October 29, 2013

Agronomist Notes

Hello Reader

While producers were busy finishing up the seasons work last week , I took the liberty of grabbing a late summer vacation with family and tried crab fishing along the Oregon coast. I came home to six inches of snow and sub zero temperatures. In other news, fall fieldwork is now complete. Contracts are being filled with a lot of grain left to move before spring. We’re now looking at forward pricing next years crop and tweaking crop rotations.

In this issue, we’ll look at how to manage drill skew to perfect inter-row seeding. Next, I’ll provide a lesson on the importance of sugar movement in the plant to optimize root and fruit production. Last, we’ll look at some quick costs of production and potential returns for the 2014 crop year. I’ll finish with technical grain market news.

Have a great week.

Photo: Spent the afternoon harvesting crab along the Oregon coast. Bait, crab pots, a boat and the open sea.

Inter-row seeding with wide drills

Managing drill skew

Producers all across Western Canada experimented with inter-row seeding this year, some with amazing success and others not so much. The simple concept is not so simple to execute when you discover how crooked some drills track across the field. Currently, there are two technologies that provide a solution for drill skew.

The first technology is active implement steering, which uses a GPS receiver on the drill and tractor with a separate hydraulic drawbar that physically moves the hitch to keep both tractor and drill on the same AB line. The second technology is called passive implement guidance, which monitors and corrects the position of the drill by moving the tractor side to side. Each technology should be used with RTK guidance.

The less expensive and simplest option is passive implement steering, which requires I-Guide from John Deere or TrueGuide by Trimble. Both are roughly $7,000 and include the GPS receiver for the drill, cables and software upgrades. To move up a notch and control the steering on the implement a hydraulic hitch kit is required, which would cost another $7,000 for a total of about $14,000.

Don Varty from Elrose, SK purchased and installed the John Deere I-Guide with a Protrakker implement steering system in 2013. He attached it to his JD 4WD and 70-foot Morris Contour drill. To see the ProTrakker in action click here. To see more info on the Protrakker click here. Don was reasonably satisfied with the way the Protrakker performed but did mention that it was difficult to hold the line on steep slopes. With 26 inches of horizontal travel on the hitch, it’s sometimes not enough when the drill slides 13 inches or more on steep side hills.

There are a number of active implement steering systems on the North American market today like Protrakker, Trimble True Tracker, Orthman Tracker, Sunco Accutrak and several out of Australia as well some home built systems. If you have RTK guidance you’re still looking at a $13,000 to $14,000 investment. If your drill isn't tracking right and inter-row seeding is difficult I would suggest you start with a passive steering system at a $7,000 cost before you make the leap into a $13,000 system. Depending on how much or little your drill skews, you may only need implement guidance. If you still have too much movement then an upgrade to active implement steering is necessary.

There are so many benefits to inter-row seeding but let me touch on a few from our own experience. After 4 years of inter-row seeding, this harvest we knew we could leave our wheat stubble 16 inches tall and seed into it without issue. Consequently, we could harvest 1.5 mph faster than if we had to cut at 6 to 9 inches. On our CPS wheat, that meant we could harvest 14 tonnes more per hour or $3,300 more revenue per separating hour. Now there is less residue on the ground to hinder emergence, soil warms faster, soil flow and temperature are more consistent between the rows leading to better seed placement, germination and emergence… you get the point. Time to dial in your own inter-row seeding system. Implement steering or guidance could be your solution. SL

Photo: Don Varty of Elrose, SK, has a Protrakker steering system on his JD I-Guide. Photo credit: D. Varty

Want big roots & big fruits?

A lesson in nitrogen management

One of the primary functions of green plant material is to manufacture sugars though photosynthesis. These sugars provide the energy or fuel to drive cell division and are transported throughout the plant via the phloem to root and leaf tips, buds and flowers. Now the flow of sugar out of the cell is regulated by pH and temperature. Any fluctuation in both pH and temperature can have an effect on root development and fruit production. Let’s start with pH.

Sugar movement out of the cell into the phloem is regulated by the pH inside the cell. There are two nutrients that have an effect on pH which are nitrogen and potassium. Nitrates act to lower the cell pH and cause a reduction of sugar flow into the phloem. The effect is a reduction in sugar or fuel to critical areas of cell division like root tips and reproductive areas like buds and flowers. Excessive nitrate levels can often be found early in the growing season under our nitrogen fertility programs. We apply all of our nitrogen needs at seeding which leads to excessive nitrate availability at a time the plant doesn’t need it.

In the case of potassium, it has a positive effect on pH. Potassium raises the pH inside the cell and increases the flow of sugars into the phloem to be distributed throughout the plant. Thankfully, the majority of our soils are high in potassium but I would certainly keep an eye on tissue samples to qualify that potassium is actually getting inside the plant.

Temperature is the second main driver of sugar movement out of the cell. In fact, it’s the fluctuation in temperature that really drives sugar movement out of the cell. For example, hot days in the high twenties followed by cool nights in the high teens are ideal for sugar movement. This temperature fluctuation favours auxin production, which creates a loading effect of sugar into the phloem. If day and night time temperatures are hot and above 30 degrees Celsius, this creates gibberellin dominance and can actually suck sugar out of the phloem. This will result in the sugars staying inside the vegetative cells without being transported to important areas like root and fruit development.

The majority of my plant tissue samples come back high to excessive in nitrogen when taken at the tillering stage. If high nitrate in the plant reduces sugar flow to developing roots and fruit, then what kind of yield are we sacrificing by placing all of our nitrogen on at seeding and creating a massive pool of nitrate prior to peak demand? We are encouraging poor sugar flow to developing roots and fruit in our current system. In essence, we're starving the system of fuel.

There are strategies to reduce the massive influx of nitrate like the addition of ESN to your urea blend or Super Urea. Another method used and currently a hot topic is to split apply nitrogen by applying 30-50% at seeding followed by an application of the remaining 50-70% just prior to the reproductive phase.

These strategies can help to reduce the amount of nitrate available early in the growing season and avoid excessive nitrate accumulation in the plant, which lowers cellular pH and reduces sugar transport. We can’t do much for controlling temperature but we can certainly improve the way we manage nitrogen in order to optimize sugar flow to developing roots and fruit. Whether it’s using specialized granules in the blend at seeding or split applications in-season, it’s worthwhile focusing on nitrogen timing to keep things sweet. SL

Resource: Jerry Stoller, Stoller USA

Quick review of cost of production & returns

It’s that time of year where many are focused on managing old crop when new crop prices and opportunities are available and potentially attractive. I know you may want to kick up your heels for at least a couple of days before you dive head first into next year so I decided to give you an idea of what I’m looking at for profitable crops to grow in 2013. To view the COP outline and profit margins click here.

From today’s date, I can lock in a price for next September on HRS wheat for $6.46 bu, canola $11.20 bu. CPS wheat $5.83 bu, malt barley $4.30, feed barley $3.35, yellow peas and faba beans at roughly $6.90 bu. Based on variable and fixed costs I’m looking at margins well below what I’ve experienced in the last few years. The most profitable crop to grow in order from highest to lowest is CPS wheat, faba beans, HRS wheat, yellow peas, canola, malt barley and coming in last at a handy negative -17% margin is feed barley.

I suspect with these numbers CPS wheat sales may be high before Christmas or into the new year which may put pressure on prices. The wild card for malt and feed barley growers will be the decision whether to grow it at all in 2014. Canola once again is not the Cinderella crop coming in 5th out of 7th place. Bottom line, don’t miss out on opportunities today while you think about how much you’ll grow next year. Good luck! SL

Advanced Agronomy Conference

Don’t miss it!

Our 6th annual Advanced Agronomy Conference will be held in Leduc, AB on November 19 and 20, 2013. We have a great line-up of local and international speakers including Graeme Jones from New Zealand, Blake Vince from Ontario and Andrew Newall from Australia. We’ve put together leading edge topics and content you won’t find at a typical agronomy conference. Be sure to register today!

Topics & Speakers