Cover crops offer a lot on paper, but timing remains a major roadblock for Prairie farmers. Recent trials done through Manitoba’s Diversification Centres suggest there may be a workaround — at least for wheat.

Jessica Frey, an applied research technician with the Parkland Crop Diversification Foundation and a University of Manitoba masters student, led a multi-site project looking at cover-cropping legumes with spring wheat. The goal wasn’t to produce a lush forage stand, but simply to get legumes established early and growing alongside a cash crop without compromising yield.

Why it matters: Getting cover crops to fit better into the Prairie growing season could help farmers build soil without sacrificing productivity.

“We’re not going for massive gangbusters growth in that stage,” she told farmers during a field day at the Prairies East Sustainable Agriculture Initiative Diversification Centre at Arborg, Man. “We just want to see that the cover crop is there. That is the goal.”

Solving a Prairie problem

Frey pointed to a 2020 survey of 281 Prairie farmers that found 71 per cent reported benefits from cover cropping — from improved soil health and biodiversity to less erosion and a reduced need for fertilizers and pesticides. But getting them established remains the major challenge. In fact, that same study said the top two reasons farmers are reluctant to plant cover crops are the short shoulder season and limited moisture in the fall.

“We have a short growing season,” Frey said. “We’re sometimes working with 90 frost-free days. We can’t count on that fall window to get a cover crop in the ground after our first harvest.”

Seeding the cover crop at the same time as the wheat is meant to solve that. Instead of waiting for conditions that might never come, the legumes get heat and moisture during the one part of the season Prairie farmers can count on.

In Frey’s trials, she adjusted the seeding rates to give the legumes a fighting chance. The wheat was seeded toward the lower end of the recommended rate, while the cover crops were seeded at the higher end of the recommended rate to compensate for their deeper placement in the same row.

“That gives the cover crops access to early season heat and moisture,” she said.

The cover crop treatments included four legumes — alfalfa, red clover, sweet clover and white clover — plus a non-legume cover crop control. A wheat-only plot served as the main control for comparison. This allowed the research team to track both legume establishment and any agronomic impact on the wheat.

The research was conducted at four Manitoba diversification centre sites in 2023, and repeated in 2024 at two of them. In total, five site-years generated data on wheat and cover crop establishment.

Wheat: No penalty, even in drought

Across those site-years, including the dry 2023 season, wheat performance for all treatments matched the wheat-only control. Yield, protein and biomass remained unchanged.

“There was no impact on the wheat compared to just the wheat-only control,” Frey said. “Even in drought years, that impact on the wheat was not there.”

Cover crop establishment was variable, depending largely on moisture. Alfalfa tended to produce the strongest stands across sites. White clover thrived at most but not all locations. Some failures occurred in extremely dry plots and one herbicide misapplication.

Still, the legumes were consistently present, and that was a win.

“Once it’s there, you have options,” Frey said. “It acts as that nutrient bank. You’re injecting nitrogen into the system.”

Weed biomass data is still being processed, but Frey noted the cover crop appeared to help suppress weed pressure.

Canola: management issues and moisture limits

The second half of the study aimed to let the legumes overwinter, then manage the biomass in spring and seed canola into it.

The same cover crop treatments were carried into the canola phase, using Clearfield canola so the biomass could be terminated chemically in early spring before seeding. The goal was to control the legumes, then evaluate how canola would establish and perform in the residue.

Here, the system stumbled. Cold, wet conditions at some sites delayed canola emergence, leaving a narrow spray window. The cover crop got ahead.

Arborg was the only site to produce a canola harvest, but even there, it wasn’t great.

“I wouldn’t claim it was an amazing canola yield by any means,” Frey admitted.

She repeated the phase this year at Roblin using mowing and Liberty Link canola. That mechanical approach showed better early establishment, but data isn’t yet available.

Unlike the wheat phase, moisture appeared to be the limiting factor in canola, which speaks directly to one of the main reasons Prairie farmers hesitate to try cover crops in the first place: water competition with the cash crop.

Moisture was also front and centre in related work by Manitoba Agriculture cereals specialist Anne Kirk. She designed her winter wheat trial to closely follow Frey’s approach, and the two researchers stayed in contact as the projects progressed.

Kirk ran her trial at Arborg using the same legume treatments seeded with winter wheat, adding a spring broadcast treatment as well. The biggest contrast between the wheat and canola phases came down to soil moisture.

She explained that canola has small seeds and requires a moist, firm seedbed. Deep-rooted legumes took the limited moisture first, both in fall and again before spring seeding.

“The big story here would be moisture,” she told the field day crowd. “The canola was seeded, and it just sat in the ground for a very long time because the moisture was quite low,” Kirk said.

Overall, while the wheat phase offers a promising path forward, the canola side of the system still needs work.

Lessons for today

The wheat phase did exactly what Prairie farmers have long hoped for: it established cover crops without sacrificing yield or quality. That opens new possibilities for integrating legumes while managing risk.

“We can pull this off without taking a hit economically,” said Frey.

Still, no one should expect lush forage under the wheat canopy, nor rush to seed canola into living legume sod without a refined management plan.

“If your goal is an amazing forage field, then don’t do it my way,” Frey said, but added that it could be helpful for some mixed farms. “It might be just enough to give you that week or two in the spring that you need before turning them out onto your regular pasture.”

Next steps

Understanding how much nitrogen the legumes contribute to a following crop was one of the main goals of phase two. Frey collected plenty of nitrogen data, but the canola struggled to establish well enough for her to draw clear conclusions from it — at least for now.

“What I don’t have yet is the story behind it,” Frey said of her nitrogen data.

Both projects will continue refining biomass control and evaluating the right crop following wheat.

But on the wheat side, the message is already clear: cover-cropping legumes can work here.

“We have a really unpredictable spring and fall,” Frey said. “Seeding together gives that cover crop access to the moisture and to the heat when it’s actually there.”

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However, in recent years, new products have claimed to provide micronutrients and are being marketed to producers who want a boost.

These products and claims were the motivation for a SaskOilseeds-funded project investigating micronutrients, looking specifically at boron, copper and zinc within canola crops.

Kaeley Kindrachuk, a canola extension specialist with SaskOilseeds presented the ongoing trial at the Northeast Agriculture Reseach Foundation (NARF) field day in mid-July in Melfort, Sask.

“We wanted to look at whether or not micronutrients increase yield,” said Kindrachuk.

WHY IT MATTERS: Micronutrients have gained more attention as research hones in on their role in plant development and new technology makes analysis more applicable and accessible for farmers.

“But we really wanted to demonstrate the yield and quality response of canola to in-furrow and foliar applications of different micronutrients in different parts of the province.”

NARF is one of five trial sites across Saskatchewan, with others at research farms near Scott, Swift Current, Redvers and Indian Head.

The researchers hope the variety of locations will help them compare results in different soil conditions becauses micronutrients could be deficient in sandy soils, high organic matter soils and soils with high pH.

Boron is important for plant metabolism and pollen production, and has been the most researched micronutrient in canola.

Copper has also been well researched, and it’s suggested that if soil has low copper, polyps will form on the roots. It’s also been noted that copper can have a positive effect on yield, but only when the soil was showing deficiency and if there was manganese present in the soil.

However, when it comes to zinc, very little research has been done.

Kindrachuk said that while it’s uncommon to see a zinc deficiency in canola, if a soil’s pH is high and there have been high rates of phosphorous applied over the years, these two factors could inhibt zinc “translocation.”

The Melfort site is low in boron, while Indian Head is low in zinc and Swift Current is low in zinc and boron.

The study uses seven treatments: a control plot, in-furrow application of each micronutrient and a foliar application of each.

Kindrachuk said the plot had filled in well and was looking good following the rain that the area had recently received.

Key results of the first year will be analyzed in late winter or early spring.

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The Saskatchewan Agriculture dashboard provides an excellent source of crop yields by year. Wheat goes right back to 1938, but canola was unheard of at that time. In this piece we will show you canola yields arranged by soil climatic zones (SCZ).

We prepared the map shown below in 1991, as a first step in improving nitrogen fertilizer recommendations. The N-water interaction was well known by that time.

The Soil Climatic Zone integrates precipitation and temperature into one index. The index was actually calculated in the first Saskatchewan Oil Survey – Report No. 12. It was noted that Melfort precipitation was not that much different than at Swift Current but the soils (Thick Black) and crop yields were much greater at Melfort.

On the reverse side of this map, all the data and procedures were recorded. There were about 200 weather stations at that time. The current federal climate stations in the ag area of Saskatchewan now number about 30.

What follows are the graphs showing canola yields from about 1965 to 2023.

Dry Brown SCZ

Brown SCZ

Here, in the RMs of Fox Valley and Kindersley, the recent drought years dropped yields like a stone.

Dark Brown SCZ

Moist Dark Brown SCZ

In both of these graphs the 2001 and 2021 droughts are obvious.

Black SCZ

The Rosthern RM includes some sandy and saline soils.

Moist Black SCZ

This is canola growing country! The 2016 rain gave big yields but the 2021 drought brought yields back a lot.

Grey SCZ

The Grey SCZ is wet, but Grey soils suffer from nutrient deficiencies that require fertilizer to keep yields up.

There is a tendency for yields to increase a lot at about the turn of the century. That could be “nurture”-related — varieties, et cetera — but I expect it is likely “nature”-related to the big 2010 and 2016 rains.

So there you have it: some canola yields to compare over 50-plus years.

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Statistics Canada’s crop estimates tend to increase in the annual December report, but the agency’s raised estimate for all-wheat production surpassed industry expectations.

Global wheat ending stocks have fallen four years in a row, with Canada’s drought and heavy rain in Australia tightening this year’s supplies, offset somewhat by a big Russian harvest.

Canada is the world’s fourth-largest wheat exporter and the biggest canola exporter.

Statistics Canada estimated all-wheat production at 32 million metric tons, the second-lowest in six years, but an increase from its September estimate of 29.8 million. The new estimate exceeded the average industry expectation of 31.1 million tons in a Reuters poll.

“It’s a pretty big jump from the fall report. Yields came off quite a bit better than expected,” said Brian Voth, president of farmer advisory IntelliFarm. Timely late-summer rains may have revived some crops, he said.

Farmers harvested 24.8 million tons of spring wheat, the wheat milled for baking flour, up from StatsCan’s previous estimate of 22.6 million and the average trade estimate of 24 million.

Growers produced 4 million tons of durum, the hard wheat used to make pasta, the second-smallest harvest in 13 years amid tight global supplies and a slight reduction from StatsCan’s previous estimate.

The StatsCan report is based on a farmer survey.

Farmers produced 18.3 million tons of canola, up from 17.4 million in the previous report but down 2% from last year. StatsCan’s estimate matched the average trade guess.

ICE Canada January canola futures eased slightly, little changed from before the report.

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SaskCanola, the Alberta Canola Producers Commission and the Manitoba Canola Growers Association announced Monday that 2022 is the final year of the Canola Performance Trials (CPT) “in its current format.”

“Going forward, each of the grower groups will determine how to provide variety selection information to our growers on a provincial basis,” the groups said in newsletters to growers.

The commissions said work will still continue through the Western Canada Canola/Rapeseed Recommending Committee (WCC/RRC) — the industry body that makes recommendations to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) as to which cultivars get registration.

As for current CPT sites across the Prairies, harvest is “wrapping up” and variety evaluation results from the 2022 season are expected to be tabulated and shared “in the coming weeks,” the commissions said.

The 2022 CPT includes standard trials on seven Clearfield, four LibertyLink, three Roundup Ready and three TruFlex varieties, along with straight cut trials on 10 LibertyLink, eight TruFlex and two Roundup Ready varieties.

The CPT was set up to provide “relevant and unbiased” performance data reflecting actual production practices and comparative data on characteristics such as yield, height, lodging and maturity in both leading and newly-introduced varieties of canola.

The CPT aims to gauge yield differences based on genetic differences only, not in situations of high weed, disease or insect pressure or “enhancements” from other crop inputs.

The CPT began with the 2011 season after many participating seed companies unexpectedly withdrew from its predecessor program, the Prairie Canola Variety Trials (PCVT), in 2010, forcing the PCVT’s cancellation that year. The CPTs added audited field-scale components to the original small-plot model. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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That’s something trader Ken Ball of PI Financial in Winnipeg finds irksome.

“They’re using computer models of some kind. You would think they could get this out quicker. It would be much more useful to us if the data were a week old instead of a month old,” Ball said.

StatCan is scheduled to issue its report on Monday (Aug. 29). Over the course of August, crops on about two-thirds of the Prairies have seen potential yields diminish, according to the trader.

Ball predicted the federal agency will peg this year’s canola crop at around 20 million tonnes, given its data was mostly collected before things turned a little sour on the Prairies. He indicated he would not be surprised if the actual harvest were to come in at about 18.5 million tonnes.

“That’s a pretty mediocre crop,” Ball said, but better than last year’s drought-stricken 12.6 million tonnes of canola.

He said the commercials see the reduced production in Western Canada and they’re banking on a large canola harvest in Australia to fill any shortfalls.

Ball noted that despite the price levels for canola, it remains relatively cheap compared to other vegetable oils. That could help in generating a bit of a rally before harvest is fully underway on the Prairies.

Added to that, he said the Pro Farmer Crop Tour will have an effect on the Chicago soy complex and corn. The eastern and western legs of the tour have been finding yields for the two crops well below than what was previously anticipated. That could mean the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) needing to adjust its estimates come its September supply/demand report.

Any shortfall in U.S. soybean production will push up prices, with spillover coming to canola.

Also, Ball pointed out the extent of the dry conditions in South America. After the September long weekend, the weather in Brazil and Argentina most often plays a major role. Should those countries come up short in their seasonal rains, that could push up oilseed prices as well.

— Glen Hallick reports for MarketsFarm from Winnipeg.

Table: Average of 2022 Canadian crop estimates by 14 traders and analysts, ahead of Statistics Canada’s Canadian crop production estimates due out Monday, Aug. 29, 2022. Table compiled by Rod Nickel of Reuters in Winnipeg. Estimates in millions of metric tonnes.

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“Farmers think the price is too cheap,” he said.

However, the price has come down, from about $11 per bushel to around $9.50, he added, noting there likely won’t be “a lot of selling off of the combine.”

“I’m expecting shorter lines at the elevator this fall,” he said.

And while canola exports are down by about one million tonnes due to the ongoing Canada/China dispute, domestic crush was up by about 300,000 tonnes, he said.

With swathing and combining of canola just getting underway on the Prairies, estimates for this year’s production include 18.58 million tonnes, by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, and 19 million tonnes, from the recent Farm Link crop tour.

MarketsFarm estimated production to be 17.85 million tonnes, taking into account the slow start to planting this year and the coming threat of frost.

Last year’s canola production was 20.34 million tonnes, according to AAFC.

The 2019-20 carryover has been projected at about 3.96 million tonnes, up slightly from the previous crop year’s 3.9 million.

— Glen Hallick writes for MarketsFarm, a Glacier FarmMedia division specializing in grain and commodity market analysis and reporting.

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The inaugural Grain World crop tour, organized by FarmLink Marketing Solutions, toured the Prairie provinces on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Moisture conditions vary widely across the Prairies, resulting in highly variable crops, the tour found.

“We saw some short (crops), tall ones, thin ones, fat ones,” said FarmLink senior market analyst Neil Townsend. “But we didn’t see much that would measure out as a disaster.”

FarmLink is an advisory service for farmers.

The crop tour estimated an average Canadian wheat yield, excluding durum, of 54.4 bushels per acre in the 2018-19 crop marketing year, up from the previous year’s 53.8 bushels, and surpassing the five-year average. Durum yields also looked bigger, rising to an estimated 39.01 bushels per acre from 35.3 bushels, but falling short of the five-year average.

Spring wheat yield prospects in northern North Dakota are better than a year ago but lag the five-year average, scouts on the second day of an annual U.S. crop tour said on Wednesday.

The Grain World tour estimated an average Canadian canola yield of 41.9 bushels per acre in 2018-19, up from 41.1 bushels a year earlier and larger than the five-year average.

The tour yield estimate is a “game-changer” for canola, changing sentiment from bullish about supply and demand to a key question of how much canola China will buy, Townsend said.

Wheat and canola looked lush in Manitoba, but in Alberta, canola was so immature that scouts could not count pods, Townsend said. In general, crops need rain, and soil moisture is insufficient, he said.

Two crop futures traders who were not on the tour said the results looked bearish.

ICE Canada November canola futures were up 0.6 per cent, but pared their gains slightly after the tour estimates were released.

Much of southern Alberta and central Saskatchewan has received well below normal rainfall in the past month, while most of Manitoba’s growing area has received roughly average amounts, according to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

Statistics Canada is scheduled to report its first estimates this year of crop yields and production next month, using a farmer survey.

— Rod Nickel is a Reuters correspondent covering the agriculture and mining sectors from Winnipeg.

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The dominant November contract was above $525 a tonne in late June, but has since fallen to the $490 mark as of Wednesday.

Global trade disruptions and a massive North American oilseed crop are weighing on futures prices but the need to keep a weather premium in the market has kept canola in the game, at least for now.

“There are some definitely some dry areas that are getting a lot of attention,” said Keith Ferley of RBC Dominion Securities.

Another analyst in Winnipeg says many farmers are legitimately concerned. Of course, it’s still tough to say what this could mean for farmers’ bottom lines.

“The weather premium may mute the downside, but canola is notoriously difficult to estimate yields,” said Jonathon Driedger of FarmLink Marketing.

Meantime, funds continue to add to short positions as farmers hang onto supplies until better prices come along.

Recent weakness in the Canadian dollar has also help prop up the market, as the loonie continues to have trouble holding above 76 U.S. cents.

The U.S. trade dispute with China continues to suck a lot of the attention from traders as the question shifts from not “when” the dispute will be over to “if.”

Some traders had hoped China would start buying a lot more canola than it has previously, due to the tariff on U.S. beans, but Driedger isn’t sure that will be the case.

“Keep in mind they already have been our largest customer; they’ve always been a big buyer,” he said. “Canada isn’t the only solution either. We’re a drop in the bucket of the gap they need to fill.”

Re-taking the $500 per tonne mark isn’t out of the question, he said, but he’s not bullish on the market either.

“We’re kind of in that window when you’re getting closer to the backside than front,” he said.

— Dave Sims writes for Commodity News Service Canada, a Glacier FarmMedia company specializing in grain and commodity market reporting. Follow CNS Canada at @CNSCanada on Twitter.

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Warren Ward, agronomist with the Canola Council of Canada, says growers need to first choose their yield target and then consider inputs and other factors that can boost yields.

How to choose a target

Experience is a good starting point when choosing a target yield, Ward said. If, for instance, your farm has averaged 45 bushels per acre over the past few years, that shouldn’t necessarily be your target yield. “I would tend to look at it more on a field-by-field basis,” he said.

Looking deeper, Ward said growers should ask themselves what they might be doing that could limit yield potential. There could be a fairly simple solution that could take yields from a 45 to a 50 bu./ac. average.

“There might be some fields where you want to look at shooting for a higher yield target than you would normally look for, especially if you’ve determined that your fertility rates are what’s been limiting you,” said Ward.

Western Canadian farmers are often limited by phosphorus, which can be quite low in some areas. Nitrogen is also a big one, said Ward. “That’s the main driver of our yield, it seems like,” he said. “But again, you can have a really aggressive nitrogen rate and not follow up and some of the other nutrients, and all of a sudden you’re just not seeing the bang for your buck when it comes to that nitrogen expenditure.”

“Having that balanced approach really is quite important,” he said.

There are a lot of other factors that impact canola yields, weather being the most obvious, and most uncontrollable. But another consideration is the moisture situation going into the growing season. This will be especially true in 2018, as parts of Western Canada are extremely dry.

“We grew a really good crop last year on minimal rain and a lot of that was because we were utilizing moisture in the soil profile,” said Ward. “Going into next year, without having replenished that, we’re starting out in a dry situation and there’s no certainty that we’re going to see that changing.”

While moisture could be on its way, the dryness could very well continue in some regions, which means growers might not get a return on investment in terms of crop inputs. Going into an uncertain moisture situation, those who still want to have an aggressive yield target could plan on doing some top dressing in-season, said Ward. For those who do choose to go the split or in-crop application route, he cautions making sure they have time and the ability to do so. Timing is critical, he emphasized, reminding growers of the four Rs: right source, right rate, right time, right place.

Fertility flubs

Probably the biggest error growers make when it comes to nitrogen is placement, said Ward. “Anytime we’ve got that nitrogen in a band in the soil prior to the time when canola is going to need it for uptake, that’s the best situation,” he said. “What I’ve been noticing as a trend lately is there’s an increasing amount of broadcasting going on. It’s understandable that they’re excited to do it because it provides a lot of logistical advantages, but agronomically they’re also leaving something on the table.”

Specifically, Ward points to losses from the soil’s surface and timing issues. If broadcasting is absolutely necessary, he suggests growers apply closer to the time when the crop will need it most rather than in the fall.

There are a lot of fertility products on the market, which makes it difficult to choose the best solution for your farm. “Our message around that would be to consider what you’re getting versus what you pay for,” Ward cautioned. “Knowing which ones are going to provide you a return, it’s a challenge, but it’s a worthwhile challenge.”

Under the additive category, micronutrients like boron are commonly added to boost yields. Ward says, though, that it’s very rare to see a response with micronutrients, unless, of course, you have a deficiency. “It comes back to knowing your production capability and doing that soil test,” he said.

Take on the Ultimate Canola Challenge

Want to learn more about which fertility programs are the most profitable? Participate in the Canola Council of Canada’s Ultimate Canola Challenge (UCC). Since 2013, the UCC has been challenging growers to obtain higher yields and profitability, pitting agronomists and researchers against each other in head-to- head competitions to see who can produce better canola yields.

In 2014, UCC turned into a field-scale trial program to challenge producers to implement good quality on-farm trials for products or practices they want to test, said Nicole Philp, agronomy specialist, Canola Council of Canada. This year Philp is planning three protocols: ESN, seed-placed phosphorus and top-dressed urea.

“We are definitely looking for participants for the protocols above,” said Philp. “And of course, the protocols are available to any- one that wants to try something different, but want help setting up a trial.”

For more information, contact the Canola Council of Canada.

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