Small-field trials on Bourgault Industries’ 2,000-acre commercial farm in northern Saskatchewan focused on canola seeding rates, and nitrogen and phosphorus placement.

Agronomy manager Curtis deGooijer said five years of data shows that less can equal more when it comes to overall yield, emergence efficiency and plant architecture and maturity.

WHY IT MATTERS: Trials involving seeding rates with proper nitrogen rates and placement can save agricultural producers input costs while maintaining or increasing yields and emergence efficiency.

DeGooijer told the recent Farming Smarter conference and trade show in Lethbridge that for singulation, rates were 10 seeds per sq. foot and then subsequently halved to five seeds and 2.5, while volumetric started at five pounds per acre and was then halved to 2.15 and 1.25.

He said yields held up even at the lowest rates, especially when conditions and fertilizer placement were managed properly. They were 49.1 bushels per acre at the lowest seeding rate and 49 bu. per acre at the highest.

The real differences were seen with plant architecture and emergence efficiency.

“We do a lot of emergence, not just at two-leaf, but then afterwards as well. Our actual emergence rates started to decline. So simply by reducing your seeding rate, you’re getting better emergence,” said deGooijer.

Emergence dropped from 72 per cent with the lowest seeding rate to 59 per cent with the highest.

Bigger plants

He also said lower seeding rates produced much larger plants with strong branching than the highest seeding rate. As well, yields from the lowest seeding rate were two bu. per acre more in the dry year of 2021 than the highest seeding rate.

“When I find in canola, what you see above ground is a pretty good indicator of what’s below ground,” he said.

“The root system underneath is a bit larger underneath. So a dry year, less plants seems to do better because of a bigger root system on it. Those plants, they can dive down there, get that moisture, get those nutrients.”

In wet years, he added, yields and emergence increased approximately five bu. per acre with the higher seeding rate.

READ MORE: Tips to achieve a uniform canola crop

The stalk stands were examined after harvest, showing that production was higher with lower numbers of plants.

“You had more plants starting to compete with each other a little bit. They didn’t really produce a whole lot of grain,” he said.

“The less plants we had, the lower seeding rate, the less unproductive plants we had as well. The dry years, lower plant stem does better, and the wet years, the higher plant stem does better.”

DeGooijer said this information could help farmers manage high spots that are drier with lighter soil and lower wet spots where moisture pools instead of practising a one-size fits all seeding rate.

“In a dry area, maybe I do want less plants. I want bigger plants to really tap down into those hilltops. I want less plants up there to drive those roots down, and bigger rooting system.”

The good place

He emphasized the potential of combining lower seeding rates with proper nitrogen rates and placement.

A nine-year nitrogen placement trial with canola showed a 17 per cent reduction in emergence with mid-row placement compared to side-banding, while yields remained consistent, hovering around 55 bu. per acre.

Phosphorus placement trials highlighted the importance of side-banding for better crop health.

DeGooijer emphasized the impact of fertilizer placement on plant stands and yield, suggesting tailored seeding rate strategies based on local conditions.

“Put them together, that gives you your plant stand. Plant stand is what is going to control the next things, your maturity with flowering, timing and frost,” he said.

“You get a year with plus-35 weather in the first week of July. If you have a low plant stand that didn’t go into flowering yet, it misses that heat blast area and starts to flower a little bit later. That is going to be beneficial in having a later maturity big time. In the same sense, you get an early frost at the end of August, you got this low plant stand and later maturity, that’s going to hurt you on the back end.”

He said seeding rates must also be considered when managing weeds.

“Weed competition, if you are going to go to a lower plant stand, you might have to spray twice. If you want to only spray once, that’s where you have to consider having a higher plant stand because that comes into canopy closure.”

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However, the Sowa family at Wadena, Sask., about 200 km east of Saskatoon, say they have no plans to change their multi-brand, single-store business model.

Bill Sowa, 93, a founding member of Wheatbelt Sales, still comes in every day to the business his family members and partners now operate. The dealership can trace its origin back 60 years to 1965.

WHY IT MATTERS: With many farm equipment dealerships now merged into chains to achieve economies of scale, farmers might wonder if any other retail business model is still making a go of it.

“I was in Toronto and got interested in bringing back used vehicles,” recalls Sowa.

“We got really large into bringing back cab and chassis trucks. It was a real niche market. We would bring them back and put boxes and hoists on them.

“We were bringing as many as 70 trucks a year, so we decided to go into business. We decided if we’re going to do that, to take on a dealership.”

In the inventory

Incorporating Massey Ferguson and GMC franchises into the business was the start of what Wheatbelt Sales has become today.

“We dropped GM after a couple of years because we found out we could make more money with used vehicles,” says Sowa.

“It kind of interfered with bringing back used vehicles. People could afford them more, too. That had a lot to do with it.”

Eventually, Wheatbelt Sales also undertook another unorthodox sales initiative: selling used equipment to overseas customers. It also sought to sell equipment widely across the Prairies rather than just into its local area.

MORE READING: Can your cash flow handle new machinery payments?

Part of the business philosophy has been to have a large number of machines on the lot ready for delivery to customers.

“Bill’s always been a big believer in inventory,” says co-owner Jim Sowa.

“If you don’t have it, you can’t sell it.”

Originally the business was located at Invermay, Sask., but eventually the owners saw a need to relocate to a larger community, so they chose Wadena, about 50 km west.

Construction started on a large new building there in 1978 and the move was made in 1980. However, there was already a MF dealer there, so Wheatbelt had to drop that franchise.

With the need to take on a new equipment line, Versatile became the choice. It and Kubota are now the core brands at Wheatbelt, along with a number of short-lines such as Bourgault.

Standing solo

Over the years, Bill says he developed a good relationship with manufacturers, which he believes helped the dealership by getting customer feedback directly to them and ensuring new machinery arriving on Wheatbelt’s lot was designed to meet customers’ needs.

“When I was in Toronto, I got involved with Massey engineers,” he says.

He also became friends with Peter Pakosh, one of the founders of Versatile.

Sowa credits the dealership’s continued single-store viability to having a succession of good partners. The family members now invested in the business have also brought a lot of experience and expertise in their respective fields, which has benefited the company.

Over the years the service department has become a major part of the dealership, and the family recognizes that parts support is key to maintaining customers. With nine service technicians on staff, Juston Sowa, also a co-owner, says the company could still use another four.

“I would say service has become a big part of our business,” adds Jim.

Being supportive of the dealership’s staff has also helped retain existing employees for the long term, he says.

“We had a (60th anniversary) event, and it was very touching to have some employees come up and say they felt like family with us. Treat people the way you want to be treated, and that gets you the furthest.”

The company was reorganized in 2003 under the current ownership group, allowing a couple of the original partners to retire. However, the original intention to focus solely on a single-outlet business remains in place.

“We have no intention of opening any other outlets,” says Bill.

“If we do any expanding, it will be right here in Wadena.”

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WHY IT MATTERS: Bourgault’s addition of a new drill model and another opener, along with greater functionality in its proprietary BiC control system, provides buyers with more options to configure seed drills to their exact needs and specifications.

The Bourgault Intelligent Control (BiC) system, which the company introduced about a year ago, gets feature upgrades.

“When we introduced it in Phoenix in 2024, we weren’t ready to release what we call the stand-alone version,” says Jordan Henderson, North American sales manager.

“What we had up until this point was what we call the task controller version, where it works in conjunction with the tractor monitor.”

However, that changes in 2027.

While BiC will now be compatible with John Deere’s G4 and G5 monitors as well as recent versions of the New Holland and Case IH systems, it will also be able to work on its own through an iPad without needing a tractor monitor at all.

“This year we’re releasing BiC with stand-alone features … which means we don’t use the tractor monitor for anything,” says Henderson.

“Everything is being controlled by the BIC system. Now everything is done through the iPad.”

BiC will be capable of seamless integration with the John Deere Operations Centre and CNH’s FieldOps for automatic data streaming.

The enhanced system will also be able to support the upcoming Bourgault Connect offering, a cloud-based solution designed for simplified data management.

Growers will be able to import field boundaries, variable-rate prescriptions and agronomic data directly from a number of farm management tools without the need for manual transfers.

A new 50-foot drill, the CDi50, with a mounted product tank, will also hit dealers’ lots for 2027. It will be available with 7.5-, 10- or 12-inch row spacing and fitted with PLW or PLR openers.

The drill is designed for growers who need maximum maneuverability in the field and a compact transport configuration.

“It’s kind of a next step for us in our emerging markets, especially down in Kansas, Colorado, Eastern Canada,” says Henderson.

“In areas we traditionally haven’t been strong, we’re bringing out this new frame-mounted seeder that is bigger than anything else out there.

“The big sellers right now for that market are the 40- and 42-foot drills with 110- to 140-bushel single tanks. Ours has 200-bu. tanks and 50 feet, but transport widths are still in line with what we’re seeing in the industry right now.”

The drill also sports a new look, with a livery based on the limited edition models built for a while in 2024. It has black rims and white tanks, and that look will eventually become standard across the brand’s line.

In addition to the new drill, Bourgault adds yet another opener option to its portfolio, bringing the total number of opener choices available from the brand to six.

This one builds on the the ParaLink, Dual Shank design used on the PLDS, which the company has been offering. However, the new PLDX uses a more responsive 1:1 linkage configuration for improved ground contouring in the most uneven field conditions.

“This is our next evolution of the dual shank (opener),” says Henderson.

“It’s going to perform really well on uneven terrain.

“We’re still going to continue to use our PLDS. This is just another option for customers who want more consistent seed placement in uneven terrain. We need to provide an opener for all of our customers. Every customer is just a little bit different.”

With the wide range of configurations now on offer, Henderson notes the brand relies on dealers to point customers to the right opener for their needs.

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Curtis de Gooijer and the Bourgault Industries agronomy team are field-testing deep-banded phosphorus at their trial site at the company’s home base of St. Brieux, attempting to maximize yield by adding nutrients to typically untouched dirt.

They are placing phosphorus about five inches deep to see if it has lasting impacts on crop yield.

“The biggest thing with phosphorus in our soils is that it’s typically found in the top inch, two inches in essentially everybody’s soil in Western Canada because that’s where we’ve been replacing it,” says de Gooijer, Bourgault’s agronomy manager.

“As those top couple inches dry out, if there’s no soil moisture there, there’s no root activity, no uptake. So, the theory is to get that phosphorus down deeper in the soil profile, where that moisture should last longer throughout the season and give the plant better access to it.”

De Gooijer and Bourgault are using a 40-foot SPS360 cultivator to get deep into the dirt. They pull fast, at about six m.p.h., and apply an above-average rate.For their trials, a control strip was done where they seeded using common Saskatchewan practice. They also did a strip where they worked the soil five inches deep without applying extra phosphorus, trying to work the nutrient in the topsoil underneath.

The two other strips were the deep application with 192 pounds per acre of phosphorus — as well as a broadcasted strip with 192 lbs./ac., but only spread on the topsoil.

In the first year of testing, the canola saw a seven-bushel per acre increase compared to the control strip, while the broadcast application increased the yield nearly four bu/ac.

“The strips we applied the deep phos, there was a big yield difference in canola in 2023,” de Gooijer says.

“Then we seeded crossway to them and put in wheat, but there was really no difference (in yield).”

The deep phos was only applied in year one, to see if the crop productivity can maintain improvement over the next couple years of testing. Ideally, the deeper-placed phosphorus will provide for a few years before being depleted.

There were only 3.5 inches of precipitation during the canola growing season, most of which came in May. The topsoil dried and made the phosphorus near the surface less accessible to the plants, but the deep phosphorus stayed accessible.

In 2024, the wheat saw more rain, which may be why the yield results were similar. In 2025, canola is going back in.

“We’re still applying phosphorus every year as we normally would. We’re just seeing if that application will have a lasting effect through the years,” de Gooijer says.

Researchers hope the deep-placed phosphorus will remain deeper in the soil and provide for crops the next couple of years — but the only real way to know if that’s true is by results, because it’s difficult to acquire accurate soil samples.

“The problem when you do a deep band like that, is if you soil-test and don’t punch that band, and we have no idea where that band is anymore,” de Gooijer says.

“If I miss it on one of the strips, and I hit it with another one, then it could really skew the results.”

After the canola trials this year, de Gooijer says they may try a pulse crop in 2026 to conclude their research.

Bourgault is conducting another trial in St. Brieux where it’s testing yield improvements not only with deep phosphorus but also potash potassium, to see if there are any added benefits to pushing potassium deeper in the soil.

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All the products featured had been under development for some time, including the new drills. When John Deere revealed its 830-horsepower 9RX tractors earlier this year, “there were high-fives” among the engineers working on the drill, one Bourgault product rep said with a chuckle.

CAUGHT ON VIDEO: Bourgault launches 7-plex air drills

When hitched to the new drill and a large air cart, none of those horses are likely to go to waste.

“Demand for the 100-foot drill has never gone away,” Bourgault territory manager Curtis Hinrichsen says. “It’s only going to climb.”

Now with even higher horsepower tractors coming from the major brands, that is likely to be true in spades.

But when working widths stretch longer than a semi-trailer truck, operating those implements can get complicated. Bourgault, however, made “simplicity” the basis of the new drill design, according to Hinrichsen.

“The theme for our event here at Phoenix has been capacity without complexity,” he said. “So we made this drill very simple to fold, unfold and use.”

The new 3545 7-Plex Series Paralink Hoe Drills will be available in 80- to 100-foot working widths and will hit dealers’ lots in time for the 2026 seeding season.

Although Bourgault has previously offered a 100-foot drill, the new release is significantly different than the earlier version.

“Our first 100-foot drill was a fantastic product, but as times have changed, we’ve seen the need for some improvements,” Hinrichsen says. “That’s what we think we’ve done with this new model 3545.”

The first significant difference is in the size of tires on which the new drill rides.

“It uses the same high-float kit we’ve used since 2014 on all our conventional-fold drills,” he says, “but we beefed it up. It’s on steroids — massive 900/65R32 tires on the main frame actually give it more flotation on the main frame than our previous 3335 drills.”

Aside from offering wider working widths, the 7-Plex frames use wider spacing between rows, with an extra five inches of space between each frame rail. That allows for improved trash flow and provides space allowing the drill to be ordered with the brand’s twin-shank TriMax openers.

The 7-Plex drills can also be ordered with 10- or 12-inch row spacing. And they can still handle very high rates of fertilizer.

“So you’re not compromising yield when you buy this kind of capacity,” Hinrichsen adds.

One problem for farmers and dealers is the resale market for used equipment of that size is pretty limited. But the new 7-Plex drills can be quickly downsized. The outer wing sections are designed for easy removal to shorten the drills to a more popular size.

“One of the challenges in the past is a 100-foot drill is not as marketable (used),” Hinrichsen says. “If we can convert this to an 80-foot drill, it makes that market larger. With the 84-foot 7-Plex, you can drop that one down to 66 feet.”

For road transport, the seven sections fold up to squeeze down into a remarkably small package, considering its overall size.

“We actually make comparisons for this 100-foot 3545 drill to a 76-foot’s transport dimensions,” says Hinrichsen. “It’s within a few inches of a 76-foot in width and about a foot in height.”

New air cart tank option

On the air carts that feed the drills, Bourgault also had something new to show: the “Wing Tank.”

Currently, the brand offers a 44-bushel “Saddle Tank” option for canola. But as demand for more onboard capacity is growing, Bourgault will offer the 66-bushel Wing Tank. It can be loaded from the top using the cart’s conveyor.

MORE VIDEO: Bourgault debuts ‘Wing Tank’ for air carts

“If they want to use the Wing Tank for wheat or phosphorus to extend the acres, they can,” Hinrichsen says.

The current Saddle Tank will still be available as an option.

ALSO: New system brings digital control in-house

To control the new drills and eventually Bourgault’s full line of seeding equipment, the brand will be moving away from the Topcon systems it has been using and introducing its own in-house system dubbed BiC (Bourgault Intelligent Control).

“This is a brand-new technology for us,” territory manager Jordan Henderson says. “It’s a brand-new wireless seeding controller. It’s an iOS-based app that’s taking us into the future with our seeding controller capabilities.

“It’s been in development for five years and seeding for three years.”

Because the system was developed entirely in-house by the brand’s own team, Henderson thinks there will be a benefit to customers who can connect directly to the brand if they encounter any problems.

MORE VIDEO: Bourgault launches new digital seed control system

“That’s going to be a huge benefit for our customers. Our response time now to issues, to changing conditions or options, is going to be extremely quick.”

In field trials the system has been used on 50,000 acres so far, and the company expects that number to grow to over 100,000 by the end of next spring.

BiC is designed to seamlessly work with a major-brand tractor monitor’s controller, which will control some functions while the BiC system controls others.

“We needed to get to a simpler, easier-to-use, more intuitive system,” Henderson says. “The biggest challenge we’ve had over the past few years was the complexity of the system and the learning curve.”

One of the features intended to make the system simpler is “product-centric seeding,” which focuses on the total rate of each product being applied — even if it’s being drawn out of two separate tanks.

“There is also a button bar, because it can be challenging at times as you’re running through the field to find the right buttons with a tablet,” says Henderson. “We found our co-operators, once they were seeding, controlled all of the features through the button bar.”

The monitor is wireless, which eliminates the need for extensive cable connections in the cab.

“One of the drawbacks with the previous system was it was fairly intensive to get a tractor wired up to use it,” he adds. “In this case, it’s just putting a tablet into the tractor.

“The ability to seamlessly interact with the tractor controllers means the data is going to be livestreamed, which is a big difference for us. There’s no more USB sticks. We know how important data is to our customers.”

For those growers interested in getting a quote on the new products, the company will soon launch a build-and-price feature on its website. Interested customers can spec out a drill with the features they want and see the suggested list price in Canadian dollars.

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To go along with its newest 7-Plex air drill introductions, Bourgault is debuting a larger canola tank for its air carts. The Wing Tank boosts capacity to 66 bushels with a conveyor loading feature. Curtis Hinrichsen discusses the features it offers.

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At its customer event in Phoenix, Arizona, in November, Bourgault introduced a new digital control system, BIC (Bourgault Intelligent Control), that will eventually become standard on all of its seed drills. Here, territory manager Jordan Henderson describes the new system’s features and how it works.

• RELATED: [VIDEO] Bourgault launches 7-plex air drills

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At an event in Phoenix, Arizona, Bourgault launched several new products and updates. Grainews was there. In this video, senior editor for machinery Scott Garvey takes a look at the centrepiece of the product launch, the new 7-Plex air drills now available in widths up to 100 feet.

The post VIDEO: Bourgault launches 7-plex air drills appeared first on Grainews.

But the company now gives buyers a much broader choice of options when configuring a new drill.

“If you can’t find the (opener) that fits your operation, you haven’t looked hard enough at our company, especially since the last four seasons,” says Bourgault sales territory manager Curtis Hinrichsen. “You should be able to find an opener that fits your operation, because we have a broad selection. There’s a reason for that. Every farm wants to put their fertilizer down in a different manner. And we offer all the different types.

VIDEO: Bourgault openers designed to fit your operation

“The product we come from in our history is a single knife opener, narrow tipped with a mid-row bander for fertilizer, says Hinrichsen. “That’s what everyone seems to know Bourgault for. That one we refer to as a PLS.”

Now, the brand has two other opener designs in its portfolio — so farmers can tailor a new drill to better match what works best for their soil types and farming practices.

“The second type of opener we came up with in 2012 is the PLX. Its heritage comes from the XTC, which was an extreme terrain contouring opener, a para-link extreme. That one is meant more for ground that contours a lot, hilly, washouts, ditches, that kind of thing. It’s a one-to-one opener with very good depth control. It’s typically used with a narrow opener.”

A few years ago Bourgault began offering the dual-knife PLDS model, which is capable of side-banding fertilizer. That style has been very common offering across the industry.

“A lot of the industry uses that style of opener,” Hinrichsen says, “and we know it has some benefits. But like a single-knife it has some drawbacks too. That’s why we let the customer decide which one fits their operation, depending what they want to do fertility wise and with their farming practices.

“Each of these openers lends itself to different farming operations. That’s why we feel there’s a need for all these different styles of openers.”

The dual knife design puts fertilizer placement closer to the seed row than mid-row application. It offers quick emergence, but it doesn’t perform as well in fields with heavy trash, when compared to a single knife opener.

“Trash clearance with a single knife and banders is significantly better than a dual knife for residue clearance,” he adds. “But if you manage your residue properly, you’re fine with a dual knife, even on a ten-inch spacing.”

To add even more options for fertilizer placement, Bourgault has introduced what it calls its TriMax opener arrangement, which is dual knife openers paired with mid-row banders. That offers growers a lot of choice as to where to place fertilizer separately or in combination and works well in one-pass seeding operations, even with heavy rates of fertilizer application.

“If you’re going to put very high rates (of fertilizer) down with the seed, that’s where we feel mid-row banding or TriMax offers some benefits,” he adds.

“Some soil types can’t handle as high a rate as close to the seed as others. Maybe a dual knife in a heavy clay soil that’s predominantly wet can get away with a little higher rate of fertilizer than one that’s a little drier and loamier.

“In my mind (the Trimax) is the pinnacle for agronomic reasons. You can put your seed and fertility wherever you want.”

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This is the first video in a series that looks at the types of seed opener designs on display at this summer’s Ag in Motion farm show near Langham, Saskatchewan. This series will also look at the other new introductions those seeding equipment manufacturers were introducing at their booths. 

In this video, machinery editor Scott Garvey talks with Curtis Hinrichsen of Bourgault who explains the brand’s opener options and the benefits offered by each one.

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