Depending on location, getting fall crops seeded between mid-August and mid-September is ideal, although with some cereals and varieties that window can be extended to early October.

Here are a few points on growing winter cereals based on common crop production questions I often answer as a seed grower.

1. What are some key considerations and top tips for planting winter wheat and fall rye for the 2022-23 season?

• Plan ahead. Make those calls for seed availability as early as possible and also to learn about seeding rates, prices, shipping, treatments, marketing options, herbicide planning and crop rotation planning.
• Visit some demonstration plots on summer tours or arrange a one-on-one farm visit with a seed grower to compare varieties and crops and get some information on how to grow them.
• Use a seed treatment to help with winter survival. Do a Google search of “Brian Beres seed treatment research” for excellent reference material.
• Make sure your seeding depth is as even as possible. When seeding rye, for example, it will help reduce ergot. And with even germination, all plants will flower at the same time.

2. What is the best timing for optimal seeding depth and density and why?

• Seed early if possible. Check with seed growers in your area of Western Canada for recommended seeding dates. For hybrid fall rye, for example, seed from Aug. 15 onwards in Alberta’s central regions and from Aug. 20 onwards in southern regions. If seeding in late September, consider increasing seeding rates. The goal is to get crops to at least the three-leaf stage or better before freeze-up. The more tillers you get in the fall means the faster it will grow in the spring. Winter wheat is pretty flexible on seeding window from late August into early October. Early seeding can mean less need for in-crop herbicides especially with rye as the crop fills in so fast, preventing weeds from coming in.
• Aim for a three-quarter-inch seeding depth, which allows the seed to come up quickly while the crown of the plant is deep enough in the soil to survive winter.
• Seed size can vary, so determine a seeding rate based on plants per square foot for a target. With winter wheat on irrigation on our farm at Enchant, Alta., we aim for 40 plants per square foot with 10 per cent mortality included.
• For hybrid rye, for example, we seed 0.8 of a unit per acre (18 plants per square foot) as it tillers well. If it is after Sept. 15, you may consider increasing seeding rate to one unit or 1.2 units per acre (one unit is equal to one million live seeds).

3. Are there any important fertility application and weed or pest treatment considerations?

• Use a seed treatment to help reduce the risk of winterkill and root diseases.
• A residual broadleaf herbicide and/or early seeding can reduce or eliminate the need for in-crop herbicides in rye and occasionally winter wheat.
• Ask your grain buyer about any restrictions in using plant growth regulators (PRGs) on the crop to see if they are a problem. On irrigation or wet areas, PGRs can be useful.
• Not all wild oat herbicides are registered or safe for use on rye, although early seeding (crop competition) may eliminate the need for wild oat herbicides or even broadleaf herbicides.
• Rye needs nitrogen fertility to be applied in the fall as it uses nitrogen very early. Controlled-release fertilizer products such as ESN do not release nitrogen early enough to benefit rye.
• Winter wheat is more flexible and can be fertilized in the fall or in spring. A product like ESN can work well with winter wheat.

4. What new varietal developments and/or input products should I watch for?

Here are some varieties that have worked well on our farm and with our customers.

• KWS Serafino is a new hybrid fall rye that is top of the class for grain yields while having very good ergot risk and good falling numbers for milling. It is my go-to grain variety.
• Among hybrid fall ryes for forage we use KWS Propower. It is excellent but alternatively KWS Daniello is an option that has similar forage yields but is also good for grain, so we use KWS Daniello as a flex variety.
• Among the winter wheats, AAC Wildfire has been very popular. Another excellent new variety is AAC Network winter wheat. It has a shorter stature, a little earlier and higher protein with a better all round disease package.
• About two years away AAC Coldfront will be coming out. It should have a good fit across Western Canada but it is still in seed multiplication stages.

The post A few pointers on fall rye and winter wheat production appeared first on Grainews.

The corn trials inspired me to re-think our strategy with our trials regarding chemical products and the seed varieties we are selling on our farm and customers’ farms. I do not think we can get accurate data from half field trials, non-replicated trials or yield monitors.

We have performed many trials on our farm. Some of the issues that we have encountered are:

• Not planning out the trial on paper or digitally months ahead;
• Not adequately informing the operators running the drill or sprayer;
• Yield maps didn’t show the differences we expected, or it was difficult to see conclusive results;
• Not replicating the trials accurately;
• Not placing physical flags with labels on them in the field; and,
• Not allowing enough time at harvest to weigh through our weigh wagon.

In the future I would like to do cereal trials on our farm, just as they do corn trials. I hope to take the time to:

• Plan the trial months ahead on paper or digitally;
• Keep the machine operators involved in the planning;
• Get product on farm ahead of season, and make sure rates are calculated;
• Mark the locations out with labeled flags at time of application;
• Replicate the plot;
• Weigh the production in the grain cart;
• Take samples for protein, moisture and grade from each plot;
• Measure the results (harvest will be slower that day); and,
• Remember that multiple seasons may be needed to get accurate data for some of these products.

If you’re doing trials on your farm this season, take the time to weigh the results. Harvest down the middle of the seeding or application area and on each side.

It is important to incorporate a few field trials into our season. It provides an opportunity to explain the results to ourselves, to our farm partners and to the public, and to make sure we know why we are using the products and genetics we are.

But, trials won’t tell you everything. Only once have I done a trial and found that yield monitor maps showed a clear winner.

The post Real life on-farm trials in Alberta appeared first on Grainews.

We sell cover crop seed to our customers for different reasons. Some intend to use the cover crop to graze with livestock and others use it for the soil health benefits.

If you think cover crops could benefit your farm, make a plan to put them in place.

Our western Canadian season is short, so here are six ideas to give you a longer cover crop growth period.

1. Seed early: Seed your cover crop after winter wheat or fall rye so that the harvest on that field is early. Or, silage a crop on that field so you can seed the cover crop early.

2. Get your seed ready: Plan ahead, and talk to your seed supplier mid-winter. This way, all of the parts of your blend can be ordered and in place for you. Make sure you have the seed on-site before you’re ready to seed. In fact, you can even have that seed in the drill and calibrated before the last crop comes off.

3. Get it in the ground: Use a disk drill to inter row seed after herbicide application.

4. Seed in the spring: Seed the cover crop as a grazing crop in the spring

Before you seed a cover crop, take time to plan your herbicides and use ones that will not leave a residual that could impact broadleaf or cereal plants. The season following your cover crop, it may be best to seed a Roundup Ready crop to ensure a good kill of the cover crop and any volunteers that may grow.

Let’s make use of those fields that do not have crops on them for a few months of the year and also try to benefit soil health at the same time.

The post Planning ahead for cover crops appeared first on Grainews.

Irrigated and dry land winter wheat can yield 20 to 30 per cent more than HRSW. And, if you’re selling into the feed market there is less downgrading risk with winter wheat. If your HRSW is downgraded regularly, then the advantage of a winter wheat is increased.

As well, winter wheat can spread out spring workload, help with weed control, take advantage of spring moisture, provide diversity in your farm marketing as well as habitat for nesting animals.

We have been growing a number of milling varieties — Moats, Flourish, Gateway and Emerson. All of these varieties have protein, yield and disease package advantages over the check variety. They range in height over 20 cm so there are large differences in these varieties.

The data

Table 1 (below) shows our irrigated/high moisture yields and numbers from September 2015. Notice the costs are higher on winter wheat due to higher fertility and increased freight costs per acre.

The second table (below) shows Southern Alberta dry land yields and September 2015 prices. Yields for areas with medium moisture conditions will be between these charts for profitably with each crop.

The post Profiting from winter wheat appeared first on Grainews.

We have been growing Pasteur GP wheat on both irrigation and dryland with exceptional results in both cases. Pasteur is a variety from Europe with very good quality, visually similar to a HRSW. It can be difficult to get high protein on irrigation but on dryland the protein can be high enough to ship into the U.S. spring wheat market.

Soft wheat is becoming more popular for silage and feed in our area with Sadash being the main variety. A new variety called Chiffon soft wheat is now available. It would be a good fit for those looking to replace their current soft wheat variety with a higher yielding one. Chiffon would be a great fit for silage or for grain with wide leaves and large heads.

The tables below show my numbers for irrigated land, comparing December 2014 with August 2015 (when there was harvest selling pressure on feed wheat). Notice that the costs are higher on GP/ Soft wheat due to higher fertility and increased freight costs per acre. Discounted wheat assumes a downgrading factor. When all costs, including trucking, are included, our net return on GP wheat was 104 per cent of No. 1 wheat in early December, and 124 per cent in early August.

On non-irrigated land, GP wheat sold in Canada yielded 86 per cent of No. 1 wheat in December and 107 per cent in August.

Greg Stamp is a Southern Alberta farmer. Follow him on Twitter at @stampgreg, or visit stampseeds.com.

The post General purpose and soft wheat appeared first on Grainews.

For the past 10 years we have been growing fababeans on irrigation in Southern Alberta and have found them to be an asset to our rotation and crop diversity. We have also grown fababeans on dry land but they are more of a medium to high rainfall crop or suitable for an area with soils that have good water holding capacity.

The main fababean variety we grow is called FB 9-4. The buyer is AGT Foods, who exports them. FB 9-4 are a large seeded tannin variety with excellent yield potential and good disease package.

Yields can range between the 70 to100 bushels per acre on irrigation which is similar to spring wheat yields in our area. No nitrogen is required, but inoculant and 11-52 fertilizer is used in the seed row. Fababeans can be seeded early, as they are frost tolerant early in the season — we have planted as early as April 5. Weed control for fababeans is similar to peas.

Fababeans can follow cereals in rotation, and sometimes canola. After fababeans we have grown cereals, canola, and flax crops.

Grey mold (Botrytis) can be a disease issue for fababeans but fungicides can be used to control it.

Pea Leaf Weevils are a problem in some areas as they eat the leaves of young plants and their larvae eat the nitrogen nodules. We can use a seed treatment to control/limit this problem.

Lygus bugs can be a problem mid to late in the season. They bite through the pods and leave a black spot on the seed. An insecticide may be used to control lygus bugs in fababeans.

The numbers

I have put together some crop comparisons showing actual costs and returns of fababeans, on irrigated land, compared to other crops in the fall of 2015. When you include the value of the residual N left in the soil after a year of growing fababeans, the estimated net return shown in the chart is $542.43 for fababeans. This is 169 per cent of the estimated return for wheat ($321.81).

This chart shows southern Alberta costs with an insecticide seed treatment for Pea Leaf Weevil. Keep in mind, the insecticide seed treatment may not be needed. Without the treatment, the per acre seed treatment costs for fababeans would fall from $39.38 per acre to $21.78 per acre, increasing net returns to $560.03. The seed treatment costs for peas would also fall, in my case from $31.33 as shown in the table to $17.33 per acre.

The post See if fababeans fit on your farm appeared first on Grainews.