Agronomist Notes

This will be my last newsletter written from Canada for the next five weeks. I leave Friday for New Zealand and Australia and will be back March 1st. As I’ve mentioned before, I’ll be travelling to New Zealand to visit with the former and current Guinness Book of World Record holders Chris Dennison and Mike Solari. Both producers have grown record breaking 225 bushel (15T/ha) winter wheat crops. I have a number of other visits with top producers on the island as well. Next stop will be Australia where I will visit progressive farms who use controlled traffic, inter-row seeding and various precision ag technologies. One of my goals in Oz is to discover how some can produce excellent crops on very little rainfall.

This week we’ll look at an innovative idea to manage weed resistance by baling straw and harvesting at the same time. Intrigued? Next, we’ll look at a not-so-new but interesting product called humates and it’s role in producing higher yields. We’ll follow up with more on the carbon market and finish with Market News.     

Have a great week. SL

Agronomy

Combine and bale in one pass

How would you like to combine and bale large squares in one pass? This might pain a few of you who don’t have high-speed internet but I had to share it. The YouTube link below is a 10-minute video of a custom outfit with two CAT combines harvesting wheat in Western Australia. One of the combines, or “headers” as they call them, has a large square Massey Ferguson baler attached to the back end. Interesting!

Being the small world that it is, my friend and fellow Nuffielder Mark Graham is a relative of these folks. The invention was originally designed to help control resistant ryegrass by removing all of the seeds from the field instead of spreading them behind the combine. I think it’s a clever idea and it may have a fit in southern Alberta where they struggle with Downy Brome resistance, a similar grass species that produces abundant seed. Theoretically, I calculate a cost savings of about $60 an hour by eliminating one pass with the tractor, baler and driver. However, it would be difficult for a baler to keep up to the amount of residue we produce in some areas of the province. Perhaps in the drier areas of southern and eastern Alberta, it may have a fit. SL

YouTube Link: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=anqGtsl29R0&eurl=http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=594925468&ref=profile

Humates: an organic product for conventional farming

• Jason Jarvis, an organic orchard grower from Western Australia made a comment about using humates in the last newsletter. Being intrigued, I decided to do some research on what humates are exactly, the benefits of using them, and how they fit into our production system. Though well known to organic farmers, the only conventional farmer I’ve heard of who uses humates is Kip Cullers. Kip Cullers is the current Guinness world record holder for soybean yield at 154 bu/ac (10.3 T/ha) and humates are part of his high yield program. He is also the national record holder for irrigated corn in the US at 335 bu/ac (22.5T/ha). 

  So what are humates? Humates are a combination of humic, ulmic and fulvic acids. Humic acids are found in humus, and humus is formed by the decomposition of vegetable and animal matter. Humates are mined from the soil from old decomposed vegetative and animal deposits. Humates (humic, ulmic and fulvic) are essential to plants in three basic ways:

  1. Humic acid enables plants to extract nutrients from the soil
  2. Ulmic acid stimulates and increases root growth; and
  3. Fulvic acid helps plants overcome stress.

The benefits of using humates are many. Here’s a condensed version of the research I’ve found and I’ve attached relevant research findings to support the claims.

• Reduces drought stress and improves yield stability. When wheat plants were subjected to drought stress at head development stage, grain yield by untreated plants was depressed by 30% compared to the irrigated control. However, fulvic acid treated plants suffered only a 3% yield loss compared to the irrigated control. Xudan (1986)
• Reduces heat and salt stress. Fulvic acid was sprayed on plants just before head development, and allowed to grow to maturity over time when hot, dry winds are prevalent. It was found that grain yield increased by 7% to 18% over the untreated controls. Xudan (1986)

• Increases soil water holding capacity. Humates can hold up to 20 times their weight in water.  By enhancing the soil's ability to retain water, humate usage can reduce the need for irrigation.  This can be especially helpful with sandy soils, and contributes a large measure of drought resistance to crops.

• Stimulates root growth. Lee and Bartlett (1976) studied stimulation of corn seedling growth in low organic matter soil with 8 mg/Kg Na-humate and found increases in seedling growth of 30 to 50%.

• Provides stimulus for beneficial soil microorganisms. Vallini et al. (1997) investigated the effect of humic acids on activity and growth of Nitrosomonas europaea and Nitrobacter agilis. They found that both types of humic acids increased either NH4+ or NO2-oxidation and cell growth of nitrifying bacteria.

• Increases nutrient uptake. Humic acids were added to an alkaline soil with phosphate fertilizer to wheat grown in field trials. It was observed that phosphate uptake and yield were both increased by 25%. Wang et al. (1995)

• Addition of humic acids to soil with P fertilizer significantly increased the amount of water-soluble phosphate, strongly retarded the formation of occluded phosphate, and increased P uptake by 25%.

• Assists in pest and disease defense. Humic and fulvic acids appear to cause the genetic mechanism of plants to function at a higher level. Plants under stress emit a different frequency that will attract certain predatory insects.

Farmers have always been inundated with magic dust products that claim to do everything from increase root growth to curing dandruff. Right now, I can hear your skeptical mind saying “Yeah right, Steve, you’re pushing snake oil.” Hear me out when I say there’s some merit in researching humates further and seeing what fit they could have in our production. I see the biggest potential in humates coming from increased phosphorus efficiency, improved nutrient mineralization and the ability to reduce stresses from heat, drought and salts like the research states.

Even if you take a 25% gain in phosphorus efficiency, you would breakeven on the improvement in phosphorus uptake when phosphorus is $800 a tonne and urea is $550. The additional benefits of reducing heat, drought, salt, insect and disease stresses are a bonus and shouldn’t be ignored. I plan to trial humates at the farm this year and I’ll be looking for some of my clients to do so as well. Black Earth Humates Ltd. in Edmonton sells humate products [ http://www.blackearth.com/powder.asp ]. SL

Sources:
http://www.humates.com/pdf/MVR%20Product%20Information.pdf
http://www.humates.com/pdf/Humates%20in%20Agriculture%20-%20Karr.pdf

Humates good for grass protein and saline reclamation

I came across some interesting research looking at crude and digestible protein levels in grasses after humates were applied. For those of you who feed animals and value quality hay, read the table below. In all cases, crude and digestible protein levels were elevated in the grasses by a minimum of 17% and up to 113%. What would that do to the rate of gain for cattle on pasture or hay? 

Among other things such as neutralizing hydrocarbon-contaminated soil, humates can help reclaim salt affected soils. In fact, research has shown that humates can bring the sodium absorption ratio (measure of salinity) from a value of 40 down to 3 within 4 months. Some studies have found a 40% drop in sodium levels within 8 days after application. If you have saline areas you’d like to see reclaimed, applying humates could be a real solution. 

If you’re interested in setting up some foliar trials next year, please let me know. I’m hungry for participants! In Alberta, humate products can be purchased from Black Earth Humates Ltd. out of Edmonton [http://www.blackearth.com/agriculture.asp ]. The suggested application rate of their Liquid Organo Hume product is 3.78 L/ac. The price runs about $1.25 L or $4.73/acre at 3.78 L/acre. SL

Source: http://www.bioremedies.org/pdf/bruce24pe.pdf

Not all carbon credits are created equal

The emerging market for Green House Gas (GHG) offsets, or carbon credits, in Alberta has brought some interesting lessons in the value of data quality. It is important to understand what is being sold in a carbon credit. It is data and it describes the amount of the GHG removal or avoidance. So without accurate data, the value of the carbon credit is reduced. This has been born out in two ways in the marketplace; 1) the value of GHG offsets based on data without a rigorous process for accuracy, and 2) the value for GHG offsets based on metered data.

The value of a GHG offset tends to be discounted when buyers lack confidence in its accuracy and this can explain one firm’s ability to gain higher market values over its competitors. From a buyer’s perspective it is vitally important that the quantity of GHG offset claimed is accurate, since it is subject to audit by the Government of Alberta if used by a Large Final Emitter (LFE) for compliance. If the offset claim is reduced by say 10%, the buyer’s effective price increases by about 11%. Do a few examples, you will see that the math is right. This backs up to the farmer in reduced values, since the buyer has to discount the price paid by at least 11% to be made whole. If the aggregator has not made the investment in accurate data management, the price discount in the GHG offset flows through. 

The value of accurate data is further supported by offset types that have metered data, where the accuracy of the GHG offset is significantly improved and quantified. A good example of this today is the market acceptance of Land Fill Gas (LFG) offsets over tillage offsets. Is it really that hard to be off by 10% in your seeded acreage reported to an aggregator? I bet it’s a lot harder to be off by this amount when it’s metered and monitored regularly!

Submitted by Bruce Love, Preferred Carbon

Watch for the Alberta bi-weekly carbon market outlook in next week’s column.

Reader comments

In response to last week’s article on an 80/20 land rental agreement:

“I was interested to read your alternative land rental agreement article. We have been using 80/20 and 85/15 share farming agreements (depending on land type and situation) for many years now and find they work very well as a win-win arrangement with little or no financial risk to the landowner. It also keeps input management much simpler for the landowner.

“In most situations the landholder receives his % share as the crop is harvested. Generally in our area, a joint delivery card (NGR) is set up which documents the details of the respective parties and their agreed ownership of the grain. The grain is then sold to an agreed buyer. In the event of an 80/20% split the sharefarmer receives payment and documentation from the buyer for his 80% share, and the landowner receives the same for his 20%. One of the difficulties with this system can be a difference in attitude to risk, when and whom to sell to, and understanding of tools to hedge price risk. To overcome this, the grain is sometimes delivered separately along the agreed split lines (which is a little more difficult logistically at harvest time) and each party markets their own share in whatever time frame, using whatever price mechanism they choose to use with no obligation to the other. As it can be difficult to accurately split tonnage and quality at harvest time, a balancing payment would usually be required from one of the parties to the other once accurate figures become available.

“There are also many other agreed splits, with 50/50 also being popular. It’s all about creating a win-win in relation to risk/reward for all parties.” John Gladigau, Victoria, Australia

Market News

Fundamental Analysis

Technical Indicators

I have set up these weekly updates to include market entry indicators to help you improve the timing of your grain marketing. Also, I added market trend indicators to give you a sense of the short and long term market trends.

Canola Chart http://futures.tradingcharts.com/chart.php?cbase=CA&market=RS&cterm=39

Support: $437.43
Resistance 1: $443.83
Resistance 2: $450.23

Market Entry
The Bollinger Bands are indicating an overbought market but may continue to become more overbought before reversing. Given that we closed at a 45 bar new high, the chance for further bullish momentum is greatly increased. Look for some price weakness before taking any bearish positions based on this indicator.

Market Trend
The Relative Strength Index is somewhat overbought (RSI is at 63.33), but given the 45 bar new high here, greater overbought levels are likely.

The MACD is in bullish territory, but has not issued a sell signal here. The long term trend, based on a 45 bar moving average, is UP. The short term trend, based on a 9 bar moving average, is UP. MACD is in bullish territory and the market just put in a 45 bar new high here. Look for more new highs.

Feed Barley Chart http://futures.tradingcharts.com/chart.php?cbase=BA&market=AB&cterm=39

Support: $149.80
Resistance 1: $149.80
Resistance 2: $149.80

Market Entry
The Bollinger Bands are indicating an overbought market.

Market Trend
The Relative Strength Index is in neutral territory (RSI is at 47.18). The long term trend, based on a 45 bar moving average, is DOWN. The short term trend, based on a 9 bar moving average, is DOWN. MACD is in bearish territory. However, the recent upturn in the MacdMA may indicate a short term rally within the next few bars.

Hard Red Spring Wheat http://futures.tradingcharts.com/chart.php?cbase=MW&market=MW&cterm=39

Support: $6.34-5
Resistance 1: $6.51-1 
Resistance 2: $6.67-5

Market Entry
The Bollinger Bands are indicating an oversold condition.

Market Trend
The Relative Strength Indicator is in neutral territory (RSI is at 52.87). Look for additional evidence before getting too bearish here.

The MACD is in bullish territory, but has not issued a buy signal here. The long term trend, based on a 45 bar moving average, is UP. The short term trend, based on a 9 bar moving average, is DOWN. The recent downturn in the MacdMA may indicate a short term decline within the next few bars.

Canadian Dollar http://futures.tradingcharts.com/chart.php?cbase=CD&market=CD&cterm=39

Support: $0.7845
Resistance 1: $0.8016
Resistance 2: $0.8187

Market Entry
The Bollinger Bands are indicating an oversold market. The market may continue to become more oversold before reversing. Look for some price strength before taking any bullish positions based on this indicator.

Market Trend
The Relative Strength Index is in neutral territory (RSI is at 40.04). Look for additional evidence here before getting too bullish here.

The MACD is in bearish territory, but has not issued a signal here. The long term trend, based on a 45 bar moving average, is DOWN. The short term trend, based on a 9 bar moving average, is DOWN.

Glossary of Technical Terms: http://www2.barchart.com/education/learning.asp 

International Crop and Weather News

United States: In the West, mild, dry weather continues. However, such a sustained period of dry weather in the heart of the Western wet season is becoming a concern with respect to summer water supplies. On the Plains, light snow is falling in east-central areas. Elsewhere, mild, breezy weather on Montana’s high plains contrasts with chilly weather on the southern Plains, where unfavorably dry conditions persist. In the Corn Belt, extremely cold weather prevails. In the southern Corn Belt, the soft red winter wheat is threatened by temperatures below 0 degrees F and the lack of a protective snow cover. Meanwhile, this morning’s low temperatures fell below -30 degrees F in parts of the upper Mississippi Valley. In the South, cold weather covers the interior Southeast, but winter agricultural areas of southern Texas and peninsular Florida remain well above 32 degrees F.

Europe: Bitter cold settles over central and eastern Europe, although the short duration of the cold snap and a shallow snowpack reduce the threat of widespread freeze damage to dormant winter crops. Showers in southern Europe slow citrus harvesting but favor winter grain establishment.

Former Soviet Union: Bitter cold continues over winter grains in Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus. Light to moderate snow boosts the protective snow cover in most areas, reducing the threat for widespread freeze damage.

Southeast Asia: Heavy monsoon showers continue to favor rice in Indonesia, while torrential rainfall in eastern Malaysia is unfavorable for reproductive oil palm.

South Asia: Showers across central India slow summer crop harvesting, while southern and northern growing areas remain favorably dry.

Middle East: Rain continues in Turkey’s winter grain areas, boosting soil moisture and irrigation reserves. Above-normal temperatures in northwestern Iran leave winter wheat exposed to potential bitter cold.

Northwest Africa: Rain continues to slow late winter grain planting in Morocco and Algeria. Showers in Tunisia provide much-needed soil moisture for emerging winter grains.

Australia: In eastern Australia, scattered, light showers maintain adequate moisture supplies for cotton and sorghum. In western and southeastern Australia, dry weather helps late winter grain harvesting approach completion.

South America: Warm, dry weather maintains stress on soybeans and corn in drought-affected sections of central Argentina. Generally dry weather returns to corn and soybean areas in southern Brazil, where soil moisture remains limited for normal crop development. Conditions remain favorable for summer row crops in central Brazil.

South Africa: Moderate to heavy rain benefits emerging corn in western sections of the Corn Belt. Rain maintains overall favorable conditions for vegetative to reproductive summer crops farther east.