Farmforum fall2010

farm forum is online

INSIDE: Winter wheat outlook still bright

p. 6 Get inside your accountant’s head

www.farmforum.cA

Meet Team InVigor PLUS:

Wet season rewards fungicide applications >> Technology: Lock in profits for 2011 >> Business: Soil test your wet fields >> Production: >> Farm Life: This farm thrives on customer contact

Slams Wireworms

You know Raxil® seed treatment as the most effective opponent of smut in wheat, barley and oats. You trust it to have your back against seed and soilborne fusarium. And there is no doubt that it is the undisputed champion when it comes to return on investment.

So what’s this about new Raxil WW? It’s all the above and more. It’s the sworn enemy of the dreaded wireworm. It takes it down and teaches it a lesson it will never get a chance to remember. Ring the bell for Raxil WW. For more information visit

BayerCropScience.ca/Raxil

BayerCropScience.ca or 1 888-283-6847 or contact your Bayer CropScience representative.

Always read and follow label directions. Raxil® is a registered trademark of Bayer. Bayer CropScience is a member of CropLife Canada.

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FarmFORUM volume 24 | issue 4 | Fall 2010

contents >> PRINT TECHNOLOGY

BUSINESS

PRODUCTION

FARM LIFE

FarmFORUM www.farmforum.ca Publisher Bayer CropScience Editor Sherry Butt Associate Editor Dave Wreford

COVER STORY

10

Meet Team InVigor

Canola breeding technology keeps getting better — faster

Lock in profits for 2011

5

Profit-forward marketing begins with detailed costs of production

20

22

Soil test your wet fields

This farm thrives on customer contact

How much N is left in your soil after this year’s flooding? Soil test to find out

Success through community supported agriculture

4 Editor’s note: use this issue to help lay down plans for next season 6 Get inside your accountant’s head: provide accurate info and meet deadlines 14 Winter wheat outlook still bright despite wet fall: crop management is key 16 Wet season rewards fungicide applications: still no fool-proof formula for success

contents >> WEB

FarmFORUM.ca

Contributors Cynthia Bablitz, Jennifer Barber, Joy Gregory, Angela Lovell, Gerald Pilger and Genesis Studio.

Graphic Design Aaron Mumby Design Farm Forum is published seasonally by Bayer CropScience.

Contact Farm Forum at: Bayer Crop Science Suite 200 160 Quarry Park Blvd SE Calgary, AB, T2C 3G3 T. 1 888-283-6847 F. 1 888-570-9378 E. farmforum@bayercropscience.com www.bayercropscience.ca Contents of this publication are copyrighted and may be reproduced only with written permission of the publisher, Bayer CropScience.

The views expressed are not necessarily those of the publisher.

Publications Mail Agreement Number 40743517 Registered in Canada Copyright 2010 Website www.farmforum.ca Return undeliverable copies to: Bayer Crop Science Suite 200 160 Quarry Park Blvd SE Calgary, AB, T2C 3G3

High-yield canola is all in the details

Good records save tax

Don’t overlook harvest management

Include all Agstability data in package to tax advisor

www.farmforum.ca/highyieldcanola

www.farmforum.ca/goodrecords

Winter wheat needs nitrogen in early spring

On the cover Stewart Brandt (foreground), plant breeder and manager of breeding operations at Bayer CropScience with the department heads of the Canola Breeding Management Team.

Location impacts nitrogen efficiency www.farmforum.ca/winterwheatN Farm Forum.ca | 3

s h o r t ta k e s

More at farmforum.ca The Farm Forum website offers additional articles that enhance the information in this issue. For example, there’s a lot of talk about moisture in this issue so we put a link to a moisture map prepared by a farm publisher. The map is very informative and gives you some extra information we could not put in the magazine.

Go to farmforum.ca, look under “Quick Hits” and select “Western Producer 2010 moisture map.” FF

4 | Farm Forum | Fall 2010

Editor’s Note After a very wet growing season farmers are either counting their blessings or moving into recovery mode. Regardless, plans need to be made now for the season ahead.

This issue of Farm Forum can help, starting with everyone’s favourite subject — taxes.

In our story on page 6, tax advisors offer two simple guidelines to improve farmers’ tax planning efforts: provide accurate and thorough information to your accountant and meet both your accountant’s and Revenue Canada’s deadlines.

In our cover story, we take you inside Bayer’s Breeding Centre of Innovation and introduce you to the members of “Team InVigor”, and how this talented crew produce profitable canola hybrids for today’s market. We also introduce you to a new numbering system that came into effect with the launch, this fall, of Bayer’s “L” series canola hybrids.

If you’re a winter wheat grower, don’t let last season’s difficult conditions dampen your expectations.

If you were able to get seed in the ground, a high-yielding harvest is still possible. Find out how on page 14.

Several prairie farmers’ experiences with fungicides and their methods of application, discussed in our story on page 16, remind us that with such varying results, no fool-proof formula exists to guarantee the success of post-emerge disease treatments.

As you lay down next year’s plans after such a wet season, a great starting point is to find out how much of each key crop nutrient, especially nitrogen, is left in the ground. Learn about the importance of soil testing and follow up on farmforum.ca to find out how to take the perfect soil sample.

And finally, in our “Farm Life” story meet the Ontario regional winners of the Outstanding Young Farmers’ Program and their strategies for earning a liveable income on a small family farm. FF

business

Lock in profits for 2011 T

>>

m a r k e t in g m in u t e

Photo courtesy bayercropscience

By Joy Gregory

in the human protein market, should that occur.

On the plus side, with the price of quality wheat, durum, oats, canola and feed barley trending up or holding as we move towards the end of 2010, and the world still facing chronic pulse shortages, Anderson says grains are really well supported overall. Still, there’s no room for complacency.

Echoing comments by Stewart, Anderson adds that growers “can make money on every truckload of grain throughout the year. If they can’t do that, then they must be waiting for the peak price and aren’t selling until they need cash flow or bin space. That’s marketing by default, not design.”

Marketing with a plan To avoid that, Stewart’s profit-focused marketing process begins with a detailed cost of production. “I need to know exactly what it’s going to take to grow this crop.” Using real numbers to calculate everything from crop expenses to machinery depreciation and a living allowance, he then optimizes his profit projections through crop diversification and marketing options.

Forward-pricing different percentages of expected production, he uses CWB programs to lock in prices for winter and spring wheat, uses the basis to sell canola, tracks green and yellow pea markets and looks for “sell signals.”

The CWB issues free weekly e-mail bulletins, called the PPO Updater, that provide market information for its pricing programs. FF farmforum.cA

But figuring out what makes you his year’s crop was a long way from the bin when Jack Stewart money is more complicated than it was started thinking about what he’ll prior to the last recession, even for progrow next year and how he can use a fessional analysts. Anderson used to variety of programs to forward-price his walk into his office every morning and 2011 crop into the global marketplace. check short- and long-term data on But let’s be clear — Stewart’s not a wor- global supply and demand. CWB and rier, he’s a planner. grain company bulletins that analyzed Farming near Galahad in east-cen- global commodity markets were his gotral Alberta, Stewart knows he and his to guides for the day’s business. brother-in-law were lucky to seed all Today, the impact of supply on price 4,500 acres of their land in 2010, given is less relevant to forecasts. As world the wet conditions. He also knows their markets claw their way back from a crops took a big hit on quality. Still, he global recession, Anderson now tracks is making money — and credit data to get a grip that’s why he’s already on where markets are thinking about 2011.

Anderson now tracks headed. By the time he A long-time market takes his first call, he’s recredit data to get a hedger who still works viewed Asian and North as a consultant with grip on where markets American stock marMarket Master Ltd., kets as well as the Baltic are headed a company he estabdry index (which tracks lished in 1995, Stewart global shipping rates for and his partner take the business side bulk commodities), looked at inflation of crop production very seriously. They forecasts and reviewed what’s happening grow a diversity of crops to give them with the Canadian and U.S. dollars. more production options, and tweak Tight supplies typically have a bullacreage numbers based on data about ish impact on agricultural prices. world markets.

But should stock markets correct sharply lower, global credit markets will tighten, says Anderson. “This makes Market outlook 2011 Some of the 2011 market information it more difficult for offshore buyers to forward-thinking farmers like Stewart obtain funds needed to purchase our want in late 2010 is simply missing. Ac- product,” he explains. “The world will cording to John Lyons of the Canadian also substitute for cheaper product elseWheat Board (CWB), acreage predic- where. For instance, buying demand for tions for 2011 are complicated by sev- Canadian yellow peas in India is highly eral factors including the fact that only substitutable for chickpeas grown in the one-third of western Canada’s 2010 Middle East.”

In late September, Anderson helped harvest was complete by late September, way under the 80 per cent norm. And a farmer sell yellow peas for $5.75 a quality data, which has a big impact bushel. It was a good price but since on price, is largely speculative until the the farmer was bullish and wanted to remain unpriced, he turned to the opcrop’s delivered.

Similar problems with a late harvest tions market. “We bought him a comare also affecting the information analysts bination of corn, wheat and soy meal have on other crops, adds Errol Anderson, call options, so he’s now diversified a grain market analyst and broker. On through three markets which basically the plus side, decreased oat production in reflects the Canadian yellow pea mar2010 continues to have a positive impact ket.” The farmer receives immediate on the price of oats and it looks like cano- cash flow from his yellow peas, but he la markets will remain strong in 2011. can also take advantage of a future rise

for more information visit us online online articles Don’t count on continued Russian wheat woes www.farmforum.ca/wheatwoes Feed grain demand shows signs of life www.farmforum.ca/feedgrain additional resources CWB farm business representatives www.farmforum.ca/CWBreps Canadagrain www.farmforum.ca/canadagrain Market Master, “your grain watchdog” www.farmforum.ca/grainwatchdog Farm Forum.cA | 5

business

Get inside your accountant’s head Farmers with little or no grain to sell in 2010 may be in for a few unwelcome surprises from the tax man, says Ron Friesen, a chartered accountant and tax partner with Meyers Norris Penny.

Based in Saskatoon, Friesen knows that most farmers across the prairies had trouble seeding and harvesting wet fields.

Others saw relatively good yields hit hard by poor crop quality. His big con6 | Farm Forum | Fall 2010

A bad growing season is about to morph into a horrible tax situation for farmers who haven’t accurately accounted for cash advances or taxable government grants

By Joy Gregory

cern now is that a bad growing season is about to morph into a horrible tax situation for farmers who haven’t accurately accounted for cash advances or taxable government grants.

That won’t happen on one farm near Naicam, SK, where Rodney Voldeng’s wife, Gwenda, updates detailed monthly records for the 3,500-acre farm Rodney operates with his brother Doug. The

Voldengs use the information for tax planning and business analysis. “I am normally in touch with my accountant at least four times a year, sometimes more,” says Rodney. He uses information in the farm books to guide everything from tax planning to crop choices — and is sure that’s why they’re still in business.

A few years ago, that information precipitated the Voldengs’ move out of hogs

Incorporation puts profits to work.

PHOTO (left) ©ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/nokee.art; (right) courtesy Meyers Norris Penny

and into straight grain production on mostly rented land. These days, it keeps wheat out of their rotation because when they crunch the numbers, there’s no profit at the end.

Quality in, quality out Regardless of how you collect it, detailed income and expense data is critical to tax planning. “We need accurate information about any equipment (clients have) purchased or sold so we can calculate depreciation. We also need an up-to-date profit and loss statement,” says Friesen.

And this is where things get tricky. Since farmers are allowed to pay their taxes on a cash basis, there is some confusion over how they track money in and out. “They may have Ron Friesen taken a grain advance in the spring and that advance is not taxable until they actually sell the grain to repay the advance,” explains Friesen.

Suppose you sold $50,000 of grain in 2010 and deposited a cheque for $10,000, with $40,000 going to repay last year’s advance. “If you just look at the cheque stub for $10,000 and only claim the $10,000 in 2010, you’re not reporting $40,000 in income — and that’s a big problem because it’s not accurate,” says Friesen.

keeping, but it eliminates a huge amount of stress and potential downfalls.” He and Doug are currently re-structuring their business as separate entities. “Our business is safe from marriage breakup and safe from problems that might occur if one of the brothers dies,” says Voldeng. Detailed records also give them a leg-up on business decisions related to crop choices and locking in profit.

If you’re still not convinced, review the tax facts with your tax advisor. While it’s important to note that each province’s tax structure differs in both personal and corporate tax rates, incorporation can save a pile of tax. In Alberta, for example, an incorporated farm pays approximately 14 per cent tax on income up to $500,000. The individual (proprietorship), however, pays 39 per cent tax on income greater than $128,000.

For farm businesses making more than $128,000, that’s the difference between paying down debt with an 86-cent dollar versus a 61-cent dollar.

“As far as I’m concerned, not one single farmer today should be in a proprietorship,” says Friesen. FF

He expects some producers who haven’t been tracking income and expenses may be surprised to learn their 2010 income is much higher than expected if they liquidated 2009 crops this year. Others may also owe tax on money from taxable government programs linked to problems with spring seeding. Crop insurance payouts are also taxable.

Those who pre-paid fuel, fertilizer and chemicals for crop inputs not used this season will be able to claim those expenses in 2010. That will lower this year’s income and help with 2011’s cash flow, since “you have prepaid for inputs you can use next year,” says Friesen.

“My advice is to spend more time getting into your professional decision-maker’s head and learning more about how to run the business end of your operation. It’s an old message, but farmers really do need to think about how the size of their farms should dictate the amount of time they spend on the business end, including tax planning. If your farm is 10 times as big as your grandfather’s, and that’s not uncommon today, you really should spend 10 times more on the business side — because it will pay off.”

In addition to abandoning the sole

proprietorship mode and structuring their farm businesses as partnerships or corporations (see sidebar), Friesen says farmers can improve their tax planning by following two simple guidelines: 1. Keep it real. Your tax planner needs accurate information. Track income and expense data accurately. If you don’t know, ask. If you don’t understand, ask again. You don’t ever need to understand Canadian tax legislation in great detail.

You do need to understand why your accountant needs particular information and make sure he gets it.

2. Meet deadlines. Ask your tax professional when he or she needs your information, and plan accordingly. Do not lose sight of these deadlines. The Canada Revenue Agency doesn’t care about how the weather impacted your ability to take care of business. It does not grant extensions and it does charge interest. FF

farmforum.cA

Access to the small business tax rate, positive wage implications, improved succession planning and limited liability top the list of reasons Canadian farmers are encouraged to incorporate their farms. Rodney Voldeng has another: profitability.

In 1997, Voldeng and his brother Doug took over a family hog farm that was incorporated in 1967. Three years ago they exited the hog business. “We had been expanding the grain farm and at that point we were able to survive as a single-entity grain farm.”

Using detailed records they kept as an incorporated business, they were able to see the future. “A lot of people told us it was a mistake, but I took the information we had to our accountants and they agreed with me. If we stayed in hogs, in 12 months, we would be losing money. In 24 months, we would be bankrupt.”

Census figures from 2006 show fewer than 20 per cent of Canadian farms are incorporated, meaning they operate as proprietorships. That troubles CA Ron Friesen, who views operating your farm as a proprietorship, the “default position” of someone who doesn’t want to see the benefits of incorporation.

Voldeng agrees. “It may be more work in terms of book-

for more information visit us online online articles Good records save tax www.farmforum.ca/goodrecords Brush up on tax rules and reap the benefits www.farmforum.ca/brushuptaxrules additional resources Meyers Norris Penny www.farmforum.ca/mnp Is incorporation for you? Farm Credit Canada www.farmforum.ca/FCCincorporation Incorporation: factors to consider, Letourneau Law www.farmforum.ca/incorporationfactors Farm Forum.cA | 7

The yield And InVigor® is proud to take full responsibility.

With its superior genetics, early season vigor and great performance under stressed conditions, InVigor canola hybrids continually set higher standards for yield. This season we’ll do it again with the launch of the InVigor “L” series.

So don’t be afraid of the yield gap. Just make sure you are on the right side.

For more information visit

BayerCropScience.ca/InVigor

BayerCropScience.ca or 1 888-283-6847 or contact your Bayer CropScience representative.

Always read and follow label directions. InVigor® is a registered trademark of Bayer. Bayer CropScience is a member of CropLife Canada.

gap just got wider.

10/10-14547A

Stewart Brandt (foreground), plant breeder and manager of breeding operations at Bayer CropScience with the Canola Breeding Management Team on site at the Breeding Centre of Innovation in Saskatoon.

Meet Team InVigor Canola breeding technology keeps getting better — faster.

That means you can look forward to more high-performing new hybrids — sooner The day’s work is never complete for the canola breeding team at Bayer CropScience’s Breeding Centre of Innovation in Saskatoon. That’s not because they work around the clock, but rather because canola breeding is a continuous cycle with no real start or stop point.

Developing a new hybrid is a long process. At any given time more than 50 breeding projects might be in the works.

“The success of each new hybrid is in the details,” says Stewart Brandt, plant breeder and manager of breeding operations at Bayer CropScience. “A product on the market today is potentially part of a new hybrid for tomorrow.”

Canola breeding has come a long way since Brandt began with InVigor hybrid development more than 15 years ago.

Back then the goal was simple — to create a product that out-yielded all open-pol-

10 | Farm Forum | FALL 2010

linated canola varieties available on the Canadian market. They were successful.

The first hybrids had a yield advantage of about 10 per cent. “Canola hybrid breeding itself was much more simple when we started back in 1995,” Brandt says. “Compared with today, it was maybe one-tenth the amount of work by volume and about one one-hundredth the complexity.”

By the early 2000s, breeding research was beginning to further widen the gap between the performance of hybrids and openpollinated varieties. The yield differential grew to 15 to 20 per cent but that wasn’t the only advantage hybrids demonstrated: their re-

sults were much more stable.

“Our first hybrids were good products and outperformed open-pollinated seed on yield. But they weren’t as good as they could be,” says Rod Merryweather, North American oilseeds business operations manager with Bayer CropScience.

“They were too tall, had a tendency to lodge and were still susceptible to blackleg. Over the years we’ve been able to breed these issues out of the seed.”

Narrowing the possibilities Today the breeding team develops thousands of lines each year. Every parental line is checked to make sure its background is pure. Careful and accurate testing gives the team a high degree of confidence in the end result.

“Variety evaluation is a lesson in experimental design and quality control,” says

The molecular breeding lab is just one of several labs that work together to develop each new hybrid.

Cover Story

PHOTOs genesis studio

By Jennifer Barber

Brandt. “By controlling the variables in each stage, we get to the final field results knowing the lines we are screening have had every chance to be fairly evaluated across a wide variety of conditions.”

Most of the lines started each year are discarded or, more accurately, sent to the recycling bin for future development. About five to 10 per cent of what is tested in the field annually advances to the next stages of varietal development. For every 10 hybrids brought forward for registration, often only one will make it to market.

“Once we’ve narrowed down the possibilities each year, we take those that look promising and test them at more than 30 locations across the prairies,” says Jeff Mansiere, assistant breeder with Bayer CropScience. “To find and select for performance at the highest level, we must have confidence in solid yield data.

This means not just good results, but consistently good results.”

An integrated approach While Bayer CropScience has had permanent breeding facilities since 1999, the company took a leap forward when it opened the doors to the breeding centre in July 2009. The facility boasts greenhouses, labs and field space in excess of 560 acres.

“Our strength is not in one person, or a couple of people,” says Brandt. “Breeding canola takes many people, with different but complementary skills. Working together, everyone is part of the puzzle and the goals cannot be achieved without all the pieces.”

The facility’s several departments work together to develop each new hybrid.

Technicians at the greenhouse work on specific programs, for example developing new germplasm (packages of genetic resources for the crop). They also breed

Working together, everyone is part of the puzzle and the goals cannot be achieved without all the pieces new parent lines and incorporate new traits into these lines. The double haploid lab is used to accelerate these processes, replacing what once took six generations of plant growth.

The molecular breeding lab is becoming increasingly crucial in canola breeding. “It allows us to surgically insert traits into elite parental lines with minimal genetic background disruption,” says Brandt. “We can begin to select for traits we want before even going into the field.

In the past we had to select for desirable

Technicians in the molecular breeding lab are able to surgically insert desirable canola traits into elite parental lines.

Farm Forum.cA | 11

Two young agrologists demonstrate the plot combine, used to combine the research plots at the breeding centre.

Team members work closely every step of the way to ensure a quality canola hybrid.

traits in the field. That was time consuming and much less efficient. With the new technology, we can just field test lines with markers present to confirm expression of traits.”

The pathology lab is where technicians screen for diseases. While they look at the full spectrum, they focus on blackleg, clubroot and sclerotinia, the biggest disease threats in canola. The pathology group also looks at stacking disease resistance genes into parental lines.

And in the analytical lab, technicians look for the presence or absence of specific genes and check seed chemistry characteristics such as oil and protein content.

Just outside the Saskatoon facility is the field breeding and evaluation operation, where new varieties are taken from the dream stage through to registration.

While 40 full-time people are needed for this work, each year an additional 20-25 summer students and numerous casual labourers join the group.

“Many things are mechanized, but you still need human hands in this business,” says Mansiere. “Evaluating and producing seed is a very technical process and this part still requires a lot of manual labour.

“The field group tries to mimic farm production, except we try to take out all the variables,” he adds. “We evaluate the performance of our lines without weeds, insect pressures and diseases. Removing those influences gives you your true genetic potential.”

Once a hybrid looks promising in the field, it goes to registration. Simultaneously, the breeding team works with Bayer’s parent seed production group to multiply parental lines and increase the seed in a full-scale production facility.

Then, by the time it is registered, it can be available for producers.

Looking ahead Right now the breeding team is moving varieties that have been in development over the past several years to the in-field testing stage. Some of these are expected to hit the market within the next couple of years.

“Our newest products are focused on more than just a better hybrid in terms of yield,” says Merryweather. “The parents have to be more stable and combinable

The pathology lab is where technicians screen for diseases, focusing on the biggest disease threats to canola.

12 | Farm Forum | FALL 2010

The Breeding Centre of Innovation opened in July 2009.

It’s home to greenhouses, labs and field space in excess of 560 acres. Inset: The corridor inside the greenhouses.

and we’ve moved into other traits such as oil content and quality. But we still have one main objective and that’s yield. Everything else is fine tuning for specific growers and markets.”

In addition to increased yield, the canola breeding team’s goals include hybrids with better disease resistance and the ability to help manage herbicide re-

We’re now much better than we ever were at producing hybrids and selecting the best ones for the market

PHOTOs genesis studio

farmforum.cA

sistance. The challenge will be incorporating traits that address these issues into high-yielding hybrids.

“We’re now much better than we ever were at producing hybrids and selecting the best ones for the market,” says Merryweather. “We can now map the genome (overall genetic package) of a seed and analyze every aspect of it before field trials. We now know at a much earlier stage when we’ve got what we want. It saves time and helps us bring consistent and profitable products to the market quicker.” FF for more information visit us online online articles Partnership makes better canola oil www.farmforum.ca/canolapartnership High-yield canola is all in the details www.farmforum.ca/highyieldcanola additional resources Breeding Centre of Innovation www.farmforum.ca/breedingcentre Bayer’s new InVigor hybrids www.farmforum.ca/newinvigor

A lesson in numbers This fall, Bayer CropScience’s launch of two new InVigor hybrids heralded the introduction of a new numbering system to make identification easier.

“With our latest products we wanted a numbering system to tell the story of what that bag of seed represents,” says Brad Ewankiw, portfolio manager for InVigor seed.

Under this system, the first two canola varieties, which will be commercially available in 2011, are InVigor L130 and L150. Each of these first “L series” products has been assigned a letter and number combination that represents specific information.

The first letter indicates herbicide tolerance, in this case the Liberty Link trait. The first number lets growers know which generation of the “L” series the product belongs to. The second number represents the maturity rating and the final number shows the hybrid’s chronological place within the series.

For example, L150 indicates a resistance to Liberty herbicide, the 1 signifies that this is a first generation Liberty tolerant InVigor variety, the 5 says that it is a medium maturity category and the 0 tells that this is the first product in the L15 series.

“With these first products we started the maturity date at a three because as we move forward we hope to develop even earlier varieties,” says Ewankiw.

“This will be critical for growers with

short or varying growing seasons.”

So far, performance of the two new hybrids has exceeded that of any other InVigor product. In tests, L130 yielded 136 per cent of the average of the checks, and L150 yielded 143 per cent of the average of the checks (46A65 and Q2).

“L130 combines early maturity and high yield, which will be especially important to anyone who grows canola in the short-season zones of western Canada,” says Ewankiw. “L150 is the first canola in Canada to come in at greater than 140 per cent of the new checks. We hope growers will try a mix of the early maturing and highest yielding varieties to manage risk.”

Initially, Ewankiw admits, the bag numbers may not mean a lot to some farmers — they’ll be primarily looking at the results. But he believes growers will soon begin to check herbicide tolerance letters and maturity category indicators when planning their canola rotation. FF

Farm Forum.cA | 13

production

Winter wheat outlook still bright despite wet fall

By Jennifer Barber

It was supposed to be a banner year for seeding winter wheat. This fall, nearly 12 million unseeded acres of prairie farmland presented a chance for the crop to take off. But as fall mirrored the wet conditions of last spring, the window of opportunity shrank.

Ideally, the winter wheat growing season begins in the last two weeks in August.

This year, chemfallow was ready for seeding then. “But unfortunately,” says Mark Akins, an agrologist with Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) in Regina, SK, “Mother Nature was not on our side and it was too wet to seed into that land.”

While stats on final seeded acres won’t

Ken Gross

Mark Akins is an agrologist with Ducks Unlimited Canada.

14 | Farm Forum | FALL 2010

Janine Paly

be available until December, winter wheat did make it into the ground in many areas.

Instead of early seeding into chemfallow, however, it became a race against the clock as farmers across the prairies struggled to get their canola harvested in time to seed winter wheat in advance of crop insurance deadlines.

“Fortunately, many of the guys who intended on seeding winter wheat stuck with the plan,” says Akins. “If they got it into the ground at all, they know they won’t have to go into a potentially wet field with their drill this spring. But the worst areas for excessive moisture last spring were also the wettest this fall.”

For farmers able to seed winter wheat, a high-yielding harvest is still possible in 2011. Much depends on crop management, from seeding until it gets growing again in the spring.

Winter wheat seeded early has the advantage of greater winter hardiness if it gets to the three-leaf, one-tiller stage before going dormant for winter.

Winter wheat that made it in later in September will not necessarily lose yield, but results will be more variable.

Weed control in winter wheat will be very important this year as weeds were a problem throughout this past growing season. A late fall spray to keep winter annuals from getting started was probably a good investment this year, says Ken Gross, a DUC agronomist in Brandon, MB. “If land remains wet in the spring, producers are going to have trouble getting in there to spray at that time.”

Gross adds that growers should also consider crop nutrition over the winter months. “It was so wet this fall that even if farmers put down nitrogen with the seed, they risk losses due to excess moisture,” he says. “I would recommend they soil test and be prepared to hit the crop with nitrogen before plants start growing again and the opportunity for yield gains is lost.”

If winter wheat has a successful start, wet soil could result in heightened disease risk. Also, if winter wheat was seeded late,

photos courtesy Ducks Unlimited Canada

… there are more first-time winter wheat growers every year.

It’s good to see them discover the benefits winter wheat offers in a crop rotation is offering a $4 per acre cash incentive and Bayer CropScience has kicked in a $7 per acre rebate on its products for use on winter wheat.

Janine Paly, a DUC agrologist in Edmonton believes many growers who managed to seed winter wheat this year are new to the crop. “The acres might not increase from last year, but there are more first-time winter wheat growers every year. It’s good to see them discover the benefits winter wheat offers in a crop rotation.”

She notes that many winter wheat varieties now grown on the prairies have the potential to do well even under this year’s tough conditions. Further improvement is likely. “For the future, producers are looking for varieties with good disease packages, maturity, yield potential and marketing opportunities,” she says.

In terms of varieties, CDC Radiant was the most seeded in Alberta in 2009, CDC Falcon in Manitoba and CDC Buteo in Saskatchewan. New and emerging varieties should help diminish the risks of disease and winterkill. Paly says that while these improvements are important, certain management tools, such as controlling volunteer plants in the fall, also decrease the potential for disease transmission.

In addition, Gross would like to see a

Check out these winter wheat helplines With many winter wheat growers seeding later and into wet soil this fall, off-season agronomic support might be more important than ever. So where do you turn for answers to questions about your winter wheat crop?

“Given the tough seeding conditions, growers will probably need to talk to someone at some point over the winter,” says Jake Davidson, executive manager of Winter Cereals Canada. “They can always contact agronomists available from their retailers or through specific products they’re using. But there are other opportunities for support and education:” • Winter Cereals Canada: www.farmforum.ca/wintercerealscanada Winter Cereals Canada is an advocacy group for more than 5,000 winter wheat growers on the prairies. It publishes a newsletter over the winter months that includes a calendar of events for growers to use as regional resources.

“Saskatchewan Winter Cereals Development Commission will hold its AGM at Saskatchewan Crop Production Days in January,” says Davidson. “That will give growers the opportunity to hear from speakers on issues facing their crop this year. In March we’ll have a similar event at the Winter Cereals Manitoba meeting in Winnipeg.”

• Ducks Unlimited Canada www.farmforum.ca/winterwheatinfo Davidson also recommends growers make use of their local Ducks Unlimited Canada agrologist, as the organization has a long-standing interest in promoting winter wheat, which has benefits for wildlife.

• University of Saskatchewan Winter Survival Model: www.farmforum.ca/wintersurvivalmodel Brian Fowler with the University of Saskatchewan has developed a winter wheat model that estimates the chance of survival of a winter cereal crop. Developed for use by farmers, extension workers and researchers, the model takes into account seed variety, soil type, historical temperature, seeding rate/ depth and fertilizer usage.

Once the crop freezes, Davidson says, the question he hears the most is, “Is it alive?” Unfortunately, that question can’t be answered until spring. “Much of the ‘winterkill’ is more like ‘spring kill’ — which happens when temperatures still fluctuate below or above freezing. (This model) helps assess that risk.” FF rethink of harvest practices. “It would be a shift in the way many producers operate,” he says. “They like to get harvest finished and the combine shut down before they seed their winter wheat. But if they think on a field-by-field basis they could seed their winter wheat soon after the first canola field is harvested. It would be a way to spread out workload and resources, and mitigate weather risk.” FF

farmforum.cA

its growing period may be pushed into the fusarium window next summer. Gross says field scouting for disease next spring and summer is important as fungicide applications are cheap insurance against yield loss.

After three consecutive years of late harvest and reduced winter wheat acreage, some worry that farmers will lose interest in what is actually a highyielding, environmentally-sustainable and easy to manage crop. To encourage producers to adopt winter wheat, DUC

for more information visit us online online articles Winter wheat needs nitrogen in early spring www.farmforum.ca/winterwheatN In the shadow of the elephant www.farmforum.ca/shadowofelephant additional resources Winter wheat crop solution for wet conditions www.farmforum.ca/winterwheatsolution Winter Cereals Sustainability in Action www.farmforum.ca/WCSIA Farm Forum.cA | 15

Technology

Wet season rewards fungicide applications

But once again, variable results remind prairie farmers that no fool-proof formula exists to guarantee the success of post-emerge disease treatments For the entire 2010 growing season, the prairie farm belt was lush and green.

Too lush and too green. Many areas were hit with excessive rainfall, leaving much of the land producers did manage to seed highly susceptible to disease.

Cereals were hardest hit, with all three provinces reporting high levels of leaf diseases such as tan spot and septoria, especially on spring wheat. Winter wheat was also hard hit by fusarium, particularly in southern Manitoba. Oilseeds suffered too, with sclerotinia showing up in a lot of canola and some soybean crops.

As a result, many farmers used more fungicides than usual. And whether that increased investment in crop protection paid off depended on location and crop.

For Ernie Sirski, who farms near Dauphin in the drowned-out Parkland region of Manitoba, spraying his wheat crop certainly wasn’t the best economic decision he made this year. “The wheat was heavily infested with leaf spot diseases so we de16 | Farm Forum | FALL 2010

By Angela Lovell

cided to spray it all,” he says. “It stayed so sprayed was lentils. “We applied fungicide wet after we put the fungicide on it that we twice on our lentils but the soil underneath remained very wet and sclerotinia just debasically wasted our money.”

Sirski ended up with spring wheat that stroyed them. But they are a semi-arid barely made 17 bu/ac. On the other hand, crop, so you can’t really get three inches his winter wheat, which he also treated of rain in September and expect them to with fungicide, gave a good average yield do well.”

Alberta was pretty much a mixed bag of around 49 bu/ac. And he made a conscious decision in June, having sprayed for moisture this year, but where producout two-thirds of his thin canola crop to ers were looking at above-average yields, get rid of it, not to spray the rest, which they were mostly using fungicides, says at the end of the day with yields no better Elston Solberg, president of Agri-Trend Agrology in Red Deer. “I would say the than 12 bu/ac, was the right decision. awareness of disease The opposite was pressures and the true for Murray Purforewarning that crop cell, who farms near I believe fungicides in prices were going to Saskatoon, SK. He be stronger than aninvested heavily in our area made farmers ticipated in the spring fungicides for his huge dollars and those led to above average canola and durum fungicide use right and believes it was that didn’t spray are across our network in well worth it. Despite regretting it now Alberta.” receiving three times One of the biggest the usual rainfall, both changes Solberg saw crops yielded around 50 bu/ac. And he puts a lot of that return this year was an increase in variable-rate fungicide applications, with sprayers shut down to the fungicides he applied.

“We used Folicur on cereals. Our down in patches where there was no agronomist came out weekly and told us crop, and adjusted elsewhere to match when to spray and it really paid off, espe- yield potential.

Whether to spray fungicides to procially in our durum,” says Purcell. “If we hadn’t sprayed it I don’t think we would tect crops from disease is often a tough call for prairie farmers, although the wet have got the yield.”

The only crop Purcell wishes he hadn’t conditions and threat of disease probably

PHOTOs (left) courtesy tim smith; (centre) courtesy Tom Fetch/Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada; (right) ©veer.COM/Alloy Photography

made that decision easier this year.

In Manitoba and Saskatchewan, particularly with canola, thinner crops allowed more air flow in the canopy and helped, in some cases, to prevent sclerotinia. Spraying did take place, but producers were more selective about where they sprayed. “There was much more patch and partial field spraying,” says Phil Parker, an Agri-Trend ag coach in Manitoba’s Westman region.

He thinks that had a lot to do with crop conditions and commodity prices. “De-

Aerial Spraying

spite having ideal conditions for disease development and spread, canola crops looked poor and prices weren’t that aggressive early on,” he says. “Clients invested in crops that showed the most potential.”

Purcell admits that you don’t have to drive far from his farm to find growers who haven’t had the good fortune he has, but on the whole he figures the benefits of fungicide application outweighed the cost.

“I believe fungicides in our area made farmers huge dollars and those that didn’t spray are regretting it now,” he says. FF

Aerial spraying has its advantages and independent surveys indicate that this method saves money through gains in yield and less crop damage.

The greatest yield advantages come in crops like potatoes that have a high requirement for fungicides, but even in cereals and oilseeds the average yield advantage hovers around the one bushel per acre mark, says John Bodie, owner of Jonair Ltd. in Portage la Prairie, MB. “It doesn’t sound like much but when you start talking about $10 canola, on a quarter section that’s $1,600,” says Bodie. At $7 an acre cost to aerial spray, the farmer is already making money.

Add to that the reduction in crop damage from trampling of ground rigs, which usually have one-foot tire spacings. On a 100 ft. spray rig, for every 100 feet sprayed, about two feet of crop is trampled.

“Across a quarter section you are trampling 6.2 acres of crop,” says Bodie. “If you have a 40 bu/ac. canola crop, at $10

farmforum.cA

Stem rust infection on wheat.

for more information visit us online online articles Head off the spread of Ug99 www.farmforum.ca/ug99 New fungicide improves disease protection www.farmforum.ca/newfungicide additional resources Bayer fungicide products information www.farmforum.ca/bayerfungicides Canadian Aerial Applicators Association www.farmforum.ca/aerialapplicators Tips for aerial spraying in canola www.farmforum.ca/aerialsprayingcanola

a bushel, you have lost $2,480 in one quarter section of crop through trampling.”

This year about six million acres of crops were sprayed across the prairies and fungicides were used on about three million of those acres.

Timing is crucial when applying fungicides. Cereals need to be hit at the flag leaf or heading stage, canola in early bloom and potatoes may need spraying up to eight times before harvest. Wet conditions will hasten disease outbreaks so there may not always be time to wait for the ground to dry up.

Ernie Sirski who farms near Dauphin, MB, got tired of waiting and aerial sprayed his winter wheat, which he rarely does. “It was so wet we would have got stuck and it was a decent crop, so we used a plane and that was a good move because it paid for itself and we got a good average yield around 49 bu/ac.”

Most fungicides can be applied by air and as long as the operator pays careful attention to the amount of water he is using in the mix there should be no problems, says Bodie. FF Farm Forum.cA | 17

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Farm Forum.cA | 19 09/10-14760-01A

dn u fa roh m lo icflteoi ogny Tp erc

Soil test your wet fields How much nitrogen is left in your soil after this year’s flooding?

It’s anyone’s guess. A soil test is the only way to find out By Gerald Pilger Many farmers who endured wet conditions through the 2010 growing season are left with nutrient-poor soil, says Dr. Jeff Schoenau, a soil scientist with the University of Saskatchewan.

“The 2010 growing season was really unusual. Some areas had three to four times their average rainfall. Such atypical conditions can do a pretty good job of removing nutrients, especially nitrogen, from the soil profile.”

Dr. Don Flaten, a soil scientist with the University of Manitoba agrees: “After unusual weather, there tends to be wide variation in nutrients available the following year. Under wet conditions a large portion of plant-available N can be lost through leaching and denitrification (bacterial conversion to nitrogen gas).

Following a year such as 2010, residual nutrient levels cannot be predicted and Flaten believes field-by-field soil testing is essential.

20 | Farm Forum | Fall 2010

Growers are often very disappointed to find soil test results that show very low residual levels of N after a wet year.”

In fact, research in 2002 at Indiana’s Purdue University found that nitrate-N loss from warm, waterlogged soil can exceed five per cent per day.

With this in mind, the best way to get an accurate read on N levels is through soil testing. Schoenau expects a big rush for testing next spring, and advises farmers to get moving on this chore as soon as possible.

Schoenau also expects nutrient levels will be highly variable across fields, so you may need more than one soil sample per field. Landscape testing, or partitioning a field into like soil types, 2010 yields, or dry versus saturated soil areas

will help you put together a more precise fertility plan.

Following a year such as 2010, residual nutrient levels cannot be predicted and Flaten believes field-by-field soil testing is essential. He suggests producers even consider soil testing based on the topography of a field or by separate testing of areas of the field that were farmed this past year and areas that were flooded.

“Flooded out land may be quite different than land that produced a crop.”

However, John Heard, crop nutrition specialist with Manitoba Agriculture says, “Rainfall and flooding does not always result in nutrient losses. You cannot presume there will be a nitrogen deficiency because of flooding. In some flooded fields, soil tests have shown N has actu-

appeared that supplemental N would be needed to meet needs of the wheat crop.”

So where did the N go and which form was lost? “Probably a large portion of the existing nitrate-N in the soil was lost because it is vulnerable to denitrification under waterlogged conditions,” Heard explains. “This microbial process is accelerated at warm temperatures. And while manure and urea N would initially exist in the ammonium form and be less vulnerable to loss, it would in turn be converted to the nitrate form.”

Heard did not measure the N losses in the soil through lab testing. Instead, he simply let the wheat crop be the detector. N Ramp Calibration Strips were used to gauge how much N was lost and how much was needed to make up the difference. “It appeared that some 6080 lb N/ac would be needed to meet the needs of the crop even though we started with a substantial amount of nitrate-N.” Heard adds that in a humid environment it is very important to soil test to a two-foot depth rather than just testing

Nitrogen loss explained

PHOTO (LEFT) courtesy bayercropscience; (right) ©ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/Optik Design

If you understand how nitrogen (N) losses occur, you can be more proactive in addressing deficiencies.

N tends to be the most limiting plant nutrient even though 78 per cent of the atmosphere is nitrogen gas (N2). The problem is, plants cannot use this form of N. They require nitrate (N03-) or ammonium (NH4+) N for uptake.

Some plants, such as alfalfa and other legume crops, rely on a symbiotic relationship with specialized root bacteria that convert (“fix”) N2 gas into plant-useable forms.

Plants can also obtain up to 20 lb/ac of their N needs through atmospheric fixation by lightning and delivery of this N via rainfall. However, most plants rely on soil bacteria to covert soil organic matter into ammonia (ammonification).

Ammonia (NH3) is a volatile gas and can be lost (volatilization) unless it binds to hydrogen ions in the soil. This binding produces NH4+ that does not off-gas or leach but can still be lost through soil erosion.

Decreasing soil organic matter coupled with increased N needs of modern high-yield crop production requires supplemental N from fertilizers. Anhydrous ammonia, manure and urea are ammonia-based and as a result are subject to volatilization losses. That’s why these sources of N need to be injected or incorporated into the soil rather than spread on top.

Volatilization losses tend to be greater in dry soils than wet; greater in high pH soils than low pH; greater in sandy soils

the top six inches.

Farmers need to keep in mind that rainfall is just one factor that affects the loss of N. The type of fertilizer used; date of application; soil temperatures at application and during the growing season; length of time land is flooded; amount of crop residue present; and the crop (if any) harvested from the field can all have a bearing on the amount of residual N. Soil tests are the only way to determine the extent of N lost during the past year, and the amount of residual N available for 2011. FF

farmforum.cA

ally increased. You must test to know!”

As an example, Heard reports that in 2000, heavy July rains in the Starbuck area of southern Manitoba flooded a large acreage of crop land. Soil testing found areas of wheat fields that produced a crop in 2000 had 16 lbs/acre of residual N remaining. But flooded areas that were not harvested had 80 lbs/per acre of residual N. On the other hand, Heard points to a Manitoba fertilizer demonstration site this past summer that clearly showed how an N deficiency can appear following heavy rains. “Initially the heavy Red River clay soil tested with 116 lb nitrate-N in the top 24 inches, primarily carryover from an alfalfa crop removed two years ago. Some additional N was applied as hog manure and various rates of N as urea were applied in a Nitrogen Ramp Calibration Strip (see www.farmforum.ca/nitrogensensing),” says Heard.

“After nine inches of rain in May and June on this heavy clay soil, wheat displayed severe N deficiency — even where as manure or urea had been applied. It

for more information visit us online online articles Optical sensing signals nitrogen needs www.farmforum.ca/nitrogensensing How to take the perfect soil sample www.farmforum.ca/soiltesting additional resources Impact of flooding on soil fertility www.farmforum.ca/floodingandfertility Nitrogen cycle www.farmforum.ca/nitrogencycle Effect of nitrogen on wheat growth www.farmforum.ca/Nandwheatgrowth

than heavier clay soils; and greater when soil temperatures are higher than cool.

While NH4+ does not leach and can be used by plants, it is also converted by some soil microbes to NO3- through a process called nitrification. Unlike NH4+, this form of plant-ready N can be leached from the soil by rainfall. Leaching losses tend to be higher on irrigated lands, in sandy soils and on land which is summerfallowed. Losses from leaching tend to be highest in early spring and late fall.

Nitrate nitrogen can also be lost through the process of denitrification in which soil bacteria convert the NO3- to nitrogen and nitrous oxide gases that are then lost back to the atmosphere. Since these bacteria thrive in anaerobic conditions, denitrification losses tend to be highest in flooded, compacted soils and following heavy rain.

Some soil microbes convert NH4+ and NO3- into organic nitrogen thereby making it temporarily unavailable to the crop.

While the N is not lost, this immobilization can result in a temporary N deficiency. This problem is more pronounced early in the growing season and more common in minimum and zero tillage management systems. FF

Farm Forum.cA | 21

fa r m l i f e

By Cynthia Bablitz

This farm thrives on customer contact 22 | Farm Forum | Fall 2010

It’s no small feat to sustain a liveable income on a small family farm, but that has been Steve and Lisa Cooper’s goal all along and one that has helped earn them accolades as outstanding young farmers.

In March, from among a select group of six finalists and some 30 original nominees, Cooper’s Farm was named Ontario regional winner of Canada’s Outstanding Young Farmers’ program.

“We were nominated once before,” says Steve, “But the farming business and other personal commitments didn’t seem

to leave room in our schedules to proceed through the application process. This year, one of our customers nominated us. That resonated with us and made us think, OK, maybe it’s time to look at this more seriously.”

This kind of responsiveness is a hallmark of Steve and Lisa’s success. Steve, who hails from a fifth generation farming family, and Lisa, “a city girl from the greater Toronto area” originally started their farming life working with Steve’s family’s beef and cash crop operation.

with offers for bi-weekly food shares throughout the winter in root crops and stored food products.

Although it’s tempting to say, “The rest is history,” you get a sense from Steve and Lisa that their farming operation will be a lifelong project with change as integral to the journey as a healthy bottom line.

“Our farm has been a journey ... along it, we’ve really re-educated ourselves,” says Steve. He completed the Canadian Total Excellence in Agricultural Management program from the George Morris Centre and they both completed the Advanced Agricultural Leadership Program through the Rural Ontario Institute. These programs supported their operation from a managerial standpoint, says Steve.

The quality foods Cooper’s Farm produces and sells direct to consumers in the greater Toronto area include meat products from goats, cattle, pigs and chickens as well as fruits and vegetables. Along with this impressive list, Steve and Lisa’s success as agri-business operators undoubtedly hinges on their willingness to explore alternative farming opportunities. FF farmforum.cA

PHOTOS COURTESY cooper’s farm

Steve and Lisa bought their own plot of farmland and over the past 15 years have transformed their farming practice away from commodities to direct marketing. At first, sales from their market gardens were made through farmers’ markets, and in the past five years, an even closer connection with the consumers of their food products has led to a thriving Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) operation.

A CSA is a partnership between a farm and a community of supporters. Cooper’s Farm provides the community with fresh food in exchange for financial support from the community which allows them to preserve their small farm and sustainable farming practices.

During harvest, Like many great ideas, Dad would set us up with turning their farm into a CSA happened more or a roadside stand selling less by chance. “We had sweet corn. That was already been offering ‘agri-entertainment’ — a my first experience with corn maze, tours of our direct marketing and it farm, wagon rides, givstuck with me ing instruction on how to pick a ripe watermelon and teaching folks about our crops — when someone jumped up on the wagon and said, ‘I want to become part of this,’” Steve recalls. “That’s how the CSA started.”

Steve and Lisa then researched the notion of CSAs and found that this type of operation was gaining popularity particularly in the northeastern United States, and for decades, had been an integral part of the food supply chain in such countries as Denmark and Norway.

(Some 25 per cent of the population purchases all or part of their food directly from growers in Denmark.)

When Lisa was laid off from her offfarm employment in 2004, the pair decided that rather than her looking for With no real say in how his crops were marketed, however, Steve was nev- a replacement job, they’d change their er really happy. This unrest led to a shift farming operation to fully employ them in focus as the pair turned their atten- both — something they’d dreamed of tion toward growing food for sale direct from the start.

“Once we got going, we realized our to consumers. groove was in CSA ... and we hit our goal The decision was also influenced by of the farm providing full time income one of Steve’s childhood experiences. within a year,” explains Steve. Beginning “The farm I grew up on was on a busy road,” he explains. “During harvest, Dad with some 50 families invested in 2007, would set us up with a roadside stand numbers have been growing by 40-50 per selling sweet corn. That was my first cent annually, with over 500 families now experience with direct marketing and it buying shares in Cooper’s CSA. This year the 23-week CSA season was extended, stuck with me.”

for more information visit us online additional resources Outstanding Young Farmers’ Program www.farmforum.ca/oyfcanada Cooper’s CSA www.farmforum.ca/coopersfarm George Morris Centre www.farmforum.ca/georgemorriscentre Advanced Agricultural Leadership Program www.farmforum.ca/agleadershipprogram Farm Forum.cA | 23

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