Manitoba corn growers have long relied on weed-management research from Ontario or the U.S. Midwest, even though growing conditions rarely match what farmers see in their own fields.

A new set of trials by U of M researcher Loveleen Kaur Dhillon is set to change that.

WHY IT MATTERS: With most corn-based weed guidance borrowed from other regions, Manitoba growers need local research to fine-tune their spray timing.

Dhillon is in her first year as the university’s agronomist-in-residence (special crops), a five-year applied research role funded through the Manitoba Crop Alliance (MCA).

The position covers three “special crops” as defined by the program — corn, sunflower and flax — which are considered special because of their relatively low acres in the province, despite their potential.

Coming into the role with agronomy and plant breeding training, Dhillon said that aside from corn, which she had worked with during her master’s research in India, everything else was a fresh start.

She admitted she was nervous early on but settled in quickly once fieldwork began and she could see how producer-driven the program would be, allowing her to focus on basic, but essential, agronomy questions.

“I get to work on all those fun projects,” she said.

That farmer-facing element is central to how she sees her role.

Dhillon said the MCA partnership gives her a clear sense of grower priorities and helps her shape the work around what producers want studied.

Among this year’s work were two corn studies conducted at three Manitoba sites: Carman, Melita and Arborg.

In the first study, Dhillon used three widely grown hybrids and planted them on different dates to see whether adjusting seeding windows might influence how corn fits into the province’s shorter warm period.

The second study focused on the critical weed-free period, which is the window before early-season competition starts to cut into yield. Dhillon wanted to see how U.S. and Ontario recommendations hold up under Manitoba conditions.

She divided the work into two complementary approaches: one that let weeds grow for set periods before removal, and one that held plots weed-free for set periods before allowing weeds back in.

She said the work is also meant to help growers spray only when it matters most, making weed control more efficient, cost-effective and sustainable over the long term.

A season of contrasts

The three sites offered three distinct pictures of the growing season.

Melita had favourable weather, giving clean comparisons across weed-removal timings.

Carman had heavy weed pressure, which made the contrasts more obvious, even visible from the field edge and in drone images.

Arborg, however, was dry for much of the season, and the crop there looked very different from the other sites. Weed density and species composition also shifted under drought, which changed how the competition played out.

Dhillon said that although the conditions were challenging, the variation itself added value. Each site contributed a different piece of the puzzle, helping her understand how Manitoba’s range of environments might influence weed timing.

She hasn’t analyzed the data yet and won’t make recommendations until she has accumulated more site-years. Even so, based on differences seen in the field, Manitoba conditions don’t appear to mirror the conditions on which U.S. and Ontario recommendations are based.

Farmers who have managed corn here for years already know some of those discrepancies from experience; Dhillon’s first-year observations simply reinforce that Manitoba’s conditions deserve Manitoba-made research.

With more data coming next year, and with all three special crops under her long-term mandate, Dhillon said she hopes to give growers clear, locally grounded guidance they can use in their day-to-day decisions.

For now, she has something just as important: proof of concept that the province’s unique conditions behave differently enough to justify a made-in-Manitoba approach — and the beginnings of a program built to deliver it.

“The differences are quite clear,” said Dhillon.

“The protocol and the design of the experiment really worked.”

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Wheat also fell, while soybeans ended nearly unchanged after a choppy session.

Chicago Board of Trade May corn settled down 2-1/2 cents at $3.60 per bushel (all figures US$). May wheat was down 2-1/2 cents at $4.65-1/4 a bushel and May soybeans ended down 1/4 cent at $8.98-1/4.

Corn futures hit a near one-week low as traders prepared for USDA’s report. The average estimate among analysts surveyed by Reuters for the amount of corn left over at the end of the 2018-19 marketing year was 1.991 billion bushels, up from USDA’s March forecast of 1.835 billion.

“You’re expecting to get a bearish confirmation of the bigger corn stocks tomorrow, and that’s what is weighing on corn. I don’t really see a lot else around,” said Terry Linn, analyst with Linn & Associates, a Chicago brokerage.

U.S. farmers have begun planting the 2019 U.S. corn crop in southern fringes of the crop belt. After the CBOT close, USDA reported U.S. corn planting progress as two per cent complete, matching the five-year average and an average of analyst expectations.

A storm is forecast to bring rain and potentially heavy snow to northwestern portions of the U.S. Corn Belt on Wednesday and Thursday, but the market seemed unconcerned about planting delays.

The storm could drop six to 12 inches of snow, with a few local amounts of 18 inches, on parts of South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin, the Commodity Weather Group said in a note to clients.

“It’s not a good thing, for sure; it’s going to impact cattle and a lot for things. But does it mean you are not going to plant any corn in that part of the country? No,” Linn said.

The moisture could benefit hard red winter wheat crops in the southern Plains, although the bulk of the precipitation was expected to hit farther north.

USDA rated 60 per cent of the U.S. winter wheat crop in good to excellent condition, up from 56 per cent a week ago and above an average of analyst expectations for no change.

USDA reported spring wheat planting progress as one per cent complete, behind the five-year average of five per cent and the average analyst estimate of three per cent.

Soybean traders have been monitoring developments in trade negotiations between Washington and Beijing.

Hopes last week of progress toward a deal were tempered by a lack of detail offered by the two sides at the end of the latest round of talks on Friday.

— Julie Ingwersen is a Reuters commodities correspondent in Chicago; additional reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Naveen Thukral in Singapore.

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But some early winter storms caused him to abandon the late autumn fieldwork necessary to seed the yellow grain in the spring. That will force him and other farmers to devote more of his acreage to soybeans than expected next year.

As soybeans are far more affected by the U.S. trade war with China than corn, the trend adds to economic risk across a U.S. farm belt the Trump administration recently said would get up to US$12 billion in aid to make up for trade related losses.

China resumed buying U.S. soybeans in December as part of a trade war truce following a meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump, but the amount of purchases remains well behind the pace of previous years. It is unclear how much U.S. soy China will actually buy with a record Brazilian harvest just weeks away.

Even with China back in the market for the first time in six months, the record soybean supplies littering the countryside have weighed on prices — soy futures were down 8.2 per cent so far this year — and made corn a more attractive option to growers.

Corn futures have risen 7.9 per cent during 2018 and were on track for their biggest yearly gain since 2012. China historically has imported very little corn.

“With some of these corn prices and the corn yields we’ve had, I wanted to plant some continuous corn (but) the window (to prepare the ground) closed on us too tightly,” Johnson said.

The severe weather across the U.S. Midwest in October and early November meant farmers left nearly 11 million acres of corn and soybeans from Kentucky to North Dakota standing in their fields as of the end of November — the fourth-highest amount ever.

Crops left in the ground during winter can still be harvested once the snow melts but face severe yield loss as soybean pods split and corn stalks are often knocked down, and mould is another risk. That will further squeeze farm profits after a bleak year of low prices and few buyers.

Analysts are now casting doubt on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s early November forecast that 2019 corn plantings will rise about three million acres, to 92 million. At that time, soybean acres were seen falling 7.5 per cent, to 82.5 million.

“Because of what happened during fall tillage… maybe you do not plant as much corn,” said Don Roose, president of U.S. Commodities in West Des Moines, Iowa.

The weather problems also could cut into the bottom lines of seed and fertilizer companies. Corn requires more tilling and fertilizer applications that cannot be completed with unharvested crops or frozen ground.

Seed companies like DowDuPont that earn more money from corn seeds could see their businesses affected by the changes. Two-thirds of DowDuPont’s net seed sales are corn and only 20 per cent are soybeans. The company said in October it would take a US$4.6 billion charge to write down the value of its agriculture business, which has been hurt as Brazilian farmers increased soy planting to meet China’s demand for South American soybeans and reduced corn output.

Bayer, the German drugmaker that bought U.S. seed company Monsanto, has a much bigger market share in corn seeds and related crop protection products than in the soy market, and would also would benefit from rising corn acreage.

DowDuPont and Bayer did not respond to requests for comment.

Back on his 4,000-acre farm in central Illinois, Johnson had planned to boost corn seeding by 400 acres in 2019 before adverse weather sidelined him in November. After some heavy rain, early snow and hail, he parked his tractor and other equipment in the shed for the winter as there was little benefit to plowing through a sloppy field.

“We’ve learned that turning over mud does not do much good,” Johnson said.

— Mark Weinraub is a Reuters commodities correspondent based in Chicago.

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Corn futures advanced on spillover support from wheat, while soybeans advanced on follow-through buying from Monday’s strong gains.

Wheat recovered all of its prior-session losses that stemmed from rain in the U.S. Plains, where a large share of the milling wheat crop has suffered under a severe drought this year.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said just 36 per cent of the U.S. winter wheat crop was in good-to-excellent shape as of Sunday, compared with 52 per cent at the same point last year.

“We got some rain, but the market is worried that maybe it’s a little bit too late to have an impact at this point,” said Ted Seifried, analyst with Zaner Ag Hedge.

Dry weather in parts of Canada, eastern Australia and southern Russia, all major wheat exporters, also gave prices a lift.

Chicago Board of Trade July soft red winter wheat was up 14-1/4 cents, or 2.8 per cent, at $5.21-1/2 a bushel, while K.C. July hard red winter wheat was up 14 cents, or 2.7 per cent, at $5.40-1/2 a bushel (all figures US$).

Both ended well above all key moving averages but closed below session highs.

Better-than-expected U.S. soybean planting progress capped the market after the USDA said 56 per cent of the crop had been seeded as of Sunday, well ahead of the five-year average of 44 per cent.

Corn planting was 81 per cent completed, in line with the average pace, USDA said.

CBOT July soybeans were up 5-1/4 cents at $10.20-1/2 a bushel, settling near its 100-day moving average. The contract failed to breach chart resistance at its 50-day moving average.

CBOT July corn added two cents to $4.04-3/4 a bushel.

— Karl Plume reports on agriculture and agribusiness for Reuters from Chicago; additional reporting by Michael Hogan in Hamburg and Naveen Thukral in Singapore.

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Conditions and progress in the southern portion of the province vary — some considerably — compared to those in eastern Ontario, particularly where it comes to planting corn and soybeans. If there’s one common theme for both areas, it’s that most growers would like to see some rain in the coming week.

Across much of southern Ontario, the winter wheat crop is the outstanding story at this point of the season, with lush growth and a healthy overall grading from advisers, extension personnel and retailers. Based on figures from Agricorp, it’s estimated that growers managed to plant about one million acres of winter wheat in 2015 (800,000 acres insured, with an assumed 200,000 uninsured).

Of course, appearances can be deceiving with winter wheat; the “windshield survey” often hides problems deeper in the canopy, from phosphorus or sulphur deficiencies to drainage issues.

“But we’re really nitpicking and trying to find faults because the wheat crop does look terrific,” said Alan McCallum, an independent certified crop adviser from Iona Station, southwest of London. Most of the wheat he’s seen hasn’t grown too tall, he said, likely due to the cooler spring temperatures in the south thus far.

“In a lot of cases, it’s reaching the flag-leaf stage, and it’s a pretty good-looking crop — the disease pressure is pretty low.”

As for corn and soybean planting, the cool start to the spring has delayed that task so far this season.

“In my immediate area, there’s still a decent percentage of corn yet to be planted,” McCallum said. “The clay soils were still pretty tacky down at two and three inches, and there are pockets around the region that still have a ways to go on corn planting.”

A few soybean fields planted earlier in May were germinating following sufficient rains late during the week of May 9 and early the following week.

Eastern Ontario

In the east, the conditions are almost reversed. By the end of last week, corn planting was expected to be all but complete, with soybeans at roughly 70 to 75 per cent finished before the holiday weekend. It’s been a fast start, but some concerns that come with those ideal conditions, said Paul Hermans.

“The two-week forecast is dry, with hardly anything here,” said Hermans, DuPont Pioneer’s agronomist for eastern Ontario and the Maritimes. “My only concern right now is that conditions are so dry, and I hope the growers that did this last bit of planting got their seed into moisture.”

He’s also interested in watching earlier-planted fields for any signs of delayed emergence or damage caused by last week’s cold snaps across much of the province.

— Ralph Pearce is a field editor for Country Guide at St. Marys, Ont. Follow him at @arpee_AG on Twitter.

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1. Seed transmission system

Sprockets and chains should be in good condition. Sprockets should have no missing teeth and chains should be the correct tightness.

2. Opening disc

The opening disc should not be overly worn, and should be a minimum of 14.5″ in diameter to ensure the correct amount of contact at the bottom. Bottom contact depends on the make of the planter, but is generally in the 1.5 to 2.5″ range.

3. Bar height

Bar height should be equal to make sure the machine is level. Measurements should be taken from a number of points on the planter to ensure the planter is level. It is very important to level your planter in the field in motion and not in your shop.

4. Seed tubes

Any worn components of the seed tube should be replaced. A worn seed tube can affect how the seed drops which in turn affects the crop growth and emergence.

Consistent depth and spacing when planting is crucial to a successful season. If any component of the planter is out of order, it could affect how deep seeds are placed and spacing between plants, as well as overall yields of the crop. Even if you have purchased a new planter from an equipment dealer you need to be aware that they are not field ready, you still need to spend time setting the planter and checking all the above components.

Watch the environment too

In addition to well-tuned equipment, environmental factors impact planting. When planting takes place, it’s important that soil conditions are correct. Ideally, soil should not be too wet or dry. Corn should be planted 1.5 to 2.0″ deep; shallow planting will impede proper root development.

Soil temperature should be at least 10 C to prevent hormone problems in the seed, also known as imbibitional chill.

When the dry seed imbibes cold water as a result of a cold rain or melting snow, imbibitional chilling injury may result. The cell membranes of the seed lack fluidity at low temperatures, and under these conditions, the hydration process can result in rupture of the membranes. If the cell tissues of the kernel are too cold, they become less elastic and may rupture during the swelling process. Instances of chilling injury following germination during the emergence process can also occur, often causing stunting or death of the seminal root system, deformed elongation of the mesocotyl and either delayed emergence or complete failure of emergence.

This results in incorrect development of the plant and a decreased stand. Watch the weather forecast two to four days after planting to watch for cool temperatures.

Weed management is also an important consideration when planting corn. Growers need to be aware of what weeds they have in their fields and then develop a plan to manage those weeds. In corn, the yield opportunity is maximized if the corn is weed-free from spike/emergence to the V6 stage (approximately eight-leaf).

Well-maintained, properly tuned equipment and a strategy for planting can go a long way in reducing stress during a busy time. Take the time before planting to prepare and maintain controllable factors during a frenzied time and reap the rewards.

Nicole Rasmussen is an area agronomist with DuPont Pioneer

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Growers across the Pampas farm belt applauded the November election of Mauricio Macri, a free-markets advocate who during his first month in office has reversed many of the market controls imposed by previous President Cristina Fernandez.

Inaugurated on Dec. 10, Macri has abolished wheat and corn export taxes along with the quota system that Fernandez used to curb international shipments of both crops. He has also relaxed currency controls, prompting a 30 per cent currency devaluation that has made Argentine farmers more competitive.

The Buenos Aires Grains Exchange has forecast 2015-16 corn acreage at 2.85 million hectares, well under the 3.4 million in the 2014-15 season, which yielded a 26.3 million-tonne harvest.

But, with several weeks of corn planting to go in some parts of Argentina, Martin Fraguio, executive director of the Maizar corn industry chamber, said in an interview that farmers are closing in on the 3.4 million-hectare figure.

“It’s possible that this season could be equal to last, both in corn planting area and production,” Fraguio said.

Higher-than-expected corn exports would hit a world market already weighed down by high international stockpiles.

More than 90 per cent of corn planted in Argentina is genetically modified. GMO seed sales have jumped since the Nov. 22 election, as have related chemicals glyphosate and atrazine, sold by companies such as Monsanto.

“Planting area could have fallen 30 per cent, depending on the outcome of the presidential election. Now we’re talking about a fall of zero to 10 per cent,” Fraguio said.

Corn is still being sown in northern parts of Cordoba province, and other northern regions. Growers who are expected to harvest the remaining 20 per cent of 2015-16 wheat in southeast Buenos Aires province are weighing whether to jump in and plant corn in those fields before the sowing window closes.

“These areas could make the difference between meeting last year’s production, or having a small reduction,” Fraguio said.

Early planted 2015-16 corn is now flowering in the main Pampas corn belt, centered in the bread-basket province of Buenos Aires, under what have been ideal weather conditions.

— Reporting for Reuters by Hugh Bronstein and Maximiliano Rizzi in Buenos Aires.

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“By the last week in April… unless some weather shift happens,” said Morgan Cott, agronomist for the Manitoba Corn Growers Association.

Excess moisture shortened last year’s season significantly and made it tough for many producers to realize top yields, she said.

However, the moisture left over from last season should help the corn deal with any problems of excess dryness this spring, she added.

“We can also probably bet on some rains in May since we don’t usually miss them. At this stage of the game I expect planting’s going to start in the next two or three weeks.”

The two things which might disrupt that are excess moisture and cool weather. Cott said soil temperature needs to get above +5 C for corn plants to start developing.

Pests don’t appear to be a major concern right now — with the possible exception of cutworms, she said. “They seem a little bit worse every year.”

Manitoba farmers seeded 260,000 acres of corn in 2014, and Cott said she expects those numbers to stay relatively the same for this season.

“Prices aren’t changing a great big deal, so I don’t know if that’s going to encourage acres.”

— Dave Sims writes for Commodity News Service Canada, a Winnipeg company specializing in grain and commodity market reporting.

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Air drill manufacturer SeedMaster believes it has a viable alternative to spending all that cash on additional machines to get the job done. The firm’s dedicated corn meter, which is designed to work with the existing on-frame granular tanks on its drills, is now available.

“We’re able to use our existing tanks and have a meter that is designed to direct seed corn in a no-till application,” says Owen Kinch, SeedMaster’s field research manager. “The corn meter can meter to every opener or every second opener.”

Using only every second opener on a drill with 15-inch row spacing allows farmers to harvest a stand using a 30-inch combine corn header. And although management at SeedMaster isn’t claiming their meter can exactly match the singulation capability of a planter, their field results suggest it can come pretty close. And with seed lines routed directly from the meter to the openers instead of through distribution towers, marketing reps say seed survival rates are very high.

“On these meters the rotational direction is reversed,”Kinch continues. “So it’s scooping the (seed) over the top of the meter and dropping it down into the chute. It drops into the venturi tube and goes directly to the openers without going through any towers. We’re seeing definite advantages by eliminating the towers. We’re increasing the seed survival where almost every seed germinates and grows into a viable plant.”

In the field

So how do crop stands planted with the drill and new meter really compare to those from a planter?

The company is in the second year of comparison field trials to determine just that. Yield results from the first year of pitting a SeedMaster drill with the new meter against a commercially-available planter showed the drill gave the planter a run for its money.

“This year we’re running a number of trials where we’re putting the SeedMaster on 15-inch row spacing against the SeedMaster on 30-inch row spacing, against a John Deere vacuum planter on 30-inch row spacing,” says Kinch. “This is the second year for these trials. In the first year, the vacuum planter out-yielded the SeedMaster by 3-1/2 per cent.”

But there may be more to consider than just absolute yield numbers. When the advantages of using an air drill — which most western farms already need — are factored in, the new metering system may actually offer an overall advantage over a planter, particularly if farmers can only expect a yield advantage in the low single-digits with a planter.

The most obvious advantage is farmers can avoid spending money on an additional implement just for corn planting. The smaller the number of corn acres in a rotation, the greater this advantage becomes. And when direct seeding, the cost of pre-working fields and the time it away takes from the precious spring seeding window are eliminated. No-till corn seeding gets it into the ground early, which could be an advantage in regions where available corn heat units are at a premium.

“Where we see the benefits to this meter is it allows growers to use existing equipment and be able to direct seed corn into standing stubble,” says Kinch. “There are many advantages to seeding directly into the standing stubble. We’re not committed to having to pre-work that ground. We’re eliminating that pass. So instead of out there working that land, we’re seeding it. Also, at that same time we’re applying the full nutrient requirement to that crop for the season in that same single pass.”

But while yield results from one year are valuable, more research is still required to reliably compare yield differences. So SeedMaster will continue with field-scale seeding comparisons to accumulate more data, allowing growers can make informed financial decisions.

“This year we have it on approximately 10 farms,” Kinch adds. “A number of growers are conducting trials against other air drills and other brands of vacuum planters as well.”

For a video look at SeedMaster’s corn meter, check out the e-QuipTV video at grainews.ca.

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