Agronomist Notes

Have you ever been awarded something so “big” it seemed surreal? How would you like an all expenses paid trip around the world visiting farms, industries, and networking with people who have an obvious passion for agriculture? Well, that’s my gig starting in February. I’ve been awarded a Nuffield Scholarship and it’s still sinking in. Read on for the details.

This week we’ll continue our maximum yield journey with a focus on the precision seeding tools available on the Canadian market today. I will also continue sharing my variable rate experience with details on fertility results and recommendations as well as the economics of the project to date.

I hope to see some of you the Direct Seeding Advantage conference on Wednesday and Thursday. Have a great week.

Agronomy

A Nuffield Scholarship Recipient Writes Here

The news came during harvest time- I had been awarded a Nuffield scholarship, one of two given in Canada. What an honour!  What does it mean?!

Considered one of the most prestigious farming honours awarded to young farmers worldwide, the scholarship is worth $25,000 and involves four months of world travel split between group studies with other scholars and independent research on a specific topic. My chosen subject is “the art and science of precision agriculture and the economics driving it.”

I will be spending the first six weeks of my time away on a ‘global focus tour’ with other scholarship winners. This is a very intensive tour of different forms of agriculture and related industries; we’ll be visiting Australia, USA, Mexico, Canada, Brazil and England. The rest of my travel is still to be organized, though I expect to spend the majority of my time in select areas of Europe and the US and possibly Australia or Argentina as well.

Beginning in late February, Beyond Agronomy News will cover my travels and readers will know firsthand about my findings on this unique agricultural experience. I anticipate great opportunities through the scholarship and I’m very thankful to my clients who allow me the time to pursue this incredible opportunity. I suspect I will be coming back somewhat of a changed person, jet lag aside. We’re up for a busy year!

Achieving Maximum Yield – Precision Seeding

The interest in precision seeding equipment has grown rapidly in Alberta over the last few years. What used to be the only precision drill on the market, the Conserva-Pak, has now paved the way to a number of precision seeding tools. We’re going to take a look at several seeding tools on the market today and I’ll list the benefits of each drill and provide links to more information for further study.

John Deere 1870: This drill comes with the Conserva PakTM opener which boasts precise seed and fertilizer placement into minimal tillage disturbance. The hydraulic shanks provide consistent depth control for enhanced seed placement, resulting in more even emergence and more uniform crop at harvest. The openers are designed to allow independent down force for a more uniform depth across the width of the frame.

1870 Drill http://www.deere.com/servlet/ProdCatProduct?tM=FR&pNbr=1870XH

Bourgault 3310 PHD: Benefits include superior seedbed integrity, faster seeding operation, greater emergence, and superior residue flow. The Bourgault 3310 incorporates a parallel link system for the seed opener to maintain a consistent tip angle in relation to the soil, regardless of its position. These opener assemblies move independently of each other, providing precision seed placement and consistent packing across the width of the unit. The openers are mounted on an edge-on style shank to minimize soil disturbance and throw, allowing a greater range of seeding speeds, while minimizing soil disturbance.

3310 PHD http://www.bourgault.com/phd/3310page1.htm

Seed Hawk: Seed Hawk’s unique opener design allows for individual depth gauging of both seed and fertilizer. The opener places the seed in the optimum position for access to fertilizer and moisture. Hydraulically controlled, a four inch wide packer wheel packs and seals the furrow to prevent moisture loss. The dual knife system ensures fertilizer is close enough to the seed to help with 'pop-up', but far enough away to avoid seedling damage. Precision nutrient placement means being available to the plant all through the growing season and less available to weeds.

Seed Hawk http://www.seedhawk.com/opener.php

Seedmaster Drill: Designed to optimize direct seeding by drilling seeds into standing stubble with accurately placed products at optimum locations. The benefit is rapid and uniform crop emergence, jumping ahead of the weeds.

Seedmaster Drill http://www.strawtrack.ca/default.aspx?page=28

Morris Contour Drill: The independent contour opener features parallel linkage for ultra precise seed and fertilizer placement. Each opener moves independently of the frame and of each other to closely follow every contour of the land. Opener angle and opener depth remains constant throughout its range of travel. The Contour Drill delivers unsurpassed seed placement for quick, even germination and durability.

Morris Contour Drill http://www.morris-industries.com/product.php?product_id=55

Cross-Slot Drill: This drill boasts true low-disturbance no-tillage, even through the heaviest residues, pasture (sod) and stones. It provides separate banding of seed and fertilizer without sacrificing row spacing or residue handling and retention up to 90%. The openers provide accurate seeding depth control through even the roughest terrain. The opener downforce automatically adjusts on-the-move to changing soil hardness.

Cross Slot Drill http://www.cross-slot.com/page.php?2

Now that John Deere and Bourgault have developed or bought precision seeding tools, I would expect companies like Flexi-coil to quickly follow. I mentioned last week that zero-till research discovered a 9% increase in wheat yields by using inter-row seeding technology. The yield gains were due to more precise seed and fertilizer placement, which provided faster emergence, improved water use efficiency and less weed growth. Precision seed and fertilizer placement gives us the potential to push yields even higher under direct seeding systems. Precision seed and fertilizer placement is the new benchmark for all seeding tools.

My Journey with VRT: Fertility Recommendations

The first step of the VRT process was completed by zone mapping the field into productivity zones one through five. The second step was to soil sample and ground truth each zone to make sure it made sense. The third step is where we are today, which is applying fertility recommendations to each zone. I can finally put some numbers to this process and compare what I would have recommended versus the VRT recommendations.

My Fertility Recommendation vs. VRT

My benchmark soil sample from previous years lies in a yellow area, Zone 4. Based on the soil test results I would have recommended 75 pounds of nitrogen across the field and no P, K or S as this field has a history of manure. The 2007 yield for this field was 66 bushels an acre of Harvest wheat with only 65 pounds of nitrogen. The protein was above 14%! Not bad, eh? That’s manure for you.

The VRT recommendation for 2008 is for 69 pounds of nitrogen, and no P, K, or S. The yield target is 67, which is an average of all five zones.

Cost Comparison

VRT Application = $34.05 an acre with an average of 69 pounds an acre of nitrogen.

Blanket Application = $37.02 an acre with an average of 75 pounds an acre of nitrogen.

The savings in fertilizer is $2.97 an acre using VRT with a projected yield bump of two bushels an acre. At $6.00 a bushel, that works out to a gross return of $14.97 an acre. The cost of the VRT is $8.00 an acre so the net gain to the producer is $6.91 an acre.

In my opinion, the results I’ve found are invaluable. Yes, we can theoretically net $6.91 an acre but our main goal is to reduce the chronic lodging problem in Zone 5. The true and unmeasured gain at this point is the potential for higher yields in Zone 5 from reduced lodging, providing an easier harvest, plumper kernels and a lower environmental risk by no longer over applying nitrogen. If we can improve the yield in Zone 5 by 10% which makes up eight acres of this field, we have the potential to improve our net return by another $3.71 an acre. SL

Market News

CWB Initial Payments For 2007-08 Crop Year Increased

The CWB announced that 2007-08 initial payments for wheat, durum, feed and designated barley will increase effective November 22, 2007. The increase for wheat will range from $41.30 to $61.70 per tonne, depending on grade, class and protein level. For milling durum, the increase will range from $115.15 to $131.25 per tonne. For feed barley in Pool A, the increase will be $100 per tonne, while the increase for designated barley will range from $52.50 to $61.50. The CWB’s latest monthly Pool Return Outlook (PRO) for the 2007-08 crop year will be released on Thursday, Nov. 22 after 1:30 p.m.

View CWB Interim Payments http://www.cwb.ca/public/en/newsroom/releases/2007/111607b.jsp

US Winter Wheat Ratings Decline

Dry weather in some of the Hard Red Winter wheat areas in the US is a concern. Poor crop establishment, expensive seed and windy weather are reported as impacting on crop expectations. US HRW wheat conditions have been declining this fall with last week's good/excellent total ratings at 49% vs. 53% the previous week and 59% last year. Monday's crop conditions report dropped from 49% down to 45% because of the ongoing dryness in western one third of Kansas, western Oklahoma and Texas Panhandle.

Source: Dailyfutures.com 

Three Ominous Indicators Point to US Drought in 2008

If you believe in omens, 2008 may be the wrong year to grow dryland corn in the Midwest. One indicator that points to a less fortunate year ahead is a La Niña weather pattern that is building in the Pacific Ocean's equatorial region. During a La Niña event, there is a 70% chance that corn will yield below trend in the US Corn Belt. So, a La Niña event increases the risk to corn growers.

Drought history is a second unlucky indicator for Corn-Belt corn growers. History tells us that the average time span between major droughts in the Midwest is about 19 years. The last major drought was 1988- 19 years ago.

The third indicator that might cause Midwestern corn growers concern is an ongoing drought in states like South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and North Carolina. Out of the 17 major droughts that have occurred in the Midwest in the past 100 years, 16 were preceded by a major drought in the Southeast. So, the drought in the Southeast is another bad sign.

Full story: http://enews.penton.com/enews/cornandsoybeandigest/corn_edigest/2007_11_19_november_19_2007/display

EU Wheat Plantings up 5 to 15%

In the EU, wheat plantings are expected to rise by 5 to 15%. Allied to other increases in Russia, the Ukraine, the USA, etc., the world could be looking at a record wheat crop in 2008. The range of crop size estimates is huge, 620 to 690 million tonnes, and prices will be determined by what level is achieved and in the near term by what the weather does or does not do to affect crop potential.

Source: http://www.gleadell.co.uk/MarketReport.htm

EU Rapeseed Plantings down 6 to 7%

The overall rapeseed acreage for the EU27 next season is expected to decline by 6 to 7%. This is mainly the result of the unfavourable planting conditions, necessary crop rotation and the high wheat prices during drilling. The growing conditions for winter grains all over the EU were generally good so far with adequate soil moisture and above normal temperatures.

Source: http://www.gleadell.co.uk/MarketReport.htm

Commodity Prices set to take off in 2008

The two largest populations in the world, India and China, currently have very low food reserves. For example, India was buying wheat in October even though wheat prices were historically very high. The country’s mandate was to rebuild wheat stocks to reasonable levels. China just announced the need to rebuild their soybean reserves over the next few years. This demand from China is over and above what they normally import, thus creating a significant new demand during a time when bio-diesel production is ramping up and world soybean ending stocks are tight. Couple this information with a potential drought in the US corn and soybean belt during 2008 because of a developing La Nina and you have another price surge waiting to happen. I remain bullish for all Canadian grains in 2008. SL

Three Deaths in Stampede to Purchase Cooking Oil – Beijing, China

Chinese cities have ordered checks on supermarkets in the wake of a chaotic cooking oil promotion in a Carrefour store in which three people were trampled to death earlier this month. The dead were among hundreds of customers who crushed into one of the French retail giant stores in Chongqing, a sprawling south western city where giddy growth jostles with grinding hardship. Managers lost control of the hundreds scrambling for discount cooking oil, a powerful lure for Chinese consumers juggling tight budgets and ballooning food prices.

Full story: http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest+News/Asia/STIStory_175941.html

Coming Events

Direct Seeding Advantage

Starts this Wednesday and space is still available but limited. You can get all the details here. There may be a few guest rooms available at the Executive Royal Inn where you can get a discounted rate by quoting Reduced Tillage LINKAGES. Contact the hotel at 780-986-1840.

Southern Alberta Conservation Association's (SACA) 14th Annual Reduced Tillage Conference

Starts November 26 in Lethbridge. Two days of presentations on issues relating to reduced tillage, soil and water conservation, irrigation practices, forages, and farm management. Check out the brochure here. For conference program inquires please contact Ken Biemans at 403-832-3961. Phone 403-380-3467 to register.

FarmTech 2008

Find global perspectives from Australia, North and South America and over 35 top-notch speakers from across Canada and the USA. There are 46 concurrent sessions available – focused on issues in technology, environment, agronomy and management. Phone 1-866-327-6832 to register.

For more info visit the conference site: http://www.farmtechconference.com/register.html