Quattro Ventures in Alberta is one of very few. Emily Ford, senior agronomist at the joint-venture farm where mint is cultivated for the essential oils market, knows of only one other Prairie farm producing this specialty crop.

Ford said this presents some unique challenges for agronomists like herself.

“When you are growing other specialty crops, let’s say potatoes in southern Alberta for example, you usually have a wealth of peers and experts to phone up when something looks funny or you have a problem,” Ford said.

Why it matters: If a given crop isn’t often commercially grown on the Prairies, that doesn’t necessarily mean it was never possible.

With mint, there isn’t a network of people Ford can readily turn to for help. She noted some agronomic information is available through organizations, such as the Mint Industry Research Council in the United States, but much of what Ford understands about commercial mint production has been largely self-taught.

“I didn’t know anything about mint five years ago until I started working at Quattro,” Ford said, adding trial and error has been an important aspect of the learning process.

“If you are given the opportunity to work with a crop like this, you just dive in, read as much as you can, lean on the people who know something about it, and don’t be afraid to make mistakes. You have to work with farmers to figure it out together, because mint is so different from other crops that are really commonly grown,” she said.

“I think agronomists become agronomists because we’re curious people who want to find out how things work, so I can say this has been a fun challenge.”

Community curiosity around this novel crop has been strong as well. Ford noted a lot of producers in the area have visited Quattro Ventures so they could get a first-hand look at commercial mint production.

“We do a lot of farm tours, but so far no one has taken the plunge and tried it.”

Located in the Bow Island/Burdett area in southeastern Alberta, Quattro Ventures comprises five family farms cultivating a diverse array of crops across dryland and irrigated acres. This includes dill, another speciality crop grown for the essential oils market, as well as cereals, seed canola, peas and potatoes.

Ford helps run the 3,000-acre operation as part of the farm’s management team, which includes both owners and non-owners. Quattro Ventures was founded by the Palliser Triangle Marketing Group, a collection of forward-thinking farmers intent on exploring new agricultural marketing opportunities. The idea behind it was to unite the strengths of individual family farms while leveraging the group’s collective knowledge, resources and markets.

Essential oils are highly concentrated, aromatic liquids extracted from plants that capture the plant’s fragrance and flavour. The spearmint and peppermint essential oils produced by Quattro Ventures go into such things as candy, chewing gum, toothpaste and cosmetics, while the farm’s dill essential oil is used for dill pickles.

According to Ford, India and the U.S. Pacific Northwest are the main areas that produce mint for the essential oils market. In Ford’s estimation, Quattro Ventures has grown to the point where it now produces 25 per cent of North America’s mint oil.

One reason more Prairie farms haven’t followed Quattro Ventures’ lead could be that commercial mint production isn’t for the faint of heart.

Mint is a perennial rhizome crop that propagates through rhizome cuttings, not seed, so specialized agricultural machinery is required for planting and harvesting. Specialized processing equipment is also needed to extract and distill the oil from the harvested mint leaves.

Ford acknowledged some farmers may shy away from the risks associated with producing an unfamiliar crop such as mint, given the hefty expense of getting everything up and running.

“It’s a big investment. You need to have specialized equipment and facilities to process the oil and get it to market, and it’s very expensive.”

Area well-suited for mint

According to Ford, Quattro Ventures’s location in southeastern Alberta has several attributes that make it a prime area for producing high-quality mint oil.

One is linked to where it is situated in the Canadian brown soil zone. “Because of the soil types we have here, we produce a certain oil that meets quality standards the flavour houses or brokers are looking for with purity, menthol content, aroma, all of those sorts of things.”

Growing conditions in the area are another major plus. Mint requires long, warm summer days and cooler nights for optimal oil production. Quattro Ventures fits the bill, with an extended growing window of 124 to 132 frost-free days and average crop heat units in the 2,400 range.

As well, mint is a thirsty crop requiring reliable, consistent moisture, especially during peak summer heat. Quattro Ventures relies heavily on irrigation infrastructure provided by the St. Mary River system — something that’s particularly important within the drought-prone Palliser Triangle region where the farm is located.

“You can’t grow mint without irrigation,” Ford said. “At peak crop staging with the hot, dry weather, you’re looking at an inch to an inch and a half of water a week.”

Planting and field management

Each mint production cycle at Quattro Ventures starts with disease-free tissue culture plantlets the farm gets from a specialty nursery. The plantlets aren’t planted in fields right away but are placed in nursery blocks where they serve as a source of clean rhizome rootstock.

“Once those plantlets are established, the next spring we go back and dig up some of the rhizomes from that clean stock. We use a modified potato digger to dig up them up and then they’re planted into a production field.

“You only need one inch of a viable rhizome to create a mint plant. The first year we really focus on establishment and then after that, we’re looking at production and are harvesting a crop every year.”

The mint fields, once established, will remain productive for up to five years, Ford said, adding “because it is a five-year crop, there is no tillage on that piece of land for five years.” She noted this kind of tillage reprieve provides a nice break for fields, particularly since Quattro Ventures grows some heavier tillage crops, such as sugar beets and potatoes.

“I think that’s really beneficial for soil health, not just for the mint crop but for all the other subsequent crops we grow on that land.”

According to Ford, mint is a heavy feeding crop for fertilizer, which is applied to Quattro Ventures mint fields in the spring. Typically, each acre receives 120 to 150 pounds of nitrogen, along with 100 pounds of potassium and 80 pounds of phosphorus. Because mint doesn’t grow in rows, fertilizer is distributed through broadcast applications.

In recent years, Quattro Ventures has started using environmentally smart nitrogen products for its nitrogen applications in mint fields. Ford said the slow-release fertilizer allows nutrient availability to be better matched with crop uptake. It has also meant fertigation, something the farm has practiced in the past, is no longer needed.

The mint at Quattro Ventures is typically harvested in late July to early August. Swathed crops are chopped with forage harvesters and loaded into specialized tubs, which connect directly to steam lines at a central distillation facility at the farm where the essential oils are extracted.

Crop residues left over from the distilling process serve a very useful purpose, Ford said. They spread the “mint plugs” on the fields to increase organic matter and remediate areas that are erosion-prone.

“It is a nice soil addition, with very similar characteristics to well-composted cattle manure. And there aren’t any restrictions on what fields you can put it on because it’s clean. It has been steamed to 300 degrees, so essentially all the weed seeds are not viable.”

Weed, disease and pest management

According to Ford, weed control in mint is critical, especially after it is first planted in a production field.

She noted because mint is a broadleaf crop, there are limited options for broadleaf weed control. As a result, Ford said, “we really focus on the first couple of years trying to get weed free. Usually by the fifth year, it’s a tough time to try to control those broadleaf weeds.”

Careful herbicide selection is also essential because of rotational considerations for the following crops. “Re-cropping restrictions mean there are only certain chemicals we can apply in the first couple of years of a mint stand.”

As far as disease threats go, powdery mildew is an important one to watch for in mint because it is a heavy canopy crop. Powdery mildew is a fungal infection that can cause mint leaves to wilt and fall off.

“It is imperative to maintain those leaves, because the leaves are where the oil is. You don’t want them on the ground,” Ford said, adding early fungicide applications are used as a preventative measure at Quattro Ventures to help protect against powdery mildew.

Ford noted verticillium wilt is also on the farm’s radar since it has been a problem for mint producers elsewhere, particularly in areas when mint has been cultivated for much longer than it has in southeastern Alberta.

“We have been lucky not to see it here. That’s something you have to really watch out for, because there’s nothing to be done about verticillium wilt once it shows up.”

According to Ford, disease control efforts are hampered due to very few products with minor use registration being available for a specialty crop such as mint. It’s a big reason Quattro Ventures always ensures it is sourcing disease-free mint stock.

Ford said while mint is generally resistant to major insect pressure, spider mites can emerge during hot, dry spells. They can harm mint plants by sucking the oil out of the leaves.

However, spider mites usually only appear near the field edges, Ford noted, adding the bugs avoid moisture so they can be effectively controlled with irrigation.

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ESN or Environmentally Smart Nitrogen is a controlled-release nitrogen fertilizer product first introduced by Agrium (now Nutrien) about 20 years ago. ESN is 44 per cent nitrogen urea contained within a flexible polymer coating. The breakdown of the coating, which is activated by soil temperature, releases nitrogen over 50 to 80 days.

The idea is for ESN to release nitrogen as the crop needs it, which can result in a protein boost in cereal crops midway through the growing season.

Winny owns and operates GroWest Ag Ventures Ltd., an independent crop consulting business based in Harris, Sask. She provides consulting services over a couple of different regions with different growing conditions. Her husband farms land with his father and brother in nearby Rosetown and in Choiceland in northeastern Saskatchewan. Winny also manages all of the large plot research trials at the Ag in Motion Discovery Farm near Saskatoon.

“With my husband farming in two different parts of the province, I get to work with producers growing crops under different growing conditions,” says Winny. “It was pretty dry everywhere in 2021, but most years growing conditions are a bit drier in the Rosetown area, while usually we have more moisture at Choiceland. Each area has its own conditions and then of course each farm has its own preferences as well.”

Generally, when it comes to crop fertility in the Rosetown area, where more producers use single shoot seeding systems, her recommendation is to use a nitrogen blend that includes 75 per cent ESN with 25 per cent urea.

Winny says this blend can be safely placed in the seed row. Because ESN is coated, it is safe up to about two to three times the normal safe application rate of urea. Nutrien says if using 100 per cent ESN, it is safe up to three times the rate, while for a blend with ESN as 75 per cent of the total N, it recommends dropping back to two times the safe rate of urea.

“I recommend the 25 per cent straight urea in the seed row or very near (that) just so the crop has early access to nitrogen as it germinates,” says Winny. “ESN may release about 15 per cent of nitrogen early, but the majority is going to be released over that 50- to 80-day time frame.”

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She offers a different recommendation for producers in the Choiceland area. First, because of favourable soil and moisture conditions, it is common for farmers to apply a portion of nitrogen in the form of anhydrous ammonia.

Depending on yield targets, producers often apply about 90 pounds of anhydrous ammonia deep banded in fall and a blend of roughly 50 per cent ESN and 50 per cent urea at seeding.

“Along with the anhydrous ammonia, many producers have had good success at seeding with an additional 35 pounds of ESN and 25 pounds of urea placed in a side band close to the seed row,” says Winny.

Based on soil test recommendations and yield targets for a cereal crop, the combination of anhydrous plus the side banded ESN and urea works out to about 100 pounds of actual N.

“Again, the urea is providing that early nitrogen source to the germinating crop,” she says. “As the crop grows, the roots reach the anhydrous ammonia and the ESN releases as the soil warms up.”

Different circumstances

Winny says heavier clay soils in the Rosetown area aren’t as conducive for application of anhydrous ammonia, but another option is to float on or broadcast nitrogen in the fall or early spring. This can improve seeding efficiency and can also serve as a risk management tool.

Where fertilizer is applied in a separate field operation — anhydrous or floating — it can mean fewer stops to refill the fertilizer cart at seeding.

Winny recommends some ESN as well as about 10 pounds of urea be placed close to the seed row, with the rest broadcast before or after seeding. She notes there is a fairly wide window for broadcast application of fertilizer.

“With wheat, for example, farmers can float fertilizer on any time from fall right up to about the five- or six-leaf crop stage in the spring,” she says. “Some producers apply a portion of fertilizer in the fall along with some at time of seeding, and then they can monitor the crop and growing conditions to see if a top dress application is warranted.

“By splitting the fertilizer application, it is also nice to be able to hedge your bet a bit,” Winny adds. “Rather than apply 200 pounds of fertilizer up front and then only have about an inch and a half of rain and little or no crop, farmers can make that call whether to apply more fertilizer.”

Winny says as long as producers use nitrogen that has been properly stabilized, there is no need to incorporate broadcast fertilizer. She notes a number of nitrogen stabilizer products can be used to reduce the risk of N losses through denitrification, volatilization or leaching.

These products include Agrotain or SuperU from Koch Fertilizer. NexusBioAg has a line of Neon Surface nitrogen stabilizer products that can be used with urea. There is also YaraVera Amidas (40-0-0+5.5), a coated, granular, homogenous nitrogen and sulphate sulphur fertilizer. Winny says YaraVera Amidas technically isn’t a stabilized product but she describes it as “a fantastic product for floating in season.”

Winny appreciates that farmers must pay attention to input costs and return on investment, particularly with the high price of fertilizer these days but she notes that nitrogen stabilizer products provide value by improving nitrogen efficiency and reducing losses. She says another benefit is the way delayed nitrogen release can provide a protein boost in cereal crops.

Ontario research

While all farmers realize there are few guarantees, especially when it comes to growing season conditions, a longtime Ontario agronomy researcher says studies have shown a combination of ESN-stabilized nitrogen and urea or some other nitrogen source provides improved yields and economic returns.

Tarlok Sahota, director of research at the Lakehead University Agricultural Research Station in Thunder Bay, Ont., says after conducting and reviewing 10 years of research in Ontario, Western Canada and the U.S. corn belt, his recommendation today is still to use a combination of ESN with other forms of urea.

“A blend of the two fertilizers, urea and ESN, could prove better than either of the two fertilizers applied individually under (varying) growing conditions,” says Sahota. “Studies conducted on ESN in corn, wheat and other commodity grains elsewhere, especially in the United States, indicated that ESN improved crop output per unit of applied N, reduced N losses to the environment and gave growers greater control over the fate of applied N.”

Sahota says using ESN as part of the fertility program is particularly beneficial in situations where there is a risk of N losses due to denitrification and leaching.

Nutrien’s recommendation

Michel Poiron, marketing manager with Nutrien, says ongoing research has revealed the optimum recommendation for western Canadian farmers considering ESN is to use it in a blend with other forms of nitrogen such as urea.

He says some of the earlier recommendations were to use ESN as a 100 per cent nitrogen source depending on environmental conditions, but those recommendations have been updated.

“Research across Western Canada in recent years has shown that a 50:50 blend of ESN and urea is actually the sweet spot,” says Poiron. “It might vary slightly in certain circumstances, but in general and for most crops, including wheat and canola, that 50:50 blend produces the best results.

“In terms of yield and crop quality as well as economics and return on investment, we have found that a 50:50 blend is best,” he says. “With canola, research has shown a three- to four-bushel yield increase, and with wheat, for example, ESN is releasing that 10 to 15 pounds of nitrogen at the protein synthesis stage of crop growth, helping to improve crop quality.”

Poiron says ESN, as designed, generally doesn’t do much at seeding in early May because the ground is cool. But as the soil warms, it releases more nitrogen over a 70- to 80-day release pattern, with the all-important release happening as the crop reaches the protein stage.

With longer-season crops such as corn and sunflowers, the blend might lean heavier toward ESN — a 60:40 or 70:30 split — but for most other crops in the western Canadian environment, a 50:50 split is ideal, he says. And with that blend working well for most cereals and oilseeds, it makes it simpler for producers to apply to all crops.

“And farmers are recognizing that as well,” Poiron says. “They are seeing the benefit in crop performance as well as the return on investment. As we recommend that 50:50 rate, we have seen a 95 per cent retention among growers who see the benefit.”

Soil temperature is the main factor in releasing ESN, but Poiron says the product does work under dry growing conditions.

“It does require some moisture, but very little. Temperature is really the gas pedal,” he says. “Is ESN activated under dry growing conditions? If the crop is growing, then ESN is also working.”

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