Agronomist Notes

I’ve been busy with herbicide updates from sales reps and I hear the word on the street is glyphosate prices may rise as the supply in the market continues to drop. However, I believe with the amount of competition in this market, prices will remain quite reasonable. 

We managed to get sub-inch accuracy with our new VRS RTK service through the Can-Net network. Chris Nelson of AccuFarm has done some amazing background work to make sure everything from signals to equipment to price lined up before we went ahead and made the investment. The EZ-Steer, FmX and Wireless RTK equipment is 80% installed and we’re getting antsy to see how well it works.  

In this week’s issue of Beyond Agronomy News, we’ll look at my experience using variable rate seeding techniques to help optimize yield in each production zone. Next, I’ll discuss some valuable information on wide row spacing and swathing. Finally, I’ll explain the beginning of our journey into controlled traffic and focus on how we’ll modify the 4WD tractor.  Time to get the cutting torch out! As always, we'll end with fundamental and technical grain market news.

Agronomy

Variable seeding rates improve maturity, yield, lodging and cost

As I explore variable rate fertility programs, it’s a natural fit to also look at variable seeding rates to find another angle to push yields. I think it makes sense to target different plant stand densities based on the production capacity of each zone. Why would I target a heavy plant population on a low yielding sandy part of the field versus a productive area with a clay loam soil? The low yielding area will produce too much vegetation early and the moisture holding capacity won’t be able to sustain it. In the end, a lot of straw will grow but very little grain. Varying the plant populations across the field is just one more tool to help us achieve the maximum potential out of each zone.

In 2009, I put together a variable rate seed prescription map for a client planting AC Harvest wheat. As you see in Table 1, the field had three different soil types ranging from sandy loam to clay loam. I targeted 24 plants ft2 in the bottom two zones up to 35 plants ft2 in Zone 4, the highest yielding zone.

A summary of the thousand kernels weights, germination, vigour, mortality and final seeding rate is shown in Table 2. After calculating germination, thousand kernel weights and mortality, I came up with a final seeding rate to achieve the target plant stand density in each zone. Seeding rates ranged from 94 lbs/ac to 145 lbs/ac instead of a blanket rate of 125 lb/ac I would normally recommend. I’ve seen better emergence rates in Zones 1 and 5 because the soils are usually warmer in Zone 1 and the moisture is usually higher in Zone 5. To take this example a step further, let’s run the economics on the variable rate seeding. The $10/ac cost of the VRT was more than paid for by the phosphorus and nitrogen savings so I’ll focus just on the seeding rates.

Steve’s quick math

VRT
$0.15/lbs (seed and treatment) × 119 lbs/ac average rate = $17.85/ac
430 bushel tank × 60lbs/bu × 33% (142 bu front tank) ÷ 119 lbs = 72 acres per fill

Standard rate
$0.15/lbs (seed and treatment) × 125lbs/ac average rate = $18.75/ac
430 bushel tank × 60lbs/bu × 33% (142 bu front tank) ÷ 125 lbs = 68 acres per fill

Between seed and seed treatment we saved $0.90/ac and gained another 4 acres per fill. It doesn’t sound like much, but in my opinion it’s the little things that add up to a lot. Had I run the same calculation using variable rate canola seed, I would have saved $3.90/ac! In the end, variable rate seeding has big potential on farms that have large variances in soil texture or production potential across each field. Managing plant stand densities through variable seeding rates is another step toward optimizing the yield potential from each zone. SL

Do wide row spacing and swathing mix?  

I’ve often been told by producers that moving to a precision drill with wide row spacing and narrow openers eliminates their ability to swath cereals. With less stubble to lie on, the swath can fall to the ground, dry down unevenly and sometimes sprout. After a great conversation with Calvin Treacy of Indian Springs Farm, who has seeded with a ConservaPak drill and swathed cereals for nineteen years, I’ve learned it can be done!

The solution is simple and I think we all get sidetracked thinking we’re only placing the swath on this year’s stubble. In reality, the swath is laid on last year’s and this year’s stubble. The picture you see here is of a drought ravaged wheat crop in 2009 double swathed into 60 ft swaths and it’s not falling between the rows. If you look closely at the picture, you can see last year’s stubble in between the rows.

Thanks to the Treacy’s for sending me this picture of the good, bad and the ugly from 2009 because nearly everyone can relate to it. In our conversation, we discussed one limitation to swathing on wider row spacing which is crop rotations that include pulses like peas, which don’t leave any stubble and force you to lay a swath on one year’s worth of stubble. Aside from that, producers with crop rotations that include wheat, barley and canola should have no trouble swathing on wider row spacing. Now, back to my push on precision seed drills and inter-row seeding. What are we waiting for? SL

The Beginning: Our journey into controlled traffic farming and inter-row seeding

We’ve size up our equipment and started discussing how we’re going to match the axle widths on each piece of equipment to begin controlled traffic. The axle widths from center tire to center tire on the tractor, air drill, sprayer and combine have to match so all traffic will follow the same path. We’ve chosen to go with 30 ft equipment widths on our drill and combine and the sprayer will be 90 ft. We already have a 30ft header on the Gleaner combine and we’ll cut our 40 ft Concord drill down to 30 ft. Our biggest challenges are to modify the tractor and air drill and it will definitely take some planning, steel, fire and money to make things right. For now let’s talk about how we’re going to turn the Steiger PTA 325 from running on duals to just four single tires. 

To start, we needed to find out the weight of the tractor and the load rating of the existing tires. The tractor weighs 30,000 lbs wet and the four 23.1-34 tires we’ll be running on will handle the weight comfortably. I looked up the load rating for the tires online and I was assured by Murray Green, retired Ag Engineer of Alberta Agriculture. The load rating on a 23.1-34’s is 7400 lbs at 20 psi, and a handy table can be found at http://www.firestoneag.com/tiredata/info/tables/table_e.asp . Murray mentioned to watch the tire pressure and go as low as possible, ideally around 14 psi. He said the only way to find out how low to go is to keep dropping the tire pressure until the tire falls off, then go one psi above that. Thanks Murray! So, we’ll be playing around with tire pressures in the beginning. He also mentioned that radial tires are preferred over bias ply but unfortunately, we don’t have $12,000 to spend on tires.

The biggest challenge will be modifying our dualled 4WD tractor into a single wheeled unit. The plan is to remove the inside tires completely and run on the outside ones. We need to cut the spacers between each set of duals nine inches on each side to produce the ten foot centers we’re looking for. Unfortunately, we can only cut the spacers down by seven inches because of the space limitation between the rims. We don’t want to cut the inside lip of the rim because it will weaken the overall structure of the tire. So, we’ll have to live with a single wheeled tractor on ten-foot, two-inch spacing. Then the air tank and sprayer tires will have to be modified to match. The rough budget for the 4WD mod job is $4,000 of which the majority will go to removing and reinstalling the tires on the correct rims and adding fluid.

I think it’s important to remember that we shouldn’t get caught in an all or nothing mind set with controlled traffic farming. If you hit a snag, like not being able to run exactly ten-foot centers, you should just roll with the punches and use what works. As for the overall expense, no matter the age of your 4WD tractor, you’re looking at a top end investment of $5,000 to modify it to a single wheeled tractor. If you intend to sell the tractor some day, you could set the four remaining tires aside, pick up a used set of spacers and put the duals back on. That’s not a lot of risk in my mind. Contrary to the philosophy of my youth, it’s how you perform, not how you look performing! SL

Market News

Technical Analysis

Canola: May futures. The short and long term trend is down.  Possible short term rally ahead.
HRS Wheat: May futures. The long and short term trends are down.
Corn: May futures. The short and the long term trends are down. 
Soybeans: May futures. Short term trend is up and long term trend is down. Market looks toppy. 
Canadian Dollar: March futures. Long and short term trends are up. Possible short term correction ahead.
US Dollar Index: June futures. Short and long term trends are up.
Crude Oil: April futures. Long term and short term trends are up.