Agronomist Notes

Harvest was finished over the Thanksgiving weekend for most producers. Unfortunately high humidity and periodic rains have stalled harvest progress in the Calgary and Okotoks areas. I would guess that most there have 30% left to go.

A ferocious wind storm swept over the entire southern half of Alberta last Tuesday, shoving orderly canola swaths into ditches and fence lines. Some producers estimate a10% yield loss but are still picking up 45 to 50 bushel per acre yields. 

I’m noticing that perennial weed growth is still active so don’t park the sprayer just yet. On the field preparation side, I don’t see many concerns with heavy residues and for the most part, we are in good shape heading into spring. The only concern I have so far would be the lack of sub-soil moisture. The moisture probe stops at six inches so we might have an inch or so of moisture stored in the soil going into next spring. Let’s hope for some nice fall rains to give us a head start on next year.

This week we’ll discuss the finer points of straight cutting swathed canola after a wind storm. We’ll look at our post-harvest spray window and what to look for. We’ll touch on a carbon credit aggregation venture I’m involved in, the results of an impromptu stubble burn experiment, and work exchange opportunities for your hired man. Lastly, we’ll look at international crop weather news. 

Have a great week.

Agronomy

Picking up swaths with a straight-cut header

Yes, you read that headline correctly! While producers hurried to get the remaining wheat and barley off while it was dry, canola harvest took a back seat. Unfortunately, a vicious wind storm hit last week, tearing thousands of acres of canola swaths apart. For the average quarter section, 88 nicely placed windrows turned into 176 in a matter of hours and effectively doubled the time to complete harvest, unless of course you’re Spenser and Sterling Hilton.   

Spenser’s wife Lynn suggested they pick up the wind-blown swaths using their straight-cut HoneyBee draper headers instead of using their 19 ft pickups. It sounded odd, but the idea worked like a charm.
 
The Hiltons had two Case 8010 combines outfitted with straight cut headers. Travel speed was roughly 3.5 to 4 mph and up to 5 mph if the swath was intact, just slightly slower than average speed in normal conditions.

I spent a couple of hours with Spenser observing the finer points of picking up swaths with a straight cut header:

1. Lifters are a must! Lifter’s provide stability on the ground and allows the loose canola to flow gently onto the canvas.
2. Watch for rocks! Hugging the ground closely with lifters helps both canola and rocks flow gently onto the canvas.
3. There must be enough stubble between the swath and the ground to get underneath.
4. Line the swath up to feed directly into the feeder house. This does two things: 1) Provides a smooth flow into the feeder house. 2) The weight of the swath entering the feeder house helps to pull in the loose canola brought in from the sides.
5. When loose canola does pile up in the middle, bring the reel down and pull the reel back to effectively push the bunch towards the feeder house. If that doesn’t work, get out and stomp on the bunch with your feet!

The way I see it, with 1,500 acres of canola ahead of them, the Hiltons saved $15,000 on fuel alone by cutting harvest time in half. And, when you think about it, how much canola are you really picking up at 10 mph when you’re veering to pick up loose plants between the swaths? You do it more for residue management than salvaging yield. So, next time you find yourself in a similar predicament, don’t be afraid to think outside of the box. It could be a great payoff. SL

Post-harvest spray window still open

I had a peek at a few fields around Three Hills on Monday to look for frost damage on perennials like Canada thistle, quack grass and dandelions. I couldn’t believe how healthy and green the plants were, even after a dozen frost events so don’t assume the window for post-harvest spraying is closed. I believe the warmth coming off the ground has minimized the effects of the frosts thus far. As you can see in the picture, the surface soil temperature in this canola field was 22oC at 11:00 am, after an overnight -9oC frost.

If a mild frost of less than -5oC occurs, application may resume when growth is evident. Frost damage shows up as new shoots wilting and drying out. If a frost up to -8oC occurs, wait at least two days for the plants to recuperate and then check for frost damage. Make sure to check all areas of the field as low-lying areas tend to receive more frost than higher ground. Ensure weeds are actively growing; at least 60% of the plant must be green for glyphosate to work effectively. SL
Reference: Dow AgroSciences

Reader comments: Can a grain dryer replace a combine?

I had several comments on my article talking about replacing combines with grain dryers. It’s always good to hear another prospective, especially from across the ocean.

“The wettest we cut wheat was 27% moisture and the driest was 16.5% moisture in a good dry week at the end, so I was amused to read your thoughts on a dryer replacing a combine as pretty close to 100% of the Scottish crop will go through a dryer every year.

“I calculated that my own dryer was costing £1000 ($2,027 CAN) per 24 hours in fuel alone (natural gas from the North Sea), which worked out at 80 pence ($1.62 CAN) per 1% per metric tonne.  So, putting wheat through at 18% and taking it down to 14% for storage I managed to get 300 tonne throughput per day in a drier rated at 34t/hr (816 t/24hr), so rated output does not always equal actual output.

“My drier is an Alvan Blanche, UK made, 12 seasons old, but a new one would be around £100,000 ($202,740 CAN). We put about 8,000 tonnes through it per year. A dryer is a necessary evil in our part of the world. Oh and by the way, the dryer runs 24 hours more or less all the time!” Peter Grewar, Scotland.

“Just one more comment regarding grain dryers, the relative humidity at the time of dryer use- if it is high and particularly over 65%, it takes a lot of drying time even if the grain moisture is marginal. This uncontrollable can add a lot of cost to drying.” Roy Currie, NSW, Australia.

Carbon credit aggregation now in my portfolio

I’ve recently become a partner in Preferred Land Management, a small company consisting of two other gentlemen, Bruce Love and Roy Farrow. Our intentions are to bring more value to the farmer. How? To invest the profits we make to develop a software tool that will better serve the farmer and the agronomists who serve them. It’s been a year in the making to get to this point and we have some solid people and companies in place now.

For the past three years, many startup carbon aggregation companies have been picking off the low lying fruit and charging 30 to 40% in marketing costs. Unfortunately, for these companies, the business model fails miserably after year one unless they continuously find new clients. As it stands in Alberta, you can get paid for soil carbon credits dating back from 2002 to 2007. That’s basically five years of revenue rolled into one for both the farmer and the aggregator. Going forward from 2007, you can only generate revenue on soil carbon on an annual basis. So, the aggregators who’ve been busy bees all this while making 30% commission will now have their income drop by 90%. How many aggregators do you think will be around in a year or two?

For more information on selling your carbon credits, please feel free to email me or give me a call. My contact info is at the bottom of this email.     

Burning stubble makes a crop look good in the spring, but that’s where it stops.
The practice of burning straw is common in places like Manitoba and other parts of the world such as Western Australia. I was called out to a field this spring to look at some emergence issues caused by heavy residues. Coincidentally, about 30 acres of the field had caught on fire and burned the previous fall. The emergence problem in the high residue field looked even worse when you compared it to the beautiful green rows popping up in the burnt stubble.

However, there is an interesting ending to this accidental experiment. Come harvest time, I discovered the area with heavy residue and emergence problems grossed 8 bushels more than the burnt stubble. Can you believe that? I can. Not only do you lose 90% of the nutrients in the straw (carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, sulfur, calcium and magnesium) by burning it, the blackened ground you thought provided such an emergence benefit in the spring, reaped havoc on your soil in July.

The soil temperature difference between the burnt stubble and the heavy residue can be greater than 10oC in the heat of summer. Some scientists call it the root heat index, which translates into how well a plant can respire or breathe. Hot soil in July is not plant friendly as more moisture is used just to keep the plants cool instead of using that moisture for yield.

There aren’t many stubble burners out there aside from flax growers, but I thought it would be interesting to know, because we all think about it. (Except for Rick Taillieu of Reduced Tillage Linkages, of course. Glad to have you as a loyal reader, Rick!) SL 

Keep your hired man busy this winter

Do you have a hired man you’d like to keep happy and busy this winter? As part of the Nuffield Scholar network, I’ve made friends with many Australian grain growers who run into the same challenges as we do here— farm labour shortages! I have a few friends who run 15,000 acre (or more) farms and look for harvest help each year. The Australian harvest begins in November and ends in late-December, which is a great fit for our late-August to October harvest window. If you are interested in a labour exchange of sorts where you would exchange farm labour for a few months each harvest please let me know. Contact me by replying to this email. SL

Market News

International Crop Weather News

United States: In the West, warmer, drier weather is overspreading Pacific Coast States, accelerating winter wheat planting and emergence. On the Plains, cold weather covers the northern half of the region, with showers in Kansas and Oklahoma contrasting with dry weather in the Dakotas. The majority of the northern Plains’ wheat has already been planted, but emergence has slowed. In contrast, warmth on the southern Plains favors winter wheat planting, germination and establishment, and summer crop maturation and harvesting. In the Corn Belt, cooler air is slowly advancing over the western half of the region, while warm, dry weather across the Ohio Valley favors wheat planting and summer crop maturation and harvesting. In the South, dry weather is promoting summer crop harvesting and early-season winter wheat planting.

Europe: Showers in central and northern Europe slow small grain harvesting and winter rapeseed planting. Drier weather in the Balkans favors summer crop harvesting and winter crop planting.

Former Soviet Union: In Ukraine, dry weather allows summer crop harvesting and winter grain planting to resume. In Russia, mostly dry weather aids the harvest of summer crops in the west and spring grains in the east.

East Asia: Dry weather in Manchuria aids corn and soybean maturation and harvesting. Drier weather on the North China Plain benefits corn, cotton, and soybean harvesting as well as winter wheat planting. Winter rapeseed planting begins in the Yangtze River Basin.

Southeast Asia: Tropical Storm Mekkhala brings flooding rains to minor rice producing areas of central Vietnam and slows rice and corn maturation in Thailand. Tropical Storm Higos brings beneficial rains to most of the Philippines for the start of dry-season cropping but slows wet-season rice and corn harvesting.

South Asia: Showers in central and northern crop areas slow summer crop maturation but maintain favorable moisture supplies for rice and rabi (winter) crop planting. Heavy rain in northeastern India maintains ample moisture for summer rice but causes flooding.

Middle East: Additional showers in Turkey provide moisture for winter crop planting and ease long-term drought.

Australia: Scattered showers increase local moisture supplies in western and southeastern Australia, benefiting reproductive to filling winter grains. In eastern Australia, dry weather favors early maturing winter grains and aids summer crop planting.

South America: In Argentina, showers continue to improve moisture conditions for winter wheat development and summer crop planting. In Brazil, rain increases moisture for the upcoming planting of soybeans and other summer crops. Warm, somewhat drier conditions favour maturing winter wheat.

Canada: Mostly dry, warmer-than-normal weather favors spring grain and oilseed harvesting across the Prairies.

Mexico: Drier weather reduces soil moisture for immature summer crops but eases local flooding.