JANUARY 2015
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2014-08-18 3:47 PM
CORNGUIDE // COVER STORY
High-speed planters turn more heads More manufacturers join the competition to sell highaccuracy, 12-m.p.h. planters By Ralph Pearce, CG Production Editor
A new arrival in the high-speed planter market, the Väderstad Tempo was showcased at the 2014 Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show.
Corn Guide, January 2015
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ne hundred hours. It’s barely more than four days of 24-hour planting, and it can seem like it goes by in a blink of the eye. But depending on farm size, it’s the typical number of hours you get in the spring to plant your corn and soybeans into optimum conditions. In some years like 2012, of course, the spring gives you more hours than that and it can seem like you have weeks to get the crop into the ground. But then comes a year like 2014 in some parts of Ontario, when 100 hours would have seemed absolute luxury. Even in an open spring, however, the average number of acres per farm continues to climb, putting more pressure on the farm to plant more acres per hour. It’s this urgency that’s the primary driver behind high-speed planters. Although high-speed drills have been around for 20 years in Europe, the move to high-speed planters for corn is very new to North America.
Now, Amazone, Väderstadt and Horsch have all introduced high-speed corn planters. Horsch brought out its corn planter in 2013, Amazone has had its unit in use in Eastern Canada for at least two years, and Väderstadt introduced its high-speed planter this past summer. Plus, in a first among North American manufacturers, John Deere introduced its own high-speed unit last February at the National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville, with models available for the 2015 planting season. Yet many have also questioned planting at nine or 10 miles per hour (14 to 16 km/h); what effect will it have on germination, and ultimately yield? What about stones or uneven terrain? FIELD RESULTS IN HURON Sonke Claussen began using a highspeed drill (a Väderstadt Rapid) in 1995, the last year he lived in Germany before Continued on page 4
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Photo courtesy: Amazone.
Cornguide // COVER STORY
The Amazone EDX system is already in use in parts of Eastern Canada, and has found many advocates. Continued from page 3
moving to Canada. Claussen, owner and general manager of Claussen Farms Custom Farming, near Brucefield, Ont., is sold on the technology, and now uses an Amazone EDX 9000 for corn planting. He understands the hesitation that some might have for high speed, but there’s no doubt in his mind of the benefits. “The concern is seed placement, and I don’t think we expected that the EDX would do a better job at planting by doing it at high speed than what a conventional planter would do, but we expected an equally good job,” says Claussen. In 2014, he made a presentation at the annual conference of the Innovative Farmers Association of Ontario (IFAO), detailing his experiences with the technology, including what he liked, and what he’d like to see changed. “But try as we did, there is no difference. Sometimes one machine wins by one or two bushels more than another one, but it’s nothing more significant that we can see. And just by visually going into the field and seeing the stand emerging and coming up, you don’t see the difference.” Claussen reported that in two side by sides using the Amazone and a John Deere 1770, the Amazone came in at half a bushel less (179.57 bu./ac.) than the Deere 1770 (180.07 bu./ac.) on one plot. But in the other, it yielded more than two bushels per acre higher than the 1770 (176.45 bu./ac. versus 174.24 bu./ac.). The test plots were all at least 1.6 acres in size. Claussen’s experience with the Väderstadt Rapid system leads him to want to try the new Tempo, which was showcased at the
2014 Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show, but his desire to work with 12-row units, instead of six- or eight-row configurations like the Tempo keeps him using the EDX. Yet in spite of the traffic through the Väderstadt-Seed Hawk display and interest shown during its field demonstrations, company representatives are certainly listening to Claussen’s requests. “You’re definitely buying more capacity with these planters to meet the challenge of getting it done in four or even five or six days,” says Claussen. He adds that the EDX is a more compact machine compared to the 16-row planter he was using. “We’ve gone back to a 12-row machine with the fertilizer tank on the same frame, so it’s a more compact machine, but we have slightly more capacity with the EDX than we had with the replaced 16-row unit. In our case, when we had to be changing fields, we had to change hybrids, and move and travel between customers and our own fields; this is one of the biggest arguments for the EDX. With those tires and having the brake systems on the machine, we can go 50 km/h on the road, and it’s safe.” Claussen concedes there are limitations to high-speed planters, as well as specific tractor requirements (a minimum of 270 PTO horsepower — although 300 hp is better — plus auto steer and a 40-g.p.m. hydraulic flow capacity). There is also an element of common sense that goes with their use. Concerns about bounces, skips and doubles are reduced by the particular EDX design he uses, says Claussen, including a parallel linkage with 500 lbs. of down-force, rubber cushions on the top parallel arm, 20-inchgauge wheels instead of 15s that are drawn, not pushed. Yet Claussen expects very stony soils will provide some definite challenges for growers, and that in many of those fields, high-speed planting is likely not an option. (He can still use the planter in those stony fields, although at slower speeds. But even those slower speeds, he says, are faster than with a conventional planter.) Size doesn’t matter The notion that high-speed planters took off first in Europe because farms there are smaller is discounted by Gustav Nilsson, market developer and Lars Thylén, concept manager for Väderstadt’s Tempo unit. Both agree the concept is more a matter of performance than size. “I think both sizes (small and large) will be taking advantage of higher speeds, because you increase productivity,” says Thylén. “In Europe, you use it in less stressful working conditions, because many farmers work quite a few hours in springtime, and can come
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Corn Guide, January 2015
home a few hours earlier. Plus there is an extra advantage when you have poor planting conditions, where maybe you have three perfect days and during those days, maybe you plant 300 acres, but maybe you plant 600.” There’s also the anecdotal evidence that as the planting season wears on, farmers tend to increase their speeds in response to challenging conditions. Farmers may start at four miles per hour but as the 100-hour mark approaches the average speed in Ontario starts to increase, often to around 6.5 miles per hour. Even if a grower doesn’t want to push speeds to 10, opting instead for eight miles per hour, that’s still double the starting speed and about 20 per cent faster than the “rush hours.” Nilsson concedes that many have expressed doubts about the high-speed concept, adding that initially, there were doubters when Väderstadt unveiled its high-speed drill in 1990. “People were saying we can’t drill in double the speed,” Nilsson says. Now, Tempo must answer similar doubts. “It’s been a great success,” Nilsson says.
Each manufacturer has its own key to success
Measuring accuracy Key to overall performance is the planter’s coefficient of variation for placement accuracy. In other words, how close does it come to actually placing the seed where you want it? On the Amazone EDX, the coefficient of variation (CoV) with its Xpress singling and placement system has been found to be virtually the same as conventional systems operating at slower speeds. “They were able to have precision equal for uniformity of spacing of the grain, and after emergence, it’s as good if not even better at 15 km/h than a conventional planter,” says Sam Abourjeily, sales manager for Amazone products for Farm Fleet in Eastern Canada. That includes working in stony fields, Abourjeily says, and it also includes being able to stand up to the stresses of the planting season without breaking down. “People who have been used to planting from their parents, brother or grandfather and using technology at a much slower pace will always be skeptical that this technology at high speed will give them the same ability,” says Abourjeily. “They have a little bit of difficulty visualizing the advance of technology and the design that is built into these machines to make them capable of working as well, if not better under less-than-optimal conditions.” CG
through the stripper finger adjustment, singulating the seed as it’s chan-
Corn Guide, January 2015
It’s fascinating that there can be so many different technical approaches for obtaining the speed and especially the accuracy needed for high-speed planters. In fact, that’s what needs to be stressed. It isn’t just the speed at which the planter operates, it’s the accuracy of the delivery of the seed into the trench that’s just as important. “Anybody can take a planter and plant at high speeds, you just won’t plant accurately with previous technology,” says Steve Reynolds, John Deere’s solutions specialist for southern Ontario. “We can plant faster because we’ve eliminated that seed bounce in the tube that leads to poorer spacing.” In the Väderstadt Tempo, it’s the Gilstring seed meter that provides precision and accuracy at higher speeds. With this unit, a combination of seed metering precision and the delivery of the seed through its Power Shoot pressure gradient sends the seed to the trench with a high level of accuracy, no matter the speed, slope or amount of vibration. In the Amazone EDX, it’s a unique singling drum on the Xpress singling and placement system that provides the all-important coefficient of variation (CoV). The singling drum is adjustable, from six to 16 rows, and carries seed nelled from the hopper into the seed tube. From there, the Xpress catcher system forms and firmly places the seed into the furrow, preventing it from rolling out of position, even under less-than-favourable conditions. With the John Deere ExactEmerge row unit, the key feature is the brush belt mechanism. After the seed is singulated, whether it’s corn or soybeans, it travels from the seed meter to a level where it’s just above the trench. The brush belt actually places the seed in the middle of the trench, and uses two separate motors. The first drives the meter and sets the seed population. The second drives the brush belt at the exact same speed as the planter, but in the opposite direction. This provides a “dead drop” so the seed is essentially travelling at zero miles per hour as it falls into the trench. “The big change is the accuracy,” says Reynolds. “You want great accuracy in the field, you want good singulation, and good spacing and a good coefficient of variation, and we’ve been able to deliver it. “If you can increase your productivity by 50 per cent,” Reynolds says, “that’s a huge increase, and that benefit alone is very valuable to the producer.” For more information, click on the following links:
www.amazone.net www.deere.com www.tempoplanter.com
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Cornguide
Corn baling works, and shrewd business management could create a huge opportunity for corn producers By Ralph Pearce, CG Production Editor
Above: The first step in the baling process is to shred the corn stover, courtesy of the Hiniker 5600 windrow shredder.
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Rolling in stover T
his year’s push for a corn stoverprocessing facility to be built somewhere in southern Ontario isn’t exactly new. Many similar proposals have been voiced in the past decade. This time, though, there’s a difference. What sets this venture apart is that the combination of economic benefits for the region and agronomic benefits for growers may be enough to justify the construction of a biorefinery to convert a quarter of a million large square bales of corn stover into a variety of products. One key indicator of that potential is the sheer number of companies and organizations showing interest in this particular proposal. During a cornstalk-harvesting and -baling demonstration, held during three days early in November, farmers, dealers and industry representatives worked over the economic forecasts and infrastructure requirements for such a facility. At least 20 different businesses, farm groups and public-sector participants are or have been involved in this venture, with BioIndustrial Innovation Canada, the Ontario Federation of Agriculture and La Coop fédérée leading the way. The proceedings for each day included
morning presentations in Inwood, Ont., southeast of Sarnia, followed by afternoon field demonstrations at the farm of Don and Anne McGugan, just outside of Alvinston. In the field, Advantage Farm Equipment and AGCO provided the Massey Ferguson/Hesston baling equipment, Hiniker had a windrow shredder and Stinger supplied the bale stacker. Agris Co-operative, the Agromart Group, Wanstead Farmers Co-operative, Bioindustrial Innovation Canada and IGPC Ethanol were also part of each day’s proceedings. The morning presentations focused on the plant’s feasibility, with Lambton County figuring prominently in the proposed facility. The proximity to Sarnia is certainly an advantage from an infrastructure standpoint. The city, known across Canada as “the Petrochemical Valley” is in the midst of a rebranding to “the Biochemical Valley,” and there’s the admitted allure of repurposing existing infrastructure for this particular biorefinery. But the logistics of 250,000 bales of corn stover may require siting the refinery farther east of Sarnia. In simple terms, to be economically viable, the venture needs Corn Guide, January 2015
to operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, pulling those 250,000 bales from within a roughly 100-km radius. If the processing plant is near the U.S. border at Sarnia, it would mean a third of that radius would get lost in southern Lake Huron. But that’s part of the ongoing feasibility study by those companies interested in the potential this plant could derive. While those calculations are getting made, however, the call for action is getting urgent, modelled on a similar plant that’s now operating in Nevada, Iowa, a town of 6,700. As Lambton County farmer and current OFA vice-president Don McCabe pointed out during his presentation, if a small town in Iowa can make this work, there’s no reason why Lambton County — or southern Ontario — can’t and shouldn’t be able to do the same. “But this whole thing has to work in advance for the farm community to move ahead,” says McCabe, who farms near Inwood. “There will always be some people who do not see the need for this. First and foremost, as a farmer, this is about residue management, so you need to know what your soils are doing now before you embark on this. Then you need to make sure you have a diversified crop rotation or corn, soybeans and wheat in this system.” The agronomic benefits of this processing plant can’t be overlooked, either. Yields are trending up, as are planting densities — already well above 32,000 in most places in southern Ontario, with some above 38,000. Expecting no-till or reduced-till systems to break down corn stover in time for a subsequent soybean crop is proving unrealistic. McCabe points to the 2014 harvest as an example of how weather affects field operations, including the potential for rutting of fields, likely leading to increased spring tillage. Economic benefits tied to the soil, too In addition to removing the stover, there’s the economics attached to the potential for improved soil health. According to research conducted in Iowa, farmers participating in corn cellulosic ethanol projects have gained a net profit of $36 per acre including a 5.2 bu./ac. yield advantage with the stover collection. The Iowa results also equated a 150 bu./ ac. grain corn yield with the collection of one tonne of stover per acre (or two tonnes per acre with a 180 bu./ac. yield). Corn Guide, January 2015
“This whole thing has to work in advance for the farm community to move ahead.” — Don McCabe, Inwood, Ont.-area farmer and OFA vice-president Tillage is also reduced with less residue to be managed, and researchers in Iowa observed that less residue on the field means warmer soils and an earlier starting date the following spring. Other quality parameters include longer crop rotations (corn, soybeans and wheat), the use of cover crops, and improved protection against erosion — all of which should help maintain or increase soil organic matter. In Iowa, bales ideally are at 20 to 25 per cent moisture (they can run as high as 35 per cent) and large square or round bales are accepted. In terms of nutrient removal, it’s important to continue to monitor nutrient replacement with stock removal. Potassium and some micronutrients will need to be replaced, although spring harvest of the stover can minimize nutrient removal. The time to act Although a facility for southern Ontario is still several years away, McCabe is a staunch believer in the need for Ontario agriculture to act now. A “waitand-see” approach leaves too much to chance, he says. One positive development is the recent formation of the Cellulosic Sugar Producers’ Co-operative. The co-operative has adopted a strategy of dealing with a group of farmers that can and will meet
the agronomic and qualitative specifications of this biorefinery. Part of that economic outlook also includes a change in attitudes on the farm. During the presentations in November, McCabe didn’t mince words about avoiding the notion of being “price takers,” as is the norm in farming. Instead, he said, farmers need to get on board with building a sustainable new market. As time goes on, the price of the feedstock is likely to go down, while the value of the products produced at the other end will go up. So it’s the return on equity derived from the processing plant that will actually drive greater utilization and product discovery. It’s much the same process as the Greenfield ethanol plant in ChathamKent. It started producing ethanol as a primary product, then dry distillers grain, then carbon dioxide, and then heat for an attached greenhouse operation. This corn stover-bioprocessing plant is expected to do the same. First, it will derive sugars including glucose, fructose, xylose, arabinose, lactose, sucrose and starch from the stover, in the form of cellulose and hemi-cellulose components. From there, those sugars could be used to produce what are known as C4, C5 and C6 “building blocks” such as sorbitol, levContinued on page 8
The Massey Ferguson (Hesston) 2270 XD provides the baling portion of the operation.
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Continued from page 7
ulinic and succinic acid, with a host of customers willing to pay for consistent supplies and quality of those products. “It’s similar to an elevator buying corn,” says McCabe. “When it takes in corn, it doesn’t matter who buys it later, just as long as you do find buyers. That’s what’s important. We want to maximize our opportunities to get back into the marketplace and we want to do it with these biochemicals or biocomposite opportunities because that’s a higher return on investment than fuels.” The road ahead So together with Cellulosic Sugar Producers’ Co-operative, there are plenty of other processes that are underway, with a possible start date of 2018. But as James Lee, director of commercialization for BioIndustrial Innovation Canada says, there are many uncertainties that must still be investigated. For instance, the pace with which technologies are discovered and implemented may enable an earlier date. Or, there may be something else that delays it. “We still have to evaluate the full-scale economics,” says Lee, adding that all eyes are on the three large-scale projects now in operation in the U.S., including the Abengoa plant in Hugoton, Kansas, the POET-DSM project in Emmetsburg, Iowa, and the DuPont project in Nevada, Iowa. “Those are multi-hundreds of million-dollar projects, where they take stover and turn it into corn ethanol. I anticipate it being that magnitude a project, where you need scale to make it economic.” Lee echoes McCabe’s comments about adding value to what is merely considered residue. But he cautions that while this product starts at the farm, it finishes with consumers buying the products made from materials off the farm, and all at a higher value to those consumers. Right now, Lee and McCabe and others involved in the project are moving beyond feasibility studies completed in 2013 and the followup study on the aggregation of the stover and potential storage issues, conducted by the OFA and La Coop fédérée. The first step was funded by BioIndustrial Innovation Canada, with help from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and the Agricultural Adaptation Council. The second study received funding from AAFC and BioIndustrial Innovation Canada. Money from AAFC was provided from the Program of Energ y Research and 8
Retrieving the bales from the field is the job of Stinger’s Stacker 6500 unit.
The bales can be stacked at a central point of the field, ready for transportation.
Development (PERD), operated by Natural Resources Canada. “The third phase involves selecting the technology to convert that biomass into higher-value products, starting with sugar,” says Lee. He borrows a term from the petrochemical industry — crude oil crack or gasoline crack — and says their aim is to push the value add. “What we’re trying to do is maximize the value of a biomass crack. That means getting the maximum value from the products made from all parts of the corn stover. Part of this is to find the right combination of technology that maximizes that value.” Once this facility is up and running, and once it demonstrates it can be effective, Lee suggests it might be a first step towards establishing similar plants in Western Canada, with a similar opportunity for wheat straw as a feedstock. Or,
given its western migration, a facility could be run on corn as well. “It comes down to realizing who your customers are,” says Lee. “Our customers are here (in southern Ontario). Who are your suppliers? Our farmers are here. That’s two components and the third is whether you have the steel in the ground to connect the farmer to the customer.” It’s worth noting that the feasibility study was carried out by Lynn Marchand and Randy Duffy of the University of Guelph-Ridgetown Campus in 2013. Financial and in-kind contributions were also made by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and the Agricultural Adaptation Council, Lanxess Energizing Chemistry, BioIndustrial Innovation Canada, BioAmber, Midori Renewables, Ontario Agri-Food Technologies, Agris Co-operative and the Grain Farmers of Ontario. CG
Further reading www.ofa.on.ca/uploads/userfiles/files/cornstalkreport-final.pdf www.nrel.gov/docs/fy04osti/35523.pdf
Corn Guide, January 2015
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2014-08-01 1:46 PM
Cornguide
Once you get to the top… For the corn-growing Cantelon family, it just means you’re partway there By Ralph Pearce, CG Production Editor
Three generations of the Cantelon family farming operation: Wayne (l), his son Mark and his dad George.
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ayne Cantelon is a lot like other farmers. He works a substantial number of acres with his father, brother and son, and he’s always trying to improve conditions and production. And just like a lot of other farmers, too, he’s hesitant to consider himself a leader or an innovator. In spite of that reluctance, Cantelon, who farms in Huron County near Brucefield, Ont., is regarded as an innovator — and leader — and has been named the Innovative Farmer of the Year for 2014. The award is sponsored by BASF Canada and will be presented at the Innovative Farmers Association of Ontario (IFAO) annual meeting, which takes place February 24 and 25, 2015 in London. Cantelon has attracted attention among his peers and farm organizations in part because of his ability to walk a sort of tightrope, staying with what works while blending and adding new tools to Cantelon Farms, the family farming operation. Cantelon is also quick to share the award with his father, George, from whom he’s learned many farming and life lessons, along with his son, Scott and Wayne’s younger brother Mark.
“It goes counter to my nature because I don’t like tooting my own horn,” says Cantelon, adding that everybody has their own philosophy. “We’re kind of careful of change, but we made the transition to zone tillage, and we introduced it a little bit at a time.” It was back in the 1980s, and Cantelon remembers that the Huron County Soil and Crop Improvement Association was thriving, and that he had greater access to different farmers and how they carried out various practices on their farms. It surprised him then to see that there was no “cookiecutter” approach in farming. Instead, he began to realize that each farmer farms according to a variety of factors, including management style, personality, soil types and rotations. Eventually it became apparent that everyone adapts or finds ways of doing things that suit that farm’s particular demands. That’s the way Cantelon and his family have evolved. Initially, Cantelon was not a part of the family operation, returning in 1974 after a stint in the construction sector. He planted his first crop that year, then married his wife Esther in 1975. In addition to Scott, who’s 33 and one of Wayne and Esther’s triplets, there’s also Ryan and Tim, and Andy, who’s the oldest. Like other farmers, Cantelon learned some tough but valuable lessons during the high-interest-rate days of the early 1980s, especially financial management and durability. Those hard times taught him that little in farming can be taken for granted. “But that’s part of the package,” says Cantelon. “Anybody who was farming in that time frame knows it was a struggle.” As for the farming operation itself, the Cantelons run a four-crop rotation, with corn, soybeans, edible beans (mainly white beans, but he has experimented with others from time to time) and wheat. For the most part, the corn and soybeans are non-GMO. From a tillage perspective, he uses zone till for corn and is a no tiller of soybeans and wheat. Corn Guide, January 2015
Wayne Cantelon has been awarded the Innovative Farmer of the Year for 2014, even though he’s hesitant to consider himself a leader.
“My biggest issue with technology is that it’s quite addictive — I always want more of it.” “We actually got all of the wheat planted that we were intending to this year (2014), and you can thank the white bean acres for that and the fact that we had some white beans ready for harvest in the good weather,” he says. Caring for the soil Managing a larger land base has provided some significant challenges for Cantelon. As the family operation has added acres, they’ve had to decide between staying the course with the equipment they have, purchasing newer and perhaps larger systems, or downsizing in an effort to increase efficiency. The first such decision was made to use less equipment and focus on improving soil management (including soil erosion and enhancing their fertility and nutrient program), with the introduction of a Trans-Till unit to their operation. That early shift didn’t immediately pay off. In the first year of side-by-side comparisons between corn in a zone-till system versus a conventional tillage regimen, Cantelon saw a slight yield bump in the conventional side. Once he corrected for fertility in the zone till however, the corn yields were either Corn Guide, January 2015
as good or better than conventional. Raising the seedbed helped to dry the soil. And he hasn’t looked back since. “Do you do things for the sake of change sometimes?” poses Cantelon, adding that he and his family always try to be open to new ideas. Yet sometimes the best approach isn’t the obvious or traditional one. “Conventional (tillage) might look a bit showier, but it didn’t mean anything when the combine went through it.” Since they’ve adopted a zone-till regimen, Cantelon and his family have found other ways to improve their operation. Their Trans-Till unit was a staple for more than a decade, before he shifted from a shank configuration to a coulter setup. The Cantelons actually brought the second SoilWarrior strip-till system to Ontario, and now serve as a dealer for the company. “It’s interesting to see that people are watching us more, that some of what we’re doing gets picked up more,” says Cantelon. “That’s part of the reason that we’re dealers for SoilWarrior, where we try things where we can, and people like to see things work on their own ground. Switching is a big mental thing — where you have to climb the mountain to get to
the top. And once you get to the top or on the other side, you’re probably not going to want to go back, but for mental and financial reasons, it can be a challenge.” An important addition to the family farm management plan includes cover crops. Although they’ve been growing red clover after wheat for many years, Cantelon explains how in September of 2013, they tried aerial seeding cereal rye into 200 acres of corn. That garnered some limited success. In 2014, they sowed an eight-species cover mix into 250 acres. “One thing I’ve noticed on the cover crops is that when we put something green in our wheat stubble, there’s something about that combination that works and the biology must really like,” says Cantelon. “When we come back and do a spring zone (till), even the wheat stubble is gone. And the proof is there — you can see all the worm middens.” An important lesson he’s learned from all of his family’s dealings with soil health and use of tillage is how little is actually understood about what’s happening below the soil surface. The interaction between plant and soil micro-organisms is a long-term relationship, one that can’t be rushed or simplified for the sake of convenience. Building good soils just takes time, not to mention diligence to keep the process working and thriving. Asked what his most important challenge is, Cantelon has a couple of answers: one is marketing and the other relates to adoption of new technology. From a marketing perspective, it can be time consuming keeping up with how the markets are trending, including dealing with his IP soybean crop. But he believes much of managing that part of the farming operation comes down to developing good relationships. “On the technical side, we’ve certainly been early adopters with GPS and auto steer, and we’ve kind of been the testers for a lot of systems,” Cantelon says. “My biggest issue with technology is that it’s quite addictive — I always want more of it.” That outlook is part of the changes that are constant in farming: sometimes fast or slow, other times slight or extreme. The difference is in how a person deals with change when it comes. Some accept it, but Wayne Cantelon embraces it. CG 11
Cornguide
Nutrient uptake during grain fill is the new pathway to even higher yields By Ralph Pearce, CG Associate Editor
Corn rootworm is not as big a problem in Eastern Canada as the U.S. Midwest, but it doesn’t mean growers can ignore the potential for damage.
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Advanced corn management I t’s a fair comment these days that corn production has reached a new level of complexity. Corn is anything but a simple, straightforward crop, even without taking into account the changing economics forced on producers by falling prices, and the constantly shifting mix of imports, exports and trait acceptability, Now comes research into a specific trait that may redefine corn production in North America. Since 2008, Dr. Fred Below, crop physiologist with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has studied the transgenic rootworm trait and its link to mineral nutrients. His research, published in late 2013, found that rootworm-protected hybrids averaged 10 per cent higher yields (171 bu./ac. versus 188 bu./ac.) and
that these yield increases were associated with eight per cent more nitrogen uptake, 12 per cent more phosphorus and zinc, and nine per cent more potassium and sulphur compared to non-rootworm hybrids. In a followup study, yield responses were more variable, but hybrids that responded to the rootworm trait averaged nine per cent higher yields (245 bu./ac. versus 225 bu./ac.) and they also showed the importance of post-flowering nutrient uptake, averaging 31 per cent more nitrogen, 24 per cent more phosphorus and 38 per cent more potassium uptake during the grain-filling period. Below began the research right when the rootworm trait was first released, so he could still test rootworm hybrids and their isolines (i.e., the same hybrids, but without the rootworm gene). He soon found that the value of the rootworm trait was much greater than just accounting for root pruning by the insect. Instead, much of the yield boost seemed to come from enhanced water and nutrient uptake, and from superior plant anchorage (standability). “Some of our earlier work focused on the additional nutrient uptake from the rootworm trait, which only made sense since nutrients enter the plant through the roots. So when we looked at nitrogen, we saw that there’s greater uptake of nitrogen, and in our followup paper, we looked at other nutrients, particularly those that are less mobile in the soil like phosphate and potassium.” In the second phase of his research, Below focused on the plant’s uptake of more immobile nutrients, including phosphate and potassium, and how the seasonal uptake of those nutrients was altered by the rootworm trait. Researchers already knew that corn needs to keep taking up nutrients after it begins grain fill, but in Below’s tests, they were seeing just how much yield response they could get to the uptake of immobile nutrients after flowering. Corn Guide, January 2015
“Part of this probably reflects the fact that we had an increase in yield, and that increased yield then drives the uptake of nutrients, or maybe it’s the other way around,” says Below. Asked if this is all occurring as a result of the rootworm trait, or because of some cumulative effect of the nutrients on plant health, Below says he believes the trait allows the root system to more fully achieve its genetic potential. When insects feed on the roots, the plant ends up with a smaller root system, which means it must expend more of the energy it gets from sunlight to regrow the root system and absorb water and nutrients. Conversely, when the roots are protected, the root system remains more active for longer. But even then, the effect was even greater than Below expected, based on the rating system used to assess the degree of root damage caused by rootworm beetles. “That means that the value of protecting the root system is even greater as producers increase their plant densities,” Below says, calling it a “catch-22” situation. “I have to plant more plants to get more yield because each individual corn plant acts as a solar collector. But as I plant more plants, each one has a smaller root system, so its protection is even more important.” The upshot is clear, Below says. “By protecting the root system, the trait also allows you to plant more plants.” Dovetails and overlaps This is where the complexity in corn production starts to build, thanks mostly to the overlap that occurs with each new hybrid that’s released, and the ensuing impact on planting densities, fertility programs, residue and soil management, and of course, hybrid selection. There’s been a considerable amount of press on that latter point in the past six to 12 months, and Below views that as a matter of course. “Each new hybrid that comes out is five bushels per acre better than the one it replaces,” says Below. But there’s a disconnect. Yields have climbed more than two bushels per acre per year, but fertility recommendations, and the way that farmers fertilize their corn, haven’t changed much in the past 25 years. “You basically fertilize the same way you did 25 years ago, and in that time your yield potential has gone up at least 50 bushels, meaning there’s a huge yield gap between how we’re fertilizing and what’s possible with today’s hybrids,” Corn Guide, January 2015
Although fertilizers are applied at planting, it’s worth noting that maximum uptake rates of certain nutrients occur late in the vegetative state, later in the summer.
“As I plant more plants (per acre), each one has a smaller root system, so its protection is even more important.” — Dr. Fred Below, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Below says. “Part of that yield gap is hybrid protection against the rootworm.” Part of it also feeds into agronomics, fertility and residue management. This is where the concept of prescription agriculture is becoming more common. The old approach of launching a hybrid and promising that it will give excellent performance everywhere is being replaced with an approach of trying to match the genetics specifically to local conditions and management. Below notes that the producers who are winning corn yield competitions in the U.S. with yields topping 400 bu./ac. are forever pushing densities and fertility. And although his research indicates a certain amount of neglect for phosphorus, sulphur and zinc, nitrogen is the default nutrient to apply. Being mobile in soils, nitrogen requires special management, but it’s still the most visible return on fertilizer investments. It’s the easiest control in the “control the controllable” discussion. “Actually, I’ve put adequate weed control, soil test and soil fertility as prerequisites (in the “Seven Wonders of the Corn Yield World”), because if you built up your soil fertility, you didn’t need to fertilize as much. It was sort of money in the bank,” says Below.
“But a lot of growers have not maintained that bank account,” Below believes. “Low soil tests are a bad thing, but I don’t think that the soil test data are necessarily calibrated to today’s high-yield potentials, especially when we run the plant density up. Soil test calibrations weren’t done under high densities, and they weren’t done with the yield potential of the hybrids today.” The bottom line is, farming is mining the soil to produce some incredibly high yields. But the industry isn’t adequately replacing those nutrients. And it’s going to catch up to us, Below says. Below has also looked at uptake patterns, recognizing this work hadn’t been updated in nearly 50 years. “What you find — not surprisingly — is that not all nutrients are taken up at the same rate or over the same time,” says Below, adding that phosphorus, sulphur and zinc are key nutrients that exhibit season-long uptake. “Half of these elements that the crop needs have to be taken up after flowering. So if you have roots that act longer after flowering and you have some nutrients where half of their uptake has to come after their flowering, those are the ones that are going to be potentially more benefited.” Continued on page 14
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Continued from page 13
The same yet different Alan McCallum is a certified crop adviser from Iona Station, Ont., southwest of London, and in a wet year such as 2014, he has seen more impact in yield data than symptoms in the field. And he agrees with Below’s assessment of weather and nitrogen application, and their values in terms of yield. “The one thing I can say for sure is that we’re removing more nutrients than we used to,” says McCallum. “Whatever changes we’ve made to that hybrid, we are producing those bushels and we are removing those nutrients.” Where McCallum has questions, however, is on why the large root systems in today's hybrids aren’t doing a better job of accessing more nutrients. But that’s not happening in his opinion, and that’s the biggest concern. Whether the corn rootworm trait is a part of the discussion isn’t as big an issue for growers on this side of the border, he believes. It all comes down to meeting nutrient demand. “For the most part, if we’re planting corn on corn on all but the coarsest-textured soils, we’d better have corn rootworm protection in our genetics,” says McCallum. “If we’re on rotated ground, I just want to pick the best hybrid, and the way things are shaking out in my area this fall, some of the best performing hybrids don’t happen to have the CRW trait.” That, he adds, is something of a testament to our growing conditions. Rootworm pressure is not as severe here in Ontario
Seven is more than a lucky number Corn physiologist Dr. Fred Below’s “Seven Wonders of the Corn Yield World” is gaining popularity as a list of factors that influence corn production in modern farming. The figures represent U.S. yields, specifically under Illinois conditions with key prerequisites (adequate weed control, soil tests and soil fertility), but their relative ranking likely translates north of the border too. Seven Wonders of the Corn Yield World Figure 1 (in U.S. values) Rank Factor 1 Weather
Value (bu./ac.) 70+
2 Nitrogen
70
3 Hybrid
50
4 Previous crop
25
5 Plant population
20
6 Tillage
15
7 Growth regulators
10
Total
260 bushels
(Courtesy of Dr. Fred Below, University of Illinois)
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or Eastern Canada as it is in the U.S. Midwest, and McCallum is quick to agree that rotation has a lot to do with breaking the cycle on the pest. But circling back to the nutrient issue, there is more to be learned, and not only with phosphorus and potassium levels. Even sulphur and now zinc are being mentioned more in the recommendations. “I haven’t done a lot of recent side-by-side trials, but the increased appearance of zinc-deficiency symptoms also has to be on our radar,” says McCallum. “We have to be considering that 200-bushel corn crop does have a pretty significant demand for zinc as well.” With sulphur, there’s less environmental deposition, which has coincided with increased crop removal, and in some cases, with decreasing organic matter in the soil. On the other hand, sulphur is one of the trickier nutrients to sample for, and McCallum hasn’t seen large correlations between a soil sample and eventual deficiency symptoms. On top of that, it’s hard to say that all soils need added sulphur, although some will respond to the practice. ‘Factory farming’ Doug Alderman likens a corn plant to a factory, and if you’re going to demand more output from a factory, you’re going to need more input. He finds it frustrating that some growers limit their fertilizer applications yet expect their soils to keep yielding more. “The genetic native traits through plant breeding and transgenic traits have allowed us to increase our yields, partially by increasing our populations,” says Alderman, national sales manager with Pride Seeds, based in Chatham, Ont. “But in planting higher populations, it only stands to reason that we’re going to be removing more nutrients. It’s not the trait itself that requires more nutrients, it’s because the trait is protecting the roots, making them a better pipeline to transport the nutrients to the plant.” Alderman sees a potential nutrient shortfall in a rotational pattern. Corn isn’t the only crop that suffers from rationed fertility programs. Each crop in the rotation ultimately affects each other. Apply 95 pounds of phosphorus per acre for corn, says Alderman, and that translates to approximately 14 to 15 pounds per acre available for next year’s soybean crop if no additional phosphate is added. That’s not enough to produce potential yields in the mid-50s to upper 60s. “A soybean crop removes more than twice as much potassium as it receives in the form of fertilizer, so if they’re supplying next year’s crop via corn, or another year of soybeans, we’re going to see some deficiencies the following spring,” says Alderman. Commenting on Below’s research, Alderman agrees with the correlation between corn rootworm protection and enhanced plant health, including a strong root system. “It’s like a water hose,” Alderman says, “Squeeze the hose and you won’t get as much water at the other end. Get a bigger hose (root system), and you have more output.” And as for post-flowering, Alderman is quick to add his voice to the discussion, noting that maximum uptake rates of certain nutrients occur late in the vegetative state, and the uptake of nutrients such as potassium, sulphur and zinc is greater during grain fill. “Applying the right nutrients at the right rate at the right time and in the right place in order to meet the demands of the crop has a direct impact on plant health and being able to fend off stress, be it weather or pest related,” says Alderman. “It isn’t one single facet that affects corn production, it’s a combination of uptake levels of nutrients through a healthy root system and protecting plant health with traits and further through fungicides later in the growing season.” CG Corn Guide, January 2015
Cornguide
It may seem like the bears are in control, but global corn demand is amazingly strong By Philip Shaw
W
e got here with our eyes wide open. Corn prices have been in a decline since August of 2012 when futures topped out at $8.49 per bushel. Now of course, we are all ready for the ride back up, and the question is how long this will take, and will corn prices in 2015 climb to much higher levels? Those were heady days in August of 2012, and not only did farmers like growing corn at those price levels in Eastern Canada, but in the rest of the world too. We might look back at those prices now as an aberration. For years, when corn got over $4 a bushel in Ontario, it was time for celebration, and when prices reached over $5 and $6 very briefly, egged on by a lower Canadian dollar, it felt even better. However, when cash values reached just under $8 for corn off the combine in the fall of 2012, it was a fantasy world. With more acres, and more technology, there's more corn. Prices have come back to reality, and the USDA is projecting an average price of $3.50 for the 2014 crop. In its November report, the USDA pegged 2014 production south of the border at a record 14.4 billion bushels, based on an average 173.4 bushels per acre. Corn ending stocks for this crop year are projected at a very onerous 2.008 billion bushels, which is likely to weigh on the corn market far into 2015. Corn did rally from its October low, but however welcome that is, supply will surely pressure new crop into 2015. There are several questions that farmers may consider. What range of prices should we expect this year, and will we be able to market our crop profitably? Also, which USDA market reports will affect old-crop and new-crop corn over the 2015 farm planning horizon? As well, how will specific basis factors impact our marketing decisions? Of course, there is another question too. Where is the Canadian dollar going, and how may that affect prices for the coming year? Corn Guide, January 2015
The market looks for acres What is particularly encouraging for Canadian corn producers is the demand curve as we head into 2015. The bears have certainly been winning the day in terms of corn price because of supply, but demand is extremely strong. In particular, the November USDA report projected total corn demand at 13.660 billion bushels, a record, with the two biggest components of this demand being feed at 5.375 billion bushels and ethanol at 5.150 billion bushels. It took record production this year to grow ending stocks to feed that demand. Any hint that 2015’s crop will fall short of those record yields, coupled with a probable drop in corn acres, will likely raise prices, especially if demand continues to increase, although we must keep in mind that lower prices over the last 14 months have certainly helped sustain that demand.
”It‘s a long time until the 2015 harvest. There will surely be viable marketing opportunities ahead.“ — Philip Shaw The road ahead for prices for 2015 and beyond may have a lot to do with weather as always. Also important however, will be the acres planted in the spring. In 2014, 90.9 million acres of corn were planted, with a preliminary 83.1 million acres harvested. This was a decline in acres from the previous two years, but it still resulted in record output. With the lower prices projected in the United States for 2015, and with some areas of the northern plains having poor basis values, it’s entirely realistic to expect lower U.S. corn acres planted and harvested in 2015. This may hold the key to future corn price direction. Clues to these acreage and yield questions will come from USDA reports in 2015. The major reports are the January final report, which documents the final crop yields for 2014, the March 30
report, which gives USDA’s first acreage estimates, and the June 30 reports on actual planted acres. In many ways, these USDA reports serve as flashpoints in the market. Typically, there are large movements in price on those days, and hedging in front and behind of these reports needs to be given wide consideration among grain growers. The January report usually is very important to the previous crop year, and the June 30 report is critical for new crop acres. Of course, the futures market is very important for any Canadian farmer considering planting corn in 2015. However, an appreciation for cash basis values in the corn market is very important to realizing price gains. The U.S. replacement price in Ontario is always the litmus test for Ontario corn pricing. As the price of corn reaches toward U.S. replacement value, American corn is usually imported, keeping Ontario’s price capped. For the last few years, Ontario has produced more corn than it could use, moving us to an import basis. However, in 2014 corn was imported starting in July. Producers need to consider if and when imports might begin every year. The picture here is highly dependent on the supply of old-crop corn in Ontario as well as U.S. basis values across the border. The Canadian dollar also is part of the mix, and converting into U.S. dollars is a daily exercise considering the value of corn on both sides of the border. Of course, risk comes in many forms and in 2015 eastern Canadian farmers will be making that choice between corn and soybeans. Corn has a much higher cost of production, and this may factor into many planning decisions. On the other hand, corn yields have been growing faster than soybeans. Sometimes, too, we just plant hoping that prices will rise. It would be dishonest to say we’ve never done that before. But if you do, keep those eyes open wide. CG 15
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