Agronomist Notes

This year’s harvest is lot like the Energizer bunny, it keeps going and going and going! Three weeks after gearing up, we’re done as of tonight. We’ve had very few rain delays but the trouble has been big crops, heavy straw and tough threshing. I think our average speed was 2.5 mph. With a 30ft header that’s 9 acres per hour without stops for a total of 71 harvest hours. In reality, we were getting 5 acres per hour and only 8 hours of threshing each day, less repair time.

On the whole most producers are nearing 75% complete in my area with the highest at 98% and the lowest at 55%. The west side of my territory along the Highway 2 corridor is the furthest behind at 55% due to late crops and wet weather (including snow). Grain quality is all over the map with big pockets around Three Hills, Beiseker, Strathmore and north of Drumheller graded feed. The worst hit area by frost is the Acme/Beiseker area with some producers taking off 50 lb wheat that is yielding less than 45 bu/ac. The crops looked like a 70 to 80 bu crop but I believe an unnoticed frost on August 31 (logged by a local weather station) took yield down on wheat seeded later than May 15.

In this week’s newsletter, we’ll discuss a potential solution to ergot and low protein in wheat. Next, we’ll look at a new way to use ground speed data recorded during seeding time. I also have the results from the wide row spacing canola trial near Edmonton to share with you and I’ve included some tips and techniques I’ve learned this harvest after completing our first year in controlled traffic. We’ll finish with fundamental and technical grain market news.

Agronomy

Struggling with ergot and low protein?

Over the last three years, the incidence of ergot in wheat has increased dramatically in my territory. At the same time, protein levels have begun to drop in wheat even though producers continue to increase nitrogen rates. After reviewing scientific literature on nutrient interactions in the soil, I believe the solution has been staring us in the face the whole time. Copper!

First, we know that low soil copper levels increase pollen sterility which makes wheat more susceptible to ergot. See more on ergot (http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/prm2402). However, most soil copper levels in my territory would be classified as high ranging from 2 to 4 ppm in the top 6 inches, so copper deficiencies have been dismissed. Strangely enough, the fields that are affected by ergot the most tend to have the highest copper levels, between 3 and 4 ppm. How could the increase in ergot levels be caused by copper deficiency when soil copper levels are so high? 

The answer is three-fold. First, copper availability can be reduced by high nitrogen fertilizer applications. So for those of you applying 80 to 110 lbs N/ac, you may be inducing a copper deficiency even though your soil test reads high in copper. Coincidentally, most producers have gone from applying 60 to 65 lbs/N/ac a few years ago to applying 80 to 100 lbs/N/ac today. At the same time, the presence of ergot has increased dramatically in the last few years. The same rule applies for high rates of nitrogen applied as manure. The way I see it, we’re banding 80 to 100 lbs of N at seeding as urea and the majority of that nitrogen would become available by the time flowering begins in wheat, when it’s most susceptible to ergot infection. Also, the majority of mineralization of N from the soil has occurred adding more N to the pool. It is possible that a large amount of available soil N is blocking copper uptake.

Second, a copper deficiency may be induced by high rates of phosphorus fertilizer. Many producers have gone from 20 lbs P205/ac a few years ago up to 30 lbs P205/ac today banded with the seed. The highest soil copper levels are typically found in clay soils with high calcium, high pH and low phosphorus availability. Producers in these areas tend to apply more phosphorus and could potentially induce a copper deficiency or at least aggravate the situation after applying high rates of N.

The third problem is possibly herbicide. Some herbicides, and I wish I knew which ones, reduce the availability of copper in the plant. So, couple a herbicide application with high rates of nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizer and all of a sudden you’ve created a perfect storm for copper deficiency even though your soil levels are high. 

Now, to address low protein wheat in spite of high nitrogen rates. Did you know that high soil copper levels can reduce root uptake of nitrogen causing lower yields and low proteins? Research has shown that increasing copper levels in the soil significantly reduced soil nitrogen after harvest and nitrogen concentration in plants. Nitrogen and copper have mutually antagonistic effect on each other’s concentration in the plant. And so, the balancing act continues for

If you’d like to experiment next year, foliar applications have been known to work quite well to correct deficiencies. Applying a chelated foliar copper product that contains 0.2 lb/ac is more than adequate. Most foliar copper products on the market today are around $3 or $4 an acre. I don’t know if I would recommend a granular application of copper on soils already high in copper because high nitrogen rates are reducing the roots availability to take it up. I think we need to foliar feed copper to get the best response in this situation. However, if you have low soil copper levels then a broadcast application of copper sulphate at 5 to 10 lbs/ac should do you for roughly 10 years and is less expensive when amortized over 10 years.

If my suspicion is correct, the $3 or $4 an acre cost of foliar copper could generate higher protein or lower ergot levels or both. The result in just a one grade increase in wheat would be $16 acre on a 50 bushel crop and a 1% increase in protein would generate an additional $16.00 acre. I would think a $32 increase in revenue from a $3 investment would have many people giving it a shot. SL   

Source: http://www.cabdirect.org/abstracts/19900737648.html
Source: http://resources.metapress.com/pdf-preview.axd?code=t5226x8g16lqp752&size=largest

Ground speed maps: a new tool for measuring emergence

As you are well aware, I’m a firm believer that increasing seeding speed reduces emergence, maturity, yield and increases seed costs. Quenten Knight, a friend and Beyond Agronomy News subscriber from Precision Agronomics, Australia, sent me a few images showing how they use ground speed maps produced at seeding as a tool to understand the effects of speed on emergence.

Quenten has taken the speed data logged from the GPS on the controller (Trimble, Outback, Flexicoil, TopCon) and used it to find areas in the field where speed was altered and measured plant stand densities. For example, the map you see here shows a speed of 8.4km/hr and 7.5km/hr in the labeled boxes. The photo below shows the line where the two speeds were altered and the resulting emergence. The emergence on the 7.5 km/hr looks better visually than the 8.4 km/hr. In our terms, that’s only a half a mile per hour difference.

I also see another use for ground speed maps to estimate the impact of speed on maturity. As we know, higher grain moisture content is related to later maturity. Some combines have moisture mapping capabilities which can allow us to start measuring the impact of seeding speed on maturity.

What a great application for a map the majority of us are already producing and letting sitting idle in our tractors. This revolution in technology could lead to a decrease in the need to listen to Steve next spring. Thanks Quenten! SL

Wide row spacing trial in canola yields positive results

One of the most frequently asked questions from my readers this year has been about the wide row spacing trials in canola. Corey Jespersen from Spruce Grove, AB and Justin Nanninga from Barrhead both did row spacing trials; Justin compared 12-inch row spacing to 24-inch and Corey compared 9-inch to 15-inch to 30-inch row spacing. I’m still waiting for Justin’s results but Corey revealed his final numbers yesterday.

The seeding rates in Corey’s trial for the 9-inch, 15-inch and 30-inch were 5 lbs/ac, 5 lbs/ac and 2.5 lbs/ac, respectively. Corey decided to cut the seeding rate in half on the 30-inch row spacing to see if he could reduce cost and produce the same or higher yields. The variety on all plots was Victory RR1037 by Cargill. The 9-inch row spacing drill was a Flexicoil 5000 and the other two were planted with a JD planter. NH3 was applied before hand and no fertilizer was placed with the seed. The 15-inch row spacing was seeded twice with the JD planter that had 30-inch spacing. 

Yield results:
9-inch row spacing: 47.9 bu/ac
15-inch row spacing: 53.9 bu/ac
30-inch row spacing: 51.2 bu/ac

Can you imagine? All the literature to date says yield will decrease as row spacing widens past 12 inches. Here we have canola seeded at half the recommended rate at 2.5 lbs/ac or $20 an acre less and it yielded better than the 9-inch row spacing. The difference in maturity was minimal and quality was the same for all three trials.

The 15 and 30-inch row spacings may have promise for canola producers in Alberta. Many farmers have said they’d like a separate drill for seeding canola. I believe with the right planter, like a Monosem and the proper seed disk, you could get down to 1.5 lbs/ac and pay for a planter within a year or two on seed savings alone. Look back to the July 27th issue of BA News for the article on the Monosem planter.

So there you have it folks, trial one down with fabulous results and we look forward to what Justin finds on his project. Just think, the results could mean thousands in savings and the potential for a whole new management system for canola. Can you tell I’m excited? SL

Controlled Traffic Farming Harvest Update

After sitting behind the wheel of the R7 for the last three weeks you can imagine I’ve had a few thoughts about our new system. I’ve listed a number of questions and thoughts below and plan to expound on our accomplishments in the future.

What happens when you farm hilly ground and you have tram lines? Don’t you get wash outs? In Year One with 10 inches of rain falling within two months, we didn’t experience any wash outs and we certainly have some hilly ground. See picture!

What happens when the crop lodges and you have to stay on tram lines? We had barley run about 100 bu/ac and it lodged in some areas. We put lifters on the header every 14 inches and that cleaned up the crop nicely. See picture. 

Thought: Keeping an even spread of residue across the width of the combine is key to reducing nutrient load in one area when you’re traveling down the same path every year. The Gleaner R7 did a great job of spreading residue in the wheat, barley and straight cut canola that was desiccated. The swathed canola would only spread 20 ft on a 30 ft swath. We need to address this issue by straight cutting canola from now on or desiccating canola then swathing later.

What happens when you make ruts? The ruts typically happen in a small portion of the field. The packed trail actually makes it easy to travel across when the field is wet because you’ve created a hard surface in the wet areas where you would usually get stuck. If you wanted to repair the ruts, some Aussie producers have made a tool that disks or roto-tills the outside of the tram lines bringing soil back into the ruts while staying on the tram lines.

How do you unload when you have a big crop and a one mile stretch in a field? Make one pass on the headland and stop to unload in the grain cart at the end. Turn around and finish the second headland and unload on the go towards the end. Repeat the step on the east or west headland until you have your headlands cleaned off. From there you can split the fields into smaller pieces. Once you get going you’ll know how well the field is yielding and can estimate when you’ll be full or how many acres you get per fill. It’s a little tricky to get your head wrapped around it but it’s definitely possible to figure out.

Thought: The cutter bar on the header had 1 inch of room to spare on one side and 3 inches to spare on the other. This kept the header full at all times down the field, which really got me excited knowing how incredibly efficient it was. However, the side of the header where the pulleys and wobble box are tend to push over the crop on the edge of the next tram line. This can periodically cause the crop to lodge so we can’t pick it up on the next pass. I think we could develop a hood like a crop divider that would move crop out of the way instead of pushing it over. See picture of check strip.

In the end, I’m really excited to have started this new venture and see no turning back. I look forward to watching our soils and yields improve over time. The efficiency of RTK guided autosteer on the combine is out of this world. In every pass you’re 100% full with no room left on the cutter bar. This saves a lot of time and money from less passes through the field. My only regret this year is the screw up on our first field where we nudged the GPS at seeding time when we shouldn’t have. This means we’ll have to refresh the process in 2011 and lose a year. The most challenging part of controlled traffic in my view is harvest logistics. The seeding and spraying activities were a breeze. Harvest posses a mental challenge you must figure out in ahead of time order to stay on the tram lines. I’d say the only thing stopping us from finding a solution to harvest logistics is creativity and imagination. Seriously, if the Aussie’s can figure it out, I’m sure a couple of high tech Albertan red necks can figure it out too. SL  

Market News

Technical Analysis

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