Jerry Blotter

Much has been learned since our first experiment with direct seeding of winter wheat in the fall of 1969. Over the years we have seen dramatic affects of a diverse and intensive cropping system.

Our reasons for direct seeding in those early years were to stop the wind erosion and moisture loss on our marginal soils.

Until the introduction of glyphosate, winter wheat, rye, oats and barley worked best because of their competitive nature. Sweet clover was also used in rotation because of the dairy operation my father ran.

Moving through the years we have had a number of successes and failures.

Currently, I would like to address what we have been doing that has worked well for us.

Good agronomic practices including deep banding of fertilizer, rotation of herbicides, good distribution of chaff and straw, and minimizing soil compaction will all add to your bottom line. Economic issues and moisture concerns along with residual fertility in your soil will also dictate part of your rotation.

Soil tests dictate yearly what crop to plant on any given field. I try to plant crops like corn, sunflower, canola or mustard on high N testing fields even if my rotation would dictate a legume at that time. I feel that I need to harvest that N before I lose it in the soil profile. The same goes for fields that are testing lower in residual N. Generally, I use legumes on them. If you don’t test every field you really have no idea what nutrients are available to you. I feel soil tests are a very good investment.

Another consideration is moisture availability. If your fields have had good recharge through the fall then it is easier to stay with a more intensive cropping sequence. In our area corn and sunflower are the best crops to harvest deep soil moisture and nutrients. We will use corn on our heavier soils and sunflowers on our more marginal soils.

Economic issues will dictate part of my rotation each year as I look at which crops will be substituted in a given year without changing my rotation. For example, if the price of durum versus hard red spring wheat was considerably higher, you could substitute that crop. It all depends on what price you can contract for. This year barley will most likely take the place of hard red spring wheat on many acres because of its higher potential income.

The same goes for sunflowers versus corn. The contract price for sunflowers are more favourable than corn so more of my acres are likely to be planted to sunflowers.

In any of the above situations, a lot of substitutions can be made in each group of crops. When a legume falls into your rotation it may be best to plant a green pea over a yellow dependent on price. Chick peas or lentils may be better if the weather cycle has been dryer than normal. Using a Roundup Ready soybean to clean up a perennial weed problem is another option. You may have a very clean field and may want to try an edible bean. Stacked rotations work well in many situations also.