Agronomist Notes

I did some shallow soil sampling on the weekend and discovered the frost lays about eight inches below the surface. The soil temperature hovered around three degrees Celsius at three in the afternoon. If the weather stays relatively warm, I suspect we’ll be another 10 days before fieldwork can begin on the heavy land, however, the forecast doesn’t look that agreeable.

It’s time to gear up our sprayers and make plans for pre-burn applications. I had my first call last week about big stinkweed and whether we can start spraying soon. The easy answer is that it depends. I’d definitely like to see several more nights without frost to really bring things on. This week’s agronomy section focuses on glyphosate use and cool weather.

Agronomy

How long do I have to wait to seed after I spray Glyphosate?

If you are targeting annual weeds like stinkweed, volunteer canola, cleavers, flixweed, kochia and wild buckwheat then seeding the same day is fine. Roundup WeatherMax claims the same day. Does that mean seeding 1 hour after or 12 hours after you spray? Remember that annual weeds have very small root systems so it doesn't take very long to get the glyphosate into the plant. Spraying early afternoon and seeding early evening is fine.

If you are targeting perennial weeds like dandelion, quackgrass and Canada thistle then, ideally, you should wait 3 days before seeding. If weather conditions are good (no frost) and 15-20°C days then you can push the envelope to 2 days before seeding while understanding the risk and guarantees that are foregone by spraying earlier than recommended. The longer you wait the better.

If a frost occurs, can I still spray Glyphosate?

Frost is always a problem in the early part of spring. Often temperatures will reach a low of -2 to –3°C, & then peak the following day to 13 – 20°C.

Hard Frost (roughly –2 to –3°C for an extended period of time, window scraping in the morning)

• Perennials - wait until the warm part of the next day to spray. Wait 24 hours.
• Annuals - wait until the warm part of the same day to spray. Wait until daytime temps have reached 10°C for at least 2 hours before spaying. If frost damage is suspected wait 1-2 days to ensure that the weeds recover (they need to be at least 60% green).

Light Frost (temperatures dip briefly below 0°C overnight)

• Perennials & Annuals - wait until the warm part of the same day to spray.

Minimum daytime temperatures should be at least 10°C.

Here is a list of weeds in order of frost tolerance:

1. 1. Dandelion
2. 2. Winter annuals
3. 3. Quackgrass
4. 4. Perennial Sow Thistle
5. 5. Canada Thistle
6. 6. Toadflax
7. 7. Annuals

Can I mix different brands of glyphosate together in the tank?

No. Not all glyphosates can be mixed together. Many different surfactants are used in the wide variety of glyphosate choices out there. There hasn't been enough research to determine which surfactants can be safely used with others. And what company will spend money on finding out which competitors brand can mixed with theirs? None!

Market News

Wheat Markets - Recent Frost in Kansas

With news of potential frost damage in Kansas late last week, the wheat market reacted in a limit up move Friday but closed about 11 or 12 cents up. I called a winter wheat grower I know from Kansas on Saturday and asked him about his thoughts on the potential damage and he provided me with some interesting facts.

Since 1932 Kansas has received 14 frost spells in April and 8 out of those 14 times they have ended up with an above average crop. The other 6 times they had a below average crop but attributed it to dry weather. The current season is not dry, but actually quite wet with plenty of sub-soil moisture, and only 2 months left until harvest. His wheat crop was sitting under 4 inches of rapidly melting snow.

So what does this mean? It means we should look at pricing our hard red spring wheat into this potential rally if no forward pricing has been done yet. Many of us missed the boat the first go round when the fixed price contracts came out at $238.07/tonne February 26th, 2007. We sure talked about it! It now sits around $223/tonne. Keep your eye on the CWB fixed price contracts this week at:

http://www.cwb.ca/db/contracts/ppo/ppo_prices.nsf/fixed_price/2007_index.html

It will take some time for the "experts" to analyze (guess) the potential frost damage in Kansas but as we all know, the only true measure of frost damage comes after harvest. As I'm writing this on Monday, the USDA crop report has not come out yet. If the USDA lowers the wheat crop condition score, the markets may react and provide us further opportunity to market some spring wheat into this rally.

Source: Steve Larocque

Canola remains in a sideways trading pattern and looks to continue this way until the market hears some fresh news. The potential bullish news may come from a lack of seeded acres in northern Saskatchewan and Alberta due to a large snow cover that has yet to disappear. Other bullish news may come from drier canola producing areas in China, India and Australia. Have a read of the article below, a very interesting take on China’s role in bio-diesel production.

China’s Canola Biodiesel Production In Its Birth Stage

International players are keeping an eye on the development of China’s bio-diesel industry. Its production will be sold to EU countries and on the international market, according to various sources.

Today, there are approximately 120 plants in the EU producing about 6.1 million tonnes of bio-diesel annually. These plants are mainly located in Germany, Italy, Austria, France and Sweden, according to the European Bio-diesel Board. Last year, the EU was the largest importer of China’s rapeseed oil exports, which surged 372.5% to 144,763 metric tonnes, while imports fell 75.2% to 40,000 tonnes.

In response to growing demand from the world’s bio-diesel industry, China will try to increase acreage and yield, as well as improve mechanized production and technology. Analysts expected this year’s acreage might drop further due to the warm winter and poor economic returns. China is the world’s largest rapeseed producer, and nearly 85% of its rapeseed is grown in the Yangtze River basin.

Full article: http://dieselblog.net/?p=540

Biodiesel Plants

The link below shows the location of all biodiesel plants in the US and their current production status. You can select a state to see a listing of the biodiesel plants in the state, the feedstocks the plants use to create ethanol, the current production capacity of the plants, and any planned expansions in capacity.

Map: http://www.card.iastate.edu/research/bio/tools/biodiesel.aspx

Ethanol Plants

The link below shows the location of Ethanol plants and their current production status. Select a state to see a listing of the ethanol plants in the state, the feedstocks the plants use to create ethanol, the current production capacity of the plants, and any planned expansions in capacity.

Map: http://www.card.iastate.edu/research/bio/tools/ethanol.aspx

Other News

Tractor Hours - How Many Is Too Many On A Used Unit

On a recent trip to Argentina, Dan Davidson, DTN Agronomist, found an interesting fact about tractor utilization. He discovered that contractors do the majority of fieldwork and understand which pieces of equipment make them money. They invest their money in combines, sprayers and planters where new technology is important, not in the most modern tractors with a lot of creature comforts. Many of the tractors are older and have mega-hours on them. A tractor with 10,000 hours would probably be considered just broke in. Many tractors have 20,000 to 30,000 hours on them.

Source: DTN Production Blog - Dan Davidson, DTN Agronomist