heaved alfalfa and volunteer wheat

This week the gloom and doom talk shifted from winter wheat to alfalfa. It looks like there will be a lot of older stands making way for corn or soybeans this spring. And this time it’s not just the traditional winterkill areas that are affected. A lot of fields in the southwest are having their lifespan cut short by heaving. Agronomists are telling me that growers need to look ahead at 2010 and what their forage needs will be. There may be lots of feed in the province right now but those that don’t plan ahead this spring could be finding themselves short down the road.

Some interesting research coming out of Clarence Swanton's lab at the University of Guelph. Graduats student Greg Wilson has found that as few as five volunteer wheat plants in a young cornfield - at the three-leaf stage - can reduce yields by 10 per cent. That's surprisingly competitive for a grass weed and suggests farmers need to ensure that there are no volunteer wheat plants left in the field when the corn emerges.

Split nitrogen is a pretty common concept in wheat production. Now some researchers in Manitoba are trying to see if it has a fit for canola growers. It’s all in the interest of using nitrogen more efficiently. The idea is to put down an initial base rate – maybe 50 to 60 lbs – then make a visual assessment later on to see if the crop will benefit from some additional N. You can just look at the crop as a whole or leave a few small plots – they call them “ramp strips” which get base rates ranging from zero to 100 lbs. By comparing those strips with the base rate applied to the rest of the field you’ll get an idea if additional N is likely to pay. Apparently there are a few folks in Ontario willing to give it a try. I’ll be talking to John Heard at the Manitoba ag ministry next week and have a more detailed account of his work in the May 5 Ontario Farmer.

I understand that white bean dealers are once again offering contract prices for navy beans. The price I’m hearing is $33-34. That should be enough to keep the crop competitive with IP soybeans and attract some growers, especially those who have experience with the crop. We used to grow white beans in the 80s – it was all “pull and windrow” in those days - and some years you were ready to pack it in because it was a real struggle getting a quality sample. But somehow you always did it again the next year. There’s a lot of machinery and a lot of buildings in Ontario that have been paid for thanks to a couple of good white bean years. Let’s not lose that niche.