As the calendar rolls around to August and September each year, south-central Alberta farmer Larry Penner finds himself in two time zones — seeding time and harvest time.
For a good part of his farming career, Penner has been a believer of including a winter cereal crop in rotation. He says the timing can be a bit of a challenge, but he does the planning and hopes to hit that roughly month-long window from late August to late September when a winter cereal can be seeded.
“It can be a challenge some years,” says Penner, who today owns and operates Penwest Seeds at Three Hills, about 90 minutes north of Calgary, Alta. “You need to be able to have an early harvest for at least part of your crop, giving you time to get the winter cereal seeded before the rest of the harvest begins.”
Read Also
Good news, bad news for fungicides meant to fight stem rot in canola
A report shows overall insensitivity of sclerotinia to three fungicide groups hasn’t changed in a big way between 2010 and 2024 — but shows some sclerotinia populations have been discovered with elevated insensitivity to all three.
In his area, the ideal window for seeding a winter cereal is from the third week of August until the third week of September. This year, he was hoping to begin harvesting peas during the fourth week of August and, then, seed about 160 acres to a newer winter triticale variety, AB Snowcat, on pea stubble.
The winter cereals seeded last fall, winter triticale as well as winter wheat, will also be harvested soon after the peas.
Penner figures it will be early to mid-September before he begins harvest of the spring-seeded crops.
Fall crops take planning
“Including the winter cereal in rotation does take some planning,” says Penner. “Your seeding equipment and trucks have to be readied again for seeding the winter crop. And you need to get your fertilizer ready for application. So, it takes a bit of organization, but it is worthwhile. It spreads out the workload both spring and fall and the winter crops are generally high yielding and have good market value. They are a profitable proposition.”
And, in the bigger picture, there is also an environmental benefit. Seeding winter cereals has long been supported by conservation organizations such as Ducks Unlimited. Without any seeding or tillage disturbance in the spring, those winter cereal acres are ideal habitat for nesting waterfowl and other upland birds.
As well, a winter cereal does a good job in competing with weeds such as wild oats. “With concern about herbicide-resistant wild oats, if you can reduce weed pressure, that is a benefit,” he says. “I haven’t been able to eliminate a herbicide application — in some situations that may be possible — but growing the winter cereals changes the timing of the herbicide application, which helps with control measures.”
Penner was born and raised on the family farm. It was a dairy operation for many years — he milked cows for about 20 years. Then he operated a beef feedlot for several years before switching to a certified seed grower operation about 12 years ago. With the farm located on the immediate north boundary of the town of Three Hills, he says annual cropping is easier to manage than the manure storage and handling that comes with a livestock operation.
On about 4,400 acres, Penwest Seeds produces a wide range of crops for certified seed — green and yellow peas, red lentils, several varieties of hard red spring wheat, CPS wheat, soft white wheat, durum, and malt and feed barley varieties as well as the winter wheat AAC Wildfire and the new winter triticale AB Snowcat. and the new winter triticale AB Snowcat.
Penner finds that it works best to seed the winter cereal after either the pea or lentil crops have been harvested — they are usually the earliest spring crops to be combined. The odd time, an early barley variety can be harvested in August, but that doesn’t work well when following up with a winter wheat or triticale seeding. Any volunteer barley can’t be cleaned out of those winter cereal crops being grown for seed.
In seeding winter cereals, Penner applies a delayed-release nitrogen fertilizer such as ESN in a mid-row band. “Applying too much nitrogen in the seed row can be a bit too hot for the winter cereals,” he says. “I use a starter fertilizer in the seed row and then the ESN and other fertilizer is applied mid-row.”
Penner is careful with spring-seeded crops as well. He puts about half the required nutrients with the seed and then the other half, including ESN, in the mid-row band.
Growing conditions vary
With a dryland farming operation, Penner says sufficient moisture for the fall-seeded crop can be a concern. The 2021 growing season, for example, was quite dry and although 2022 had decent moisture for part of the growing season, conditions were quite dry in late August.
“It is nice to have ideal seeding conditions in the fall but that isn’t always the case,” he says. “My approach is to seed shallow and pray for rain. Even if the crop germinates and only produces one spike that can be enough to carry it through.”
Penner says newer winter cereal varieties have been developed with improved winter hardiness. One limitation about seeding a winter crop in pea stubble is sometimes there can be areas of the field that don’t have much crop residue to trap snow and protect seedlings over the winter. “Particularly on knolls and hilltops, if there is no crop residue there can be winterkill,” he says. “I seed a bit heavier in those areas, but there is always a chance there will be some losses over the winter.”
Penner says while the winter crops do require planning and timely management, he finds them a profitable part of his crop rotation.
“With winter wheat, for example, it usually yields about 10 per cent higher than spring-seeded wheat varieties, with excellent quality,” he says.
For example, AAC Wildfire, developed at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Lethbridge Research and Development Centre and licensed to SeCan, can be used as a feed wheat, but it also has good falling numbers and good milling qualities, so it can have a fit in different markets. And AB Snowcat, developed through the Olds College Field Crop Development Centre breeding program and licensed to Canterra Seeds, is a reduced awn winter triticale suitable for forage and feed. It has a high winter survival and early maturity compared with other varieties. With good lodging resistance and strong grain and forage yields, it makes a desirable crop for beef producers.
“Growing winter cereals involves a change in mindset and a need for a change in management, but over the years we have found it well worth the effort to include them in our rotation,” says Penner.
