September 4, 2013

Agronomist Notes

Hello Reader

Harvest is in full swing in the east and just about to begin in the west. Pea yields continue to be astonishing and early wheat and barley yields the same. I predict there will grain piled on the ground in no time. Canola is a different story with average to slightly above average yields at best. The compounding effect of heavy residue, tight rotations and excessive rain in May-June will bring averages down.

This week in Beyond Agronomy News, we’ll run through some cost of productions as harvest begins and marketing strategies come into play. Next, we’ll look at some quick facts on how to stage physiological maturity in wheat for pre-harvest glyphosate timing. We’ll end with the impact of late season frosts. As always, we’ll finish with technical grain market news.

Photo: Three Hills Colony harvesting CDC Go wheat, September 2, 2013, near Three Hills, AB.

Crop Staging

(Calgary to Drumheller to Three Hills)

Harvest Progress
Yield Avg
Wheat: 3% 70-90 bu/ac
Canola: 5% 40-55 bu/ac
Barley: 15% 85-110 bu/ac
Peas: 90% 65-80 bu/ac

Running break evens prior to harvest

Make easier marketing decisions

Now that we have a good sense of production potential, I think it’s important to run the numbers on production costs again to help with grain marketing during harvest. At this point, we have a tremendous amount of money tied up in our crops and I’d like to keep the emotions out of pricing. Production costs vary from farm to farm but these will give you a good idea of where many are at. Here’s a list of our own costs of production coming into harvest. : This year we grew PR 5700 CPS wheat, Malik faba beans and L130 canola.

Wheat      Fabas Canola
Land Rent: 60.00 60.00 60.00
Seed/Treat: 32.50 74.80 43.20
Inoculant: 0.00 8.20 0.00
Spring Fert: 84.00 13.00 90.83
Sidedress N: 22.20 0.00 0.00
Herbicide: 32.00 29.00 28.00
Fungicide: 12.30        0.00 21.00
Insurance: 41.20 12.00 53.39
Fuel/Oil: 22.60 22.60 22.60
Consulting: 6.00 6.00 6.00
Fixed Costs: 90.31 90.31 90.31
Total $/ac: 403.11 315.91 415.33

Yield bu/ac: 75 60 50
Yield (T/ac): 2.04 1.63 1.13
B/even $/bu: 5.37 5.26          8.30
B/even $/T: 197.60      193.80 367.54

Our breakeven costs are still an estimate and will be adjusted as crops flow in, but at least we have a starting point to know where we can sell grain profitably. I suspect we’ll need to sell more off-combine to avoid piled grain. If we’re in this situation, most people will be as well and basis levels could widen significantly on some crops. For example, basis levels are $0.49 bu ($18.00 T) wider on CPS than HRS. If you grow both, selling HRS and storing CPS wheat may be a better option.

Good luck this fall and be sure to finish your break-evens before harvest gets into full swing. If you don’t have room to store all your grain, break-evens make it easier to know whether you sell, store or scramble to buy a grain bagger. SL

Knowing when wheat has finished filling

How do you know when wheat has reached physiological maturity and finished the filling stage? At physiological maturity, the maximum amount of dry matter or filling has accumulated in the kernels. The peduncle is the upper internode of the stem that carries the spike. It has a characteristic bend just below the spike. It is this bend that will lose the green colour first, signaling that the vascular system no longer communicates to the head and that physiological maturity has been reached.

The loss of green in the peduncle is a very useful marker to aid in the correct timing of pre-harvest use of glyphosate. The picture on the right shows the colour changes in wheat that has matured on the right and wheat that has not finished filling on the right. Once the peduncle turns yellow, it is safe to apply glyphosate and you'll likely see a green stem and leaves down below.

The general rule of thumb for gauging pre-harvest glyphosate timing is to pluck a few kernels from the middle of the head and squeeze your thumbnail into the kernel. If the kernel leaves a thumbnail print on the kernel, you’re at roughly 30% seed moisture content which is the perfect timing.

I tend to use both methods as a way of staging pre-harvest glyphosate. The loss of green material on the peduncle gives me a great visual inspection of physiological maturity without having to pluck kernels out of the head. I still do the thumbnail test to measure seed moisture content but the two methods together give me top confidence in staging the crop properly. SL

To see visual signs of seed moisture content in wheat go here.

Look at physiological signs of maturity here.

Source: www.smallgrains.org

Late season frost damage

What to expect

As we move into September, the risk of frost increases on late seeded crops. The temperature is supposed to cool down over the weekend and may bring frost with it. I’ve been asked how much damage we can expect with our late maturing crops. It’s a difficult question to answer because the extent of damage depends on the temperature, length of exposure, humidity levels and the speed to which the freezing temperature was reached. For example, even if the air temperature drops to 0C the crop itself can be 4 or 5 degrees cooler because the plants loose heat faster than the surrounding air temperatures.

The following is adapted from Sherrilyn Phelps, P.Ag., CCA, Crop Development Specialist, SAFRR

Flax: Immature seeds of flax can be killed by temperatures from 0 to -4C depending on the length of exposure. Research trials by Agriculture and AgriFood Canada found that flax showed considerable damage to immature flax bolls when temperatures reached -3 to -5C (for one hour) while stems required -6 to -7C. After flax seed reaches the dough stage it is more resistant to frost.

Cereals: Typically wheat is more tolerant than barley, and barley is more tolerant than oats to fall frost. Cereal plants exposed to frost at the late dough stage sustain less injury than plants exposed at the early dough stage. In the milk stage temperatures below 0C can result in shriveled kernels. After mid-dough stage, temperatures down to -4C can result in bran frost, kernel shrinkage and possibly a reduction in germination.

Lab experiments have shown that wheat, barley and oats show little yield reduction at the late dough stage when exposed to -8C for one hour. However, germination was reduced in the barley and oat. At the early dough stage the crop yields were affected by one hour at -6C and all had reduced germination.

With cereals frost damage first appears as soft watery kernels that ooze water upon squeezing. This is evident at the milk stage and early dough and can be seen within a couple days of the frost. With frost damage at these stages the kernels will shrink and become very light. At later stages of development such as mid to late dough stages frost damage occurs in the form of bran frost and possibly some shrinkage. This is not evident until at least 7 to 10 days.

Canola & Mustard: Immature seed that contains 50 to 60% moisture can be severely damaged by -3C while those that are close to swathing stage (35% moisture) may escape damage. To escape most frost damage the moisture content should be at least 20% or lower. Swathing at least 24 hours prior to a frost, and preferably 48 to 72 hours prior, can reduce the green seed count even at early stages such as 0 to 5 % color change (about two weeks from normal swathing stage). However, even at a swathing stage (30-40% seed color turn) temperatures of -3C for one hour will have no effect on chlorophyll content.

Assessing the field (damaged vs. undamaged seed) is best done at 2 to 3 days after the frost or later. If there is no evidence of damage then leave it till the proper swathing stage. If the majority of the seed is damaged, then swath the crop immediately, as the whitened pods will start to shatter.

To evaluate whether there is frost damage in canola, look for the immature seeds to shrink and no longer be firm. They will become watery masses that look like pepper once they dry. The more mature kernels will remain hard but will retain the green color which causes quality reductions.

Pulses: Frost damaged seeds will be water soaked and no longer firm as they start to ‘leak’. Heavily damaged pods will have a rubbery wilted appearance. As pulses often mature from the bottom of the plant toward the top, frost injury may be much greater on plant tops. Seeds near the ground may have no frost damage and care should be taken to focus harvest efforts on these seeds.

Source: www.agriculture.gov.sk.ca