot that moved around at 30 kilometres a year, these new pathotypes are going to do the same thing.”

The best way to prevent the spread of clubroot is by sanitizing equipment. If producers knock the loose, visible dirt off their equipment before it enters the field, they can reduce the risk of getting clubroot or transmitting it by 90 to 95 per cent. If they add a bleach solution to that, they can reduce their risk even further, by 99.9 per cent.

“If it’s June 8, and you’ve got 3,200 acres to seed, I’d be surprised to see many guys doing this,” said Orchard. “But research has shown that there’s a 99.9 per cent chance of not moving clubroot around by doing that.

“It’s a really important step.”

‘Vaccinate’ that field

Even so, clubroot can find its way into the field by being transported by dust storms, wildlife, and water movement, so some risk remains even if a producer does everything right.

“You can do everything possible to minimize and reduce the amount that shows up on your farm, but there are some means by which it will arrive that are out of your control,” said Orchard.

That’s where resistant varieties play an important role.

“The question we get asked a lot is, ‘Should I put a resistant variety in the field before clubroot arrives?’ The answer is absolutely yes,” he said.

“It’s like a vaccination. You don’t get vaccinated for the flu after you get the flu. You do it before. So you need to deploy these before you get clubroot if at all possible.”

If that’s not possible, scout regularly and switch to resistant varieties if clubroot is becoming an issue. But even then, rotation is critical.

“Quite frankly, some of the areas that the resistant varieties got funnelled into were able to grow more canola because they had access to resistant varieties, which has kind of backfired,” said Orchard. “You still need that two-year or three-year break, even when you’re using resistance.

“It’s way easier said than done for me to stand here and tell you to grow more crops. It’s not something you can just jump into, but I’d try to grow more crops if you can.”

*UPDATE: A previous headline indicated a “two-year rotation” that did not reflect the information in the story. The headline has been updated to indicate a “two-year break” can reduce clubroot spore loads.

The post A two-year break can prevent a clubroot horror show appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

“It’s a great year to talk about cover crops because in order to maintain our moisture in the soil, we are going to need organic matter, which cover crops build. We are going to need cover on the soil to stop the run-off,” said Anne-Marie Bertagnolli, supervisor of the county’s community and agriculture production services.

• Read more: Specialist offers tips for grazing cover crops

The county seeded 12 varieties of cover crop on June 20 and over the next few years will be seeing how they affect nutrients, grazing regrowth, and the need for soil amendments. County officials also plan to test different ‘cocktails’ for cover crop blends.

“Historically in agriculture, we’ve become very cognizant of soil physics and soil chemistry,” said Ken Ziegler, a retired provincial beef specialist. “We have not spent a whole lot of time and effort understanding soil microbes and the whole biology that is down there.”

Understanding soil biology is critical to sustainably managing soils, he said.

“What we are doing from a soil cover perspective will invariably enhance soil biology,” said Ziegler. “We know it does, so which crops can we use that will do that well for us, and that we can harvest for our personal benefits?”

Whether land is used for annual crops, pastures, or forestry, there needs to be “a living ecosystem beneath our feet,” said Greg Paranich of Performance Seeds.

“For maximum soil health, you want to have maximum soil cover and crop residues,” he said. “That’s to lower soil surface temperatures. Keep it cooler and a more hospitable environment for all those micro-organisms we want to promote.”

This can be accomplished by planned rotational grazing and integrated pest management, as well as proper selections of plants.

“There’s not just one linear type of solution,” said Paranich. “One hec­tare of soil contains about 20 pounds of healthy micro-organisms.”

Cover crops also reduce erosion; increase soil structure and organic matter; boost water infiltration and water-holding capacity; and capture nutrients. But the mix of cover crop species matters a lot, he said.

“Some plants have nitrogen fixation, some have nitrogen scavenging. Some cover crops suppress weeds for weed control. Others reduce compaction.”

Other cover crops can be used to create livestock feed, and habitat for wildlife.

“The biggest thing is the increased crop yields year after year,” said Paranich. “We can increase that and actually increase soil health.”

Cover cropping is a system, where plants are grown in non-growth periods between crops to capture sunlight, feed the soil organisms, and sequester carbon.

“You want to capture the nutrients that are farther down and bring them up to the surface, making better use of resources,” said Paranich.

Cover crops include grasses (both warm- and cool-season varieties), brassicas (such as turnips, kales and collards), and legumes — but there’s no simple recipe for which blend to use.

“The neat part about some of the cover crops that are coming to Western Canada is that they are annual legumes,” he said. “They’re annual covers that give you the benefit of a legume without having to have a permanent cover on it.”

The county is starting small in its cover crop trials and is aiming at a two- or three-year rotational plan to begin with.

“If you’re going to do something, let’s do it right, let’s do it well, but maybe not do it over 500 acres,” said Paranich.

Producers may want to have fields of different cover crop mixes, he added.

“Ideally, having a mixture of all of them together can give you a mixture of different benefits and bring it into your soil health. The definition of that is to increase and create as much life below ground as we see above ground.”

The post Clearwater County aims to cook up successful cover crop recipes appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

“Soil sampling gives you an evaluation of the nutrient levels in your soil,” said Mark Cutts of Alberta Agriculture and Forestry’s Stettler office. “If you know that you need nitrogen or phosphorus in the crop, then you can counter those when it comes time to put your blends together or get it from an agronomist.”

Soil sampling can also determine soil pH, soil solubility and organic matter, he added.

And while some producers are thinking about other soil health factors such as soil aggregation, water infiltration rates, and other attributes, it’s still a minority who are taking soil samples.

Cutts isn’t sure why that is.

“From my perspective, that information is very helpful in figuring out your requirements for the next crop,” he said. “Soil pH and organic matter is very good information to have.”

Agronomists do a fairly high number of tests, often using sampling or coring machines while many producers use hand augers. Whatever the method, it’s important to get enough samples, said Cutts.

“The key with soil sampling is to collect from representative areas of the field,” he said. You should stay away from areas in the field that are extra wet.

And, of course, you have to act on what the soil tests reveal.

“If there are samples (of fields) that are low yielding, make sure that you can figure out how to manage them,” he said.

While labs aren’t doing soil sampling that differently, there have been some changes in technology. GPS allows producers to go back to the same area of the field and sample again, which produces a more consistent dataset, he noted.

The post Interest in soil health is growing, but testing still lags appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

They didn’t.

“We got not quite two-thirds done, which is fairly average in our area,” said the Sylvan Lake-area farmer.

“We did our peas and most of our barley in September, and didn’t do any wheat or canola until November. We’ve still got a fair bit of wheat out, a little bit of canola, and all our fababeans are still out.

“Nobody in Alberta has seen this in the last 60 years. We’re all kind of making it up as we go along.”

But despite the unprecedented weather and record-long harvest, the lesson she learned from it was nothing new — “weather changes, and you have to roll with the punches.”

“We seeded probably the earliest we’ve ever had our entire crop in the ground, and we were prepared that we might be combining in August given how early our seeding was,” she said. “But it was a cool, cloudy, rainy summer, and everything was later, despite when it got started.”

Like Ammeter, D’Arcy Hilgartner didn’t quite finish harvest on his farm near Camrose, despite a strong start to the growing season.

“We started out the year fairly dry. As we came into May, there wasn’t a lot of moisture out there, and as we came to the end of seeding, it was getting really dry,” said Hilgartner.

“But seeding went better than it has in years. We didn’t have any weather delays. We didn’t get stuck. We didn’t have any issues that way.

“We got it all seeded and then the rains came, which was perfect. But the rains really never stopped until it snowed.”

The delayed harvest was a good reminder to “take advantage of every possible opportunity,” he said.

“There was no such thing as a perfect spraying day this year. It was more like, ‘it’s pretty close,’ or, ‘the crop is almost dry,’” said Hilgartner, who still has some flax and fababeans out in the field.

“We probably could have got a little further along in harvest before the rains hit again in October if we had done that a little more, but that’s one of those areas that you learn.”

Not all bad news

On the other hand, Dave Bishop was one of the few farmers in Alberta who lucked out in September.

“We were luckier than most of the rest of the province because everyone down here got everything off, even if it was later,” said Bishop, who farms near Barons, just north of Lethbridge.

“But it was a good reminder that Mother Nature rules the roost and can sometimes kick you in the butt when you least expect it.”

Spring seeding was drier than normal for Bishop, who has both dryland and irrigated crops. But in the end, “everything came off pretty good.”

“We started seeding pretty dry, but then it started raining and we ended up with a pretty decent crop. I feel very fortunate that the weather co-operated more so down in the south here and we were able to get our crops off.”

It was the same story on Greg Sears’ farm near Sexsmith.

“In our immediate area — and when I say immediate, I’m talking about 10 miles around us — people ended up being done fairly fast,” said Sears. “Ourselves, we were finished before the end of September before the really horrible weather set in.”

The dry spring was a nail-biter for Sears, but he learned quickly that “you always have to stay optimistic about what’s going to come.”

“Going into the season, in the spring we were dry and I don’t think there was much optimism when we were putting seed in the ground,” said Sears.

“But it turned out to be quite the opposite at the end of the year, and our yields were really good in our area.”

And harvest was a prime example of “making hay while the sun shines,” he added.

“A lot of people regret maybe waiting that extra day for something to get perfect instead of getting a little more aggressive and harvesting things when conditions were first appropriate.”

Spring harvest

But even though Sears finished harvest, he didn’t get his fall work done, including his normal fall application of fertilizer, and that’s “definitely going to make for more work in the spring.”

“With a little better preparation, I think we probably could have got the majority of that fall work done,” he said.

Bishop managed to get his fall work done “a week or two later than normal,” so he should be set to seed on time in the spring.

“I really feel for the farmers who still have crop out there because it’s going to be a big delay in the spring — they’re going to have to deal with the crop laying out there,” he said. “That’s going to delay their spring, and if it happens to be a wet spring, it’s just going to delay them further.”

For Hilgartner, “the harvest of 2016 will continue into the spring of 2017, unfortunately.”

“If things start to dry off in mid-March, it won’t take us very long to finish harvest off. But it’s always out there looming above us that we’re not quite done,” said Hilgartner. “How it will impact seeding is hard to say.”

That’s the big question on Ammeter’s farm, too.

“We’re going to have to do something fast, because our priority is to seed the next crop, or else we’re going to be in exactly the same place next fall,” she said. “We don’t want to start getting into that cycle.”

Ammeter expects they will at least be able to combine their canola, but options are limited for the wheat.

“I think we’re going to be dealing with it in some rather environmentally unpalatable ways, like burning it or doing some deep tillage,” she said. “We’re a low-till or zero-till farm, so that goes against our grain. But there’s a lot of 100-bushel wheat out there getting chewed up by mice.

“I think there will be a lot of people lighting matches around here.”

Cropping plans

The potential for a late start could also see a shift in some crop acres — mainly away from long-season crops toward shorter-season options.

“In the areas that have been hard hit, I think we’re going to find that if people can’t get crops off fast enough, they’re going to have to put in really short-season crops,” said Ammeter.

“Usually people make decisions based on price, but from the standpoint of what do we have time left to seed, we might see more of the short-season crops seeded unless we get a really early spring.”

Fababeans, for instance, take around 110 days to reach maturity, and they’re usually the first crop in the ground, said Ammeter. Peas, on the other hand, are a 90-day crop, so that’s going to factor in when people are pencilling out their cropping plans for 2017.

“It’s a whole different type of decision-making,” said Ammeter. “Normally, we’re looking at what’s our rotation, what are the best varieties for our climate, what are the prices looking like worldwide, and right now, we’ve thrown in this additional thing of when will I be able to get onto my land and do I need to choose something shorter season.”

Sears agrees.

“I suspect around the province there’s going to be a shift to shorter-season crops with the additional work of spring harvest and spring field work that has to be done.”

Sears is planning on reducing his wheat acres and increasing both field pea and malt barley acres, mainly because of a lack of fall fertilizer. But he doesn’t expect that most farmers will “change up their rotations a huge amount.”

“Making wholesale changes to rotations is usually not the best idea.”

Likewise, Hilgartner will be sticking to their rotation, come what may this spring.

“We have a rotation, and we follow it. We might not get the crops all at a high, but we won’t get them all at a low either.”

And as far as Ammeter is concerned, rotation is the “best tool they have” to spread their risk around and weather this storm.

“Last year (2015), we probably had the easiest harvest we’ve had in 10 years, and this year, we had the toughest harvest we’ve had in 70 years — but I don’t think that means that you change rotations,” said Ammeter. “For the most part, we still think that crop rotations are the answer, that the best thing you can do is stick to a rotation.

“I think this will be a year that really proves that one out.”

The post ONE FOR THE BOOKS: Lessons learned, and a look ahead appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

“Realistically, we could see a 20 to 25 per cent increase in acres just based on seed sales and the usage of inoculant,” said Mark Olson, pulse crops unit head at Alberta Agriculture and Forestry.

“We know from what the seed growers were saying last fall, they were sold out of field pea and lentil seed in late November to early December.

“That’s a good indication that there’s a lot of interest in pulse crops.”

While “some crystal balls are better than others,” early indicators point to a big jump in acres, said Nevin Rosaasen, policy and program specialist for Alberta Pulse Growers.

“Based on all of our lead indicators for seeding intentions from Statistics Canada, as well as hearsay from input suppliers, we do know that acres will be increasing this year,” said Rosaasen.

“Forecasts are only forecasts, of course, but everyone has acres going up.”

Last year, Alberta farmers grew 1.4 million acres of peas. That’s likely to climb to 1.6 million to 1.8 million in 2016, said Rosaasen.

“If you haven’t already purchased your yellow peas, it’s unlikely that you’ll find any,” he said.

“I have heard that there are green peas available, but seed is extremely difficult to come by right now for peas.”

Lentils could also jump from 250,000 acres last year to 300,000 this year. But fababeans — which have seen a recent resurgence, going from 20,000 acres in 2013 to around 100,000 seeded acres in 2015 — will likely hold steady this year, or even take a dip, following last year’s drought.

“Last year was such a challenging year for fababean growers,” said Rosaasen, adding fababeans “very much like water.”

“There weren’t any crops that were absolutely beautiful in the countryside due to the drought stress. By the indication of current moisture maps in the province, it looks like we have another dry year or potentially a challenging start ahead of us.

“Some of the other crops, like peas and lentils, will likely be more favourable for growers this year given the dry conditions.”

Pencil in profitability

Provincial crop profitability forecasts earlier this year pegged field peas as an across-the-province winner, with strong prices making for lower break-even yields across the board.

“The returns per acre and the profitability of growing pulses exceed most other crops,” said Rosaasen.

Right now, pea prices are hovering around $12 a bushel — a strong net return per acre that makes good economic sense for many growers, said Olson.

“A number of guys did lock in some pretty good contracts last fall for this year,” he said.

It’s the same story for lentils, said Rosaasen.

“When you pencil out lentils, it’s by far one of the most profitable mainstream crops.”

That could lead to “a fairly big jump in red lentil,” added Olson.

“That’s part and parcel of prices being really quite lucrative right now — you’re seeing 35 to 40 cents a pound for lentils on average,” he said.

Strong prices are “huge,” said Olson, but ultimately, “we know that diverse crop rotations are the most economical and profitable.”

“We’re getting all the benefits of getting a crop that’s fixing its own nitrogen in the year you grow it and leaving some residual nitrogen in years following,” he said. “You’re lowering the carbon footprint by not having to spend a whole bunch of money on manufactured nitrogen and having to transport and apply it.

“There’s the whole environmental aspect, which people are keenly aware of.”

Production considerations

Some producers will be trying pulses for the first time or in larger acreages than they have in the past — and those growers need to “arm themselves with information,” said Rosaasen.

“The best way to do that is to come to PulsePod.ca, which is an online agronomy wiki,” he said. “You can learn about everything from seeding rate to the types of diseases you may need to be scouting for.”

Producers who tried pulses “once upon a time” might be worried about lodging, but “standability of peas has greatly increased with the introduction of new genetics and better lines,” said Rosaasen. “We do recommend rolling in peas and lentils to ensure that you push any stones down below the surface and allow for a smooth contour.”

Field selection is particularly important for lentils, added Olson.

“You want to avoid rocky fields,” he said. “You want to be able to roll your land because it’s a crop that’s close to the ground for harvest.”

Producers also need to be careful about herbicide residues.

“With drier conditions, a lot of the herbicides just don’t break down as quickly as they would normally,” said Olson. “I would strongly recommend that before they put a seed in the ground, guys should go to their Blue Book and make sure the products they’ve used aren’t going to be haunting us.”

In drier conditions, which we’re likely to see again in 2016, producers should also try to seed into moisture — “within reason.”

“In a dry year, don’t be afraid to seed a little deeper than usual. If you’re between two inches and 2.5 inches deep, that’s OK,” he said. “If you seed too shallow, you could get germination and have the small plantlet being stranded in dry conditions.

“You’d be better off to seed deeper than shallower in a year that’s dry.”

The post No question about it — pulses are hot, hot, hot appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

“There’s so many options out there. I think people would like for me to just tell them what to put in, and that would be nice and simple,” said Snider, who runs an organic grain operation near Edberg.

“The problem is I don’t know your operation and I don’t know what your resources or your capabilities are.”

Ultimately, producers need to decide for themselves “what works best and what makes them profitable and sustainable.”

“A lot of it boils down to making good management decisions,” said Snider, part of a panel at Organic Alberta’s conference in late February.

So if there’s no easy answer when it comes to developing an organic crop rotation, what can you do?

Snider — along with two other organic producers — shared their top three tips for building an organic crop rotation that could work for your farm.

Manage marketing risks

Snider’s piece of advice for developing an organic crop rotation is simple.

“Make sure you’ve got your risks covered, he said. “The key going into deciding what your rotation is going to be is knowing what your risks are, and there’s lots of them.”

Topping the list is marketing risk.

“What’s happening in the market? What are the contracts? What’s the competition both locally and globally? What’s the demand in the market? Who’s buying what?” asked Snider.

“One of the frustrations I hear from growers a lot of times is, ‘I grew this commodity, but I can’t sell it.’ Maybe that was a little homework you should have done before you put it in the ground.”

Many producers grow crops like hemp and flax based solely on their price in the marketplace, but that’s the wrong approach, said Snider.

“It sounds good in the coffee shop to say, ‘If I can raise 30 bushels an acre of flax at those prices…’” he said. “Your head’s spinning. It’s like Christmas on steroids. But it’s not practical.”

There’s a reason why crops like hemp and flax sell so high, he added.

“You have to remember those crops are at that price level for one reason and one reason only — they’re tough to grow. They’re high risk.”

“What I see continually — and I think it’s dangerous and it happens way too often — is guys rushing in and chasing those high-risk crops and putting all their eggs in one basket. Sometimes it works, but a lot of times, it doesn’t.”

The key to Snider’s success is diversity and patience.

“We have a variety of crops. Some peak, some fall. And we try to wait for the peaks to sell into,” he said.

“The sliding scale of price can move very quickly, up or down. These are very volatile markets, and we all know that.

“If you can actually hold that commodity and not have the banker push you over to push it into the market, you’re going to win.”

Intercropping

Country music duo Van Zant once sang that “if you want to hear God laugh, tell him your plans.” Well, Ward Middleton has found that to be true on his 750-acre organic operation near Morinville.

“I’ve seen some really good six-year crop rotation plans, but I’d get two years into a plan and something would change,” said Middleton.

So Middleton began intercropping to manage some of those risks.

“Intercropping is something we’ve embraced because we’re a smaller land base,” said Middleton. “I find that in general, it provides me with a crop insurance strategy. I’ve never seen a failure of both crops.”

Intercropping has also helped with weed competition and nutrient management in the soil, said Middleton.

“We do an awful lot of intercropping because of our strategy for weed management, which seems to be my biggest consideration in my cropping rotation choices,” he said.

Right now, “a typical combination” of intercrops on Middleton’s farm is wheat intercropped with flax, peas intercropped with Polish canola, and barley intercropped with sweet clover.

“I always let the barley get established, and when it’s about the three-leaf stage, I go out and harrow it and incorporate the sweet clover. That’s nice because it’s cheap legume establishment for the next year.”

Middleton has seen a variety of benefits from introducing intercropping to his operation, including improved weed management, water use efficiency, and additional marketing options.

“Nature has never wanted a monoculture to exist. If I’m going to have something growing and competing with my crop, let it be another crop that I can sell and get an organic premium for,” he said.

“The more species you have growing, the better it is.”

Using livestock

For organic producer Tim Hoven, using livestock in his crop rotation has improved his soil health, his weed control, and his bottom line.

“I don’t believe in sustainable farming. I believe in regenerative farming,” said Hoven, who runs a mixed operation near Eckville.

“When I look at my soil, I do not want to live on a slowly degrading soil. I want to be doing practices and activities that are building up that soil over time.”

And he’s achieved that by grazing cattle as part of his rotation.

“Cattle have two purposes on our farm. No. 1, they convert grass into dollars, but they also improve our pastures and our soils,” said Hoven.

“The cattle take nutrients in those grasses — which is an unmarketable product — and it comes out their back end as manure and back into the soil. That manure feeds the soil life, which in turn grows more grass — which allows me to grow more beef.”

Cattle are part of his “very simple rotation,” owing to the “mediocre” land he farms at the edge of Clearwater County.

“Where we are in the province, we have a very short growing season. We can get off two crops organically, mainly barley and oats. We just don’t have time to do anything else,” said Hoven.

“Our rotation is two years of barley or oats, and then it’s seeded back into alfalfa and grass mix. We hay and pasture that grass mix up until we’re not getting a return on that grass anymore.

“I consider myself a grass farmer more than a grain farmer.”

The post One size doesn’t fit all when it comes to organic crop rotations appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.