Agronomist Notes

How’s your summer coming along? Last week I picked a day that wasn’t wet to take a good look at some side by side drill trials where I noticed differences in the ConservaPak drill versus the conventional drill. Randy Retzlaff from Syngenta stopped by the same trial to take SPAD readings to help quantify in-season nitrogen content in canola and wheat. I’ll share the results with you today.

So far, the wet weather has kept the insects away, although diamondback moths are next on the radar. I haven’t seen any wheat midge yet but I’ll be scouting fields in the evenings this week to get a better idea. The forecast is for another week of temperatures in the low 20’s with scattered showers. Ladies and gentlemen, it doesn’t get any better than this during wheat and canola flowering! I really hope the hail stays away because there are some monster crops looming before us.

This week we’ll be looking further into seed singulation drills with a focus on the economics. Next, we’ll look at a side by side comparison of chlorophyll content between the JD Conservapak and the JD 1820. I’ve got some interesting information on the effects of compaction in our tramlines and will share the results. Next, I’ll show you how to increase nitrogen use efficiency by 15% with a handy little system called controlled traffic farming. Last, I’ll briefly discuss residue management and rant a little on how much yield and maturity we’re giving up by doing nothing.

Agronomy

Running the numbers on a unique precision drill

In the last issue of BA News we touched on seed singulation in canola and how accurately placed seed has on the potential to lower seed costs and generate higher yields with the same or better maturity. Well, I’ve done more research on potential seeding tools and you’ll be intrigued to know that seed singulation really does exist for canola growers. In fact, almost every seed company out there, including Dow AgroSciences, Monsanto, Pioneer and Bayer CropScience, use the same seed drill, the Monosem Precision Vacuum Planter. Let’s take a look at why they use this drill, how we can adapt it to our system and the economics behind it.

The Monosem planter shown above is used in small seeded crops like carrots, sugar beets and canola but is also used in most row crops like corn, soybeans or white beans. The biggest benefit to this drill is its ability to place seeds accurately both horizontally and vertically within each row. The Monosem planter allows you to drop seeding rates by 80% in canola and achieve the same plant stand densities we are targeting. That’s right, you heard me! Instead of seeding canola at 5 lbs/ac, how would you like to seed canola at 1 lb/ac and achieve better results?

As always, there is a give and take with this kind of system. The Monosem planter can only be used to plant seed, it doesn’t allow for a double shoot system to apply fertilizer in one pass. This type of planter would require a second pass that places fertilizer separately. The thought of this intrigued me because we’ve moved away from two pass systems that had some merit to spreading out work load and creating more efficiency at seeding. With today’s technology and a new approach, I believe we can make a two pass system work very well.

First, most Monosem planters run on 20 to 22-inch spacing which we’re finding out is just fine in canola. With the use of RTK guided autosteer, you could band your fertilizer on 20-inch rows using what’s called a strip till method that creates a narrow black band of tilled soil where you’ve placed your fertilizer. The picture to the right shows an example of field finish after a strip till fertilizer application. You would then place seed right into that narrow black band of soil where the fertilizer is sitting. The residue has been moved away which causes unnecessary stress in the spring from cold soils and increased frost risk. Next, you’ve warmed the soil where you’re placing your seed so germination and emergence will be faster. You’re getting the benefits of seed placed fertilizer from seeding into the fertilized zone without the risk of fertilizer toxicity. The agronomic benefits within this two pass seed singulation system seem to outweigh the benefits of a one pass system. Now lets move on to the economics.
   
The first quote I was given was from Kirchner Machine from Lethbridge for a 36-foot Monosem planter on 22-inch spacing. The cost was $80,000 to 90,000 for this set up. When asked if we could get one wider, he said as wide as you like. The 36-foot drill could be pulled with a 2WD tractor and if you went wider, perhaps you might need a front wheel assist. So right off the bat, you can toss away that new $315,000 400 hp 4WD for a $135,000 160 hp front wheel assist. For interest’s sake, let’s bump that drill up to 40 feet on 20-inch spacing so we can band fertilizer with our air drill that has 10-inch spacing. That would bring the cost to roughly $108,000. To fertilize each fall with your current air drill, you could remove every second opener and block every second run to band fertilizer on 20-inch spacing.

The Monosem planter allows you to cut back canola seeding rates to 1 lb/ac. At $8 per lb, that’s a savings of $32 per acre! For those of you seeding at 3.5 lbs/ac with a precision drill, you’d still be $20 an acre ahead using the Monosem. The simple math tells me that if you grow 3,375 acres of canola each year, the seed savings alone would pay for the drill the first year, but that doesn’t include the cost of the second pass. 

Conventional one pass system
400 hp 4WD: $315,000
40 ft drill: $160,000
One pass application: $16.75/ac
Seed cost: $40.00/ac
Total: $56.75/ac

Two pass system with Monosem planter
160 hp FWA: $135,000
Monosem 40 ft, 20” spacing: $108,000
Two pass application: $9.64/ac + $16.75/ac = $26.29/ac
Seed cost: $8.00/ac
Total: $34.29/ac

In this example, the two pass system using the Monosem drill will cost $22.46 an acre less than the conventional one pass system. That doesn’t account for yield increases or maturity benefits from the precision planter. For those of you planting 2,500 acres or more, you’re looking at a two year return on investment for the Monosem drill. Those planting 1,600 acres of canola each year would have the investment paid off within three years. If you work backwards, most producers have 25 to 30% of their rotation in canola each year. If you divide 1,600 to 2,500 acres of canola by 30%, the economics work well on the 5,000 acre to 8,000 acre farms. This new concept has definitely captured my attention and I really do see a great fit for precision vacuum planters like the Monosem. This won’t be the last time you’ll  read about this drill in Beyond Agronomy News- I’ve got a road trip planned on Thursday to visit a 20-year veteran of the system near Taber, AB. Stay tuned. SL

Check out their web site -  http://www.monosem-inc.com. 

ConservaPak shows greater plant nitrogen content compared to the JD 1820

I’ve been watching a side by side trial comparing the JD ConservaPak and JD 1820 with 4-inch low draft openers this year. I have to say, the visual difference between the two is very significant. Both crops were seeded side by side with the same seeding rate and fertilizer within two days of each other. The ConservaPak crop has big lush pie plate shaped leaves that are dark green and four inches taller than the 1820 crop which had 4-inch low draft GEN openers. The 1820 crop had much smaller leaves and a pale green colour.

Both drills performed very well with seed placement and emergence as indicated by identical plant densities and bloom stages. However, to give you an example of the difference in plant size, my model of the week is Craige Mackenzie from New Zealand holding up the ConservaPak canola plant on the right and the JD 1820 on the left. The pictures of the leaves you see below were taken from the third leaf from the bottom of the stem.  The larger leaves on the bottom came from the ConservaPak and the top leaves from the 1820. The pictures say a lot but let’s talk numbers.

The only way to compare the two crops at this stage is to see if one plant is more efficient than the other. I chose a SPAD meter which measures the percentage of chlorophyll inside the plant. Research has shown that chlorophyll content is strongly correlated to nitrogen content. For interest’s sake, I took SPAD readings in the side by side wheat trial as well. Here are the results:

Canola	3rd leaf	4th leaf	5th leaf
ConservaPak	47.4%	48.1%	53.6%
1820	44.1%	45.1%	48.8%
Wheat	Flag	Flag -1	Flag -2
ConservaPak	49%	50.8%	40.8%
1820	48%	43.5%	47.9%

The canola side by side trial showed an increase in leaf nitrogen content of 8% on the ConservaPak over the 1820. However, the leaves on the ConservaPak side were twice as big which leads me to believe these plants could potentially be 16% percent more efficient at taken up nitrogen. On the flip side, the wheat trials showed no difference in leaf size and the ConservaPak had just a slight 0.4% increase in leaf N content. Now, the biggest differences between the two drills are fertilizer placement, packer style and zone of soil disturbance. We could use some really quick and dirty math, and say that the 1820 has utilized $3.60 acre less nitrogen than the other drill if you calculate an 8% difference in leaf nitrogen content. Makes you wonder why a different drill could display such dramatic differences. Food for thought indeed. SL

Increase nitrogen use efficiency by 15 percent

Recent studies on the effects of compaction revealed that up to 15% of applied nitrogen gasses off as nitrous oxide. My quick math tells me that’s roughly $7 per acre in lost nitrogen, never mind the yield and protein reductions. To read a quick article on Tim Chamen from the UK, whom I visited while in England, go to:

http://www.farmingfutures.org.uk/blog/reduce-traffic-and-get-soil-pole-position

Correction: Strobilurin fungicides delay harvestability and not maturity

I’ve mentioned on a number of occasions how fungicides with strobilurin active ingredients will delay maturity. I need to publish a correction: they don’t necessarily delay the physical maturity of the plant but delay the harvestability of the plant as it stays greener longer. There has been research with Headline on certain corn hybrids that have resulted in an increase in grain moisture content or maturity. I have not seen any data to prove that the same effect will happen in wheat or barley. That being said, we do see rapid leaf senescence from disease late in the growing season in untreated plants, so a fungicide like Headline or Quilt may delay maturity beyond what you would normally experience. SL

Thank you to Tennille from Cavalier Agro in Medstead, SK for bringing this to my attention.

Injecting air into drip line irrigation boosts yields

Have a look at the following links on a technique which injects air into drip irrigation lines. The results have shown yield increases and delays in leaf senescence simply by adding air into the root zone. Now move over to a concept like controlled traffic farming and I think we’ll see similar results in our crops. Essentially, by alleviating compaction in our soils we’re adding more air into the root zone. I had a chance to visit the farm in the article from California. They grow 12,000 acres of vegetables and are at the forefront of the aerated drip line technology. SL

http://www.icwt.net/conference/Irrigation/Session%20E/0120-0140%20Dave%20Goorahoo.pdf
http://www.dripirrigation.org/images/08-02-20subsurface%20air%20injection%20-%20bc.pdf 

Residue is our best friend but its killing us!

Residue is our best friend because it keeps the ground cool in late summer during grain fill, if reduces evaporation, feed soil microbes, provides C2 to plants as residue breaks down. On the flip side it can reduce maturity, keep the ground colder, longer in the spring, increase frost risk and reduce emergence. This residue issue is a real love-hate relationship!

The picture you see here is of canola sown into wheat stubble. If you look around the countryside, it’s not uncommon to see crops showing delayed emergence as they come into head emergence or flowering. I’m going to run some quick numbers to show why we need to pay more attention to our residue management systems.

30 ft straight cut header leaving a 5 ft swath of heavy residue as seen in the photo above
30 ft ÷ 5 ft = 16.6% of field with delayed maturity
16.6% of 50 bu/ac canola crop on 160 ac field = 1,328 bu
1,328 bu × 50 lbs/bu × 20% loss in seed size = 13,280 lbs
13,280 lbs × 50 lb/bu × $10.00/bu = $2,656
$2,656 ÷ 160 ac = $16.60 per acre.

In this example, this producer has lost $16.60 acre in reduced seed size from delayed maturity that forced him to swath 16.6% of this field early. Add this to 1,000 acres of canola and you’ve just bought yourself a Reddekopp chopper or an improved chaff spreading system. SL

Market News

Technical Analysis

Canola: November futures. The short and long term trend is up.
HRS Wheat: December futures. The short and the long term trend is down.
Corn: December futures. The short and long term trends are down.
Soybeans: November futures. The short term trend is down and long term trend is up.
Canadian Dollar: August futures. The short term trend is up and the long trend is down.
US Dollar Index: August futures. The short term trend is down and the long term trend is up.