Fs150316

SPRING 2015 Edition

Growing New Ideas

Inter-Row Seeding Activates Canola »16 Growing Knowledge

Mobile Grain Cleaner Catches All »22 Growing stewardship

Useful Organic Research Lessons »34

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Contents Growing Knowledge

Growing New Ideas Corn on deck for rotations Lots of upscale potential in this crop . . . . . . . . . 8

Use growth regulators with caution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Eyes in the sky Drones — latest craze or useful tool?. . . . . . . . . 8

Agritechnica tour planned for November . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Inter-row seeding activates canola . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

SPRING 2015 EDITION

Growing stewardship

Big data: big promise or big baloney?

Western commodities groups pilot sustainability certificate

“The devil is in the data”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Designed to show Alberta’s sustainability. . . . 27

Manage weed seeds at harvest to slow herbicide resistance . . . . . . . . . .

A watershed legacy 19

Stewardship in the Oldman River Basin. . . . . . 28

Mobile grain cleaner catches FHB and ergot

Canadian beef industry needs to engage consumers

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Providing a very clean, marketable solution. . . 22

Throwing open the barn doors . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Ergot & fusarium spread across Alberta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

A trend is in the air

16

24

Distinct certification for farmers . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Features & News Coles Notes

Engage in Canada’s democracy. . . . . 23

Weird winter, weird year?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Ron Howard honoured with Orville Yanke Award . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Market sense becomes market cents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Useful organic research lessons. . . .

Message from Minister Olson. . . . . . . .

6

Word chain

4-H trains tomorrows leaders Opinion by Les Brost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Visit us online for innovative agronomic and technical research information:

www.farmingsmarter.com

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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Alberta innovates technology futures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Farming Smarter is published bi-annually by Farm Business Communications for Farming Smarter, #100, 5401 – 1st Ave. S., Lethbridge, AB T1J 4P4 with the support from the Agriculture Opportunities Fund

Cover photo:

Editorial Board: Ken Coles, Jamie Puchinger Editor: C. Lacombe

photo: C. LACOMBE

Each year, Farming Smarter grows hundreds of crop plots for research purposes.

Farming Smarter / Spring 2015

3

Coles Notes

Weird Winter; Weird Year?

by Ken Coles

I

know there are a lot of farmers who don’t really agree with man-made climate change, but it’s hard to argue that many areas are experiencing some pretty bizarre weather and this winter has to be the ultimate! Sure we had some cold spells, but the frost came out of the ground in December and then again in January when I couldn’t help but think about going to the beach with over 20 degree temperatures! To top it off, we experienced two days of solid rain on the slopes of Fernie in mid-February. I was waiting to see massive flocks of birds migrating out of season like in the rather ridiculous apocalyptic movie 2012. Well maybe not… but these extremes are certainly adding to the challenges of farming and, if this growing

season is anything like the winter, we’re in for a real adventure.

On the Farming Smarter front we face a level of uncertainty thanks to tightening budgets in the wake of lower oil revenues.

The new $200 million Agriculture Innovation Endowment Fund announced last summer was quickly cancelled along with several other funds. The good news is that we secured funding for 2014 including support for capital investments. However, bad timing has us right in the middle of applying for the next three years of funding from the Agriculture Opportunity Fund as the dreaded budget cutting axe sheds sparks on the grinding wheel.

We understand the harsh realities of fis-

Ken Coles harvesting plots on Farming Smarter’s new plot combine.

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Farming Smarter / Spring 2015

cal responsibility and can only hope that the impact of our work will warrant continued investment. In addition to this, we are in a holding pattern awaiting decisions on four research proposals submitted to Alberta Funding Consortium. These projects include hemp agronomy, grain corn agronomy, crop recovery from hail damage and a precision agriculture approach to managing salinity.

Nevertheless, thanks to a diverse income stream, overall projected budgets are stable and growing year to year. We look forward to getting paperwork and politics behind us and getting back to what we all love — being in the field and learning.

Best wishes for a safe, happy and prosperous growing season. h

Photo: farming smarter

GROWING NEW IDEAS / GROWING KNOWLEDGE / GROWING STEWARDSHIP

Chairman’s Report

Market Sense Becomes Market Cents

by KenT SANDE

A

fter early winter conferences that focus on how to grow a better crop and get more out of my land, I came home and turned my attention to emptying those full grain bins.

While I believe agronomy is important, we can’t forget to get more out of our product — the grain.

I have noticed on my farm that many management decisions based on selling or contracting the crop prove more volatile than some of the small margins gained agronomy wise.

It may be worthwhile to keep better tabs on commodities markets for what we already have in the bin. Equipment can do many things these days, but we have to balance our equipment wants and needs to our means and find a balance for personal spending. Every decision we make on the sale of our products makes a huge impact on our bottom line.

In the last couple of years, I noticed some major changes in grain marketing. Without the CWB, local markets seem very volatile.

Grain company prices change daily, if not hourly. The durum market this fall is a prime example. You always hear marketers tell you not to be afraid to lock in a profit. I am sure glad I did not lock in any durum earlier in the growing season or shortly after harvest. What seemed a great $9 price at the time turned into to a $4 loss a week later when durum brought you $13.

This brings me to the topic of contracts.

I recently had a contract for durum at a local elevator that in the end seemed to be a oneway contract. They were not willing to give a guaranteed price or exact grade based on the samples submitted because they said it may not come in with the same level of HVK (hard vitreous kernels) and protein. After hauling in all of my durum, the grades, HVK, etc. came in slightly higher than the contracted average, yet the company refused to pay the higher graded grain price. It seemed that the contract had only one way to go. If the grain came in at a lower grade, protein, HVK, it could go down in price. But if the

grain came in any higher, the price did not go up. This is why I find the new age markets with individual grain companies very complicated. Make your contracts detailed to your liking and work with reputable companies that treat you and/or others well.

I am constantly getting emails or texts on prices that are one day or two day specials, but beware that the reason may be that in one or two days prices are going up. Volatility in the markets seems to be here to stay, especially at the local elevator level. I think the best thing a farmer can do is manage inventory with as many tools as you can. I believe that loyalty to a particular company or local elevator is gone because the best price may be many miles away or even in a different country.

Good luck with your marketing because I think you may need it.

Thanks, Kent Sande Chairman, Farming Smarter

Message from Minister Olson

A

s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, it is my pleasure to extend greetings to the readers of Farming Smarter magazine.

Agriculture is a significant economic driver in Alberta, employing almost 90,000 people and generating about $9 billion in exports each year. In today’s competitive global marketplace, innovation is pivotal to agriculture’s ongoing success. Our producers and agri-businesses must continue to adapt and evolve to ensure we are in a strong position to meet the needs of consumers and make the most of new market opportunities.

Farming Smarter is an important resource for the agriculture community, providing information about the latest developments in research, best practices and industry trends.

Sharing this knowledge assists producers in making informed decisions about how to strengthen and grow their farming operations.

GROWING NEW IDEAS / GROWING KNOWLEDGE / GROWING STEWARDSHIP

Our government shares your commitment to a vibrant and sustainable agricultural sector. We will continue to work closely with industry to enhance access to new markets, encourage innovation and ensure consumers have confidence that Alberta is a leader in environmental stewardship and producing high quality agricultural products. Initiatives like Alberta’s Rural Economic Development Action Plan will also support the economic conditions that enable producers and agribusinesses to succeed.

Thank you to Farming Smarter for your hard work on behalf of the agriculture industry as you strive to further your goals of Growing Knowledge, Growing New Ideas, and Growing Stewardship. You are an important partner in building a productive and successful agriculture sector.

Verlyn Olson, QC Minister AARD Farming Smarter / spring 2015

5

Opinion

4-H Trains Tomorrow’s Leaders

by Les Brost

G

ale-force winds of change rage across Alberta shifting the province’s economic, social and political landscape.

No one predicted oil selling for under $60 a barrel or that the Wild Rose Party leader would usher the majority of her caucus across the floor into the embrace of Premier Prentice.

Last spring, forecasting these events would earn a person some variation of that great old ’70’s question, “What have you been smoking, Dude?”

Yet today, Albertans face the stark reality of a major slow down of the Energy Gravy Train on Alberta’s Road to Riches. You might even say it’s missing on a few cylinders.

However, missing on a few cylinders doesn’t mean the motor is beyond repair.

Inspired leaders building on Alberta’s key assets and core values can develop a new and stronger Alberta. Investment in Alberta’s people, particularly young people — can create a renewed and stronger province.

It is now vital that we give our young people the best possible opportunity to learn life and leadership skills as well as technical and vocational expertise. Developing and training our youth today will exponentially strengthen Alberta’s communities tomorrow.

That sounds very attractive, doesn’t it?

What’s not to like about equipping young Albertans with the tools to be more productive and involved citizens? Why not empower them to both lead and serve as dynamic members of tomorrow’s Team Alberta?

Unfortunately, that’s not how we prepare most young Albertans for the future. Global pop culture focuses on the narcissistic and selforiented, while the Internet’s seductive isolation locks us away from reality. Today’s social media tools have the capacity to serve in useful ways, but are not by themselves the answer.

Historically, we looked to our families and public education system to perform most of our citizenship training. Today, both institutions stagger under the weight of societal expectations. For families, the financial pressures of current economic realities mean significantly less energy, time and resources to teach citizenship at home. School boards squeezed between the rock of public expectations and the hard place of taxpayer pushback.

Meanwhile, there is a deep and worrisome chasm separating rural and urban Alberta. The

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Farming Smarter / Spring 2015

communication links between rural and urban Alberta, particularly rural agricultural producers and urban consumers, are tenuous at best and that does not bode well for the agriculture industry.

Our need is clear and the time to meet the need for leadership and citizenship training is now. Yet many would say that there appears to be no white knight on the horizon to come to the rescue.

In reality, we have just such an organization to prepare Alberta’s youth for leadership and citizenship. That organization is Alberta 4-H. I can already hear the yelps of surprise and disbelief. “The 4-H Club is for hayseeds and plough jockeys! What’s 4-H got to do with city kids?” Or perhaps, “The 4-H Club is SO yesterday! Why would most of today’s urban or rural kids want to get within 10 miles of 4-H?” Those sceptical voices make one valid point. Yes, Alberta 4-H will celebrate its 100th birthday in 2017. One hundred years is a long time, but the foundation of 4-H is rock-solid and continues to stand the test of time. The 4-H concept of ‘Learn to do by doing” still appeals to young people and is a proven road to skill and knowledge development.

While the roots of the 4-H movement go deep into rural Alberta’s history, only its members’ imaginations and 4-H leadership’s ability to attract instructors limits its future program

potential. Today’s Alberta 4-H Club programming is a broad and bright array of activities and programs appealing to a wide spectrum of young people.

The public speaking program is a stellar example of 4-H skills training. Thousands of young Albertans hone skills in public speaking by participating in provincial 4-H public speaking competitions. Other available club programs include small animal care (dogs, cats, etc.); agriculture and environment; home management; science, technology and trade; and fine and digital arts.

Equally important is 4-H leadership training for thousands of adults who hone skills in the 4-H movement. Programs and facilities provided by the Alberta government already exist to train adults active in the 4-H movement.

Times of dramatic change call for transformational political leaders. Transformational leaders identify the key future social and economic needs of citizens. They incorporate shared citizen values in the design of programs and services required to meet future needs.

Past Premiers Ernest Manning and Peter Lougheed faced situations requiring transformational change. Both leaders recognized the co-operative ethic that built much of Alberta’s early community infrastructure.

They transformed that thinking into publicly owned telephones and co-operative natural gas delivery systems. Today, we need that kind of transformational governance to ignite the leadership and citizenship potential of future Alberta generations.

Will Premier Prentice and his government have the vision and transformational leadership skills necessary to renew, broaden and enrich Alberta 4-H? Premier Prentice, his government and all Albertans might benefit by remembering the four Hs of the 4-H Pledge: “I pledge my head to clearer thinking my heart to greater loyalty my hands to larger service and my health to better living for my club, my community and my country.”

Those are potent words with the power to create a new and even greater Alberta. I hope our new leaders listen and take the pledge. h

GROWING NEW IDEAS / GROWING KNOWLEDGE / GROWING STEWARDSHIP

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Growing New Ideas

C orn On Deck for Rotations

By Helen McMenamin

photos: farming smarter

A

steady domestic market, seeding/ harvest timing and lots of upside yield potential spur annual increases in Alberta’s corn acres. Corn offers an everexpanding line-up of herbicide tolerant and insect resistant hybrids with lower heat unit needs. But, corn, especially grain corn, is a fairly new crop to this area so there’s a lot to learn and, if you like growing it, equipment to buy.

Corn fits well and brings diversity into southern Alberta rotations. It’s not a good idea ahead of wheat because corn is highly susceptible to fusarium. Stems are mainly affected, so the disease may not be obvious, but crop residue can carry abundant inoculum to affect following wheat crops.

Corn seeded into canola stubble looks fine, but it doesn’t yield quite as well as after other crops. Corn on corn is quite common, but agronomists warn they see corn diseases more often lately.

Experts advise seeding into cultivated land or at least strip-tilled seed rows to let the soil

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Farming Smarter / Spring 2015

warm and minimize compaction. Manured fields are favourites as the crop draws down high nutrient levels.

The first corn growing hurdle is to choose the right hybrid for the intended crop use. Do you want grazing, silage or grain? Do you plan to harvest grain or store earlage? If you combine grain, will that be stored as high moisture storage or binned? Do you have access to a grain dryer?

“The rule of thumb is to target a hybrid that needs CHU (corn heat units) close to the average for your area,” says Nicole Rasmussen, southern Alberta agronomist with Pioneer.

“Subtract 50 to 100 CHU if you want to bin grain corn and don’t have a dryer. Add 150 to 250 CHU to your average for silage —you don’t need the crop to reach full maturity. For grazing corn, add 175 to 275 to the CHUs for your area so the cattle will eat less mature plants and have less chance of grain overload.

“Find out the stage of maturity used in listing each hybrid’s CHU needs. Each company uses different end points for the crop. Also,

Corn fits well and brings diversity into southern Alberta rotations. It’s not a good idea ahead of wheat because corn is highly susceptible to fusarium.

GROWING NEW IDEAS / GROWING KNOWLEDGE / GROWING STEWARDSHIP

ask for local data — every hybrid has a unique personality and the one you choose may have an unexpected response to your environment.”

According to Rasmussen, reasonable target yields are 130 to 160 bushels an acre grain corn and six to nine tonnes of silage (dry matter).

Getting your target yield depends on getting the crop off to a good start. Corn seed and seedlings are big but they’re not tough.

That big seed needs to imbibe quite a bit of moisture from the seedbed to start germination and it needs warmth. Adrian Moens, a Pioneer seed rep for southern Alberta says, “Seed generally from May 3 or 4 when soil temperatures are 10 C and not after the May long weekend.

If the forecast includes snow or cold rain, park the planter. Corn hates to be chilled.”

Corn is very sensitive to salts from fertilizer. Moens likes to see 5 lbs./acre of starter phosphate in the seed row, a little more if it’s in a separate furrow, with most of the P broadcast and incorporated. You can broadcast N too, but the ideal way to put on the 180 to 200 lbs.

N corn needs is in two or three applications through the pivot. “Even better is grey water from a lagoon,” he says. “When you spoon-feed corn like that you can hear it grow if it’s a hot day.”

The experts prefer a corn planter with its precise placement of every seed over an airseeder when small differences in seed numbers make a big difference to crop yields. “An airseeder leaves skips and then puts two or three seeds in a clump,” says Moens. “I put a value of five cents on each corn plant, but two plants together compete, so they don’t both count. A plant that’s one leaf behind doesn’t count and one that’s two leaves behind the crop is a weed — herbicide resistant, too.”

Checking plant population is crucial according to Moens. Target populations are quite low, around 34,000 an acre for Lethbridge area. Unlike wheat, where higher populations can speed maturity, too high a population in corn delays maturity.

Whatever seeding system you use, you have to make it easy for the seedling to develop roots and emerge. Check for sidewall compaction or furrows that aren’t well closed. Wait a day or two for the seedbed to dry out or change packer pressure. Rasmussen advises replacing at least one packer wheel with a spiked one, for wet conditions.

Corn takes a while to get out of the ground and get going. Moens calls this “developing its vitals.” If you cut a seedling open as it emerges, at the five- or six-leaf stage, you can see all its future organs, even the tassels. When you’re checking stages in corn, count leaf collars,

rather than actual leaves. The lowest ones often disappear and include the first or thumb leaf.

The closer a corn plant is to six leaves, the more frost sensitive it becomes. Around this time, you may find twisted, even corkscrew plants that seem to be heading back underground. It’s not herbicide injury, it’s most likely a chilling effect. A cool night, cold rain or irrigation water is enough to chill seedlings. Corn uses lots of water, but it doesn’t like wet feet. It thrives with small, frequent water applications.

Corn roots develop in three stages: the first, seed roots, provide the energy to push the shoot through the soil. About four weeks after seeding, the nodal roots or main roots develop.

The brace roots form later.

When it comes to weed control do not trust the Blue Book. Do not use any phenoxy herbicide on corn and check ingredients for MCPA and 2,4-D. They are registered for corn but cause brittle snap — plants bend and fall and a wind is devastating. Surviving plants have ineffective brace roots. Group 27 products like Impact can be tank-mixed with glyphosate to control volunteer canola. h

GROWING NEW IDEAS / GROWING KNOWLEDGE / GROWING STEWARDSHIP

Potential for corn is huge Corn has huge yield potential because it’s a C4 crop, as opposed to C3 crops like cereals. In the more common C3 plants, some energy captured from sunlight is lost to photorespiration (part of photosynthesis of sugars). C4 plants use different types of cells to perform the two parts of the photosynthesis system without losing energy. Corn is also efficient in its use of water and nutrients and it remains active at temperatures too high for cereals to keep growing.

Farming Smarter / spring 2015

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Growing New Ideas

Use Growth Regulators With Caution

By Alexis Kielen

C

autious, cautious, cautious. That’s the buzzword that Sheri Strydhorst, agronomic research scientist with Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development, wants producers to remember if they decide to try plant growth regulators. 2015 marks the first year that Manipulator, a plant growth regulator, is available in Canada.

“It’s going to be a tool that is out there and readily accessible,” said Strydhorst located in Barrhead. “But plant growth regulators are not for your amateur producers out there.

They need very intensive management and should be used with caution.”

Plant growth regulators help keep plants standing until harvest. Lodging can cause severe yield decreases of between seven to 35 per cent. The plant growth regulators registered in Canada will only be effective on wheat.

“There are occasional reports of plant growth regulators increasing yield, but it depends on what product you’re using, the environmental conditions around it and the variety. There isn’t a lot of evidence that plant growth regulators cause a yield increase in the absence of lodging,” she said.

Plant growth regulators can be a good risk management tool for areas where there is high moisture and high fertility, when growers are trying to push yields. They can also offer benefits in irrigated acres, but don’t make a huge difference in dryland cropping systems.

Many producers have interest in and questions about plant regulators and Strydhorst expects an uptake in their use. However, plant growth regulators can be tricky to use.

“The staging with these products is really particular. If you want to get it to work well, you need to hit the right growth stage,” she said.

If growers hit the wrong growth stage, they run the risk of delaying maturity and increasing tillering. Plant growth regulators react strongly to environmental conditions and can cause yield decreases in stressed plants.

Producers who decide to try them should follow the label recommendations. Even with the recommendations, it’s a challenge to get the staging right. Strydhorst recommends taking the plants out of the ground and cutting off the base of the plant to see how far the tillering nodes are moving up the base.

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Farming Smarter / Spring 2015

Sheri Strydhorst, Agronomic Research Scientist, AARD. Photo: Jennifer Blair

Plant growth regulators also don’t respond the same way on all varieties.

“I’ve spoken at a lot of different meetings and put a lot of caution out there about this,” said Strydhorst. She’s in the process of developing an AgriFacts information sheet about

plant growth regulators; soon available on Ropin’ The Web. Currently, Manipulator does not have an active maximum residue limit (MRL) for importing to the United States. If growers use Manipulator, they need to check with the grain buyer first. h

GROWING NEW IDEAS / GROWING KNOWLEDGE / GROWING STEWARDSHIP

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Growing New Ideas

Eyes in the Sky

by Alexis Kienlen

C

hris Neeser, Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development weed scientist, says unmanned aerial vehicles or drones are less common than the buzz around them implies.

Drones are motorized, model-size airplanes outfitted with cameras that take aerial photographs. They can come with fixed wings or rotary wings and operators fly them manually or on autopilot. Attached cameras transmit images to tablets or monitors in the field where software allows the operator to stitch them into an image of an entire area. When a drone is flying, a person can look on their monitor and see the images captured by the drone’s camera, said Neeser.

Jan Zalud ofJZAerial Inc. pilots a helicopter-style drone.

“Drones could be a significant tool, but they involve a large amount of data handling and overhead that I don’t see most farmers having the time or inclination to do,” said Neeser.

“That’s the sort of thing where a consultant comes in to provide the service.”

Neeser, based in Brooks, has been working with drones for the past few years. Since

9100 Vertical Tillage System

agriculture’s use of drones is new, there’s little research done and scientists are just getting started. Drones have potential for use in field or crop scouting, irrigation and fertilizer management. They may also provide data for farmland appraisal.

In his latest experiment, Neeser and his research team use drones for field scouting.

Gang Angle Adjustment What sets the Kongskilde Model 9100 apart from its competition is the ability to adjust the gang angle. The angle can be set at 5 different settings 0, 4, 8, 12, and 16 degrees. This adjustment allows for a minimal cutting action for Spring use to a very aggressive cutting action for Fall use.

In addition to the adjustable gangs, the Kongskilde Model 9100 uses a 20” (18” on the outside) Soil Razor VT disk blade to cut the trash and mix with the soil to help in the decomposing of the residue. The saw tooth design remains sharp as it wears and makes for a perfect cutting action to suit all soil types and residue management.

Tandem Wheels Heavy duty tandem wheels are on the mainframe and wings. The mainframe has 12 x 16.5 - 12 ply tires with 8-bolt wheels. The wings have 11L x 15 12 ply tires with 6-bolt wheels.

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The cross members are threaded through the front to back mainframe tubes for added strength. Because of the size of the framework, the Kongskilde Model 9100 is the heaviest (without the use of suitcase weights) vertical tillage machine in the industry, thus assuring the desired penetration even in the heaviest of soils and residue. All tubes are capped for a finished look.

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GROWING NEW IDEAS / GROWING KNOWLEDGE / GROWING STEWARDSHIP

They took pictures of fields just after seeding, mid-season and post-season. The drones surveyed 12 fields including two fields each of canola, wheat, barley, field peas and alfalfa.

The researchers used the drones to take pictures of weeds, weed patches and foliar disease.

After stitching the images together, the team did some ground-truthing to verify areas of interest and photographed the crop canopy with a camera mounted on a pole. They found weed patches, but weren’t able to identify individual weeds in the field.

Over the winter, Neeser’s team plans to calculate the time, effort, usefulness and cost of drones as information gathering equipment.

They will investigate ways to transmit this information to farmers and what equipment that might entail.

Neeser said pictures taken by drones could provide records for future reference. Crop advisers/agronomists that have GIS software to handle and store these maps could use them year after year as a planning tool, while maps generated by drones could prove useful for farmers who use variable rate technology.

Drone technology is evolving rapidly

Jan Zalud of JZAerial Inc. prepares a drone plane for flight. Photos: Chris Neeser

and today’s drones are able to do things that they couldn’t do even a few years ago. As the machines evolve, cost is coming down. A drone for farm use can range from a few hundred dollars to over $30,000 and users must comply with the Transport Canada regulations.

This is why Neeser believes specialist con-

sultants will operate drones rather than crop producers.

“My take on this is that they’re going to be a tool mostly for crop consultants and other people who provide advice, like ag input retailers that provide information to farmers and help them make decisions,” he said. h

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Growing New Ideas

Agritechnica Tour Planned for November

BY Sarah Weigum

F

arming Smarter plans to take a contingent of Canadian farmers to Agritechnica next November — the world’s largest agricultural equipment and machinery trade show. Agritechnica draws nearly half a million visitors to Hanover, Germany each year.

“From time to time we put tours together to get exposure to different ideas,” explained Ken Coles, Farming Smarter General Manager. Past Farming Smarter trips include South Dakota and Montana tours visiting universities, farm businesses and research facilities.

The German tour is planned for November 6-15, 2015 and participation has capacity for 28 people, said Coles. With 2,900 exhibitors from 47 countries, Agritechnica will certainly provide farmers innovative ideas or a glimpse of new iron. The trade show covers 423,000 square meters. By comparison, Agri-Trade in Red Deer covers about 28,000 square metres both inside and outdoors. Dianne Smirl, who manages the Agri-Trade show and has also visited Agritechnica, said the John Deere display at the Hanover show covers an area the size of the three main pavilions in Red Deer.

Beyond the sheer size of the show, the scope of European agriculture will give Prairie farmers plenty to tweet, text or email home about.

“There are new technologies at this show that are often presented before you see them in North America,” said Coles. “On the equipment side, European ag is quite different, so there’s the opportunity to see new crops and practices.”

Derek Friesen farms at Crystal City, Man. and works in product development for Phiber, a commercial hay equipment manufacturer. He has attended the show as an exhibitor, but gleaned valuable information for his farm by attending.

“What I really enjoy is seeing how other people in other parts of the world do things and being able to evaluate those ideas for our own farms,” said Friesen. “We looked at how they grew canola and they were straight cutting everything. This year we switched to straight cutting about 85 per cent on our canola and we’re seeing huge advantages.”

Sylvan Lake, Alta. farmer Alex Bickely attended Agritechnica in 2013 and recommends taking at least three days to see the show.

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Farming Smarter / Spring 2015

PHOTOS: Agritechnica

“It’s so much area to cover. You want to be in pretty good shape just to stay on your feet all day,” said Bickley.

The Farming Smarter delegation will take three days to walk through the 24 Agritechnica pavilions. Also included on the tour are day trips to a private plant breeding facility, a federal agricultural research institute, a visit to the Volkswagon factory and time in Berlin. A welcome and farewell dinner for the group will bookend the experience.

While a farmer could plan his or her own trip to Agritechnica, Coles believes in the value of travelling with like-minded producers.

“Based on other trips, I found that farmers who met on these trips still get together and work together on joint ventures.”

Coles estimates the final price, including airfare and accommodations, will be about $4,000 (based on double-occupancy). To sign up for the trip or learn more, contact Farming Smarter at (403) 381-5118 or jamie@farmingsmarter.com. h

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Growing New Ideas

Inter-Row Seeding Activates Canola

by Mike Gretzinger

F

16

Farming Smarter / Spring 2015

Figure 1. 2014 inter-row plots. L-R. Photo: FARMING SMARTER

All Years Lethbridge Plant Stand (plants/m2) 120 Plant Stand (plants/m2)

armers are skeptical and often ask if they should try inter-row seeding. Will it justify the cost of enhanced guidance systems such as RTK (real time kinematics)?

Farming Smarter recently completed a fouryear study hoping to shed some light on this topic.

From 2011 to 2014, we conducted four years of replicated research trials for the project: Seeding Between the Lines: evaluating the potential of inter-row seeding for canola in southern Alberta. Our objective was to evaluate inter-row seeding by measuring seedling establishment and yield in relation to different stubble orientations.

For the purpose of this project, we defined inter-row seeding to be crops not seeded on the previous stubble row. The background theory is that inter-row seeding could improve your bottom line by providing better seed placement, better seed to soil contact, better germination and better microclimate for the seed, all leading to higher yields.

We collected four site years of plant stand data to evaluate emergence differences, two site years weed densities to compare crop competition and three site years of soil temperature data as an indicator of microclimate for the seedling. We collected three years yield data (one lost to flooding).

We designed the trial to compare interrow (anything seeded between the previous stubble rows), on-row (directly on the previous stubble row) and check plots (no specific orientation i.e. no RTK) using our pillar laser disc-hoe openers as well as our stealth paired row-hoe openers. The trial was a four rep, RCBD design with medium to large plots (approximately 100m2). We seeded plots at approximately 5lbs/ac (100 seeds/m2). Figure 1 shows the 2014 site.

The results showed some clear, significant differences between treatments. Figure 2 shows Canola seeded directly on the row had significantly lower plant stands than canola seeded between-rows and in the check plots.

We saw this result for three of the four years and as an overall trend in the project. In all cases, our plant stands stayed within the Canola Council of Canada’s recommended target plant population of 70-140 plants per square meter (7-14 per square foot). The soil temperatures were not significantly different

100 80

I

I

I

60 40 20 0

A

A

B

check

inter-row

on-row

Figure 2. Lethbridge plant stand 2011, 2012 and 2014. P<0.001

for seedlings established inter-row vs. on-row, suggesting that soil temperature is likely not the reason for the difference in plant stand.

Figure 4 shows how much more consistent, mechanical disturbance we saw from seeding on-row vs. inter -row; which is the most likely reason for the emergence difference.

Figure 3 shows Canola seeded with pillar laser disc/hoe openers yielded significantly higher than canola seeded with stealth paired row hoe openers. However, only the opener types had a significant effect on yield. Interrow seeding did not significantly affect final canola yield compared to on-row seeding or

GROWING NEW IDEAS / GROWING KNOWLEDGE / GROWING STEWARDSHIP

All Years Lethbridge Yield (bu./ac.)

ON ROW

40 35

I

I

Yield (bu./ac.)

30 25 20 15 10 5 0 disc

INTER ROW

A

hoe

B

Figure 3. Combined data for Lethbridge yield in 2011, 2012 and 2014. 36 plots each.

P = 0.0033.

Figure 4. Comparing the stubble disturbance for on-row versus inter-row seeding with the Stealth paired row hoe opener.

PHotos: FARMING SMARTER Photo: Mike Gretzinger

check plots. There was no statistical difference in weed density for any of the treatments suggesting weed competition was not confounding the results Based on these results, we suggest that inter-row seeding is not one size fits all, but depends heavily on your current guidance setup, seeder type and general farming practices.

If you already take advantage of auto-steer and GPS with an advanced signal, then you might as well inter-row seed too. If nothing else you should get better plant stands to guard

against pest and environmental pressures. You might also want to consider inter-row seeding if you tend to have low germination, but don’t want to spend extra money on increasing your seeding rate.

If you’re not currently using auto-steerGPS-RTK, we wouldn’t necessarily recommend adapting inter-row seeding with the sole intention that it will pay for itself through higher yields. However, if you consider the other economic benefits of auto-steer and GPS in general, there’s definitely a good argument for it (such as improved germination,

GROWING NEW IDEAS / GROWING KNOWLEDGE / GROWING STEWARDSHIP

faster seeding times, less seed waste from less overlap, potential for variable rate practices and even more time to work on other things while riding in the tractor).

Coming from someone who’s seeded trials with and without the advanced guidance, there’s no way I’d go back to doing things the way my grandpa did when he farmed. That said, sub-inch accuracy is probably overkill. In terms of inter-row seeding, a good auto-steer system and basic signal is probably all you need to get the biggest bang for the smallest buck! h Farming Smarter / spring 2015

17

Growing Knowledge

Big Data: Big Promise or Big Baloney?

by Ken Coles

I

’ll be honest sometimes I feel that I’m just too darned skeptical. I don’t like to rain on parades nor do I want to be a cynic, but I have to admit I’m questioning all the hype over big data in agriculture these days. Sure, when I heard Monsanto was getting in the game it certainly caught my attention. It’s quite a shift in focus for them, but many smart people work there who really know how to capture value. But what’s in it for the farmer in this instance? I mean, after all, more data just means more noise to sift through — right?

And let’s face it; variable rate hasn’t exactly taken off like a NASA rocket. Is big data just an attempt to revive or remarket an old promise that has struggled to go mainstream for over 30 years? Companies now claim that they can help recover efficiency opportunities previously lost to averages. They will directly gather farmer data and magically transform it with fancy algorithms, mathematical models and prescriptive “apps.” All this made possible by live, in cab streaming of geo-referenced data pumping into the cloud of endless storage and processing power.

It does seem rather romantic if you’re into that sort of thing. Nevertheless, one of my favourite old clichés is the “devil is in the detail” or in this case “the devil is in the data!”

How exactly is it going to work? What are we going to do with it? Why should we be excited about supposed data driven decisions? How do we have confidence in this data and what are companies doing with it? Are there ulterior motives? Will there be transparency?

And here we are again, staring blankly into the sky with a whole lot of questions. The good news this time is that we don’t have to let confusion paralyze us.

Maybe Monsanto can simplify farming to one elegant little empty rectangular search box the way Google simplified the internet for us.

Or not, but the good news is there’s sure to be value out of all the investment. Google is great for certain common tasks such as finding an address or web page, but most have noticed that as your search for information increases in complexity in any field, you’re back to swimming in an ocean of data hoping that one day you’ll stumble upon the island you want. I see the same for agriculture. Some clear wins for sure, but I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for it to revolutionize the way we farm.

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Farming Smarter / Spring 2015

Precision ag monitors in tractor. PHOTOS: Farming Smarter

Yield Map.

I support the idea of doing more with farm-generated data, but what really excites me is big knowledge. I’m a huge fan of on-farm research and precision agriculture but after seven years of projects, I feel we haven’t even scratched the surface. Trying to apply scientific principles to field scale studies taught me how difficult it is to understand and manage the complexities of growing crops. Literally hundreds, if not thousands, of variables are at play and they interact in ways that we’re really just starting to grasp. Unfortunately, basic systems research is becoming increasingly unpopular

to fund perhaps due to the level of complexity and that it doesn’t always result in immediate tangible benefits.

Testing hypothesis’ usually involves being able to control certain variables while altering others and observing results. I don’t see big data achieving this without simultaneously building our knowledge of cropping systems.

I would challenge all companies pursuing big data promises to collaborate with public and academic institutions in meaningful ways to ensure that technology and knowledge can grow together. h

GROWING NEW IDEAS / GROWING KNOWLEDGE / GROWING STEWARDSHIP

Growing Knowledge

S

cientists and producers cringe at the knowledge that herbicide resistance is simply a matter of numbers and time.

Already, parts of the southern U.S. and Australia suffer heavy economic losses from resistant weeds. Comparatively, Canada has fared relatively well in terms of the number, spread and cost impact of resistant weed species. However, the weeds are just starting and the game is entirely stacked in their favour. There is no question resistance will increase globally and in Canada. All producers must fight immediately and actively to slow its advance. For this reason, managing weed seeds effectively at harvest is a key research area for weed scientists and needs to be a management priority for producers.

“Herbicides are so easy and so convenient that we’ve gone to them in a big way and, really, they’ve been wonderful. But because we’ depended on them dominantly and almost exclusively, nature started to overcome them,” says Dr. Neil Harker, a research scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC).

“To be honest — and not many people seem to get it — we have to use less herbicide if we want to manage resistance. Yes, it is good to tank mix herbicides and rotate modes of action, but, each time we use herbicides, we add more selection pressure. What we need to try is use methods to control weeds that add no herbicide selection pressure.”

The challenge to increasing uptake for physical and cultural weed control methods among producers is that it can affect profitability. Adding forages and fall-seeded crops to rotation or harvesting silage before weed seeds become viable does manage weeds effectively, but typically does not bring the immediate economic returns of a canola — cereal rotation. Therefore, a non-herbicidal means of decreasing weeds within a producer’s preferred rotation is likely to prove more attractive to producers.

Harker, his PhD student Breanne Tidemann and several other AAFC researchers began field trials last year to look for best management options of weed seeds at harvest.

Preliminary results suggest that approximately 80 per cent of wild oat seeds had already fallen to the ground by harvest, making harvest weed seed control difficult. Cleavers were the opposite: only about 20 per cent were on the ground and the rest remained up in the canopy; which provides a good opportunity for improved management.

Manage Weed Seeds at Harvest to Slow Herbicide Resistance

by Madeleine Baerg

Currently, the best option for harvest weed seed management in Canada is a chaff collector pulled behind the combine. Invented in Saskatchewan to control wild oats, chaff collectors have never caught on widely in Canada.

“Our backs aren’t against the wall yet so there’s almost zero uptake on chaff collection right now,” says Harker.

The story is much different in Australia, where resistance issues pushed producers to stack chaff in narrow, thick rows and then burn it, despite the obvious negative repercussions to the environment and soil health. Now, a new option is gaining big attention Down Under: The Harrington Seed Destructor, invented by an Australian farmer, is just rolling into commercial production. A seed and chaff pulverizing machine that effectively destroys at least 95 per cent of annual weed seeds, the Harrington chops and redistributes crop and weed residue managing weeds while supporting soil structure and organic matter.

Harker is hopeful the Harrington may have a fit in Canadian fields. He anxiously awaits the shipping of a Harrington to Canada for research and testing purposes.

“We hope to have one here this fall to use

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during harvest. It’s important that we do the preliminary work to see what weed species or conditions might offer the most harvest management potential. Also, we need to test the Harrington for whether it works on our weeds, weed seeds, crops and conditions. The Harrington is effective on weeds in Australia, but priority issues are rigid rye grass and wild radish, both of which hold their seeds tightly.

I am hopeful, but there is still a lot of research that needs to be done here.”

Even a machine with as much potential as the Harrington is not an all-encompassing solution to resistance cautions Harker.

“We need to depend on as many weed control means as possible. As soon as you start doing the same thing repeatedly, nature will select for it. There’s the classic example of a barnyard grass plant that now looks like rice after several hundred years of hand weeding. Even the Harrington, if that were all we used, would be defeated over time. We’d soon see weeds dropping their seeds early because nature would select for that,” says Harker.

“But, if we are proactive in Western Canada, if we work with multiple options, we could delay resistance quite substantially.” h

photos: farming smarter

Farming Smarter / spring 2015

19

Growing Knowledge

Mobile Grain Cleaner Catches FHB and Ergot

by Lee Hart

As Les Stukings and his wife spend about three-quarters of their year on the road cleaning grain, they travel with a cleaning unit mounted on a 60-foot trailer and a 40-foot travel trailer.

L

es Stukings’ portable grain cleaning plant may not be able to perform the miracle of transforming the proverbial sow’s ear into a silk purse, but when it comes to removing discoloured ergot and fusarium head blight kernels out of wheat, he can produce very clean, marketable material.

Stukings 60-foot-long, portable and fully self-contained Southland Grain Services plant, based out of Bow Island, Alberta can even take an infected batch of grain graded as salvage and bring it to a very marketable state. The upgrade will vary depending on the level of disease infection, but it improves.

“We can usually take ergot-infected grain and make it top grade with no problem,” says Stukings, who along with his wife are now into season 24 of grain cleaning. “Fusarium head blight (FHB) is a little trickier.

“We had one customer last year, and I have never seen this description before, but his crop was graded as salvage due to fusarium. We started cleaning. He had a lot of grain. We were there for a month, but when we finished, its grade was No. 3. We basically took something that was unsalable and made it a mid-grade. We made him a million dollars! He was very happy.”

Fully Self Contained

Stukings portable grain cleaning plant isn’t the only portable unit on the road, but it is the only fully self-contained unit. The unit has gravity tables most cleaning operations use, but he also has a colour sorter on the same trailer. This allows him to further sort grain and pulses by colour when required. This is his seventh portable grain cleaning plant. This one is custom built from scratch with the help of Richard

22

Farming Smarter / Spring 2015

The Southland Grain Services portable seed cleaner processing grain on a farm. First, they use the gravity tables on the 60-foot unit for the grain or pulse crop. Then further process through a color sort if needed.

Fritzler in the Fritzler farm shop near Etzikom.

He says its performance is comparable to most stationary grain cleaning plants.

He works mostly with cereals and pulse crops, although if he has the volumes the equipment can process flax and canola — “any crop really.” About 50 per cent of his business is cleaning grain for seed in the winter. “This year we will be cleaning seed until mid- or late March and then, for the spring and summer, we will move into upgrading grain already in the bin,” he says.

The type of upgrade varies depending on the year. In 2014, they spent most of their

time in Alberta and western Saskatchewan upgrading cereals infected with ergot. This year, they will spend more time in eastern and southern Saskatchewan working with FHB infected grains.

Stukings says upgrading fusarium infected grain is more difficult, because the grading is a very visual process and can depend on who looks at the grain sample. “A lot of time, when we are at a farm, we also work very closely with the buyer,” he says. “The buyers are the ones who have to accept the grain, so we work closely with them to make sure it meets specifications.”

Stukings and his wife are the only two

GROWING NEW IDEAS / GROWING KNOWLEDGE / GROWING STEWARDSHIP

employees of the company and they spend three-quarters of the year travelling from farm to farm cleaning grain. You will know when they have arrived in the yard. A tractor trailer unit pulls the 60-foot long grain cleaning trailer and they bring their 40-foot travel trailer where they live when on the road.

CAN HANDLE VOLUME

The grain cleaner can process 20 to 25 tonnes of grain per hour, although on one job removing ergot from grain, they hit a record of 29 tonnes per hour. On average, they process about 8,000 bushels per day and developed a schedule that aims to clean 50,000 bushels per week.

“The time it takes depends on the amount of grain and the difficulty in cleaning the grain,”

he says. “Right now we have jobs lined up that range from 20,000 bushels to about 300,000 bushels. We usually work about 15 hours per day. Depending on the project, we could be on a farm anywhere from three days to a month.”

While the gravity tables get the most use, having a colour sorter right on the unit makes it easier to run grain through that system as needed. The whole grain cleaning system is fully computerized.

“When we clean grain with ergot, there is very little loss of good grain,” he says. “And with fusarium, we have less than five per cent loss of good grain. So it is a very efficient.” While his grain cleaning plant is quite effective, he says equipment manufacturers and researchers are working hard to learn how to reduce fusarium

Engage in Canada’s Democracy

and develop better systems for dealing with it when it infects a crop.

As Southland Grain Services moves between provinces, Stukings says they pay particular attention to properly clean equipment to prevent disease spread. They thoroughly clean the whole unit, treat it with a disinfectant and then allow it to sit for several days after for a quarantine period before moving between provinces.

With regular clientele and in response to years of increasing disease levels, Stukings says they are “usually swamped with business.”

Again, depending on the year, they may spend more time in one province than another.

For more information on Southland Grain Services, contact the company at (403) 952-1473 or by email at southlandgrain@hotmail.com. h

by Darcy Kirtzinger

A

s part of our democratic process, all citizens have the right to conversation with their elected representatives. In addition, citizens often meet with public servants who work in government ministries. Before you go running off to meet with your MLA, MP, etc. it is important to know what you’re doing. Some people have a lot of practice with this and meet with their elected representatives on a regular basis, others who have never done it before may find this somewhat intimidating. No matter what your background or experience, your role in advocacy is significant.

Motivations for meeting your representative can vary. Perhaps you want to speak for an organization, such as Farming Smarter, or for a particular industry, sector or business. Private citizens voice opinions on government policy and direction or offer to take part in public consultations; such as the Land Use Framework on a local Regional Advisory Council (RAC). It is important for citizens to know that elected officials care what they think and will take the time to listen when given the opportunity.

You give them the opportunity by following protocols in place to ensure you get the time and attention you need.

One of the lessons I’ll never forget from 4-H is its adage, “learn to do by doing.” That concept is equally applicable when it comes to engaging in the civic process with elected representatives and public servants. It can be helpful to find someone with experience and arrange to meet for coffee. Ask them to offer you advice on how

MLA Pastoor hand delivers a check to Farming Smarter Manager Ken Coles. Good relationships work wonders. Photo: farming smarter

they met with MLAs and other representatives in the past. Learn meeting protocols and expected roles of the participants.

Before meeting, sit down and plan out what you’re going to say, how you’re going to stay on message and what impression you want to leave.

Do a little homework and figure out what issues are important to the person you are meeting and their mandates. Ensure that everyone going to the meeting has something important to contribute — don’t think that simply showing up is enough. During the meeting, be respectful, stick to your plan and offer to answer any questions in a timely manner. If you don’t have the answer at your fingertips, be sure to followup as soon as possible. Leave a business card or other communication details before you leave.

Understand that the person you’re meeting has

GROWING NEW IDEAS / GROWING KNOWLEDGE / GROWING STEWARDSHIP

a busy schedule and it may take them time to get back to you with results. You may not always get what you request, but be patient. Effectively communicate how agriculture innovation can benefit farmers throughout the province.

After a meeting, debrief with your colleagues to discuss how the meeting went and how best to follow-up. Assess whether you stayed on topic and whether you delivered your message correctly. By playing a role in a democracy, we can all ensure accountability and continue playing a part in the future of farming.

Darcy Kirtzinger is a project manager with Agriculture and Food Council (AFC) to learn more about AFC’s agriculture leadership academy and customizable leadership training modules, visit: http://www.agfoodcouncil. com/leadership-training. h Farming Smarter / spring 2015

23

Growing Knowledge

Ergot & Fusarium Spread Across Alberta

by Helen McMenamin

F

usarium and ergot both seem to be an increasing problem across Western Canada. The westward march of fusarium graminearum has spread in all directions from the irrigated areas of Alberta where it first became established, but scientists don’t really know yet how severe or how well established the disease has become. Likewise, ergot reports increased in more grain samples and at higher levels over the last several years.

“We’re not really sure whether the apparent spread of fusarium means it’s established across the province or not,” says Alberta Agriculture plant pathologist, Mike Harding. “Our information comes from seed labs that voluntarily send us numbers of samples testing positive for the pathogen, but identified only by phone area code or county. And, the Canadian Grain Commission sends us numbers of samples downgraded for FDK — they can only identify the elevator or terminal where the fusarium damaged kernels were delivered.”

Neither of these information sources is good enough for plant pathologists to gauge the extent or severity of fusarium across the province. But, Harding says the disease does seem more common on seed and in grain in areas free of cases before, particularly in a swath of central Alberta and around Edmonton.

“We can say that fusarium graminearum is becoming more common in areas where it wasn’t previously established.”

Harding hopes to organize a field survey this fall, testing stubble samples (fusarium spores persist on crop debris) from across the province. That will give him a realistic idea of the proportion of fields and level of infection in each area. He may also be able to find whether the prevalence of the more aggressive 3A-DON biotype is on the rise in Alberta.

Even though fusarium seems to be spreading, Harding is convinced that declaring fusarium graminearum a restricted pest and regulating its movement on seed has slowed the spread of the pathogen.

“The fusarium management plan hasn’t been a failure at all,” he says. “We didn’t expect to keep the disease out of Alberta or contain it permanently. By regulating the movement of fusarium on seed, Alberta has given us an advantage. The disease spread much faster in other areas where there was no plan.”

The window of infection for ergot is dur-

24

Farming Smarter / Spring 2015

Left: ergot on rye, right: ergot on wheat. photos: farming smarter

ing flowering, just as it is for fusarium. Rain, even dew or high humidity, during this period increase infections and may have played a part in the recent increase in both.

Ergot sclerotia or ergot bodies lie in the soil over winter and when soils are moist in early summer they puff off spores that can infect florets of grasses or cereals. Infected heads ooze sticky honeydew, usually covered in dust so infected heads look dirty. Spores in infected heads produce more spores that can float on air currents to nearby crops. Often, early-flowering grasses in ditches and field borders or roadsides become infected first and produce secondary infections around the edges of cereal fields.

Mowing ditches and field borders before heading can protect crops from ergot infection that’s spread from grasses.

Both fusarium and ergot spores must land on flowering heads to infect the seed. You can tip the disease triangle of susceptible host, organism and environment in your favour by minimizing the flowering period, advises Harding. Ensure good soil fertility, seed at high rates, at recommended depth and into warm soil for an even crop with few tillers.

Stress, particularly from late herbicide application, can extend flowering time and increase the risk of ergot. Stress can lead to pollen sterility, so normal self-pollination of wheat doesn’t occur and the flowers open for cross-pollination, increasing the chance of ergot infection.

The stress of soil copper deficiency has been linked to ergot incidence, significant ergot issues may be a sign of deficiency, but don’t depend on soil tests alone, says Doon Pauly, Alberta Agriculture soil scientist. He also cautions that soil labs often have widely differing recommendations for micronutrients.

“Copper is tied up by organic matter,” he explains, “So peat soils and productive soils that have been manured and fertilized for good production, but haven’t produced expected yields are the most likely to benefit from copper application.”

If ergot is present in a field, it’s often mainly on the first few rounds. Harding advises scouting to see whether that’s the case and perhaps binning those areas separately or leaving harvest or swathing until the wind shakes loose the ergot bodies.

If you’re swath grazing, remember rye is the cereal most susceptible to ergot as it is openpollinated. Triticale and other cereals are less prone but can be infected. The ergot mycotoxin can cause serious problems, even death in cattle and other animals, so be sure cattle can’t gorge on infected heads.

The good news is that there are now several cereal varieties with good fusarium resistance ratings. Unfortunately, there’s no resistance in durum (the most susceptible wheat class) yet.

There’s no cereal varieties with resistance to ergot yet, but there are some on the horizon. h

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Recognition

Ron Howard Honoured with Orville Yanke Award

by Sarah Sutton

R

on Howard, recipient of Farming Smarter’s 2014 Orville Yanke award, is undoubtedly a lifelong learner.

From his farmland beginnings in Saskatchewan to his post-retirement research and extension activities, Howard devoted his career to plant health, disease management and specialty crops.

It’s not only his arm-long list of accomplishments, but also his role as the go-to guy for advice about crop-related diseases that make Howard a great fit for the award.

Orville Yanke was a southern Alberta farmer and leader admired and respected by everyone in the industry for his work with the former SACA group and with zero tillage practices. Farming Smarter established the award in 2009 to recognize an individual for outstanding work in sustainable agriculture.

“Ron’s contributions to science, and specifically to farmers, are almost incalculable. I would even go so far as to call him a farmers’ scientist,” said Ken Coles, Farming Smarter manager. “Plant health and disease management is a critically important part of crop production. The demand for knowledge skyrocketed as farmers delved into diverse rotations and began moving toward reduced tillage. Ron was always there with answers, insights and advice.”

Speaking from his 80-acre farm near Brooks, Howard said it was an honour to receive the award in December at Farming Smarter’s annual conference.

“To receive an award like this, as a grassroots award, is especially an honour,” he said.

“My career has been spent in research extension and diagnostics, and I’ve worked on every crop we grow in southern Alberta at one time or another.”

In fact, over the span of his professional life, Howard studied and worked with over 50 types of crops and plants including wheat, rye, alfalfa, sainfoin, dry beans, dry peas, soybeans, lentils, faba beans, chickpeas, potatoes, greenhouse vegetables and ornamentals, turf and forage grasses, field vegetables, shade and shelter belt trees, black currants, saskatoons, interiorscape plants, chicory, turf grass, monarda, corn, mint, safflower, essential oil crops, medicinal plants and several minor specialty crops.

Howard’s focus on specialty crops, plant health and disease management has been a

26

Farming Smarter / Spring 2015

Farming Smarter Caption: Ken Coles presents Ron Howard with the Orville Yanke Award at the Farming Smarter conference Dec. 2014.

Fun Facts about Ron • • • • • • •

A black belt in karate A black belt in judo A ballroom dance instructor A pilot A guitar player A farmer And still finds time to be a devoted husband, father and grandfather

boon to farmers in southern Alberta. Whether you want to call him a “farmer’s scientist” or as Howard said, a “blue collar plant pathologist,” his research and extension provided producers with practical, on-the-ground solutions. That work will continue under Howard’s successor, Dr. Michael Harding at the Crop Diversification Centre South (CDCS) in Brooks.

“It’s a great way to end my career by passing the reins to someone who is from the local area, who worked alongside me and who knows my program and research work in southern Alberta,” said Howard.

Harding’s succession of Howard began years ago through Alberta Agriculture when former deputy minister John Knapp approved a succession plan for certain senior research staff; which speaks to value of Howard’s work and its continuity.

“Not many people stay in one position their entire career,” said Howard. “I had the flexibility to do anything and no two days were the same. It allowed me to work directly with farmers and organizations like Farming Smarter.”

While Howard officially retired from his position at the CDCS, he is, in reality, more like semi-retired. He continues to wrap up work projects like sorting files and cataloguing slides. In addition, he runs his own business called RJH Ag Research Solutions and currently has a contract to research a new cucumber virus. Furthermore, he speaks at various conferences and meetings across the province as part of his research extension.

Coles said, “I can’t remember him ever turning down an opportunity to share his knowledge. He is the epitome of professionalism and a true inspiration to me and I’m sure many others.” h

GROWING NEW IDEAS / GROWING KNOWLEDGE / GROWING STEWARDSHIP

Growing Stewardship

Western Commodities Groups Pilot Sustainability Certificate

I

t’s time to tell our stories,” says Jason Lenz, Vice-Chair of the Alberta Barley Commission who farms near Bentley. “We all have a good story to tell.”

Large companies that buy farm commodities lead the sustainable production train — General Mills, Unilever, owners of Hellman’s, Knorr, Bertoli, Heineken, Anheuser-Busch, Kellogg and other multinationals joined groups that assess sustainability of food production processes. They, and customers, want to know that the ingredients they buy are produced responsibly.

Demand from multinationals and smaller companies led to a plethora of certification bodies that assess corporate and individual sustainability. Many of them define sustainability quite specifically in terms of biodiversity or social justice. Some, like the Rainforest Alliance or Fair Trade, focus on overseas companies and others, such as the Food Alliance, focus on specific production protocols such as organic ideology.

In an effort that began over five years ago, commodity groups, Ducks Unlimited, General Mills and others explored developing tools to assess sustainability in western Canadian agriculture. The group wanted to show progress in environmental performance over the last 20 years and to establish a baseline to monitor future improvements. They also wanted to enable stakeholders to contribute to discussion and development of sustainable agriculture metrics for commercial use within the food industry.

The approach followed similar efforts around the world. Nestle, Danone and Unilever developed one of the first — the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative Platform in 2002. It was a non-profit group to support initiatives for more sustainable farming.

A U.S. effort, the Keystone Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture, focuses on evidenceand outcome-based measures such as land use, climate impact, energy use, soil loss and use of irrigation water. The measures showed improvements in growing practices for corn, soy, wheat and cotton over the last 20 years.

In Alberta, the four biggest grower groups, the Wheat Commission, Barley Commission, Canola Growers and Pulse Growers, began investigating for an Alberta Crops Sustainability Certification. The program has three main goals: to identify the strengths of Alberta farm

by Helen McMenamin

production; to prepare farmers to contribute to this important conversation and identify any gaps that may affect Alberta farmers’ sustainability. The commodity groups will work together to develop programs that address gaps.

The group brought in a third-party verifier, Control Union, to develop a questionnaire that would extract needed information in a short session with farmers. The verifiers, an international company based in the Netherlands, will work with three major on-farm assessment systems: Unilever Sustainable Agriculture Code, the International Sustainability Carbon Certification (ISCCPLUS) and the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative Platform. (You can find these on the Internet.)

The Alberta platform will aggregate and keep anonymous all results. It’s designed to show that Alberta cropping as a whole is sustainable The group developed a set of questions that farmers can answer as part of a half day, on-farm assessment. They hope the exercise will provide a realistic overview of a farm’s environmental, social and financial sustainability. Consumers want to hear food production practices show a commitment to continual improvement in environmental and social conscience.

Volunteers from the four major crop commissions will participate in the crop sustainability assessment as part of a pilot program with Control Union auditors in March. About 40 commission directors from northern, southern and central regions of Alberta will take part.

Although some of the systems used in developing the questionnaire can certify individual growers, that’s not the goal.

Certification won’t be a pass or fail program.

The Alberta platform will aggregate and keep anonymous all results. It’s designed to show that Alberta cropping as a whole is sustainable. The goal for the pilot project is to better understand what consumer expectations look like at the

GROWING NEW IDEAS / GROWING KNOWLEDGE / GROWING STEWARDSHIP

farm level and make sure it works for all crops on all farms.

In the pilot stage, each volunteer will get a confidential assessment of their farm and practices relative to others in the group.

“I see certification eventually working as a self-assessment tool; something like the Environmental Farm Plan,” says Lenz. “Farmers need to have a voice in the discussions about sustainability. We hear from consumers and from purchasers of our crops. They need to hear from us as well. This program asks famers to build our own case for social license.

“Prairie farmers have had to be efficient at everything we do to stay in business. We use the right rates of fertilizer, at the right time, in the right place, from the right source, as good business. However, it’s also the right thing to do for the environment. Very few farmers don’t have GPS technology now — it saves us money and eases our workload. But, it also means no overlaps in applying fertilizer or pesticides — that’s good for the environment. We’ve always used soil testing, but now a lot of people use prescription mapping to apply fertilizer even more accurately.”

One hope for the program is that once farmers have access to a strong sustainability measurement system, they will feel empowered to speak out and tell their stories. Lenz hopes the sustainability assessment ties into Environmental Farm Plans and the continuous improvement that document inspired on his own farm.

“It helps you recognize where you could do better,” he says. “Most farmers are good stewards of the land, but there’s always room for improvement. I think this program will show us what sustainability really is and I expect we might surprise the auditors when they see farmers in Western Canada already meet and exceed any developed guidelines.

“Once we have those key performance indicators, we’ll be able to show everybody in the value chain our level of environmental stewardship as well as our commitment to our communities. I see this program as a strong part of informing consumers, especially those in the big cities. We already do much more for the environment than they realize.

“This could be our chance to steer the ship. Instead of having sustainability measures pushed on us, we can show that we live it every day.” h Farming Smarter / spring 2015

27

Growing Stewardship

A Watershed Legacy

by Donna Trottier P. Ag

T

he Oldman Watershed Council (OWC) Watershed Legacy Program (WLP) expands opportunities for stewardship in the Oldman River Basin.

It began when stakeholders in the Oldman watershed identified a lack of resources and support to implement watershed stewardship initiatives. All stakeholders in the watershed benefit from actions that help maintain healthy watersheds and clean water. The WLP program provides financial and technical support to active stewards in the Oldman River watershed.

Established in 2009, the WLP began by funding watershed stewardship groups and landowner cooperatives to complete agricultural related projects. In order to expand the stewardship opportunities, OWC extended WLP funding to individual landowners for agricultural land projects.

The WLP establishes and provides funding for stewardship initiatives. It helps stewards identify and prioritize watershed issues and provides resources to adopt beneficial management practices. The legacy WLP projects aspire to leave for future generations is an enhanced and protected watershed with natural resources intact. Communicating successes, challenges

28

Farming Smarter / Spring 2015

and opportunities is an important part of the program so that future projects benefit from lessons learned.

“Most of the projects that WLP supported were riparian pasture projects with the installation of riparian fencing, off-stream watering systems and rig mats for hardening off creek crossings,” states Shannon Frank, Executive Director of the Oldman Watershed Council.

Frank explained that the WLP also funded invasive weed pulls and education and outreach programs.

To date the WLP distributed over $125,000 to support landowner focused agricultural stewardship projects. The program realized several successes through WLP projects: over 2,500 cows removed from streams, creeks and rivers; over 1,000 bags of weeds removed and over 1,300 people engaged in educational events and projects.

The OWC accesses and coordinates funding for the WLP from the Alberta Government, stewardship grants, individual donations and foundations. The Legacy funds go to recipients using the 50/50 funding concept. The WLP funds half of the project and the individual or group receiving the funding pays for the other

half, either through time volunteered, partner funding or with their own money. The Oldman Watershed Council’s Rural Team will review the applications it received by February 1, 2015 and provide technical assistance to funded projects.

“The majority of Legacy projects funded to date have focused on agricultural lands and agri-environmental issues,” states Frank. The WLP is evolving into a program that not only supports watershed stewardship groups and agricultural related projects, but also supports urban stewards, stewards of public lands and watershed stewardship projects on acreages.

Frank explains, “We want the program to be accessible and adaptable to a broad range of stewardship initiatives.”

Part of the Watershed Legacy Program will support watershed stewardship groups by providing them with capacity building resources and training workshops. Frank explained that some stewardship groups are not comfortable applying for grants or they do not believe they qualify for grant money. The OWC hopes to host grant-writing workshops to assist groups in accessing available funding sources. Oldman Watershed Council will also provide stewardship groups space on its website, www.oldmanbasin.org, to promote membership and group activities. Funding for education and outreach programs will continue to be available in the future.

The Oldman Watershed Council is currently working on its strategic plan, part of which includes refining the program guidelines for the Watershed Legacy Program. Frank says the OWC will announce the new WLP guidelines in the coming year.

For more information on the Watershed Legacy Program, contact the OWC Program Coordinator, (403) 381-5801. h

GROWING NEW IDEAS / GROWING KNOWLEDGE / GROWING STEWARDSHIP

Growing Stewardship

Canadian Beef Industry Needs to Engage Consumers

O

nce upon a time, we applauded a cowboy for fierce independence — he even made his way into romance novels on the strength of his silence — but not anymore. Our instant-information-access reality means consumers now expect and demand information, especially about food. Remaining silent and separate from consumers rather than meeting their informational needs will strangle business. While producers of all products need to willingly and enthusiastically step forward to engage consumers and share production stories, this need is most obvious in the beef industry.

In the last couple of decades, the Canadian beef industry faltered under the combined pressures of anti-animal agriculture activists fear/smear campaigns; the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) outbreak in 2004; various anti-beef diet fads and a slow but ongoing shift by domestic consumers away from red meat.

That said, Canadian beef has a lot in its sales favour: grass-fed on Canada’s huge swaths of land; managed with strong traceability and pro-

by Madeleine Baerg

photo: c. lacombe

cessed to the highest standards. This country’s beef is some of the safest, healthiest, tastiest and most sustainably produced beef available.

Now, to counter the challenges and showcase its advantages, the Canadian beef industry steps forward to meet customers. It throws open its figurative barn doors so consumers can get a first-hand look at how steak came to be from cow-calf operation through processing plant.

The fact that beef retailers from grocery chains to fast food restaurants jumped aboard makes the Canadian beef industry’s campaign a whole lot more likely to succeed.

The Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (CRSB) is a multi-stakeholder initiative designed to advance existing and new sustainability efforts within the Canadian beef industry and to get recognition for those efforts. Our national version of the Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) leads CRSB, but welcomes any party that wants to support growth and improvement in the Canadian beef industry.

Just seven months old, the CRSB already

GROWING NEW IDEAS / GROWING KNOWLEDGE / GROWING STEWARDSHIP

boasts a diverse and growing membership list including Costco, Loblaws, Tim Hortons and McDonald’s, World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Ducks Unlimited, the Alberta Conservation Association and many others.

“We’ve been defensive for way too long in our industry. This is our needed opportunity to tell our story, and — because we have some of the world’s biggest food retailers and the world’s biggest NGO (the WWF) on side — to get people to really listen,” says Bob Lowe, Canadian Cattlemen’s Association director and participant in the CRSB. “I think it’s the most important and exciting thing to happen in Canadian beef since I’ve been involved in the industry.”

“We joined the CRSB because the stronger the beef industry is, the better the health of the entire supply chain. In the end, we all win by being able to talk about the sustainable practices of the Canadian beef industry,” says Trish Sahlstrom, vice-president of purchasing and distribution for A&W Canada who recently spoke at the Farming Smarter conference.

Continues on page 30

Farming Smarter / spring 2015

29

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“In general, the practices of Canadian beef producers are extraordinarily good and very sustainable. The vast majority of producers are following best practices. Yet, various interest groups target the industry as not sustainable. For that reason, the industry is anxious to establish benchmarks for sustainability so they can talk about it and our role is to enthusiastically support that,” she says.

Meanwhile, a founding member of both the CRSB and its global counterpart began its own promotion of sustainable beef. McDonald’s Canada announced one year ago that it would begin sourcing a portion of its beef supply from verified sustainable sources by 2016. This move is a big deal in the beef industry, as McDonald’s Canada is the largest buyer of ground beef in the food service sector in Canada.

“Today’s consumer wants and expects to know where their food comes from, what’s in it and how it’s sourced. Sustainability is part of this conversation, and I think it will continue to be a big priority looking forward,” says Jeff Fitzpatrick-Stilwell, McDonald’s Canada Senior Manager of Sustainability. “The response to our pilot is extremely positive. We’re working closely with key stakeholders and experts in the beef industry.

This includes having two-way dialogue and ideas exchange making the pilot a true collaboration and a win-win for McDonald’s and the Canadian beef industry.”

A&W has not stepped forward with a similar commitment to sustainability. However, its “beef guarantee” campaign, ongoing since September of 2013, is the first effort of its kind by a national burger restaurant to respond to a different customer priority.

“We do a lot of ongoing consumer research, talking to our guests about their interests and concerns,” says Sahlstrom. “We asked them what it would mean to them if we could ensure the beef they eat at A&W was raised without steroids or hormones and only therapeutic use antibiotics.

They were very enthused.”

To ensure its hamburgers come from cattle raised in compliance with its beef guarantee, A&W sources all patties from two specialty processors that can verify the health and medication history of each animal slaughtered.

“I suspect this campaign would not have worked a decade ago, but there is a growing awareness and growing concern among consumers.

They have become more knowledgeable. Today, interest in how beef is raised is much more of a mainstream reality amongst consumers than it would have been even five or six years ago,” says Sahlstrom.

Has the campaign worked? Absolutely, she says somewhat obliquely.

“Customers vote with their dollars. We’ve increased our market share and we are selling more burgers.”

While the cattle industry holds a strong position that the use of hormones and steroids in beef cattle is safe and sustainable, A&W’s shift in purchasing shows consumer priorities, ultimately, trump industry perspective. h

photo: c. lacombe

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31

Growing Stewardship

A Trend is in the Air

W

ould you proudly display a Farming Smarter Certification on your mantle? Imagine a future where a Farming Smarter Certification is as recognizable as Canada Organic.

“It’s an idea we’ve discussed for years. Its potential for complexity holds us back from any real work defining what a Farming Smarter Certificate might entail,” says Ken Coles, Farming Smarter Manager.

The conversation began around the idea that there are many agricultural designations such as Certified Crop Adviser or Agronomist. However, what do you call a farmer that pursues his profession with a steadfast and innovative ardor?

Farming Smarter holds many events where professionals can earn credits towards professional certification requirements. However, the farmers at those events are equally educated, open to new information and, often, leaders in agriculture and there is no public recognition at this time for exceptionally innovative farmers. There are certifications for farms, but not the farmer in charge.

“It would be a marketing opportunity for them,” he says.

Coles lists the brand attributes he sees as what Farming Smarter Certification would call to mind.

“If you see a product with Farming Smarter Certified on it, you would know that the product came from a farmer dedicated to continued education, professionalism, stewardship/sustainability and leading edge agricultural technology application.”

“It can create a distinction between that farmer and the perceived factory farming mentality that contends modern farmers only care about scale and size.”

While recognizing that this is currently an idea, Coles says he sees the certification including education, participation in continuous education (such as Farming Smarter events), basic crop management practices, soil health practices and quality record keeping.

“We wouldn’t want the certification so complex that it creates an administrative nightmare. We also don’t want to reinvent something that already exists in agriculture. (see sidebar) We might model ours

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after other certifications, but ours would focus on southern Alberta producers,” Coles says.

There are initiatives out there that will demand some proof of sustainable farm operations. McDonald’s Canada has a commitment to buy beef from verified sustainable sources. McDonald’s Canada buys the most beef for the food service industry and, more, it is a trendsetter in the fast food industry. Clearly, consumers take comfort in certification.

They drive many forms of certification — Rain Forest Alliance Certified, Organic Certified, Food Alliance Certification.

“We recognize that, within southern Alberta, some farmers do a fantastic job and others are not as committed to excellence. We would like to help outstanding farmers distinguish themselves in the marketplace,” he adds.

Coles points to the Potato Growers of Alberta as one organization that has a farmer certification. He sees the Farming Smarter Certification as doing something similar for crop growers. The idea is that this certification would require periodic update and proofing to remain valid.

Coles mentions that Farming Smarter applied for a little funding to look into this idea, although they haven’t received it yet. However, he wants members to think about what benefits a Farming Smarter Certificate might offer them; which criteria make sense to qualify for and maintain it and who would like to help Farming Smarter create this from scratch?

Coles wants interested members to contact either himself or Jamie Puchinger to volunteer ideas or, maybe, some time to explore the value and feasibility of a Farming Smarter Certification. h

Existing Certifications www.rainforest-alliance.org/agriculture/certification/farm www.foodalliance.org/certification www.albertaefp.com/ www.nsf.org/services/by-industry/food-safety-quality/ agriculture/agriculture-certification/ www.canadagap.ca/ www.cog.ca/

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News

U seful Organic Research Lessons

by Kristi Cox

C

urrent organic farming research and practices produce some exciting results that could increase your success and save money for any farmer. Benefits include better weed control, soil health, water availability and insurance against extreme weather events.

You don’t have to go to full organic systems to see results. It can be as simple as tweaking your crop rotation system or adding green manure to your rotation. It may be that less really is more when it comes to adding nutrients to your soil.

Current urban trends lead consumers to support ecologically sound food production. If this trend continues, farmers who incorporate even some organic practices can take a share of that market.

Crop Rotation and Green Manures:

Organic systems rely on crop rotations to break up weed and pest cycles and reduce their impact. Pests can adapt to short term rotations, but a four to five year rotation makes it difficult for crop specific pests to maintain their reproductive cycle.

One common practice many organic farmers use is growing their own fertilizer. Obviously, if they can’t add synthetic fertilizers to the soil, they need to add back lost nutrients.

Composted animal manure and green manure can do this. Usually at least one crop in the rotation will be a variety of legume. These nitrogen-fixing crops encourage micorrhyzal fungi, increase the aeration of soil and then return nutrients to the soil when left unharvested.

“When we have a perennial plant growing on a field, that plant is putting energy in the soil for the whole season,” Martin Entz, University of Manitoba Professor of Agronomy said.

Straw stubble left behind by an annual crop does not provide energy to the soil. Micorrhyzal fungi need living plants to survive and the glomalin the micorrhyzae produce is what aggregates the soil. There is also less chance of erosion from a field with live roots than from dead straw.

Many organic farmers choose to plant directly into the annual green manure crops, after frost kill or crimpling them with a heavy roller. This allows the crop to function as a

34

Farming Smarter / Spring 2015

Bob Quinn speaking to Farming Smarter conference delegates Dec. 2014.

Martin Entz speaking to Farming Smarter conference delegates Dec. 2014.

water conserving cover for the next year’s rotation.

Bob Quinn, an organic farmer from Montana, considers green manure to be one of the easiest ways for a conventional farmer to integrate organic practices. “The concept of growing your own fertilizer is something that could be adapted by conventional growers at any level they want to approach — from zero to 100 per cent,” Quinn stated.

Putting animals on green manure crops to graze takes this method of soil health a step further. With the advantages in nutritional value of grass-finished beef, and the price of it on the market, this is a win-win situation for any farmer. Any farmer can easily put this into practice. Instead of allowing a crop to go into summer fallow, plant a green manure crop, graze and rest that way.

The two farms share a fence line and the neighbour left a strip of his wheat field next to the fence unsprayed to prevent chemical drift into Quinn’s adjacent organic crops. As the season progressed, no kochia appeared in the sprayed field, but kochia smothered the wheat completely in the unsprayed swath. One step away, in Quinn’s organic field, the wheat dwarfed a few kochia plants. When Quinn first observed this, he was surprised, but soon deducted that nutrient availability created the difference in the side by side sections.

“We’ve seen troublesome weeds like kochia disappear in our system because we don’t have highly soluble nitrogen from chemical fertilizer,” Quinn explained. Nitrogen locks into organic matter in an organic system. “We produce nitrogen through legumes such as peas, clover and alfalfa that are not harvested, but worked back into the soil. The nitrogen from this plant material isn’t available all at once.

If you get rainstorms, that organic matter will break down because of the extra moisture and you’ll have good plant stands to use the extra nitrogen. It’s a more natural balance than trying to guess how much rain you’re going to get and fertilizing accordingly.”

Controlled availability of soil nutrients in the organic system created an adequate

Weed Control:

Alberta currently has three species of glyphosate resistant weeds. Most recently, kochia joined this list. This is an enormous problem for farmers, who rely on an herbicide spray regimen to eliminate weeds. Bob Quinn described an experience from several years ago with non-resistant kochia on his farm compared to his conventional farming neighbour.

GROWING NEW IDEAS / GROWING KNOWLEDGE / GROWING STEWARDSHIP

Chickpeas fix nitrogen in soils.

PHOTO: Farming Smarter

A typical soil profile in southern Alberta. photo: Farming Smarter

environment for the wheat without providing excess highly soluble nitrogen to allow the unsprayed kochia to grow excessively. Therefore, the wheat out-competed the kochia in the organic system rather than the other way around in the unsprayed strip.

Some of the most challenging weeds for an organic farmer are those easily managed by spray in conventional farming. On the other hand, some of the easiest to manage in organic systems are difficult for conventional farmers. Ideal weed control, particularly with the increase in chemical resistant weeds, could lie in a combination of crop rotations, substituting some green manure crops for chemical fertilizer and spot herbicide treatment for persistent weed problems.

it due to management decisions on a regional level? Once you determine that, you’re not just treating symptoms; you’re using more upstream thinking to find effective solutions.

Ecological System:

Martin Entz emphasized, “Organic farmers need to have ecological knowledge. Some organic farmers struggle because they don’t see the land as an ecological system. All farmers need to understand things like nutrient cycling, plant diversity and mixed farming with crops and livestock so you get the synergy out of the system.”

For example, when farmers look at soil salinity or herbicide resistant weed problems, they must first try to understand why they have the problem. Is it originating on the farm or is

Soil Health:

Phosphorus offers an example of how farm practices affect soil health. In current farming practices, farmers often add more phosphorus than what harvest extracts. This can be detrimental to the ecological system.

“What we’ve learned is that phosphorus is very energy rich,” Entz said. “This means we’re putting a lot of energy into the soil and there could be consequences to that. For example, if soil receives too much phosphorus, it becomes lazy. When the soil has lower levels of phosphorus, it is much more active in terms of increased fungi, bacteria and mesofauna.”

Organic farmers who use manure as a soil building component need to consider this balance when calculating how much manure to add to their systems and know how much phosphorus there is in the manure they plan to apply.

Entz compares soil health to teenage health, “Think about teenagers. If we give them a big allowance, buy them a car and don’t make them do homework, they get lazy.

It’s very similar.” We need to keep our soils working.

GROWING NEW IDEAS / GROWING KNOWLEDGE / GROWING STEWARDSHIP

If farmers find that balance, they could save money while improving their soil health.

Diversity:

Organic farmers tend towards a diverse farming practice rather than monocultures that became so common after sprays became the norm and particularly, since GMOs came on the scene. For example, the big dollars gained from canola when prices are up tempts everyone. The problem with this is that everything can be lost just as quickly. “Organic systems require diversity,” Quinn said. “A chemical system artificially functions without diversity, but if you ever get hit with an extreme weather event or a sudden and severe attack of disease or insects all your eggs are in one basket.”

Quinn explained, “If you have a lot of diversity, almost every year something works well. Even in a harsh year, something works ok even though you may lose a third of your crops for some reason or were affected by weather events.”

Looking Forward:

Organic farming research offers some resiliency practices any farmer can use to stabilize or better the bottom line. In this International Year of Soils, consider an on-farm experiment that may change your practice, increase your success and save money. h Farming Smarter / spring 2015

35

Word Chain

by C. Lacombe

Sometimes I have to chase a word meaning through a series of definitions before I’m satisfied I know what I’m talking about.

Here is one of those exercises compliments of Lee Hart’s article about grain cleaning in this issue. You may be glad I did this.

Vomitoxin, also known as deoxynivalenol (DON), is a type B trichothecene, an epoxy-sesquiterpenoid. This mycotoxin occurs predominantly in grains such as wheat, barley, oats, rye, maize and, less often, rice, sorghum and triticale. DON is associated primarily with fusarium graminearum (Gibberella zeae) and f. culmorum, both of which are important plant pathogens that cause fusarium head blight.

Sesquiterpenoids are defined as the group of 15 carbon compounds derived by the assembly of three isoprenoid units and found mainly in higher plants, but also in invertebrates.

Sesquiterpenes, with monoterpenes, are an important constituent of essential oils in plants.

Isoprenoid — relating to, containing or being a branched-chain grouping characteristic of isoprene Isoprene, or 2-methyl-1,3-butadiene, is a common organic compound with the formula CH2=C(CH3)CH=CH2. In its pure form, it is a colourless volatile liquid. Many plants produce and emit isoprene. Many species of trees also produce isoprene and emit it into the atmosphere (major producers are oaks, poplars, eucalyptus, and some legumes).

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Alberta Innovates Technology Futures

by Kristi Cox

A

lberta Innovates and Farming Smarter have a common philosophical thread — let’s get it done! When farmers look for answers, it is refreshing to come across a research organization devoted to eliminating red tape and making things happen. When two of them come together, there is no limit to what they can achieve.

Alberta Innovates is a unique organization within the Alberta Government. Alberta Innovates brings business, government, universities, researchers and experts together to collaborate finding solutions to some of the world’s biggest problems. If someone has a problem, idea or question, Alberta Innovates can help find the right people, equipment and technologies to see it through.

Five branches make up Alberta Innovates: Bio Solutions; Health Solutions; Energy and Environment Solutions; Technology Futures and Alberta Research & Innovation Authority.

When Alberta Innovates Technology Futures (AITF) started looking for land in the south to research industrial hemp, Farming Smarter was an obvious partner. Senior Researcher with AITF, Jan Slaski explained that AITF provides expertise with regards to this new crop and Farming Smarter provides excellent agronomy research.

“This is the best of both worlds,” Slaski stated. Alberta farmers want to diversify crops and processing companies actively seek industrial hemp. This is a great opportunity, but the there is very little information on hemp well in southern Alberta.

“The hemp industry is really taking off right now and we hear a lot of demand for information,” said Ken Coles, Farming Smarter General Manager. “At this time, hemp agronomy information doesn’t exist, so we’re excited to be part of developing it. We want to help address the current farmer needs and build a new industry. That’s very exciting both personally and as an organization.”

Hemp is a very different crop from Alberta’s staple crops like wheat, canola or barley.

There is no agronomic information on performance of new hemp cultivars in Alberta. The upcoming research will change that.

“Farming Smarter will look at industrial hemp performance of nine cultivars on dryland and under irrigated cultivation.” They will evaluate critical hemp agronomy factors

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Farming Smarter / Spring 2015

Ken Coles addresses participants during a hemp project tour Aug. 2014. photoS: Farming Smarter

i.e. seeding rates, seeding dates and fertilizer requirements.

“We will generate urgently needed information for a rapidly growing industrial hemp industry in Alberta,” Slaski said. “Based on this information, we will prepare a best management practices manual. Information gathered by Farming Smarter is of key importance to this undertaking.”

Another exciting project through the partnership will research recovery options for crops damaged by hail. Beyond the basic damage from hail, broken and injured plants are more susceptible to disease. This project will see plant pathologists from AITF and staff from Farming Smarter work together to find solutions. The first task is to imitate hail injuries to plants.

“We are working with Alberta Agriculture’s Technology Center to develop a hail simulator,” Coles said. “The plan is to test the products available that claim that they can nurse a damaged crop back to health” Both organizations gain from this growing partnership. Farming Smarter appreciates the unique research projects that Alberta Innovates brings to them. “This builds into our extension program. This allows us to build a knowledge base and extend it out to our growers here,” Coles said.

Jan Slaski on the Aug. 2014 hemp project tour.

Slaski expressed appreciation that Coles stays deeply involved in Farming Smarter projects. “(Farming Smarter doesn’t) just run the trial for AITF and that’s it. Coles also puts AITF on the map. Farming Smarter has exposure to major players in agronomy research in the province and beyond.”

Slaski concluded, “we have established what I think will be a long-lasting professional collaboration with Farming Smarter.

We think big about what we can achieve in the future.” h

GROWING NEW IDEAS / GROWING KNOWLEDGE / GROWING STEWARDSHIP

Are Pea Yields Declining on the Prairies?

There has been discussion that pea yields in Saskatchewan have been declining over the past few years.

The Saskatchewan Pulse Growers, Crop Development Centre and Saskatchewan Agriculture decided to investigate this observation.

A review of pea yield data over the past five years revealed fluctuations in average annual pea yields, but they strongly coincided with the fluctuations of other major crops grown in Saskatchewan. The variations shown in annual wheat and canola yields for the province were similar to those shown in peas.

Further investigation into declining pea yields proved that some individual growers and certain jurisdictions did show significant declines in the average yield year-by-year.

We needed to answer the question of why this might be happening and continued our assessment.

There are a few management options that can reduce the impact of root rot. Field choice will be part of the solution for growing peas or other pulse crops; it’s the first step to preventing root rots or minimizing the risk. Choose land that drains well or is lighter in texture. Avoid or deal with compaction and know the fertility levels in the soils.

Low fertility levels could require an application of starter nitrogen (N). An application of phosphorus (P) is also something to consider, especially if seeding early into cool, wet soil. Phosphorus is important for root growth and for nitrogen fixation. Low P or inability to access P (i.e. poor roots) can increase the stress on the plant and weaken it, which can increase susceptibility to pathogens.

Source: AgriView, February 2015

Climate data indicated that summers were wetter over the past few years. Pulse crops do not like excessive moisture and often suffer dramatically with diminished root growth and reduced vegetative growth, which ultimately leads to reduced yields. In a similar review of pea production in the United States and in Alberta, an additional problem, root rot, was identified.

Root rot is not caused by just one organism but by a complex association of organisms that flourish under wetter conditions, each having the ability to reduce yield. Soil samples analyzed to date revealed Fusarium spp., in many cases Aphanomyces euteiches, and sometimes Rhizoctonia and Pythium were infecting peas. Root rot pathogens differ in the hosts that they can infect. Some have a wide host range and some are specific to certain crops.

“To avoid root rot in peas, an application of phosphorus may be necessary, especially if seeding into cold, damp soil.”

Dale Risula, PAg , Source: AgriView, February 2015

285 Service Road Vulcan, AB 403.485.1998 / 1.888.972.9378 info@rawest.com

Call us to find out how ALPINE G22® a low salt, seed safe, starter phosphorus fertilizer, can become a management option for your pea crops.

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