Grainews

CANADA'S ROGRESS

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CANADA'S FARM PROGRESS SHOW June 15- 17, 2016, Regina, SK

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APPLYING FROM THE AIR

If an aerial applicator is applying your fungicide, con sider timing and water volume

BY LISA GUENTHER

r. Tom Wolf, researcher and owner of Agrimetrix Research and Training, says aerial applicators are "tremendously important."

"They apply spray under conditions that a ground rig can't - for example, with soil moisture. They cover much more area than a ground rig ever can so they can be more timely.

"Jill Lane, executive director of the Canadian Aerial Applicators Association (CAAA), agrees, writing

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Publications Mail Agreement Number 40069240

by email that more and more Prairie acres are being sprayed from the air.

If you're considering aerial fungicide application this season, make sure to ask about timing and water volume.

Timing: Whether you're spraying from the ground or from the air, timing is the most critical issue. "Even just a day or two on either side of an ideal timing can make a big difference in terms of effectiveness," says Wolf.

Lane concurs. Farmers and agronomists should make sure aerial applicators can provide the service within the application window.

Water volume: Water volume is also key. Wolf recommends asking these questions: "What water volume are you applying? What are you doing to control drift? What does the label say for water volume? How do you reconcile those things? What would it cost to do more water?"

Some fixed-wing aircraft are high capacity, capable of ferrying 800 U.S. gallons, Wolf says. But new atomizer technologies allow some applicators to push water volumes lower. Wolf has had calls from people wondering how aerial applicators can pull it off.

"They're doing it because they're using a much finer spray. They have a tremendous drift risk as a result of that. They are certainly cautious about when they spray. But there's no magic here."

Applying a finer spay than the label allows is illegal, Wolf says, because of the drift risk. "That is something that we all have to respect because our business is at stake here," says Wolf.

Lane says the CAAA only supports applications that follow labels.

In This Issue

ÂťCONTINUED ON PAGE 4

Wheat & Chaff ..................

2

Features............................

5

Crop Advisor's Casebook

6

Columns ........................... 18 Machinery & Shop ............ 30 Cattleman's Corner .......... 38 FUSARIUM OR DROUGHT?

UTV CHALLENGE AT AIM

ANGELA LOVELL PAGE 10

SCOTT GARVEY PAGE 30

Farmlife ............................ 43

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I grainews.ca JUNE 7, 2016

STAMPEDE

BY JERRY PALEN LEE ANN MINOGUE

the rear view mirror off the grain truck when I was picking up fertilizer from the local dealer. Thanks to the kind woman on staff who didn't laugh too hard.)

With no horrific problems, ~-~ :o there have been a lot of moments ~rf-'cc:~::_~~,~~:~..... ~./'< ~ this spring where we could just . .. ........,......., ... .

- take deep breaths, look around at :~/·..,J:.-':.:-- ~ the scenery and enjoy the process of putting seed in the ground to Wind kept us out of the field at the grow this year's crop. start of the seeding season - it We've done all we can do. It's in was too windy to spray ahead of Nature's hands. the drill. The day after we finished Now we have a little time to seeding, the wind picked up again, roll the lentil fields, clean up and kept me out of the garden for a few more days. At least all this the equipment, catch up on the yard work, finish planting the wind is good for one thing. garden and get the books up to We had no major injuries. (fhe date. This week, The Husband Husband usually winds up hitting will have a free evening to take his head on the drill at least once in one of our son's soccer games, a season - lucky for you, he's and I'll be able to get this issue banned me from sharing the pho- of Grainews out the door without tos of his past years' stitches in this worrying that at any minute I column. This year, he managed to might need to drop what I'm keep his head clear of all of the doing and make a mad dash to equipment and there were no trips the dealership to pick up more to the Emergency Room.) parts for the drill.

We had no expensive acddents.

I hope seeding has gone as well (Don't tell The Husband, but I for all of you as it has for us. / did come awfully dose to taking Leeann

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e finished seeding on May 20 this year.

I know May 20 isn't a record-breaking finish, especially this year when so many of you were out in the field early, so I don't expect any readers to send us a medal.

But after a few years of epic breakdowns and colossal floods, we're happy to write the 2016 seeding season into the books as a success.

This season, we had no major equipment failures. (You might remember that a few years ago, I wrote in this space about our romantic mid-season "vacation," driving at night to the manufacturing plant to pick up emergency spare parts when the wheel fell right off our air cart. This year the only trips for parts were to our local dealers, and none of the problems took too long to fix.)

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"There they go! All273 of them, or 284...no, 396...or was it??"

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Write, Email or Fax SUBSCRIPTION INQUIRIES: Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. (CST) 1-800-665-0502 U.S. subscribers call 1-204-944-5568 or email: subscription@fbcpublishing.com If you have story ideas, call us. You can write the article and we'd pay you, or we can write it.

Phone Leeann Minogue at 306-861-2678 Fax to 204-944-5416 Emailleeann.minogue@fbcpublishing.com Write to Grainews, 1666 Dublin Ave., Winnipeg, Man. R3H OH1

lli#J;jfj Ask for hearts When you renew your subscription to Grainews, be sure to ask for six Please Be Careful, We Love You hearts. Then stick them onto equipment that you, your loved ones and your employees operate. That important message could save an arm, a leg or a life.

careful

-love you!

- Your Family

SEND A PHOTO, WIN A BOOK Do you have a brother who runs John Deere equipment? If you win this book, you'll have a great Christmas present for his kids.

Octane Press's latest "Case for kids" picture book, Planters and Cultivators with Casey & Friends by Holly Dufek and Paul E. Nunn, is all about red planters and cultivators.

It's aimed at kids from ages three to six.. The photos are great, and there's a lot of kidfriendly information about modern farming. Of course, it is an American book, so the seeding equipment is all about planters (no air seeders), and the focus crop is corn, so not all of the machinery in this book will be familiar to every

Prairie kid. But, it's still a great book, and I'm giving it away to a lucky winner.

Send me a photo of your sprayer (any colour) in action during the growing season. I'll print out your names, then have my nine-year old Personal Assistant draw a winning name from a hat.

Here are the rules: · The operator must be operating safely. · The photographer must be in a safe place. · Tell me the name of the operator, and a sentence or two about your farm. · Email it to me at Leeann.

Minogue@fbcpublishing. com by August 30. · By sending me your photo, you're agreeing to let me use it in future issues of Grainews and possibly our web site.

If you can't wait for the contest results, you can buy this book online from amazon.ca for $19. / Leeann

JUNE 7, 2016

grainews.ca I

Wheat & Chaff

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Sun safety at work on the farm ver 264,000 Canadian farmers spend most of their workday in the sun.

This means that Canadian agricultural workers are in the highest risk category for sun exposure, according to CAREX Canada, which generates evidence-based carcinogen surveillance. Sun exposure increases your risk of heat stress, skin cancer, and eye diseases. The good thing is that these conditions are preventable!

Sun Awareness Week from June 6 to 12 is about raising awareness of sun safety at work and in your free time.

Addressing the sun as a workplace hazard for both heat and ultraviolet (UV) radiation is important to keep outdoor workers safe. Skin cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in Canada, and heat stress is a common, sometimes deadly, issue for outdoor workers.

Sun Safety at Work Canada is a national project enhancing sun safety for outdoor workers. Just

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like any other workplace hazard, Sun Safety at Work Canada recommends that workplaces include a sun safety program in their occupational health and safety management system or program. For a complete sun safety program, we have developed a Model Sun Safety Program based on the Plan-Do-Check-Act model of improvement.

On the farm, it's simply not possible eliminate exposure to the sun.

Instead, consider engineering controls such as adding shade structures to equipment like tractors and combines, using air conditioning in rest areas and vehicles, and installing UV protective films to windows. Look for a local service provider who installs vehicle window tinting - you might need to find a company who comes to your farm to apply the UV protective films. It may be possible for farms to conduct regular risk assessments for heat and UV, schedule work to minimize sun exposure, post and talk about the daily UV index

and humidex, and run training sessions on sun safety.

Farmers should also wear personal protective equipment such as loose clothing and breathable long sleeves and pants, wide brimmed hats, UV protective eyewear, and sunscreen.

To protect yourself from UV from the sun: 1. Cover up. Wear loose clothing, long sleeves and pants.

2. Protect your eyes. Use UV protective eyewear.

3. Cover your head, neck and ears.

Wear a wide brimmed hat or hard hat with a brim and use a neck flap.

4. Take your breaks in the shade.

Get out of the sun when you can, especially between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. when UV is the strongest.

5. Use sunscreen and lip balm. Use at least an SPF 30 broad spectrum, water resistant sunscreen and don't forget to reapply.

6. Be skin safe. Report changes in skin spots and moles to your doctor as soon as possible.

PHOTO CONTEST

To protect yourself from heat from the sun: 1. Know the signs and symptoms of heat stress.

2. Watch out for symptoms in yourself and others.

3. Wear sunscreen, a hat, and lightweight, loose-fitting clothing.

4. Drink water often, and avoid drinks with alcohol and caffeine.

5. Take breaks in the shade and more often on hot days.

6. Know how your workplace deals with heat stress.

To enhance sun safety in your farm, visit occupationalcancer.ca/sunsafetyatwork for examples of resources that are available now. The project website with all resources and step-by-step instructions for implementing sun safety will launch in summer 2016.

Sun Safety at Work Canada is funded by the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer and Health Canada. / Canadian Agricultural Safety Association and Sun Safety at Work Canada

AGRONOMY TIPS ... FROM THE FIELD

GIVE US YOUR BEST SHOT

5 tips for fungicide application f you've decided to invest in added fungicide protection this season, do everything you can to get your spray spot-on. And to help you get the most out of your investment, I've put together my top five fungicide spray tips.

1. Take a good hard look at your crop. Out of all your fields, which ones will offer you a good return if you protect them with a fungicide?

2. Stage your crop for the correct application timing.

Pay special attention to the leaf stage or per cent flowering.

3. Control your boom height. In ideal situations, you'd like to be about 20 inches above the target to get a good, even spray pattern. You'll know what works on your farm.

4. Water equals coverage. Higher water volumes help ensure that you get optimal fungicide coverage on the plant, letting you penetrate deep into the crop canopy where disease grows and festers.

5. Slow down your sprayer. There's no need to race through your field. Instead, slow down to a controlled speed so that you can get the best possible coverage on the entire plant.

Ultimately, a good fungicide spray will help you protect your yield potential and maintain your quality when your plants are setting yields and filling out. /

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This agronomy tip is brought to you by Rob Klewchuk. Western technical lead with Syngenta Canada.

YOU MIGHT BE FROM THE PRAIRIES IF...

By Carson Demmans and Jason Sylvestre

We couldn't resist this photo that Faye Poffenroth sent in. Faye and her husband Mike farm near Bentley, Alberta.

Faye, we're sending you a cheque for $25.

Send your best shot to leeann.minogue@fbcpublishing.com. Please send only one or two photos at a time and include your name and address, the names of anyone in the photo, where the photo was taken and a bit about what was going on that day. A little write-up about your farm is welcome, too.

Please ensure that images are of high resolution (1 MB is preferred), and if the image includes a person, we need to be able to see their face clearly. / Leeann

You have heard about global warming.

You just don't consider it to be a bad t hing.

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Cover Stories '·'~1t\1G•1hi;t·11 » CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

APPLVING FROM THE AIR like other ag businesses, the aerial application industry is facing growing regulations and public pressure. Lane recommends farmers and agrologists look for aerial applicators who hold all provindal and federal licences.

HELICOPTER A PPLICATION STILL A NICHE

Helicopters seem to have an edge over fixed wing aircraft in some situations. They can turn more quickly and handle fields with more obstacles.

They also come with their own landing pad, usually on the back of the tender truck.

But the CAAA hasn't seen a big increase in helicopter use in either agriculture or forestry, says Lane.

Some fixed-wing operators have added a helicopter to their fleet, she says. The few helicopter companies expanding into aerial application could be driven by slower times in their own market, such as oil, she adds.

Wolf says helicopter applicators are more common in the U.S. In Western Canada, fields tend to be large and uniform, making them suitable for fixed wing aircraft.

But helicopters do compete remarkably well in some areas, he adds.

Wolf sees opportunities with helicopters to have a low-drift spray because other industries where helicopters are used have always had low-drift requirements. "They actually have a number of atomizers at their disposal that drift less than fixed-wing aircraft."

If a helicopter uses the same

Grainews CP nozzles used by fixedwing aircraft, the helicopter's slower speed should add up to a coarser spray. "The faster they fly, typically the finer the spray becomes."

Wolf hasn't done any work on calibration of helicopters yet. But he has worked with fixed-wing aircraft. Asked whether fixed-wing aircraft push spray into the canopy, he said based on his own firsthand experience, they don't.

"It's a bit of a myth."

Wolf hasn't seen first-hand whether rotary aircraft will force the spray into the crop canopy.

But he's sceptical of such claims for several reasons: 1. The helicopter only produces enough downdraft to stay aloft, so the lighter the aircraft, the less downdraft.

2. Forward speed disperses the downdraft force over distance. "So the actual amount of downdraft per square metre is quite low because you're moving forward so quickly."

3. Flying height also comes into play. To avoid wingtip vortices, pilots typically fly higher than they once did.

4. The wind travelling down from the wing arrives at the canopy before any droplets.

Wolf hasn't entirely ruled out downdraft playing a role with rotary aircraft.

"But I wouldn't get one because of it," he says.

And he wouldn't use it as a reason to cut water volumes, either.

For more information on the Canadian Aerial Applicators Assodation, plus an online member directory, visit www.canadianaerialapplicators.com. / Lisa Guenther is a field editor with Grainews based at Livelong, Sask. Contact her at Usa.Guenther@fbcpublishing.com or on Twiner @UoG.

1666 DUBLIN AVENUE, WINNIPEG, MAN. R3H OH1 www.grai news.ca

Access Helicopters In Lee Hart's Farmer Panel in the May 21 issue of Grainews, Saskatchewan farmer Jeff Prosko mentioned he'd be using a helicopter for fungicide applications this year. Everyone at Grainews was curious about the helicopters, so we decided to find out more.

Prosko is also president of ProSoils, a family-owned ag retailer based out of Rose Valley, Sask. Prosko has lined up Access Helicopters to apply the fungicide for ProSoil's clients.

"He tells us where to go spray. And we do that. And they set up the droplet size and all of that. The atomizers, if they want them," says Mike Holcroft, pilot and co-owner of Access Helicopters.

Prosko says the price is competitive with an airplane doing the same application and using the same water volume.

"Our base rate is four gallons per acre and we'll do five if a farmer wants," says Prosko.

Part of the draw of aerial applications is eliminating wheel tracks. Prosko says the helicopter is as effective as a ground rig on application coverage and chemical effidency.

Farmers seem to be excited about the service, says Holcroft. The helicopter eliminates worries about human resources and equipment.

They also like the fact that the crop won't be trampled, he adds.

Holcroft says they can also cover fields that can't be sprayed by a plane, due

to obstacles, coulees or rolling hills.

As a company, Access Helicopters has been applying fungicides for a couple of years, Holcroft says. "The pilots we have flying for us have done it for five, six years now."

Holcroft says they got into this after talking to farmers and seeing them struggle with crewing groundsprayers, training people and machinery costs.

Farmers also wanted to get more water on their crops with aerial applications, Holcroft says, something helicopters can do. Access Helicopters uses B2 and B3 A Stars, which will carry 240 and 265 gallons respectively.

"We can spray upwards of 2,000 acres per day on a good day."

Access Helicopters has a range of clients. Pilots fly adventurers into the backcountry for heli-ski trips.

They also work in mining, flying in people, diamond drills, or any other needed equipment.

"We specialize in aerial cranes so we've got really good long line pilots who work for us."

Holcroft is looking forward to fungicide application season. "In terms of challenges in the helicopter business, it's really kind of moderate. It's a nice business to be in."

Contact ProSoils at (306) 322-2013. / Lisa Guenther

Resistance is manageable, but good agronomic practices are needed to keep it that way

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EDITOR Leeann Minogue FIELD EDITOR Lisa Guenther CATTLEMAN'S CORNER EDITOR Lee Hart FARMLIFE EDITOR Sue Armstrong MACHINERY EDITOR Scott Garvey PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Shawna Gibson DESIGNER Steven Cote MARKETING/CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Lynda lityk CIRCULATION MANAGER Heather Anderson PRESIDENT GLACIER FAR MMEDIA Bob Willcox HEAD OFFICE 1666 Dublin Avenue, Winnipeg, Man. R3H OH1 Phone: (204) 944·5568 Fax: {204) 944-5562 SALES DIRECTOR Cory Bourdeaud'hui Phone: (204) 954·1414 Fax: {204) 944-5562 Email: cory@fbcpublishing.com NATIONAL ADVERTISING SALES Kevin Yaworsky 250-869·5326 kyaworsky@farmmedia.com ADVERTISING SERVICES CO·ORDINATOR Arlene Bomback Phone: (204) 944·5765 Fax: {204) 944-5562 Email: ads@fbcpublishing.com Printed in Canada by Transcontinental LGM-Coronet Winnipeg, Man. GRAINEWS is published by Farm Business Communications, 1666 Dubli n Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3H OH1 .

Publications Mail Agreement No. 40069240.

Canada

Costs of disease and weed resistance n Western Canada, a number of factors have helped keep disease resistance low, including variability of hosts, pathogens, environmental conditions, crop rotation and judicial use of fungicides.

However, there is resistance. Weed resistance in both grass and broadleaf weeds has been identified in fields since 1988. Resistance has been identified to many herbicide groups including 1, 2, 3, 4, 8 and 9. Cases of resistance to multiple modes of action in both grasses and broadleaf weeds have also been documented. Ascochyta in chickpea has been reported to have developed fungicide resistance in the Prairies.

Disease and weed resistance can develop

EDITORIALDIRECTOR Laura Rance

We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Periodical Fund ofthe Department of Canadian Heritage.

Subscription prices:

lill·1ii:li~ii'''

BY GLENDA CLEZY

PUBLISHER Lynda Trtyk

when the same management decisions are used repeatedly. Weed species that produce high amounts of seed, are genetically diverse or are present in high populations in the field are most at risk to develop herbicide resistance.

Disease resistance can be managed through agronomic practices and judicial fungicide use. Agronomic practices such as crop rotation, selection of hybrids or varieties with built-in disease resistance and applying alternating fungicide modes of action will help reduce the opportunity for the development of resistance.

Weed resistance can be managed by reducing the weed selection pressure for herbicide resistant weeds. Tank-mixing herbicides with different modes of action that are both effective on the weeds of concern, rotating herbicide modes of

action in a given field and applying herbicides at various times throughout the season may help reduce selection pressure.

Using cultural or mechanical tools methods to manage weeds can also be effective.

The best way to prevent resistance is scouting fields and incorporating good management practices. Most cases of disease and weed resistance are still manageable, but proactive management is critical to prevent resistance from becoming a larger concern in Western Canada.

Ultimately, effective management to prevent resistance means increased returns in terms of yield and an increased bottom line while leaving multiple control options available for ongoing disease and weed management over time. / Glenda Clezy is an agronomy knowledge manager for DuPont Pioneer.

At Farm Business Communications we have a firm commitment to protecting your privacy and security as our customer. Farm Business Communications will only collect personal information if it is required for the proper functioning of our business. As part of our commitment to enhance customer service, we may share this personal information with other strategic business partners. For more information regarding our Customer Information Privacy Policy, write to: Information Protection Officer, Farm Business Communications, 1666 Dublin Ave., Winnipeg, MB R3H OH1 Occasionally we make our list of subscribers available to other reputable firms whose products and services might be of interest to you. If you would prefer not to receive such offers, please contact us at the address in the preceding paragraph, or caii 1 -~S.0502.

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The ed itors and journalists who write, contribute and provide opinions to Grainews and Farm Business Communications attempt to provide accurate and useful opinions, information and analysis. However, the editors, journalists and Grainews and Farm Business Communications, cannot and do not guarantee the accuracy of the information contained in this publication and the editors as well as Grainews and Farm Business Communications assume no responsibility for any actions or decisions taken by any reader for this publication based on any and all information provided.

JUNE 7, 2016 grainews.ca I

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Features

Soybeans shine with no-till systems Researchers studied com and soybean response to different soil and residue conditions

BY LISA GUENTHER rairie farmers new to soybeans and corn are still figuring out how to adapt their practices to these crops. Researchers at the University of Manitoba are doing the same.

Dr. Yvonne Lawley is part of three projects examining soil and residue management of soybeans and corn. The first project looked at seeding soybeans into wheat residue.

"As soybeans move farther west, they're moving into areas which are usually no-till or minimum till areas," says Lawley.

Farmers are tilling to warm soil for seeding, she adds.

Researchers wanted to know whether soybeans could handle residue. Greg Bartley, a grad student at the University of Manitoba, undertook the twoyear project as part of his grad studies. In the fall of 2013, Bartley and colleagues set up several treatments in large plots at the university's Carman research station, including tall wheat stubble, short wheat stubble, disced stubble, strip till in wheat stubble and a fall rye cover crop.

In 2014 and 2015, soybeans were seeded into each treatment, under ideal temperatures, says Lawley. "We saw some yield differences between the two treatments, but not as dramatic as we thought."

In 2014, yields ranged from 29 to 39 bushels per acre. Fall rye yielded the lowest. Strip-tilled and tall stubble hit 39 bushels.

Discing yielded 35 bushels and the short stubble 34 bushels.

In 2015, researchers used a new row cropper better equipped to handle residue. Lawley says they think they had more hairpinning the previous year. They ended up with a better fall rye stand in 2015. Most importantly, there was no real difference in yields between treatments - they all hit 53 to 54 bushels per acre.

Lawley sees a good news story emerging from this research.

Farmers don't need to switch out of no-till for soybeans, she says. "But we need to adapt how we manage residue prior to soybeans."

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ON-FARM RESEARCH

Researchers are also running on-farm trials looking at the effects of different tillage on soybean and corn residue.

Researchers and cooperating farmers are planting soybeans into corn residue for one project.

The other project is looking at either corn or wheat seeded into soybean stubble.

Grillnews Visit grainews.ca to sign up for enews.

Both trials include treatments using a tandem double discer and vertical tillage. The corn residue trial also looks at strip tillage, while the soybean residue trial includes no-till.

Lawley says vertical tillage treatments include treatments making vertical cuts, chopping residue, and leaving a lot of residue on the surface. But they're also using vertical tillers the way many Western Canadian farmers do "which is basically to be a high-speed disc.

They're incorporating residue aggressively and doing it fast," says Lawley.

Each site uses the same vertical tiller to either till aggressively or to leave more residue on the surface, she says. The tillers have a

wavy cutting coulter on the front and rolling baskets at the end to smooth and finish the surface.

Researchers didn't see any differences between treatments in the soybean residue management experiments. They measured crop emergence, plant stand, and yield in the corn and wheat crops grown in the soybean residue.

In the corn residue project, emergence was the same across all treatments, said Patrick Walther via email. Yield was the same at the Winkler site.

Walther said strip till yielded similar to double discing and low disturbance vertical tillage at the MacGregor site. High disturbance vertical tillage yielded a little higher. But the differences

were very small, he said, and of low statistical significance.

"This is a sneak peak of one season, so I cannot make any conclusions yet," he said.

They do see differences in soil temperature and moisture in both the soybean and corn residue trials. The soil is warmer when the residue is buried, Lawley says.

The no-till treatments have cooler daytime highs and warmer temps at night than other treatments.

The strip tillage is the most interesting so far, Lawley says.

Strip tillage leaves residue between rows but tills intensively in a narrow band in the row. The strip tillage treatments saw high daily temperatures and the lowest night-time temperatures.

Lawley explains the soil was black and shaped into a berm in the strip tillage treatments. That caused it to heat up during the day. But with no residue to insulate it at night, it also cooled off the most, she said.

Lawley thinks farmers might reap benefits from strip till later in the season.

"Roots can get too hot. So having that residue in between the rows can keep roots cooler in the heat of the summer and they can also keep moisture in the ground when it gets dry." This could be helpful when soybeans demand water late in the summer. / Liss Guenther is B field editor with Grsinews btJsed st Livelong, Sssk. Contsct her st Liss.

Guenther@fbcpublishing.com or on Twitter @LtoG.

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Features

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«9;t•1i;i •Stl,_i•1;JJA13 :1•1·11

Stunted canola causes concerns

BY ASHLEY HIDUK

arett, who farms 5,000 acres of canola, durum wheat and lentils south of Regina, Sask., called me in mid-June with concerns about his canola crop. Parts of the plants were purpling and the crop, which was at the six-leaf stage, was considerably smaller than it should have been.

"It's clear to see the canola in my field is quite a bit smaller compared to my neighbour's fields, even though they were seeded around the same time," explained Jarett, who

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was clearly at a loss to explain what was going on.

When I drove up to the canola field to investigate, I could see the symptoms were uniform throughout the entire crop. Walking through the field, I observed purpling stems and leaf margins, which was even more noticeable on older leaves. In addition, the stunted plants were not cabbaging out as they should have been at this stage of growth.

I knew I had to check out all the possible sources of the problem, so I began by ruling out diseases, which I didn't believe would cause these

kinds of symptoms. There were also no insects present, and a review of Jarett's field records revealed no issues with herbicide history. Previous herbicides applied to this field hadn't had any restrictions to canola, making herbicide carry-over in the soil unlikely.

I asked Jarett about environmental conditions at planting time and afterwards, and was told conditions had been good at seeding. Moisture had been adequate, enabling the grower to seed at optimum rates and depth. The canola crop had germinated well and evenly.

Shortly after seeding though,

the weather had turned dry with very little precipitation, Jarett said.

The grower informed me that he'd never experienced problems with nutrient deficiencies in his canola or any of his other crops in previous years. When I inquired further into Jarett's fertility plan, I was told all fertilizer products had been placed in the mid-row band.

At this point, I was beginning to suspect the real cause behind the struggling canola, and subsequent plant tissue tests helped to pinpoint the culprit.

If you think you know what's

going on in Jarett's canola field, send your diagnosis to Grainews, Box 9800, Winnipeg, Man. R3C 3K7; email leeann. minogue@fbcpublishing.com or fax 204-944-5416 c/o Crop Advisor's Casebook. The best suggestions will be pooled and one winner will be drawn for a chance to win a Grainews cap and a one-year subscription to the magazine. The answer, along with the reasoning that solved the mystery, will appear in the next Crop Advisor's Solution File. / Ashley Hiduk is a sales agronomist with Richardson Pioneer Ltd. at Corinne, Sask.

Ashley Hiduk is a sales agronomist with Richardson Pioneer Ltd. at Corinne, Sask.

CASEBOOK WINNER This issue's Casebook winner is Matt Ferguson from Three Hills, Alta.

Matt, thanks for reading and thanks for entering.

We're renewing your Grainews subscription for a year and sending you a Grainews cap.

Leeann Minogue

Parts of the canola plants were purpling and the crop, which was at the six-leaf stage, was considerably smaller than it should have been.

Soil salinity causes flax field troubles

BY RUSSELL THOMPSON

n early summer I received a call from Dustin, who operates a small grain farm near Dauphin, Man. He was seeing emergence issues with his late-seeded flax, and asked me to come have a look.

When I arrived at Dustin's farm and went out to the problem field, I could see established plants, just starting the leaf spiral stage, growing normally, but there were numerous bare patches and in-row plant misses that were essentially devoid of life, with no flax plants or carcasses and very little to no weeds growing in those areas.

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There were a number of factors to consider as we attempted to diagnose the problem.

Going through all the possible causes, we began ruling things out one by one. It wasn't a seed quality issue, nor were wind shear, chemical residue, inadequate soil moisture or excess soil temperature the problem.

Because we were in a dry period mid-summer, following a wet spring and winter, I suspected there might be something going on related to soil salinity. Dustin indicated that he had never run into salinity issues in his many years of farming this particular field, but I knew that other farmers in the area had

observed salinity in their fields, even where historically it had not been an issue.

Going from wet to very dry conditions and with soil moisture being limited due to the dry, hot summer, I knew there would be more salts near the soil surface. The flax stand was poorest in the open, south-facing areas of the field, where the soil appeared driest and there was the most water loss in the surface area of the soil.

We didn't do a soil salinity test because Dustin didn't think the affected area was large enough to warrant one, but all the evidence pointed to excessive soil salinity being responsible for

the poor flax emergence. Flax does not like saline areas, and when soil dries out so quickly as it had on this particular field, salts can be pulled up quickly even if there is no field history of saline issues.

Sadly, there was really no way to salvage the crop in the problem areas, as the damage was already done before the affected plants had a chance to emerge and the living plants were strong and healthy enough to push through. The yield was affected in the thin areas of the field as there was simply no grain to be had in those areas.

Dustin wasn't happy about the situation, but knowing that

the outcome was caused by Mother Nature and wasn't any fault of his, he realized that it was just part of farming. A more salt-tolerant crop like canola or a cereal might have been a better choice given the environment conditions, but the producer couldn't have known he'd be faced with such dry weather during the growing season.

Dustin did decide to test his soil more frequently to monitor soil conditions in this field, and if salinity continued to be a problem, he said he would stop growing flax there. / Russell Thompson is a location assistant with Richardson Pioneer Ud. at Shoal Lake, Man.

JUNE 7, 2016 grainews.ca I

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Features

Apply fungicide when lentils flower If you have valuable lentils out in your field, make sure you protect them from crop disease

BY JULIENNE ISAACS

pray on time - don't wait to see signs of disease.

This is the advice Bobbie Bratrud, who farms near Weyburn, Sask., offers to firsttime lentil growers.

"Because they're so valuable this year my advice would be to spray on time, and don't wait to look for the disease. If you're starting to see signs of the disease you've lost yield potential already," she says.

This year, the Bratruds seeded 2,000 acres of CDC Dazil CL red lentils, alongside canola, wheat, barley and soybeans. Over the last couple of years, they've had issues with ascochyta blight and anthracnose in their area, depending on the weather.

"Our approach for fungicide in lentils is that we generally plan on spraying. We try to do this at the first flower just before the rows close up," she says.

The Bratruds use Priaxor, and effectiveness lasts about seven to 14 days.

According to Dale Risula, the provincial specialist in special crops for Saskatchewan, the three most typical diseases of lentil are ascochyta blight, anthracnose and stemphylium blight. Lesser diseases include sderotinia and botrytis.

All five diseases are dependent on moisture and can be controlled with timely fungicide applications. So far, Saskatchewan hasn't seen much rain, but regardless, farmers have to plan for the worst-case scenario. "You want to be prepared for any potential problems that might come up. It's not an easy decision to make with regard to controlling disease," says Risula.

But overuse of fungicides means the risk of creating resistance. "You don't want to use anything and risk creating insensitivity among disease organisms, but you want to protect your plants at the same time. It's a matter of field scouting, knowing your history, and choosing the right products," he says.

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idly and can change and become more aggressive," says Risula.

He echoes Bratrud in recommending spraying at early flowering, on average the third week of June. However, he cautions growers that spraying without signs of disease can be costly and unnecessary.

"If you're scouting and there's an absence of any signs of disease and you're watching the weather forecast, if it's wet and rainy and the forecast is calling for more rain, the probability is that you'll have disease. If the forecast is dry, you're wasting dollars on fungicide," he says.

If growers are using resistant cultivars and spot just a few lesions, and the weather is shap-

ing up to be wet, "you're not taking that big of a risk by not applying fungicide," Risula says.

As far as fungicide application goes, Risula recommends spraying using adequate water volumes, depending on the crop stand and thickness of the canopy. "If it's really dense and a heavy canopy, apply using a higher water volume to ensure you penetrate the canopy and get better coverage," he says.

"Chances are you won't have that heavy of a canopy, but even so having adequate water volume will ensure better coverage." / Julienne Isaacs is a Winnipeg-based freelance writer and editor. Contact her at julienne. isaacs@gmail.com.

Disease pressure is more likely to be a problem on fields that have been seeded to lentil for multiple years running, and treated with the same modes of action.

CLEAN SEED

Risula says disease management starts with buying clean seed, but this might not have been an option for some growers this year as demand has skyrocketed.

"Some seed treatments can affect spores on the seed if you can't obtain clean seed," he says.

"In some years this is an issue, when the demand is high, and lentil demand this year is super high with a lot of acres going

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in."

He says disease pressure is more likely to be a problem on fields that have been seeded to lentil for multiple years running, and treated with the same modes of action. "If they're overused, you're creating more and more multiplications of the disease, and there are so many possible outcomes of disease that can come from each generation because they morph so rap-

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Running a 24-hour seeding operation Once the drill is parked, Terry Aberhart takes time to look back at his seeding schedule

BY LEE HART

ith the crop in the ground by late May and rainshowers moving in, Terry Aberhart says the post-seeding season will be a good time to think about how they will be approaching plans for the 2017 crop year on their east-central Saskatchewan farm.

Aberhart, who along with family members operates Aberhart Farms at Langenburg, near the Manitoba border, says one of the practices they'll be reviewing over early summer is a new schedule of running one of the seed drills on a 24-hour shift.

"We played around with it a bit in 2015 and after that season dedded to try it further in 2016," he says. Manpower and timing wise it didn't fit in the early part of their 2016 seeding season, "but once we started seeding canola, we decided to the run the drill 24 hours.

"It is one of things we will be reviewing over the coming weeks and there may be some pro and con views, but overall I think it worked quite well."

The Abertharts crop 10,800 acres at Langenburg, about 2.5 hours north and east of Regina.

Running two seed drills, 2016 crops included malt barley, spring wheat, canola and hemp. As well, with a strong market this year, peas are also in rotation,

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they are testing the suitability of faba beans, and so far he's been impressed with the performance of a newer variety of fall-seeded hybrid rye he's contracted to a milling company in Winnipeg.

ON THE NIGHT SHIFT

Running a seed drill 24 hours (two 12-hour shifts) isn't necessarily a new concept, but Aberhart says it might be more common in other areas with flatter farmland and usually drier field conditions.

"One of things I had to think about is if there's a likelihood you're going to get stuck two or three times a day, do you really want to be dealing with that at 2 a.m. when you're out there by yourself," he says.

The test run in 2015 seemed to work fine, so for 2016 they put in a full week of 24-hour seeding with canola the third week of May. With Aberthart and his wife dedding to take the night shifts, he says they would have tried it with some of the early-seeded crops - they started seeding peas in late April - but for different scheduling reasons it worked best for canola. "With the other crops it seemed like I was needed at different places on other parts of the farm, " he says. "And canola might be a bit simpler for seeding just because it requires less tending."

The two 12-hour shifts replaced one operator being out there for

a single 16 to 18 hour shift, says Aberhart. "Part of our thinking was to increase effidency with equipment and keep it running for more hours," he says. "But, as we got into this we're also thinking it is easier on the operator too. It is long enough, but you're not going until you play out - the shift is set at 10 to 12 hours and then the next operator takes over."

Depending on how the day went, Aberhart started his seeding shift between 6 and 8 p.m. and then would turn it over to the next operator around 5 a.m.

"Then I would go home and make sure things were organized for the day crew as they were getting started around 6 a.m., then I would try and catch some sleep between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. when the kids are at school. Once I got up I would check on how things had gone during the day before starting the night shift in the evening."

Aberhart worked the shift with one support worker tending the drill.

GUIDING LIGHT TECHNOLOGY

"For obvious reasons it is nicer to be working in the daylight, but today's equipment has really good lighting systems, and with GPS and autosteer you know exactly where you are in the field, " he says. Through several years of using variable rate application,

Aberhart also has a good mapping system that appears on the monitor in the tractor cab as a further reference point.

"I think it is also important to know your equipment well and also to know your fields well," he says. "That is one of the main reasons I wanted to take the night shift myself."

Aberhart Farms seeds the crop with a 70 foot Salford drill, equipped with sectional controls and a 60 foot Bourgault 8810 hoe drill. As equipment costs increase, Aberhart says it is important to be as efficient as possible. "Going to two 12-hour shift rather than one 16 to 18 hour shift you're roughly seeding about one-third more acres in a day," he says. "So as costs increase it is important to amortize those costs over more acres."

TIPS FOR THE POST-SEEDING SEASON

Reviewing the seeding season shortly after the crop is planted, is one of suggestions Aberhart has for clients through his crop consulting service as well.

As the owner of Sure Growth Technologies, Aberhart says there are several things for farmers to consider once the crop is in the ground.

"One of the big things, just as we are doing, is to have a look at the past season while it is still fresh in your mind, think about

what you might like to change or do differently for the next season," he says. "Have a look at what worked, or didn't work or is there something you'd like to try next year. That sort of review led us to try the 24-hour seeding, and this June we will review it again."

A few other post-seeding tips from the crop consultant: • Once the crop is seeded start scouting fields. How did your equipment perform? Are there any misses with seeding or fertilizer application?

• Make a note of weeds and pay attention for early signs of insects or disease that might affect the crop.

• Immediately following seeding is a good time to service equipment, check out or repair any system that perhaps wasn't working properly during the season.

• Once the crop is seeded it is too late to change seeding decisions, but have a look at what the markets for various crops are doing. See if anything has changed and look for any new marketing opportunities that may be available.

"It is good to catch your breath once the crop is planted," says Aberhart. "But it is also a time to start monitoring your fields to see how everything is growing." / Lee Hsrt is B field editor with Grsinews btJsed in Cs/gsry. Contact him st 403-592-1964 or by emsi/st /ee@fbcpublishing.com

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Variable rate prescriptions work for Beric Haukaas ANNEMARIE PEDERSEN FREELANCE WRITER

eric Haukaas is a fourth generation grain farmer who is sold on the benefits of variable rate prescriptions for seeding his durum and canola crops, and has been using prescriptions on the family farm west of Moose Jaw for the last five or six years.

"Where we farm the soils vary so much basically from pass to pass - between sandy, sandy-day and day-loam, it just made sense to me," says Haukaas. He made the decision to build prescriptions for the whole farm the first year and hasn't looked back.

Traditionally growers apply fertilizer based on the average yield of the entire field. This would not account for the more or less productive areas in that field. With a variable rate application, resources can be applied where they do the most good.

Haukaas uses CPS's platform, called Echelon, because he felt it provided the variability he needed for his incredibly diverse soil conditions. "With Echelon we're able to have as many as 200 prescriptions per field and the range in nitrogen application rates can go from 30 lb. to 150 lb./ac.," says Haukaas. "The plan was tailored to my field without any limitations like zone numbers or size."

Haukaas is typical of the growers now using data, advanced platforms and prescriptions to make the most of his resources and inputs. The shift to adopting new technology is not just being made by the younger farmers but those who have a more business-focused view of their farming operation. It's more about mindset than farm size.

Haukaas has seen the results. "We did check strips the first year or so and in every strip we saw a yield increase or a savings on fertilizer," says Haukaas.

He also mentioned that while his fertilizer budget remained the same, he was able to apply it more effectively, increasing the rates on areas that had shown potential, and reducing the amount on areas that would be less likely to benefit.

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HOW TO BUILD A PRESCRIPTION

The diversity and depth of the data that goes into building a prescription is remarkable. Normalized Difference Vegetation Data (NDVI) is available from the beginning of this century, providing around 15 years of seeding and feeding results with which to forecast. NDVI will look at plant density, growth rates and so on that forecasters use instead of relying solely on soil samples.

Beric Haukaas has been using variable rate prescriptions on his farm for the last 5 or 6 years. His fertilizer budget is about the same but his yields are higher on his fields or he now uses less fertil izer to get the same yield. Higher producing ares of each field get more fertilizer while lower yield potential areas now get less. Some fields have as many as 200 different prescriptions.

As well, yield data and a weather forecasting algorithm are included to predict and weight the results related to past events and the expected weather conditions for the coming year. "Leveraging the power of new technology like the cloud (telemetry) and super computing, with the NDVI and weather algorithm, we can go much deeper than we could if we were just doing soil sampling in set sections of a field," says Tom Staples, Director, Echelon. "We look at the history of that field, combined with different weather events during that history and then use long range weather forecasts to nudge the prescription so that it's set up for the coming growing season."

Platforms like Echelon need to be "colour blind", as much of the technology

differs between equipment manufacturers. Staples sees Echelon as a universal translator, bringing assorted information together to be used jointly to build the prescription. "Our platform is set up to pull from various equipment and handle all formats of data," says Staples. "We can then lay the diverse maps over one another and draw out information that helps make decisions."

Once the prescription has been built, an Echelon technical representative will come out to the farm to load it into the monitor and then help the grower use it, but quite often not before his agronomist has joined the conversation. "I'm not involved with the equipment. We have people who specialize in that," says Ryan Adams, Manager, Agronomic Services, CPS.

Adams' role is to fine-tune the prescription. "We want to make sure it takes into account any issues in the field that we might be aware of," says Adams. An example of this would be an area of peat moss.

Because the satellite imagery (NDVI) is reading how much green matter an area is capable of producing, a peat moss area would be considered highly capable of producing lush, high density crop pockets. This area would then be targeted for higher fertilization rates, which would not work well.

"We would generally pull back on nitrogen in these areas because they tend to mineralize it, but increase phosphorous and potassium," says Adams. "So this is an adjustment we would make to the prescription. In a field that has areas that will only ever yield 30 bu./ac., you give it what it needs to maintain that. Other parts of the field might have better organic matter or soil structure that could produce 60 to 70 bu./ac. so you can allocate the groceries there to achieve that potential."

While the measurement of the success of variable rate fertilizer application is still a work in progress, overwhelmingly those involved with it see the benefits.

Staples takes a big picture view on the possibilities of this technology. "Putting all of this information on top of one another allows us to ask the question behind the question," says Staples. "For example, crop varieties typically are registered based on being the most "consistent" in a number of different conditions.

So, why didn't it yield well in these conditions? By collecting the data behind it we can say this variety does very well on this soil type, if it's fertilized at this rate with this fungicide application."

FLAT FEE GIVES YOU FLEXIBILITY TO BUILD MORE PRESCRIPTIONS AND EXPERIMENT

Staples believes in the benefits and flexibility a standardized service fee offers, where a grower with over 2,000 acres pays one $10,000 fee for the year. "If they're on the flat fee, they can build as many prescriptions for a variety of applications as they like at no additional cost," says Staples. "It encourages them to experiment a bit with fertilizer rates and try something like a variable rate fungicide application."

When asked if he felt the investment was worthwhile, Haukaas was clear. "This is not just a variable rate company," says Haukaas. "These people have become my advisors and the support I get from them, the convenience of having them store and handle my data and help plan the coming year, is the service I pay for. I feel like I get the prescriptions for free." /

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Fusarium or Drought Stress?

Drought can cause white heads in cereal crops. But so can fusarium

BY ANGELA LOVELL

orne forecasters are predicting a hot, dry summer across much of western Canada, which means farmers could see some signs of drought stress - such as bleached heads - in their cereal crops. But how can they be sure these symptoms aren't the result of something else, like fusarium?

"In a lab, we can tell if it's fusarium by looking for spores on the glumes. If they aren't present yet, we can get the spores to form by putting glumes or seeds onto a plate to allow the fusarium to grow for a few days. A pinkish colour is the surefire way to tell it is fusarium," says Faye Dokken-Bouchard,

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provindal plant disease spedalist with the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agrirulture. "Sometimes you can even see spores on the glumes in the field, and there will be a pinkish or orange colour to the spores.

Damage from anything else will not result in pink or orange colour."

Another telltale sign of fusarium might be individual glumes affected as opposed to the whole head. "If the infection took place when flowering started, then the symptoms will often be localized to the middle of the glume because flowering starts in the middle florets and continues up and down the head," says Dokken-Bouchard. "If infection is severe enough, however, it can affect more than individual

glumes." Infected glumes may not produce seed, or have withered, chalky kernels.

DROUGHT STRESS: TRICKY TO CALL

Famers who know their fields well, and know where the wet spots usually are, may see some subtle differences to help them figure out what's causing bleached heads.

During moisture stress, symptoms are likely to be present throughout the entire field. However, even during drought, the whitened heads might appear in scattered dusters in the field, says Pratisara Bajracharya, a plant pathologist with Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Development.

"Even in drought conditions, there may be areas of the field which would have a little better supply of water than the other areas, so in those areas if the damage is due to drought stress only, you should see less white heads, so they would be present in scattered dusters," she says. "Sometimes if there is double seeding in an area, that area would be partirularly bad during a drought too."

When plants don't have sufficient water they make physiological sacrifices in an attempt to set some seed. Depending on the stage, this can mean premature ageing of leaves, heads or the entire plant. High salinity can also play a role, particularly during drought stress. Low tempera-

tures can also stress plants and damage immature heads. Excess moisture early in the season can cause plants to develop shallow roots and make them more sensitive to heat stress later in the season as they develop.

Could herbidde damage also be responsible for white heads in cereals? It's unlikely, says Bajracharya, espedally if there are no other telltale signs of herbicide damage, and as long as the tank has been properly cleaned out and the herbicide sprayed at the appropriate time and at the correct labelled rate.

THE PROBLEM WITH FUSARIUM

Fusarium can infect crops at different stages, so early on it can cause seedling blight and emergence problems if it's on the seed or already present in previous crop stubble. The first line of defence is for farmers to use dean seed. Seed treatments can also take care of most of these problems, says Bajracharya. "But if fanners see plants wilting and not doing well early on in the season they might want to bring them in for testing because it's hard to know if there is a fusarium infection or not at this stage," she says.

How effective seed treatments are will depend on the spedes of fusarium present on the seed and the percentage of infection.

"If there is two to three per cent of fusarium graminearum present, which is the spedes that causes mycotoxins in the finished grain, it might be worthwhile to invest in seed treatment, but at five per cent the seed treatment might not work very effidently. If the predominant spedes of fusarium are other spedes then a seed treatment could be effective up to 10 per cent."

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Seed treatments won't prevent fusarium head blight during later growth stages but will help with early season issues like poor emergence and seedling blight caused by fusarium.

Fusarium spores can also blow in with the wind and cause infection at the flowering stage, even if there isn't a pre-established population of fusarium in the field. Fusarium infection depends largely on weather patterns, which should be the next due. "For fusarium infection, a prolonged period of hot and humid conditions is required," says Bajracharya. "The infection starts when it's hot, but there is moisture present because of rainfall, and normally symptoms would start developing three days after the infection has set in. So there is a rainfall event and fanners are seeing some of these symptoms it's more likely to be fusarium because rainfall was involved."

Unfortunately, once the infection is established and fanners see symptoms, they can't do anything to protect the rest of the crop. "Fusarium

JUNE 7, 2016 grainews.ca

Features head blight is a monocytic disease, which means there will only be one disease cycle per season, so unlike polycylic diseases (where you can look for early symptoms and apply fungidde to prevent disease from spreading), symptoms mean the damage is done. The rest of the crop cannot be protected, but assuming the crop is at the same stage, it's also not going to be susceptible anymore because fusarium head blight can only infect flowering crops," says Dokken-Bouchard.

The seed may still be infected, and even if there is no visible kernel damage, and therefore no grade impact, farmers should get the seed tested if they plan to plant it, as infected seed may still negatively affect seed germination and stand establishment.

SPRAY IF INFECTION IS LIKELY

Farmers should consult provincial fusarium head blight risk forecast maps, which are published online daily during the prime infection periods. These maps help predict the level of risk for infection in different areas based on weather station data from the previous few days. If local weather forecasts predict conditions conducive to infection, and crops are come into flowering, each farmer must dedde whether or not to spray fungiddes based on whether infection is likely to occur.

"Timing of a fungidde application is crucial, so we are emphasizing that farmers spray only during flowering when the crop is most

susceptible to fusarium infection," says Bajracharya. "All of the fungicides registered for fusarium head blight are only for the purpose of suppression and they don't provide complete control. Because of that we recommend that they spray only when infection is more likely. Using the forecast maps would tell them the fusarium risk for that day and if the crop is flowering, and the risk is high, an infection could be likely so they may want to spray at that time."

"Even after harvest, Fusarium graminearum will continue to produce mycotoxins as long as the fungus is living, so it's important not to harvest when the moisture content is more than 14 per cent if it is for grain," says Bajracharya .

"For green feed it is recommended that at the time of harvest, it is at least 20 per cent dry. It's something to keep in mind because even if you couldn't avoid the infection, you could still lower the amount of mycotoxin accumulation because that's one of the factors in determining the quality of grain."

Although no one can plan ahead for drought, planning can definitely help reduce the risk of fusarium infection. Rotating non-host crops such as pulses or alfalfa and ensuring there is at least one, and preferably two, years between host crops such as wheat, barley and corn can help reduce the level of pathogens that survive in crop residues. /

Once the infection is established and farmers see symptoms of fusarium, they can't do anything to protect the rest of the crop.

Angela Lovell is a freelance writer, editor and conmunications specialist living and working in Manitoba. Find her online at www. angela /o vel/. ca.

flour: Good for baking and noodles and pasta and ...

CWRS

Known around the world for its high quality and high protein, Canada Western Red Spring wheat is also highly regarded for its versatility. Ideal for the production of high-volume pan breads in major markets like Canada and the United Kingdom, CWRS is equally at home in Asia where it is used in the manufacture of pan bread, yel low alkaline noodles, wonton noodles, instant noodles and other Asian products. Meanwhile in Latin American countries like Venezuela, CWRS is used to produce pasta. Now that's versatility!

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Canadian International Grains Institute

12 I

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Is rotating your herbicides enough?

Integrated weed management can slow h erbicide resistance, but rotation is just one piece

BY A NGELA LOVELL

ntegrated weed management (IWM) is not rotating herbicides or modes of action. IWM is combining one of more different weed management techniques, such as chemical, cultural, physical or biological weed control.

Some IWM methods are easy to implement, such as making sure you select good, certified seed that will grow vigorously and out-compete weeds. Seeding at a higher rate than normal is another surefire way of suppressing weeds.

Having a better crop rotation doesn't encourage the same weeds to grow every year and proliferate.

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"Those are some of the real basics, but when you combine them, and you do enough of those little things, you won't have to use herbicides so often," says Neil Harker, weed ecology and crop management research scientist with AAFC's Research and Development Centre at Lacombe, Alberta.

W EED RESISTA NCE DRIVING IW M

Increasing weed resistance problems across Canada and other areas of the world are driving more and more farmers to look at IWM. "If we can find ways to use herbicides less often,

we put less selection pressure on weeds for resistance," says Harker.

"Integrated weed management is being driven right now by producers' desire to avoid, or restrict weed resistance."

Early seeding, if possible, is another useful tool to try and get a jump on some weeds. "Early seeding will give you a relative time of emergence advantage and that's huge on weeds," says Harker. "For weeds that don't come up that early, if the crop can get a couple of weeks ahead of them, the herbicides will work much better because they don't need to be as active. And the crop has much less yield loss, so there's less need for herbicide."

But seeding the same crops early every year isn't necessarily beneficial, adds Harker. "If we did all early seeding on all our crops year after year on our fields, we would select for weeds that emerged earlier than the crop or we'd select for weeds that came up much later and could still proliferate," he says.

AIM FOR DIVERSE ROTATIONS

It's better to have a crop rotation that encourages different seeding dates, such as fall seeding winter cereals such as winter wheat, winter triticale or fall rye.

"When you do that, you don't even need a wild oat herbicide

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because the crop is so far ahead of the wild oat in the spring," says Harker.

Winter cereals, particularly fall rye, are competitive with wild oats because they emerge long before wild oats, but winter cereals should not be grown continuously or winter annual weeds like downy brome can become a problem. The key message is that a diverse crop rotation is more effective to control weeds than a less diverse rotation of annual crops.

One of the biggest impediments to IWM is crop prices.

"Everybody wants to grow the most profitable crop each year so they' ll stick with more simple rotations. It's no surprise that because we grow summer-annual crops year-after-year that our biggest weed problems for the last 40 years are summer-annual weeds such as wild oats, wild buckwheat, and green foxtail," says Harker.

If farmers include a perennial forage such as alfalfa in the rotation, it can dramatically reduce weed pressure. "Perennial forages allow us all kinds of different methods for suppressing weeds and reducing weed seed production," says Harker.

Field surveys (just before spraying) from Manitoba and Saskatchewan found the average weed density in cereal crops following cereal crops was 106 plants/mz. The average weed density in cereal crops following alfalfa was only 48 plants/mz.

As well, problem weeds such as wild oats, Canada thistle, wild mustard and cleavers were significantly lower in cereal fields preceded by alfalfa. However, populations of weeds such as stinkweed and dandelion can increase by having alfalfa in rotation.

Research has shown that an optimum rotation should include three years of alfalfa followed by three years of annual cropping.

The benefits of weed suppression and added nitrogen from this rotation begin to decline after the alfalfa stand is threeyears-old. Alfalfa is best removed in fall with a herbicide application as tillage can dry out soils and affect yields of the following annual crop and stimulate annual weeds to germinate.

Fertilizer management is another crucial factor in IWM. Broadcasting fertilizer feeds weeds as much as the crop, and too much fertilizer in the seed row can damage the crop's ability to compete. "That can happen if you are seeding too fast or have worn openers or are just being careless," says Harker. "Fertilizer is really important, because when you feed the crop properly, and place it correctly, you can give it an advantage over weeds."

LIMITING THE SPREA D OF W EEDS

Research is underway all over the world into physical weed control methods, especially in Australia where they are looking at harvest weed seed control by collecting or baling chaff, or crushing weed seeds with the Harrington Seed Destructor.

JUNE 7, 2016 grainews.ca

Features An inexpensive and simple weed control method is limiting their spread from field to field and there are many things producers can do to accomplish this. They can ensure that equipment such as combines are dean before moving to the next field, use a chaff wagon to collect weed seeds, and tarp grain loads to prevent weed seeds from blowing out during transport. Producers can control weeds such as Canada thistle and scentless chamomile in ditches, field edges and around sloughs, and compost manure for at least a year before using on fields to reduce the viability of many weed seeds. Monitoring fields carefully may allow for spot spraying of new weeds before they become too established.

A new project at AAFC in Lacombe is using a CombCut to cut weeds before they can set seed. "I believe that producers should remain open minded to some of these new ideas," says Harker. "Before they weren't interested because they were happy with herbicides, but they're less happy now."

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http://www1 .agric.gov.ab.ca!$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/agdex8712 6. Maintain fertility: When increasing seeding rates, fertility must be maintained to produce higher yields.

In studies, increasing the seeding rate of barley only gave higher yields when fertility was adequate, and actually resulted in decreased yields when fertility was too low.

7. Choose good seed: Plant vigorous seed to help produce a competitive crop, particularly when conditions for germination and seedling growth are less than ideal such as in cold, dry soils or when there is disease or insect pressure. Test seed for both germination and vigor prior to seeding to assess how quickly and

uniformly the seed will germinate under stressful conditions.

8. Diversify crop rotations: Production systems that create diversity in cropping patterns, tillage and herbidde use make it diffirult for weeds to adapt. Rotating between annual grain crops such as field peas, canola and spring cereals provides an opportunity to rotate between herbidde groups, thereby slowing the development of weed resistance. Unfortunately herbidde resistance is increasingly becoming an issue for farmers as weeds adapt, particularly in less diverse, annual crop rotations. Diversifying rotations by including annual crops, perennial forages, winter cereals and silage crops creates variation in cropping patterns such as seeding and harvest dates, and makes it hard for weeds to adapt.

9. Use herbicides optimally: IWM can create an opportunity to reduce herbidde use, but herbiddes are still a powerful weed management tool and producers should generally use the

recommended label rates. It may be possible to avoid a herbidde application if weeds do not reach economic thresholds. The economic weed threshold is the weed density at which the cost of control is equal to the value of the crop yield lost from weed competition.

For example, say a 60 bu./ ac. barley crop is worth $2.50/ bu, and the cost of applying a herbicide to control wild oats is $16/ac. Based on the crop and application prices, the farmer can afford to lose 6.4 bu./ac. (a 10.6 per cent yield loss) before the application of the herbicide would be cost effective.

For more detailed information about IWM practices visit Alberta Agriculture and Forestry's website at http://www1.agric.gov. ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/ all/agdex8712. / Angela Lovell is a freelance writer, editor and communications specialist litling and working in Manitoba. Find her online at www.angelalovell.ca.

IWM STRATEGIES THAT WORK

These strategies are listed with thanks to Alberta Agriculture and Forestry: 1. Early seeding: Seeding as early as possible has a number of advantages. It can help prevent weeds from getting a head start on the crop. Research shows that yield loss in barley can vary from 17 per cent when wild oats emerge five days before the crop to only three per cent when wild oats emerge five days after the crop. Early seeded crops can take advantage of spring moisture and longer growing days to provide a yield advantage. Early seeding canola results in less flower blasting because the crop flowers before the hottest part of the summer. Delaying seeding to control initial flushes of weeds can result in yield loss that exceeds the cost of applying an in-crop herbicide.

2. Seed shallow: Seed as shallow as possible for quicker emergence. Seeding deep, especially into cool soils can delay emergence, and make seedlings more susceptible to disease and herbicide damage.

Under good moisture conditions, seed canola and cereals no deeper than half an inch and one inch, respectively. In dry soils, seed canola and cereals at one and two inches, respectively.

3. Pack the seed row: Pack the seed row well after drilling in the seed to retain more soil moisture for crop germination. Soil between the seeded rows remains looser and drier, and is not ideal for weeds to germinate.

4. Watch row spacing: Wider row spacing, beyond 12 inches, can reduce crop emergence and competitiveness with weeds due to inter-plant competition.

5. Seed at higher rates: Generally a higher seeding rate will help crops outcompete weeds and increase yield. Studies have shown that increasing the recommended seeding rate by 50 per cent reduced weed biomass in three of four years in wheat, canola and barley and in two of four years in peas. Yields also increased in two of four years in canola, barley and peas and in one year in wheat.

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14

I grainews.ca JUNE 7, 2016

Features

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Using your semi to haul in a profit Now that you have a semi on the farm, is commercial grain hauling a viable money-maker?

BY SUSANNA HEINRICH he next time you find yourself driving down any dirt road on the Prairies, take a look into the first (inhabited) farm yard you pass. And the next one. And the one after that.

Chances are beyond the windwhipped, tarp-covered shelter, the stock-piled andent equipment and the friendly farm dog, you'll notice a big rig. Apparently just sitting there. Maybe still covered with remnants of the last snowfall. Why is that? Why is that truck just sitting there? It's costing someone money.

Could or should it not be put to better use - for something other than a farmyard ornament? I sup-

T

pose there may be a few things to consider first.

Semi-trucks have become a virtual necessity in the farm operations of today. Scale dictates that to support itself, a certain threshold of acres must be sown and another ''break even" quantity of grain must be harvested. To do this in a timely fashion, the large trucks just make logistical sense. But, you've only got so much of your own grain to haul (more so in some years than others), what about working that truck for a neighbour: does it pay?

According to Chad Manz, farmer and budding commercial truck driver, it does. Or, it has. He purchased his super-B trailers late last year. As he sees it, most farms already have semis. Lots of guys

will do the short hauls from their yard to the nearest elevator but for those longer hauls, they are looking for the super-B trailers and newerperhaps more reliable - equipment to get the job done.

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Consider the business angles Chad is primarily a farmer, now. Last winter he had off farm employment. He didn't want to go down that road again, so last fall he made a purchase of brand

new trailers and is enjoying some of the benefits of being able to remain in his community: coaching a minor hockey team, playing a bit himself and "staying local." The daily commute is from his farm yard to any neighbouring farm that requires his services.

At the time of purchase he decided to have everything "safetied" (tested to ensure the vehicle meets safety standards) and put commercial plates on. In the few months he's been going at this, he's covered off some of the upfront start-up costs of such a side-business - cost like that of having his truck and trailers safetied and the extra insurance and licensing fees. He's not out

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anything. As the opportunity arises, he will capitalize and benefit from the diversification. He's making his payments, staying close to home and expanding the family farm business with yet another revenue stream.

A NEW BUSINESS START UP

Eric Micheels, an assistant professor in the Department of Agricultural Resource Economics at the Uni versi ty of Saskatchewan, says this is ultimately a business dedsion to expand and diversify your farm, or not.

You do have to be careful you are working in a localized market. Is there enough business in your area? He says you need to ask yourself some questions, like has anyone beaten you to the punch? How much competition are you fadng?

As the potential owner/operator of another business, you have got to consider the business angles before taking the leap. Factors such as labour availability and reliability, paper work, logistics of lining up the day-to-day operations, additional cost of licensing, insuring, fuel (remember, you'll go from farm-priced diesel to commercial: on any given day this varies by 13 to 15 cents per litre, sometimes more), time management and the wage of whomever you have driving the outfit.

On top of that, you've still got your farm to consider and your own commodity to haul.

In Manz' area of Saskatchewan, both of the local elevators are expanding - doubling their capadty from SO to 100 car spots - and he wanted to capitalize on that. As local capacity grows, so does the area from which to draw business.

If your farm has just one or two employees, the financial input required for larger trailers and the time commitment of long hauls may not be feasible. That's where entrepreneurs like Chad come in to play. And he's happy to pick up the work.

The realities of this diversification will take some real consideration, it could very well be worth your time. If you've got a good labour pool that you want to maintain throughout "slower" winter months, perhaps this is a method of keeping them on the payroll - maybe year round - to ensure they are there for you when your crunch time comes. There is always potential to expand as your "local" market begins to encompass a larger area.

Word of mouth could open doors you never before knew existed.

If you're entrepreneurial and like the idea of diversifying your farm operation in this manner you'll also have to become aware

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Features of the rules regarding commercial hauling. In Saskatchewan there are all kinds of regulations as to what you can haul, how far and with what vehicles. Different commodities may have different licensing requirements (i.e. fertilizer is different than grain or livestock).

According to information from Kelly Brinkworth, Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI) spokesperson, in Saskatchewan Class C is a restricted commercial plate. There are limits on the goods that may be transported for others.

The cost of plating a highway tractor with commercial (class C) plates is more than twice that of putting Class F (farm) plates on.

For the 39,900 kg weights, the difference is a whopping $1,330 for farm to $2,900 for commercial. Additionally, the insurance coverage included with the commercial plates is greatly reduced, thus requiring the purchase of additional damage/accident insurance. Another start-up cost is that of having your commercial vehicle pass and maintain all provincial safety standards. It may also be necessary (and wise) to maintain cargo and additional liability insurance as prescribed under "The Safety and Fitness Regulations," as defined by SGI. But note: if you put commercial plates on your vehicle this does not restrict or limit you from transporting anything from your own farm operation in the now commercially registered vehicle.

The trailer(s) your unit is pulling will also require a class TS (semi-trailer) plate. Again, additional damage coverage would be required to be purchased separately from your plate coverage.

Increased wear and tear on your vehicles and trailers may also become a factor. Is it worth the depreciation? If things are relatively new or solid, it might be. You can use some of your revenue and put it toward an upgraded vehicle. But if the added work load is going to bring in extra dollars only to see them going out again on costly repairs, you may need to make a capital investment to improve your equipment or consider putting your efforts into other areas.

Manz has already overcome that hurdle. After the purchase of the trailers in late 2015, and some experience (and an idea of the market yet to come) under his belt, he purchased a newer highway tractor in January of this year.

As Chad had stated, this year his cash cow has been the large volume of lower quality durum out there. Farmers looking to market the product further from home has kept him on the road with paying customers. What will it be next year? Nobody knows, but in the event of a lost revenue stream, he'll pull the "C" plates off and put the old girl to bed in his yard - back under the blanket of snow. /

It's time for Ag In Motion This July, Grainews staff will be on hand for a second tour of duty at Ag in Motion, Western Canada's outdoor farm expo.

The show was a great success last year, and we're really looking forward to returning.

Ag in Motion runs from July 19 to 21, 15 minutes northwest of Saskatoon. Find the details at www.aginmotion.ca. / Leeann Minogue

Lisa Guenther walks the red carpet on her way to the DuPont Pioneer tent.

Show director Rob O'Connor opens the 2015 Ag in Motion show.

Susanna Heinrich is a farmer, trucker and mother on a farm near Davidson, Sask.

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I grainews.ca JUNE 7, 2016

Features

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Apply fungicide when lentils flower BOO H #6207 - LOT L (Outside opposite main entrance to Credit Eventplex) Get a FREE Sorting Stick

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hether you're an old hand at growing lentils, or relatively inexperienced, it's worth brushing up on a few harvest tips before the combines start rolling.

Harvest success begins before seeding. It's best to pick land that's fairly level and stone-free, says Dale Risula, provindal spedalist with Saskatchewan Agriculture in Regina.

"Rolling your land is a really crudal point, particularly if you are going to be sowing the small reds, which are shorter-statured plants," Risula adds.

Harvest procedures are similar for both the larger green and small red lentils. But the greens are a little more indeterminate in their growth.

"Basically that means they'll keep flowering or keep growing until they get a stress of some kind - heat, drought, low nitrogen," says Shannon Chant, regional crops spedalist with Saskatchewan Agriculture in Swift Current.

That means farmers will need to apply a desiccant or a pre-harvest herbidde to green lentils such as glyphosate to dry down the crop, making it more uniform for harvest. Most farmers desiccate red lentils too, says John Ippolito, Saskatchewan Agriculture regional crop spedalist in Kindersley.

Farmers have choices when it comes to desiccants and pre-harvest herbiddes. Ippolito suggests farmers think about what they're trying to achieve when picking a chemical.

For example, glyphosate is really a pre-harvest weed control, mainly for perennials. As a result "it's a really slow dry-down product," says Ippolito. But, he says, many farmers in his area prefer it because it controls weeds.

Glyphosate can also decrease germination, so farmers wanting to save seed should look at a different product. Ippolito says some farmers avoid using glyphosate on a portion of their lentils so they can save seed.

Whether farmers are using glyphosate, a diquat such as Reglone, or a different product, timing is crucial.

"A lot of people seem to have the idea they can apply a desiccant and speed up maturity," says Risula.

But the chemicals actually help dry down a crop that's already mature, he says. In fact, applying desiccants or glyphosate too early is more likely to leave residue in the grain, causing problems with maximum residue limits (MRLs), Risula adds.

But waiting too long has its risks, too.

"If it does get hot and dry, they can get away on you quite quickly," says Ippolito. Last year he walked into a field slated for desiccation that day. "And there was already seed on the ground."

Chant cautions farmers should check labels for desiccation timing, as it does vary between products.

Most products are applied at around 30 per cent moisture. Lower pods

W

will be tan or brown, and rattle in the pod. Middle pods will also be brown. The top might have green pods, or even still be flowering.

Most of the yield comes from the lower pods, so farmers are better off trying to keep them from shattering than worrying about whether the top pods are ready to harvest.

Risula says farmers are more likely to lose lentils from the top after desiccation anyway.

"They're more subject to frost at that time of year," says Risula.

"And if you leave them too long, you'll have smaller lentils in your sample."

How long farmers will have to wait until harvest varies between products as well. Farmers using glyphosate are looking at two to three weeks before harvest, Ippolito says.

Crops sprayed with Diquat, on the other hand, will probably be ready to harvest after a week, assuming the weather cooperates, Ippolito adds.

COMBINING TIPS

Most farmers straight-cut lentils these days, and it's usually preferable. If a crop has matured too quickly because of hot, dry weather, Risula says it might be better to swath. But farmers then run the risk of rain in the swath.

Large greens do retain their colour better when swathing, Ippolito says. But farmers are looking at least 10 days between swathing and combining, upping the weather risk. Desiccation and straight cutting don't adversely affect red lentil quality, he adds.

Ippolito says lentils are "probably a little more prone to shattering than most of the other crops we deal with."

All three crop spedalists recommend combining a little on the tough side. Risula suggests combining at somewhere above 15 and below 20 per cent moisture.

"If it's outside of that range, you're either going to get a mashing of the lentil or a cracking of the seed coat," he says Lentils have a fairly brittle seed coat when they dry, so they should be handled gently, Chant says.

She suggests farmers should "slow everything down a bit" in their

combines. Chant also suggests redudng speed while combining.

"That will reduce your shattering and cutter bar issues."

Higher humidity is easier on the lentils at harvest, Chant says. "If it's really dry and really, really hot, too, then things are more brittle," she adds.

She also suggests combining a bit of a field edge before harvesting the entire lentil crop.

"See if it's chipping or if you need to change things, espedally if you're a first time lentil grower," Chant says.

Once in the bin, green lentils should be dried down to 14 per cent, and reds 13 per cent, Chant says.

If lentils have been harvested under a lot of heat, they'll be gassing off moisture and C02 in the bin, Risula says. It's wise to aerate and monitor lentils closely in these circumstances, he adds. Any green material will also make it harder to dry the grain, he adds.

Ideally, farmers will have controlled any disease earlier in the growing season.

"If you know that there's disease in it, then chances are it's not going to make very good quality seed the following year because some of those diseases can be carried over from one year to another on the seed coat," says Risula.

Farmers growing both red and green lentils need to thoroughly clean trucks and equipment between the two lentil types, Chant says.

"I kind of think Christmas lentils look a little festive but the buyers don't want them," she jokes.

"So avoid Christmas lentils."

Farmers can reach crop spedalists, including John Ippolito, Shannon Chant, and Dale Risula, by calling the Ag Knowledge Centre at 1-866457-2377. Staff members are available to answer general questions or to do field calls, Chant says.

Both the Saskatchewan Pulse Growers and Saskatchewan Agriculture have information on growing lentils at Saskpulse. com and Saskatchewan.ca/agri culture. / Lisa Guenther is a field editor with Grainews based at Livelong, Sask. Contact her at Lisa.

Guenther@fbcpublishing.com or on Twitter @LioG.

JUNE 7, 2016 grainews.ca

Features •.,,_141ii·1di;i·11

Stripe rust on the horizon for winter wheat Keep an eye on the weather. Precipitation m ay bring you more than just moist soil

BY JULIENNE ISAAC S

tripe rust is moving up the Pacific Northwest, so western Canadian producers might see infections in winter wheat this spring, says Randy Kutcher, associate professor at the University of Saskatchewan.

Last year, there was a lot of stripe rust throughout the continent, but it was too dry on the Prairies to become a major concern for winter wheat producers. "We didn't have rain in Saskatoon until the end of July," says Kutcher.

Stripe rust - a cousin of stem rust and leaf rust - thrives in cool, moist conditions. Most inoculum spreads northward from the U.S. to the prairie provinces, although Canadian researchers are investigating the possibility that stripe rust is overwintering in Alberta and, to a lesser extent, Saskatchewan.

This year, because of the prevalence of stripe rust in several northern U.S. states, inoculum may travel on spring winds into the prairie provinces as early as April.

If the weather grows moist, producers should be on the alert. But if temperatures stay dry and warm, there may be nothing to worry about.

"There are three things that make a disease: a susceptible crop, a pathogen and the right weather," says Kutcher.

S

"Weather conditions are the ultimate factor - if it stays warm and dry, and they're predicting El Nino will hang on, that will limit the amount of disease here."

Kutcher has completed three years' worth of work on a varietal resistance and fungicide timing study for spring wheat.

His team's winter wheat project, which looks at varietal resistance, is in year one.

He says spraying should depend on when the spores arrive.

"Winter wheat producers should be considering spraying at flowering (anthesis) time or even earlier if the situation warrants it," he says.

VARIETY RESISTANCE

Denis Gaudet, a research scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's Lethbridge Research Station, has led stripe rust surveys over the last several years in Alberta.

He says his team generally heads out to the field in late fall and mid-April, or as soon as the spring growth is underway.

"It's been a fairly mild winter, and we certainly saw lots of stripe rust around last fall on the winter wheat, so it could overwinter this year," he says.

If stripe rust does overwinter in the Prairies, or blows in early, frequent and thorough scouting will be key for early

management. When scouting, producers should check new leaves for pustules arranged in longitudinal rows along the leaf veins.

Gaudet says spraying too early might be ineffective, as the crop may become reinfected later in the season - or, depending on the weather, stripe rust may not become an issue at all.

"The important thing to remember there is that you only need to protect the flag leaf and the penultimate leaf with fungicide," he says.

But Gaudet says spraying early isn't necessarily the best strategy for Prairie winter wheat producers. "Last year, we had an overwintering event in southern Alberta, but because of the dry conditions that we had from late May on until mid-July, we didn't get any serious stripe rust development," he says. "It was a case where if you'd gone out and sprayed you would have wasted your money."

He recommends producers closely monitor winter wheat spring growth and keep an eye on the weather before making any spraying decisions.

But by far the most effective management strategy is the use of resistant varieties. Robert Graf, a winter wheat breeder with AAFC, says producers growing winter wheat varieties that are considered

"intermediate" have some protection but should keep a close eye on their fields.

"I would suggest that anything that is rated resistant (R) or moderately resistant (MR) has a good level of resistance," he says.

Varieties that have a resistant or moderately resistant rating are AAC Gatzeway, CDC Chase, Emerson, Moats and AAC Wildfire. In the general purpose class, varieties that are rated moderately resistant are Peregrine, Pintail, Sunrise and Swainson.

AAC Wildfire is a newly released variety currently in the multiplication stage.

Graf says it looks very good for stripe rust resistance, as do AAC Gateway, Emerson and Moats.

For producers who planted non-resistant (susceptible) varieties in the fall, management recommendations boil down to careful scouting. "Scout by the end of May, or as soon as it starts to green up, and use a fungicide only if necessary," says Kutcher.

Gaudet adds that while stripe rust starts in winter wheat, the disease moves readily into spring wheat, which covers the largest acreage in Western Canada.

Decisions to select resistant spring wheat varieties can still be made. / Julienne Isaacs is a Winnipeg-based freelance writer and editor. Contact her at julienne.isaacs@gmail.com.

Celebrating the Registration of Prosper & Faller Seed Depot is exated to announce the successful registration of the Prosper and Faller wheat varieties.

We have waited a long time for the opportunity to make these high yielding US milling wheat varieties available to Western C anadian farmers .

We "rish to celebrate this occasion by donating the entire production of Prosper wheat from the one of the flrst fields of Prosper sown since it became a registered variety, 105 acres just north of Crystal City, MB .

The entire production will be donated to the Canadian Food Grains Bank to feed the hungry in third world nations.

Richardson Pioneer® will be the exclusive retailer of Prosper certified seed, apart from Warburtons contracting opportunities.

F aller Certified seed will be available at Seed Depot dealers for spring 20 16 .

PIONEER® FOR THE SALE AND DISTRIBUTION OF SEED IS A REGISTERED 1RADE-MARK OF PIONEER HI-BRED INTERNATIONAL, INC.AND IS USED UNDER LICENSE BY THE UNAFFILIATED COMPANY RICHARDSON PIONEER LIMITED .

Wheat

18

I grainews.ca JUNE 7, 2016

Columns

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Profiting from losses Watch earning reports and follow good selling rules ANDY SIRSKI

n early May, Disney (DIS) missed its coqx>rate earnings target. Its share prices were knocked down by $6 per share in overnight trading. I don't own Disney shares, but I think this is a good company with a solid business and finandal future. Six dollars on a stock trading at $106 likely isn't such a big deal. Microsoft shares dropped $6 on a $55 stock, which is almost a 10 per cent drop.

Some members in my Technical Analyst group have made it a rule not to hold stocks during earnings report time, simply because many stocks drop right after their corporate earnings come out, for one of two reasons.

One: if the earnings outlook is bad and earnings miss the target, share prices drop. Two: if the market is optimistic about good earnings, shares are bid up; then the excitement fades and prices fall after earnings come out. I don't have any statistics on how many stocks go up or go down after earnings reports come out - all

I

I have is my own experience. I'm guilty of thinking that old confident feeling that says, "this stock is such a good stock it can't possible drop that much." And it does.

Some shares come back after a fall. I believe Microsoft will come back up and go to new highs. But in the meantime I could have sold 1,100 shares at $55 before the earnings report came out, then bought them back at $52, $51 or even $50 per share.

Sometimes our fear of missing out on profit is much bigger than our fear of losing money. Oil stocks, gold stocks and other stocks might come back up but there is no guarantee. And there is no guarantee that we will have the patience to hold a losing stock until it comes back up - if it ever does. Take Research in Motion (now known as BlackBerry Limited). RIM used to trade for US$140 per share. Now its share price is under $10. Will that stock ever get back to $140?

I doubt it.

There are several ways to protect your portfolio and your mental health from losses. I think the best protection is to have good selling rules. W. ]. O'Neil, author of How to Make Money in Stocks: A Winning System in Good Times or Bad, says that if a stock drops eight

per cent below your purchase price, you should sell. He says: sell first and ask questions later.

Sometimes this might be the wrong thing to do, but it sure protects your money

MAKE MONEY IN A FALLING MARKET One way to make money in a falling market is to buy puts on the shares when the share price starts to drop. I have yet to learn how to do this strategy. So far, I have relied mostly on selling to preserve cash.

There have been at least four times since 2000 when buying puts on an index or some good stocks or even oil or gold would have been a money-making strategy as stock prices dropped.

Another way to make money in a falling market is to sell calls well below the market price. This might protect your portfolio and your mind but it likely won't make you as much money as buying a put could eventually bring in. / Andy Sirski is mostly retired. He travels a bit with his wife, plays with his grandchildren and has a small income tax business. Andy also manages his family's investments and publishes an electronic newsletter called StocksTalk. Read it free for a month by sending an email to sirski@mts.net.

Steven, Pat and Andy Sirski standing beside their Peking Duck.

Peking Duck in Chin This winter my wife and I travelled to China to visit our son, Steven.

I enjoyed all the food in China, espedally one of the recommended dishes - Peking Duck.

Of course many places serve Peking Duck, but the spedal detail about the restaurant where we tried it was that for an extra five yuan each we could go into the kitchen and choose our own duck. The fat was dripping on the floor as they took our picture.

One of the staff took the chosen duck out of the fireplace using a stick with a hook on the end. The cooks cut around the neck and blew air under the skin to separate it from the flesh.

That lets the skin cook to a nice tan colour.

When it was finished, the cook brought the duck out to the public eating part of the restaurant and carved the bird. He cut off the white meat and sliced it. Then he cut off the legs and wings and broke up the neck and set it all in front of us. The cooks made soup with the carcass. It turned out to be a white soup and was quite tasty.

After two or three other dishes, a bottle of red wine, dessert and tea, the bill was quite tame - about 1,000 yuan (around $200) for four of us. / Andy Sirski

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JUNE 7, 2016 grainews.ca I

Columns

~

Learning to make the tough calls When is the right time to seed? And what can be done with all of these rocks?

TO BAN

DYCK

'd like to write about wheat.

I'd like to write about how in labs across the world, people who know how to do such things are working on manipulating the crop to withstand Roundup. But I won't.

I want you to think about it, though.

I'm not anti-GMO. I'm not anti-science. It's not me, one columnist, versus all the progress that has been made in agriculture. That would be rash and weak and easily written off.

There may be a time when all we have left are morsels, breadcrumbs leading us back to that crucial time when farms were pushed to produce more than they thought possible for a hungry market and a growing world.

If I could look into the future and tell you now with certainty that some of the things we're doing on our farms are wrong,

I

believe me, I would. I can't. I also don't want to. I'm for the things that allow farms to produce more and with less input costs. These things make sense.

But "can" and "should" are not the same. Writing the previous sentence was easy. Very easy. It's a truism designed to make you think I'm a pretty deep guy. It's also a truism designed to remind you that the words "should" and "ought" are important ones, no matter what your stripe.

There are things in this world people shouldn't do, and there are things we ought to do. If we can agree on that, my point is made.

OUT IN THE FIELD

These are the things I was thinking about as I seeded this spring. I have about four minutes and change to explore such concepts before I have to lift the drill out of the ground and turn around. Unless it's the field I was seeding two days ago. I had about eight minutes on a full mile to plunge the grey areas of agriculture. Except, in this

instance, that wasn't how I was using my time.

At about 1 a.m. I began dozing, for a second or two at a time. I'd wake up, get a grip on where I was, who I was, which field I was seeding, and how close I was to the end. I repeated this until I finished the field and drove the tractor and hoe drill onto our yard at about 3 in the morning.

Right now, on May 11, we've got about 230 acres left to seed. All of the acres I am renting haven't been seeded. This is by choice Where I live, in Manitoba's Red River Valley, we were faced with a hard choice this spring.

In late April and early May we received above average temperatures. The soil temperature was climbing fast. The conditions were perfect, save for the fact that seeding soybeans in early May seemed outrageous. Many did it. We did it. And the soys we seeded on May 5 were up by May 10.

I elected to wait. Not because I think it's the smarter decision.

Frost could still wipe them out. I waited just to see. When it comes

time to harvest, will there be a difference between soys seeded on May 5 and soys seeded on May 16? I'll let you know.

Our wheat went into the ground in April, and most of our soybeans went in at about an 1-1!2 to two inches in the early weeks of May. It's dry, and that is scary. My broken pasture land needs a cultivation before it'll be ready to seed. It's rough, but I want to preserve what little moisture remains in the light soil.

I drove my truck over to it the other day, hoping to pick rocks and get a sense for what needs to be done to the land before I seed. Last fall, I broke it with a Wisek disc. I went over it twice.

The winter wasn't extreme enough to break up the remaining clumps, and for reasons that baffle me, there were more large, exposed stones than I remember seeing a couple months earlier.

Rocks are new for me. I went to the field without a shovel, and I didn't even think about the possibility of finding a rock too big to toss into the back of my truck. There were a couple

of these rocks. How do you, readers, deal with such fields? I refused to let these boulders defeat me so I wrapped my tow rope around the stones, one at a time, and dragged them to the edge of the field .

I remain nervous about my new land. I don't know how it drains. I don't know if a roller will be able to push all the rocks down below the plane of our flex header. I don't know what surprises are in store for me on that field . I don't know a lot of things.

But that is farming. Farmers, I'm learning, are used to muscling through the things they don't know, many of them doing so with heads-up optimism, hope, and a smile. There are things we can control and things we can't, but we have to make moves in this world. If we don't, well, why wouldn't we?

If we're wrong, let's hope there are breadcrumbs leading us back to where we can try again, and again, and again. /

Grainews

Toban Oyck is a freelance writer and a new farmer on an old farm. Follow him on Twitter @tobandyck or email tobandyck@ gmail.com.

GENERATIONS OF BEING r'

19

FIRST

FIELD

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I grainews.ca JUNE 7, 2016

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Columns

In-crop nitrogen fertilizer application In-crop N application is becoming more popular. But is it a good fit for your farm?

ROSS

MCKENZIE

any farmers in Western Canada band their nitrogen (N) fertilizer before seeding or place all fertilizer in a side or mid-row band at the time of planting for their cereal and oilseed crops. Both are very sound practices. After seeding, most of the N fertilizer will slowly convert from ammonium nitrate (NH4•) to nitrate nitrogen (N0f), the form of N that plants take up. Most of the N taken up by oilseeds and cereals is in the nitrate form. As long as nitrate losses from leaching and denitrification are minimal in spring and early summer, efficiency of N uptake should be in the range of 60 to 70 per cent, which is very good. With these conditions, there is probably little advantage to in-crop N application.

But some agronomists suggest postponing application of a portion of N fertilizer until the crop is actively growing, when the crop is better able to utilize the

M

nitrogen. Is "spoon feeding" a good approach?

Two key questions to consider in deciding if in-crop N application would benefit you are: 1.

What are your potential N losses after seeding? And, 2. How can you efficiently apply in-crop N fertilizer?

Nitrate-N can be vulnerable to loss after heavy predpitation due to leaching, particularly in sandy soils. Very wet soil conditions can result in denitrification of N, particularly in medium and fine textured soils. Denitrification occurs in very wet, warm soils and is caused by soil bacteria striping oxygen from nitrate-N, converting it to gaseous nitrous oxide.

Depending on soil and climate, significant N loss can occur in spring and early summer. But, if soil N losses are low between the time of fertilizing and beginning of July, the benefits of in-crop application will probably be low.

IN-CROP APPLICATION

There are several ways to apply in-crop N, but none are ideal.

Uquid 28-0-0 can be dribble banded or applied with spray jet nozzles. Urea (46-0-0) granular fertilizer can be broadcast. But

remember, urea is subject to volatilization, so a urease inhibitor should be used to minimize volatilization (gaseous) losses when applied. Also remember that 50 per cent of N in 28-0-0 is in urea form and subject to volatilization. And, after application, rain must move the N fertilizer into soil. Once N fertilizer is moved into soil, it will take two to three

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What are your potential N losses after seeding? weeks for the majority of the fertilizer to convert to nitrate-N for plant uptake. So, from the time of application to the time the fertilizer is available could be easily be three to four weeks. Therefore, for both in-crop broadcast 46-0-0 and in-crop application of 28-0-0, the very best effidency of uptake would be 30 to 40 per cent, and would only occur if precipitation moved the fertilizer into the soil within a few days after application and the product was applied by late June. In a best case see-

nario, if 40 pounds of N per acre was applied with an uptake efficiency of 40 per cent, only 16lbs.

N/ac. would actually be taken up by the crop.

For foliar application of 28-00, the maximum application rate using spray nozzles is about 20 lbs. N/ac. to avoid leaf burn.

Generally, less than five per cent of the applied N is taken up via the leaves in a best case scenario, which means less than one lb. of N/ac. of a 20 lbs. N/ac. application would be taken up the foliage, which is almost insignificant to increase crop yield. The N fertilizer would have to be washed from the leaves by rain and moved into the soil, then converted to nitrate for plant uptake.

This method of application is not normally recommended, as the effidency of uptake tends to be quite low.

Broadcast application of ammonium nitrate (34-0-0) is the best in-crop product with very little potential N loss. Half the N in the fertilizer is in the plant-available form of nitrate, which is immediately available to a crop after rain.

Unfortunately, only a couple of companies import 34-0-0 in to Western Canada so availability is generally extremely limited. If

you have access to it, 34-0-0 is an excellent N fertilizer for in-crop application.

If leaching or denitrification is not normally a problem, banding before seeding or preferably at seeding will result in the best efficiency of uptake for cereal and oilseed crops. In wetter regions, particularly in June, it may be benefidal to reduce N application in spring by 20 to 40 per cent and apply a split application about mid-June for availability in early July. Rates of 30 to 50 lbs. N/ac. will be necessary when application effidency is 40 per cent or less.

In wetter regions with increased concerns of N losses, another option at planting is use a combination of urea and a slow release N fertilizer in a ratio such as 40:60 to reduce potential N losses.

Studies by Alberta Agriculture with wheat, barley and canola with urea, ESN and a blend of urea/ESN have shown clear benefits using ESN when N losses are potentially higher. / Ross McKenzie is s former agronomy research scientist. He conducted soil and crop research with Alberts Agriculture for 38 years. He has also been sn adjunct professor st the University of Lethbridge since 1993, teaching four-year soil management and irrigation science courses.

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22

I grainews.ca JUNE 7, 2016

Columns

~

I;J§4•1;ii§jfj~[,Ji§:ie!e]ijl Reading Saskatchewan

After the book hits the shelves

Looking for more local reading this summer? Here is my own short list of books

by Saskatchewan authors, all set in Saskatchewan.

When her first book was nominated for an award, Lisa realized she needed a new dress

BY LISA GUENTHER

ne of the most persistent stereotypes about writers is that they like parties - kitchen parties right up to glitzy galas. That is a mostly true stereotype, partly because it's fun to celebrate after spending years working, mostly alone, on a book. Plus, who doesn't like a party?

So when I found out this winter that I'd been shortlisted for a Saskatchewan Book Award, I immediately thought: "I'll need a new dress."

Of course, it's not all about the party. Some of my favourite writers are from Saskatchewan, so it was an honour to be on the same program as authors I'd been reading for years.

The Saskatchewan Book Awards started in 1993 with four awards. This year they had 13 award categories and about 185 entries, Courtney Bates-Hardy, executive director for the Sask Book Awards, told me.

Each category has a different jury of three people to pick the shortlist and winner. Typically

0

jurors read between 15 to 20 books, before choosing a shortlist of two to six books.

My novel, Friendly Fire, was shortlisted in the First Book category, so on the last weekend in April, I hopped in the car with my mom, a friend and my husband. Other friends met us in Regina, including Carmen Loncar, the musician who toured with me last fall.

There were over 300 people at the gala, including MP Ralph Goodale and Saskatchewan's Lieutenant-Governor Vaughn Solomon Schofield. It included a buffet dinner (the perogies were exceptional), followed by the awards ceremony.

THE BEST PART OF BEING PUBLISHED

I wasn't sure what to expect when my book was published.

To be honest, I was a little nervous about negative reactions. I told myself, over and over, "not everyone has to like the book."

But talking to readers has been the best part of being published. Whether it's someone I've known my whole life or

someone I've just met, it's been interesting to hear what they think of the story and characters.

One teenage girl has read it three times. That's better than the best book review.

Readers posted plenty of kind things on social media about the book. When I see the same readers in person, sometimes they want to talk about the domestic violence aspect of my novel.

That part of the story wasn't based on my own experience, so I have no problem talking about it, though I'm far from an expert.

When it comes to this kind of violence, I think I feel the same way as many people frustrated that it's still a believable plot line for contemporary fiction instead of a topic relegated to history. And unsure what the solutions are.

Like so many problems, there are no silver bullets. But I do know that interval homes could use all the help we can give. They not only provide emergency shelter for families fleeing violence, but other services such as counselling and help finding housing and accessing legal services.

FICTION

• Cool Water

by Dianne Warren • The Afterlife of Birds

by Elizabeth Philips • Dollybird by Anne Lazurko

!!I

8 ;1:

"'

~

NON-FICTION

• The Education of Augie Merasty by Augie Merasty (with David Carpenter) • Lake of the Prairies

by Warren Cariou

~

iE

Lisa Guenther at the SBA, posing in front of the arch made of books.

I'll be touring people around Turtle Lake this summer, to see the real locations in my book.

The price of admission is a $25 donation to the Battleford or Lloydminster interval home.

For details, go to my website at lisaguenther.com. After the tours, we'll have supper at Turtle Grove Restaurant at Turtle Lake.

It won't be quite as glitzy as the Sask Book Awards, but the steak sandwiches are excellent. / Usa Guenther is field editor for Grainews based at livelong, Sask. Contact her at Usa.Guenther@fbcpublishing.com or on Twitter @LtoG.

POETRY

• When Light Falls From The Sun by Allan Safarik • What My Body Knows

by Lynda Monahan Manitoba and Alberta both have very healthy writing scenes as well. If you're looking for books set in those provinces, check out their book award websites at bookpublishers. ab.ca and manitobabookawards.com.

Usa Guenther

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JUNE 7, 2016 grainews.ca I

I

Columns lif4;idii49$J

Rocket man seeks rouging work In the world of ag business, the dollar figures keep getting bigger and bigger

BY LEE HART

or anyone a bit reluctant to deal with large (about to get larger) multinational corporations for crop protection products, I am today launching Lee's Hand Rouging Services - backed by years of experience, I will keep your fields weed free, without chemicals and you just have to deal with me.

Of course at the rate I move, I probably can only look after about two acres per season, so with travel costs, sandwich breaks, coffee breaks, day dreaming breaks, etc. I'm going to need to charge about $1 per square foot. It's a little pricey but then you get to have me tramping through your two acres all season long. If you're one of these 7,000 acre operations, good luck with the other 6,998 acres of crop.

I came up with this inspired idea after reading that Bayer Ag has made a proposal to buy Monsanto Co. for some crazy price of about $62 billion. Here I thought both companies were doing pretty well on their own.

I figured if nothing else the aspirin business would keep the wolves away from Bayer's door in perpetuity, and in this weed-weary world I don't think anyone will ever stop needing Monsanto's flagship product Roundup herbidde.

It is a merger story like this that had me immediately running on a well-worn path to the "Boy-Am-I-Getting-Old" files. A couple things came to mind.

I remember as a kid in the 1960s watching a 1V game show called "I've Got A Secret." It was hosted by Garry Moore with a celebrity panel - most I never heard of before or after, although I always remember the glamorous Bess Myerson, the 1945 Miss America who was the best looking one of the bunch. The show usually featured some unknown guest and the panel, after a couple minutes of questioning, had to guess what their secret was.

For some reason I always remember the 1964 episode that featured 74-year-old Col. Harland Sanders who had developed a fried chicken redpe and he was there that night to show the world the jaw-dropping $2 million cheque he received for selling the redpe. That wasn't his secret though, the secret concerned how he started the business and the answer was he started with a $105 sodal security cheque. But $2 million holy man, that is like the most money in the world.

F

HERE IN THE PRESENT

Well, fast forward 50 short years and $2 million is just slightly more than the cost of the family-size bucket feast at

23

KFC - finger lickin' good chicken, family-size fries, gravy, three sides, big bottle of pop ... or so I'm told. (But back in the 60s I couldn't even imagine that today KFC would ever have 20,000 restaurants and sales itself of about $32 billion - way more than I could compute.

I don't think the word "billion" had been invented yet.)

My point is that I am still getting over the fact that the million-dollar days are gone, and now everything happens in billions. One ag chem company buying another and we're talking $62 billion. I don't think I have heard of any trillion-dollar deals yet, but that's just a matter of time. The first will probably be Walmart rolling over one morning and buying Europe.

The other bit of "old" memories that got triggered, and led to my inspired new business venture was being hired as a kid by my dad to pull yellow Rocket (a mustard-family weed) out of the oat field. I think he paid me one cent per plant. I don't know what my Grandpa got paid - probably double - come to think of it was probably Grandpa's idea - get this lazy kid doing something. Dad rarely used a herbidde, likely because there weren't many in those days and this yellow-flowered Rocket weed was plentiful and easy to find in a field of oats.

So that's how I made my first fortune. I don't know if I made $5 or not, but what ever it was it was probably enough to cover my uncontrolled and impulsive spending at the Chesterville Fall Fair. A kid can never have too many penalthick, red, green or blue bamboo canes with some equally expensive toy attached to it with an elastic.

But I may need to rethink my 2016 hand rouging rates.

Here we have a 152-year-old aspirin maker with about $52 billion annually in sales and 117,000 employees, looking to buy the mom-and-pop Monsanto, hanging its hat on one molecule, squeaking along with $15 billion in sales and only 25,000 employees and we're talking about a $62 billion offer. With my skills and experience I may be selling my hand rouging talents short at $1 per square foot. Think big Lee - these are billion dollar days. So I'm going for $5 per square foot plus a bucket of chicken per week. That sounds fair to me. Now I'll just sit tight and wait for the phone to ring. Daytime calls only please - its usually a "Law and Order" TV night. / Lee Hart is s field editor with Grsinews based in Calgary. Contact him st 403-5921964 or by emsi/st /ee@fbcpublishing.com

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Columns

Use your knowledge to your advantage You know the quality of your grain. Use your knowledge to maximize profits BRIAN WITTAL

ay attention to what you are seeing and hearing at the elevator and from the neighbours in regards to the grade and quality of grain coming off combines this fall. lhis will help you understand what's out there and where your production fits into the big picture. Is your quality and protein above or below the average? Knowing this can provide marketing opportunities for you when grain companies start looking for spedfic quality and protein for blending purposes.

You may be able to extract an extra nickel or dime more per bushel for your grain if you have what buyers need.

Don't be afraid to let as many buyers as possible know what you have- otherwise they won't know to call you when they need what you have. Keeping your production a secret does not give you a marketing advantage!

As I mentioned in the last issue, being aware of some details around grade and protein spreads can help you extract more value out of your grain.

P

•41414141h414110 ,••••••••c ,,,,,,,,,~,,,,,,,,,

Contract what you grow GRADE SPREADS

Early in the growing season, the grain buying industry can only assume that if we have a normal year we will end up with (based on historical numbers) a normal amount of production, including a normal breakdown of different grain qualities.

Based on that, grain companies set their grade spreads at what we would call "traditional levels" at this time of the year as they wait to see the true harvest results. For example, a normal spread between a No. 1 down to No. 2 CWRS is -$0.15 per bushel, and from a No. 2 down to a No. 3 is -$0.40/bu.

If we have an exceptional harvest and the quality of the grain is above normal, you can expect that the spread between a No. 1 and a No. 2 and a No. 3 will narrow in, as there are ample stocks of high quality grain available to meet demand. Buyers won't be willing to pay as much of a premium for high quality in an exceptional year.

In a year with more low quality grain, you can expect grade spreads to widen out between the higher and lower grades. The amount that the spreads change will depend on how much of the total crop falls into each grade and what buyers are looking for. Once the grain buyers understand the overall quality of the prairie crop, compared to the rest of the world, they dedde what they will pay to buy our grain versus someone else's. Then

they will set grade spreads so they can buy the right amounts of different grades of grain to blend to meet buyers' specifications, and still make a profit.

PROTEIN SPREADS

Protein spreads work the same as grade spreads - they are based on market demand for protein and what we can supply. If we have excess protein, the spreads will be narrow - buyers won't pay a premium for something that is readily available. If protein is low, spreads for higher proteins will increase as buyers try to attract higher protein grain to blend to meet buyers' specs.

One thing I have found over the

past few years is that every grain company seems to use a different pricing scale for protein spreads.

For example if you contracted a No. 1 CWRS, 13.5 per cent protein and end up delivering grain with a different protein content, one company may be paying two cents for each tenth per cent protein for levels above your contracted grade and deducting four cents per tenth for levels below your contracted grade. Another company may do two cents per tenth up or down from your contracted grade. It all depends on what they see as market and blending risk. There are no set prices for protein so the spreads will often vary between companies and can change daily or hourly.

So how can you use this knowledge? Contract what you grow.

If on average you end up harvesting No. 2 wheat more years than anything else, you should be contracting and pridng a No. 2 wheat instead of the standard contract grade of No. 1.

Under current contracting you would lock in a grade of No. 1, 13.5 per cent. If you deliver a No. 2, 12 per cent wheat, you'll be discounted the grade and protein difference based on the spreads in effect the day you deliver.

If the harvest brings large amounts of No. 2 and No. 3 low protein wheat, grade and protein spreads will likely have widened out since spring. Let's say the grade spread widens out for a No. 1 to a

No. 2 to $0.25/bu. and the protein spread widens out to a five cents per tenth deduction for protein below contracted specs. In this scenario you will be getting paid less at delivery than you would have if you had originally contracted your grain as a CWRS No. 2, 12 per cent.

Locking in grade spreads can also be something to consider with canola to protect yourself from widening spreaders, espedally when pre-pridng before harvest. little things can make a marketing difference and keep money in your pockets. / Brien Witte/ hes :lJ yeers of grein industry experience, end currently offers market planning end merketing advice to termers through his company Pro Com M arketing Ltd. (www.procommerketingltd.com}.

JUNE 7, 2016 grainews.ca I

25

I

Columns

Are bonds the best bet for you?

Andrew Allentuck offers up four secrets to buying bonds for your portfolio

BY ANDREW ALLENTUCK tocks flourish on good company news, a bit of inflation to push up prices, moderate growth in corporate earnings, and the optimism of investors looking forward to rising incomes and climbing profits.

Bonds, on the other hand, are for pessimists. As economic growth slows, the demand for loans declines. Inflation subsides.

In this atmosphere, bonds thrive.

Interest rates tend to fall, and existing bonds which promise fixed income at specific dates attract attention from investors seeking security and shelter instead of risk and market profits.

The problem with this model

S

is that it works differently at different times. Today, for example, bond interest rates are in the low single digits. Investors need to park their money for decades just to get a few measly per cent interest. Should interest rates rise, prices of existing bonds with low payments, called coupons in the investment biz, will tumble in price. Even a one per cent pickup in inflation could shave as much as 30 per cent off the price of a strip bond, called a zero in the U.S. - it's a bond that defers paying all interest until maturity.

The bond market has become a place where investors trade risk in how their companies' stock might do for the assurance that high quality bonds, called investment

grade bonds, will inevitably come through with interest payments and then return their capital. It is a most peculiar bet these days.

Here is an inside tip: The less risky a bond, the shorter its story. If you buy a Government of Canada bond or a U.S. Treasury bond, there is no story. You put up your money at your investment dealer, your account is credited with the bond you've bought and nothing more need be said. The odds that the government issuer will default are trivial. End of story.

A provindal bond or a munidpal bond has a slightly higher interest rate. In Canada, if a federal bond pays 1.5 per cent for 10 years, a Government of Ontario bond will pay two per cent, give

or take. The bond shopper should be concerned with the health of the Ontario economy, the history of defaults by the Province of Ontario (never), and the market's taste for Ontario bonds (always strong).

Move to a high grade corporate bonds, such as a 10-year Bell Canada Inc. issue, and you can get three per cent as I write this column. Bell has a longer story. It's an active phone company, its traditional products, wireline phones and related products, are dying out. It has entertainment assets and some information media always fragile. But for 10 years, it's a good bet. Still, you'd want to go to a credit rating site like DBRS (formerly called the Dominion

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Bond Rating Service), discuss the bond with an investment dealer or check it out in the database of an online brokerage before buying.

Lower quality bonds have longer tales about recovery of business, clever management, etc.

The paradox of the bond investment business is that, given the very low interest rate coverage that all investment grade bonds offer these days, the investor's greatest risk is inflation and higher interest rates. You can mitigate that risk by reinvesting every single coupon most pay every six months - at the higher rates of interest should they prevail. You can do this if you have millions of dollars in bonds, but the theory does not work with just a few thousand, for bonds come in $1,000 issues or "pieces" as they say in the finandal business.

Rather than do all the research to buy a single bond, you can buy a bond exchange traded fund.

There are many. The big exchange traded fund managers such as iShares have many types of bonds.

You can buy the broad Canadian bond market, U.S. Treasuries with short or long maturities, or bonds laddered from one to five or one to 10 years so that if rates rise, the fund will roll maturing bonds into new issues with higher rates. There are bonds that link their payment rates not to interest rates, but to inflation rates. Much like buying a custom made suit, you can get whatever fits.

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THE FOUR SECRETS

Here are the secrets of buying bonds without getting beaten up by rising interest rates.

1: Buy bonds as a complement to stocks.

If you have just investment grade bonds, you have a lot of naked exposure to interest rate changes. These days, there are negative rates on 10 year government bonds in Japan, Switzerland, Germany and some Nordic countries from time to time. Why people buy bonds guaranteed to be worth less at maturity than at time of issue is a mystery wrapped in an enigma, as Churchill said of Russia on the eve of World War II. Regardless of motives, they can be explained in the complexity of global bond markets: if interest rates fall even further, existing negative pay bonds will be worth more than bonds that pay even less. But you, an off-farm investor, do not want them. The great rule of bond investing is this: stick to plain vanilla bonds with positive interest, few stories, issued by governments you trust or strong companies.

2: Do not ch ase bond yield.

You could buy a Sherritt International bond with a 7.5 per cent coupon due Sept. 24, n

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

26

I grainews.ca JUNE 7, 2016

I

Columns » CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE

2019 at a price discount so steep that $480 upfront buys you the $1,000 face value. The bond at this price offers a 3S per cent yield to maturity. This is investing for the brave. The market worries about Sherritt, which is a mineral miner with a lot of money tied up in the developing world. The rule: if you buy high yield bonds, or junk as it is called, be prepared for a side order of agony with your profits. If you have a taste for junk, buy a junk bond fund which offers diversification and expert management, and don't buy too much. In defense of junk, it always ranks ahead of stocks in safety, for each issuer has to pay interest or be put into bankruptcy. Junk bonds tend to do well when economies thrive and interest rates rise.

3. To eliminate all risk of loss, buy bonds for a purpose with a date.

For example, buy bonds that mature the year your child starts university. You may pay more than issue price these days, for example, $1,490 for a $1,000 Government of Canada issue due June 1, 2037. You would lose $490 on the price if you hold to maturity, but you are compensated by the S.O per cent annual interest on this bond, which is a few percentage points higher than what new 21-year federal bonds would pay.

You pay more, you get more. The capital loss is a problem for your accountant.

4: Migrate a stock portfolio to bonds slowly.

The common wisdom is that as you get older, there is less time to recover from stock mar-

ket crashes. Bonds act as cushions, so you can go from SO per cent stock/SO per cent bonds at age SO to 30 per cent stocks and 70 per cent bonds at age 70. You give up a lot of growth in the process, for stocks always beat bonds over periods of decades, but you gain security.

We are in the fourth decade of the longest bond bull market in history. This one started in 1983 when interest rates paid on term deposits were in the high teens. Bonds have been among the most profitable investments in this period, but it cannot last.

Thus bonds do provide security with their fixed and perfectly known future prices at maturity.

But don't over pay for that guarantee. Life is risk. / Andrew Allentuck is author of "Bonds for Canadians: How to Build Wealth and Lower Risk in Your Portfolio· {Wiley, 2fXJ6}.

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28

I grainews.ca JUNE 7, 2016

I

Columns

Weather, soil moisture and crops Your definition of drought will depend on the amount subsoil moisture in your fields TABLE 1: EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE ON WATER USE BY WHEAT LES HENRY

Temperature

Water Use (Inches per day)

10- 15 c

0.10

c 21 - 27 c 27-32 c 32-37 c

0.1 5

16- 21

y 2016 barley crop was seeded May 8 into excellent moisture at a depth of 1.0 to 1.5 inches- a bit deeper in some soft sloughs. Up to the date of seeding there had been essentially no spring rains. A May 4 burn off with 2,4-D + Glyphosate took care of the volunteer canola and pigweed etc. to conserve surface moisture.

After a very dry 2015 spring and early summer, rains starting July 28 (3.6") had the soil fully recharged with moisture by canola swathing time (mid August).

Planning for the 2016 crop started at that point. Mother Nature had declared the savings account was fully topped up. Any further rain would just raise the water table, which was already too high in parts of the rolling landscape.

Once fully recharged we know that the subsoil moisture is in place and will be there until a plant root comes and sucks it out.

On the other hand surface moisture is fickle - here today, gone tomorrow. Planning is all about preserving surface moisture.

A September 20, 2015 application of 2,4-D plus one liter/ acre glyphosate took out the

M

0.20 0.25 0.30

From Table 7.1, page 133 of "Henry's Handbook." Chapter 7 tells the full story

volunteer canola and annual weeds. On November 6 anhydrous ammonia was knifed into excellent moisture at 3.0 to 4.0 inches. A warm day, November 8, was the opportunity to tine harrow at 6.5 mph to lay the canola stubble as a mat over the surface to reduce evaporation losses in spring.

Winter snow was little and gone by April 10 followed by essentially no rain and much hot weather until seeding. The surface moisture was conserved, the crop will germinate and if it does not get too hot, no rain is needed until about mid June.

THE DROUGHT

I get very frustrated by some of the media reports about the "big drought" and how badly off we all were. In Western Saskatchewan and parts of Alberta it was (and is) a bad scene. But in today's age with all the instant communication why can we not effectively communicate something as simple as the geography of soil moisture.

The only three-province soil moisture map as of freezeup each fall is that published right here in Grainews (see my column on page 22, February 9, 2016). This old fossil makes the map so I know it is not perfect, but it does show that in most of Manitoba and Eastern Saskatchewan a little dry spell in the spring is no big deal. With the soil full of water, as long as seed is placed in moisture, the crop will be fine for a long time. If surface moisture is not managed the situation is much different.

With the early and very warm spring I have seen several fields with very healthy growth of winter annuals like flixweed that have almost completely sucked the surface moisture. The winter annuals got a great start last fall with a well-developed root system all ready to suck away starting almost as soon as the snow is gone. The hot days (some 30 C) and lots of winter annuals set the stage to lose the all important surface moisture.

There is a very cheap and

very old solution to the winter annual problem: a simple application of 2,4-D in fall, usually October. With all the new, exotic, and expensive herbicides we sometimes forget about the old, cheap and effective solutions.

We had one inch of rain May 10-11 so even if surface moisture was gone all crops will now germinate. It is now all about how long our soil full of water will keep us if rains fail.

Once the crop is up, Job 1 is to establish an effective root system to suck the moisture from the soil to maintain the plant.

Serious soil water depletion does not happen until mid June in most years.

When fully recharged: • Light, sandy loam soils hold one inch of available water per foot, for a total of four inches per four feet.

• Medium, loam/clay loam soils hold 1.5 inches of available water per foot, for a total of six inches per four feet.

• Heavy, clay/heavy clay soils hold two inches of available water per foot, for a total of eight inches per four feet.

The rate at which a crop uses water depends on temperature.

Table 1 tells the tale. Table 1 is based on wheat, but other crops use about the same amount of water, once a full plant canopy is established. Different root-

ing depths will change the depth from which water can be extracted.

So, with a simple calculation it is easy to see know how long a crop will last if the rains stay away. A clay soil full of water should maintain a crop for about 40 days at moderate temperatures (in the mid 20s).

But, if the soil is not full the situation is much different. For example, if a soil is full of water only to two feet, once that water has been used up it is all over in a few hot days in July. We have not seen that in recent years so some young folks have not experienced it. But they will.

On the other hand, when the water table is near the surface, capillary rise from the water table can maintain a crop indefinitely.

We saw that in spades in 2015.

It is my hope that weather types will get better informed about soil moisture and provide more predse comment on a regional basis.

Hollering "drought" after a few of weeks of sun and warm leaves the wrong impression in the industry and the rest of society. / J.L.(Les} Henry is a former professor and extension specialist at the University of Saskatchewan. He farms at Oundurn, Sask.

He recently finished a second printing of "Henry's Handbook of Soil and Water,· a book that mixes the basics and practical aspects of soil, fertilizer and farming.

Les will cover the shipping and GST for "Grainews· readers. Simply send a cheque for $50 to Henry Perspectives, 143 Tucker Cres, Saskatoon, SK, SlH 3H7, and he will dispatch a signed book.

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Columns

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I grainews.ca JUNE 7, 2016

Machinery & Q;fdl~lf·'tiQ;hiiitf!iliJ.ji

UTV Challenge We're putting 10 UTVs to the test during the Ag in Motion farm show next month

BY SCOTT GARVEY

he number of side-by-side UTV models on the market has grown pretty significantly in the last couple of years. And no wonder. These machines can be pretty handy around the farm. But has the wide variety of choices left you wondering what each model is capable of, how they compare and which one best fills your needs?

Well if so, we'll soon be able to help answer those questions.

Grainews is holding a UTV Challenge on the grounds of this year's Ag in Motion farm show near Saskatoon in July. A group of judges will have a whole week to put 10 machines from eight different manufacturers through their paces. To provide the kind of information farmers need, they'll make them work at exactly the kinds of things livestock and grain producers would use them for, so this won't be just a weekend at the lake for the contenders.

The judges will be doing their evaluations a few days ahead of the public show days. And after they're done, the test machines will be put on display at the Glacier FarmMedia tent on the show grounds for everyone to check out. Some of the judges will also be on hand for part of each day to discuss their findings with the public. And we expect a few of the manufacturers will also have a product rep available to answer questions about the features offered by their machines. So stop by during the show and get the lowdown directly from the horses' mouths.

And visitors to the show can participate as well. They can vote for their favourite machine to help us pick a fan favourite. There'll be some free swag up for grabs, too.

Here's the list of the UTV Challenge contenders: • Kioti Mechron 2200 PS • Kawasaki Mule Pro FXT Ranch • Can Am Defender XT • Kubota R1V X1120D • Polaris Diesel Ranger and Big Boss 6X6 • John Deere Gator XUV 590i • Case IH Scout • CFMoto U Force 500 HO and U Force 800 EPS If you're thinking about buying a UTV this summer, you may want to wait to hear what our judges had to say. We'll have a full test report in the pages of Grainews in August. And the e-QuipTV cameras will be at the Challenge filming too, so watch for online video of the testing at Grainews.ca. /

T

Scott Garvey is machinery editor for Grainews. Contact him at Scott.Garvey@fbcpublishing.com.

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JUNE 7, 2016 grainews.ca I

31

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33

[)

Machinery &

Turning combines into hot rods Saskatchewan farmer builds redesigned combine parts with an eye on performance

BY SCOTT GARVEY

n the past few years most major equipment brands seem to have recognized the need to offer combines better suited to small grains harvesting, which makes them a bit different than the bulk of machines they build that are tailored to corn and beans growers. Even though new models have hit the market that better cater to prairie growers' needs, one farmer, Russell Wildfong of Craik, Saskatchewan, thinks there are still efficiencies to be gained by tweaking the design of some components.

After graduating from the University of Saskatchewan with an engineering degree, he returned to the family farm. When making some major repairs to his own combines and finding the price tags on OEM replacement parts higher than he though reasonable, he dedded to build them himself. That led to an on-farm manufacturing venture.

"I guess I needed something to do and I thought I could make some money at this," he says jokingly. Building a new set of concaves for himself and a few more for neighbours led to a business that produces a growing list of enhanced threshing parts for Case IH and John Deere combines.

"The last set (of concaves) we bought was so expensive we got thinking, could we build our own stuff?" he recalls. "So we tried it.

The first set I built turned out, so we decided to see if we could build a few more and make some profit. We've only been at it since the fall of 2014. We offer a pretty

I

wide selection. We're going with the two main manufacturers and trying some new stuff."

Currently, he offers three different concave designs for both brands. One of them, the Hard Thresh, which increases contact area, is designed to improve performance in tough-to-thresh grains like wheat and barley.

"Take a couple of heads of wheat and rub them together in your hand and it doesn't take much action to get them to thresh out" he says, using that analogy to explain the concept behind the Hard Thresh.

"With the Hard Thresh we're increasing the number of bars 30 or 40 per cent. This is a results-based approach. Farmers are saying this works, and it works great in durum and wheat, anything really hard threshing.

"The Hard Thresh is basically like the Case IH, Hard Thresh but a left and right pair at a dealership is $2,800. We're starting at $1,800.

So you save $1,000. A regular pair of concaves is $1,200. So we're hoping if a guy's going to save $1,000, maybe he'll buy a pair of standard concaves to go with it.

The Vortex are $1,600 for a pair."

The Vortex design offers wider openings to prevent plugging and are also useful in more easily threshed crops like canola.

"For John Deere a medium straight-bar concave, that's $800.

For the Hard Thresh, we're going to start out at $1,200," he says.

"It's a lot more material and a lot more welding. We can only build about one or two of these a day, so labour ends up being a big part of that cost. For the Vortex, we're at $1,000."

The concaves fit Case IH 8010 and newer machines, while those made for Deere machines fit any of that brand's rotary models.

Wildfong has also designed new rotor elements he thinks will help improve the threshing effidency of S Series Deeres.

"We put a 30-inch radius on it," he says. "A flat design would end up with a dead spot. It has a tighter thread than what John Deere has.

They're heavier than a John Deere and it gives your rotor a bit more momentum for going through wads. That's another 50 pounds at the outside of your rotor.

"We're $100 retail price for these. I'm pretty sure its $170 at the dealership. That's a good profit margin for us and it's still saving our customers a lot of money."

A component failure on his own combine led to the development of a new beater design he intends to produce for John Deere combines. After a season of field testing on his own machine, he says it's proven to be more durable than the original part, and he's seen a capadty jump.

Russell Wildfong's on-farm manufacturing venture produces concaves and other combine parts he says can improve threshing performance.

"It broke quite a few rocks last year with no real damage to it," he says. "What we're shooting for is to have a smaller inner diameter so there is more room for material to flow through, but wind up with the same outside diameter so you're batting rocks

QUALITY

into the rock trap. But we're using hard material and hard pipe for the structure so it can take rocks."

For more information check out the website at wildfongenterprises.com. / Scott Garvey is tr18Chinery edit:Jr for Gminews.

Contscthim stScott.GtJrvey@fbcpublishing.com.

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