John Finnie, Kenton, Manitoba

My name is John Finnie, and my wife Carolyn and I live on a mixed farm, located about 35 miles north-west of Brandon, Manitoba. I would like to begin by thanking the Manitoba-North Dakota Zero Tillage Farmers Association for sponsoring Carolyn and I on our trip to the states of Washington, Oregon and Idaho, in the Pacific Northwest. The original plan was to visit England, but with the outbreak of hoof and mouth disease there, and we being livestock producers, we agreed that it was a little risky. The Pacific North- west was suggested as an alternative, which was fine with us, as we had never been there. We decided to go after the harvest and fall work were complete, which turned out to be early December. We flew from Regina on December 3^rd to Abbotsford, BC. After spending the night with our daughter in Chilliwack, we rented a car, and crossed the border into Washington state. Our destination for that evening was Moscow, Idaho. It looked to be about an 8 hour drive according to the map, with plenty to see along the way. We headed south on Interstate 5, then eventually east through the Cascade Mountains. As we gained elevation the light rain turned to light snow, then to heavy snow. It began to get a little nerve racking after hearing the weather advisory on the radio, and then seeing all the trucks stopped on the side of the road putting winter chains on their tires. Fortunately in about an hour we were through the worst of the storm and the mountains. Once we were out of the mountains the scenery changed very quickly. First, a heavily forrested area, then a very hilly, rocky, treeless, almost badland, dessert type of terrain. Then all of a sudden in the middle of nowhere we were crossing a very long bridge over a very wide Columbia River. Within minutes we were surrounded by productive looking irrigated farmland. Corn, hay, potatoes, onions, beans, apple orchards, grapes, horse stables and some beef feedlots. It was very scenic with gently rolling hills. As we got nearer to the south side of Washington state we were surrounded by bigger hills and newly emerging winter wheat fields. We would continue to see a lot of that for the next few days. I’m still amazed at how they successfully grow wheat on some of those hills, with slopes of up to 40%. That area is know as the Palouse, which extends from southeast Washington into Idaho to the east, as well as Oregon to the south. It is famous for its rich volcanic soils, which range anywhere from two feet to two hundred feet in depth, depending on location. Beneath that is a layer of solid bedrock known as basalt. As it was explained to me, the soils are a result of volcanic ash being blown out of the Cascade Mountains to the west, then being carried by the prevailing westerly winds and eventually being deposited. This occurred thousands of years ago. Then when the last ice age occurred giant slabs of ice pushed over the landscape blocking the course of the Columbia River. The river consequently spilled out in different directions, creating its own paths across these rich soils causing devastating soil erosion and carving out the steep hills and deep canyons that we see today. The surrounding mountains affect their climate dramatically. Just as the landscape changes so quickly, so does the amount of precipitation received - anywhere from five inches annually to over 25 inches. Sometimes rainfall varies as much as one inch for every mile closer to, or further from the mountains. The days to crop maturity can vary as well depending on elevation. Some houses that were built at the bottom of the canyon, because of proximity to water, never see direct sunlight because of shading from the hills. Their water wells were usually between four and five hundred feet deep. Typically the early settlers had a huge underground reservoir located at the top of the canyon which would gravity feed through a pipe to the buildings at the bottom.

Our first night in the U.S.A. was spent in Moscow, Idaho. It snowed all night and started to blow the next day. Temperature was around freezing so it made for icy roads. We felt right at home. We were escorted by University of Idaho Researcher and Soil Scientist, Rodger Veseth. He took us to a small plot research farm run by another USDA Soil Scientist, David Huggins. Although it was a stormy day and we couldn’t see much in the field, we did see the equipment they were using for their direct seeding program. We also learned about their major challenges and how they were trying to address them. The traditional crop in this area is winter wheat and has been for the last 100 years plus. The traditional rotation is winter wheat and fallow alternately. Obviously the fallow years have high potential for wind and water erosion. Unlike our climate in Manitoba and North Dakota, they receive 70% of their precipitation in the winter months November, December, January, and February. Their summer and autumn usually is very dry. So dry that after May 1^st it is very difficult to get a crop to germinate, even under a direct seeding system. They prefer fall crops that can germinate in October and November, continue to grow into December, then take advantage of the winter moisture to get off to a quick start in February and March. Their challenge is to find an alternative crop that can work instead of the traditional fallow. In the higher precipitation areas, (15 to 20 inches), they are harvesting 70 to 130 bushels of winter wheat. In the ten inch + areas they are harvesting 50 bushels. Some of the crops they are trying to fit into their rotation are: winter peas, winter lentils, chick peas, lupins, mustard, winter and spring canola, winter and spring barley, and spring wheat. Winter peas were a black Austrian feed pea that seemed to have potential but were not worth much. Spring canola hadn’t been successful because of hot, dry summers and too many insect pests. Winter canola looked to have more potential and was higher yielding than spring canola. Yields were up to 50 bushels per acre. Nothing could compete economically with winter wheat. The research farm had three different seeding drills, a Yielder, a Cross Slot Drill, and a Great Plains Drill. The Cross Slot Drill I had never seen before. It was developed in New Zealand for seeding directly into sod to renovate forage stands. It had very low disturbance and even penetration with an inverted T design on the opener. The seed was dropped into the bottom part of the T then it closed the slot up tightly. Seed placement seemed to be critical in their situation because the moisture can be up to 4 inches down after a dry summer. They cannot be assured of a rain after seeding to assist germination in the fall, and seeding later than May 1^st is risky because of the impending dry summers.

They have developed new and inventive ways to deal with the extreme slopes upon which they have become accustomed to working. Caterpillar tractors on tracks are commonplace. Some seeding equipment is fitted with hydraulic cylinders to stabilize the hitch and prevent the implement from sliding down hill to the side. Hillside combines are common but very expensive. A new combine costs as much as $80,000 to $100,000 to retrofit, on top of the cost of the combine. They have an ingenious system of hydraulic leveling which allows the main body of the combine to run level while the wheels and axles adjust automatically to compensate for the slope. These machines seem to be doing a very efficient job of harvesting. They place a lot of emphasis on chopping and spreading the residue evenly. Consecutive high residue crops do cause major germination problems in their direct seeding systems.

We visited a total of three farm families during our stay. The hospitality we received was truly exceptional. The time of year was not the best for seeing things in the field, but the farmers had time to visit and talk about their operations. They were all committed to the idea of direct seeding because they knew that the traditional rotation of winter wheat and tillage had taken a tremendous toll on their soil over the last 100 years. These farmers were all members of the Pacific Northwest direct Seeding Association. Much like the Mandak organization, they hold a workshop in the winter months - usually January. The USDA recognizes the importance of their movement and continues to support it with research programs and education.

The first farm family we visited was the Curtis Hennings family who live near Ralston, Washington. They live in fairly flat terrain by their standards, with an annual precipitation of about 10 inches. He had about 40 acres of research plots on his farm, operated in conjunction with USDA, and the University of Washington, experimenting with different rotations including conventional wheat/fallow. In very dry years the traditional rotations still had the best economic return. In normal precipitation years, more diversified direct seeded annual cropping looked better. Curtis told the story of the Mt. St. Helens volcanic eruption of May, 1980. Everyone in the family could remember exactly where they were and what they were doing at the time of the eruption. His first thought was that maybe there had been a nuclear explosion at the nearby military reserve. They experienced total darkness for a few hours as it sent a ten mile high column of gas and ash straight up into the atmosphere. The prevailing wind blew the fine white sandy looking ash directly over their farm, depositing 2 inches of it on everything. Farmers with cut hay in the fields had to turn it over to get rid the ash before baling. It took at least 3 years for all the fine white ash to be cleaned up.

Our next stop was with Bob Hutchens and family just outside of Dayton, Washington. He and his son were in the process of building a workshop capable of doing all their own repairs, as well as customizing any equipment when necessary. Our American counterparts seemed to be facing the same economic squeeze as we experience in Canada. Margins are very tight with low prices for grain and high input costs. They were trying to cut their costs as much as possible without sacrificing productivity. Bob had tried several alternative crops including mustard, which seemed to have a fit, being drought tolerant and having not too many insect predators, but the market was not great. Leaf diseases did not seem to be a major problem in their cereal crops, probably because of the low humidity in the summer. On the other hand, root diseases seemed to thrive in the dry soil.

From Dayton, Washington, we traveled south through the Snake River Canyon and into Oregon to our next stop at the Columbia Basin Research Station just outside Pendleton, Oregon. We were completely out of the snow now, except for the snowy peaks of the Blue Mountains, just a few miles away. It was a beautiful sunny day with warm temperatures, a good day to see some of the research plots operated by research scientist Don Wysocki. He had done quite a bit of work with winter canola, mustard, winter peas, winter barley, as well as a continuous winter wheat rotation on a piece of ground that had grown nothing but winter wheat for the past 31 years. They were getting good yields. Tillage seemed to be more prevalent here as the hills were not as steep. There was definitely more ploughing as it seemed to be a way of dealing with large amounts of residue. Burning is still common, but increasingly frowned upon anywhere close to population centers. In some areas burning of grassed residue has been banned. Winter canola plots had done well in some years, but it was necessary to seed early in the fall, so that the seedlings could get to about cabbage size before winter. That way the plants matured earlier the next spring and missed the heat of next summer at flowering time.

Our final stop was at a farm in northeastern Oregon, not far from Heppner at the farm of Bill Jepson and family. Bill runs a 2,500 acre grain and seed cleaning operation in an 11 inch rainfall area. He also collaborates with USDA and state officials on some field research plots. Their research also seemed to conclude that annual cropping was far superior for the health of the land, but in very dry years could not compete with wheat-fallow. Their most significant erosion threat came not from heavy rains in the summer as we experience, but from a winter chinook that melted the snow. The melt water was not able to penetrate the frozen soil, therefore it ran off the slopes taking the soil with it. One thing I found interesting was that Bill actually owned very little of the land he operates. Most of it was long-term leased from landlords who lived as far away as Portland. Changing of ownership of the land happened rarely, with most farmers having one-third/ two-thirds crop sharing arrangements. The owner generally paid the taxes and sometimes a portion of the fertilizer or chemical costs. Quite a lot of the poorer, more erodable land has been put into the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). The Federal Service Agency (FSA) pays a cash amount per acre: up to $50 per acre on qualifying acres. The farmer is responsible for seeding a combination of grasses and legumes as permanent cover for a minimum of ten years. Payments are received annually and the land may not be grazed or cut for hay. He’s responsible for weed control as is necessary. Most farmers feel it has been a good program as it gives them a cash income and preserves the land in its natural state for wildlife and hunting. I noticed that there weren’t many mixed farms in that area as most were either grain farms or cattle ranches with the poorest land being used for grazing. The farmers of that area experience much different weed problems than we have in Western Canada. The grasses – goat grass, downey brome, sheep fescue, and rat tail fescue are very difficult to control. They do have wild oats, and Russian thistle is also a problem, since they flush late in the season and continue to grow in the crop to an incredible size, despite very hot and dry summers. Bill Jepson also ran a custom seed wheat cleaning operation that processed about 30 thousand bushels annually to supplement his income. He said that without the various farm programs offered by the U.S. government it would be virtually impossible to survive economically. Not much different than a lot of other places in my opinion. Despite all the political jockeying between governments about who subsidizes the most, very little of that cash finds its way back into the hands of the farmer in the end.

After spending the night with the Jepson family, we headed west along the Columbia River on route to the west coast. Almost all the wheat that is produced is exported (80%) from the Palouse area. It goes by truck to terminals on the Columbia River, is loaded onto containers, stacked on huge barges and pushed down the Columbia River to Portland, Oregon where it is shipped all over the world. We drove west through Portland to the west coast and saw the long sandy beaches at Cannon Beach and heard the waves of the Pacific ocean come crashing in. The west coast was in the midst of its rainy season and it poured rain almost non stop till we arrived in Abbotsford, BC two days later.

All in all, it was a wonderful experience to see how farmers in that part of the world live. It’s good to see how they do things, and also why they do it that way. In most cases when you see the whole picture, it starts to make sense. Farmers there face the same problems we do, only under different circumstances. I found them to be very open minded, eager to pick up any information that might help them, as well as sharing whatever knowledge their experience might have taught them. Their hospitality was second to none and I hope to have a chance to host some of these people on my farm some day. Once again I would like to thank Mandak and its friends for sponsoring and laying the groundwork for our unforgettable trip to the Pacific Northwest.