Opinion: Ongoing evolution necessary in farming

Not only are farmers being trusted to look after the land, crops and animals, we also want to do the best possible job ourselves. The problem is we don’t always have the clearest picture of what the best practices really are, and we of course operate within the confines of present technology and profitability. Take

Dr. David Lobb puts a price tag on cumulative soil degradation in the kickoff event to the Riding Mountain Biosphere Reserve Soil Health
Committee.

Tillage questions posed for Manitoba

David Lobb with the University of Manitoba is researching the cost of soil degradation

What does soil degradation cost you? Dr. David Lobb hopes the answer to that question will get producers looking more closely at what’s happening under their feet. The University of Manitoba researcher spoke Nov. 15 in Dauphin at the “Soil Health and Your Bottom Line” workshop, hosted by the Riding Mountain Biosphere Reserve. Lobb estimates


Manitoba sees changing erosion landscape

Manitoba sees changing erosion landscape

Manitoba may not have a lot of topography but Dr. David Lobb says it’s enough for tillage erosion, especially as soybeans expand

As soybean acreage has exploded, new questions about soil erosion are arising. This past spring a record 2.3 million acres were planted and that has soil specialists expressing some concern about increased tillage practices and the soil impact of the new crop. “When you go to crops like soybeans, the ability of the soil to

Dr. Alan Moulin takes tour attendees through the field.

Mixing and matching inputs and rotations

Brandon researchers spent 18 years combining three different input levels and crop rotations to study the impact on nutrients, soil quality, yield and implications for climate change

Farming for short-term yield will be different than long-term soil benefit. That’s not a new idea, but it has been driven home by 18 years of research spearheaded by researcher scientists Alan Moulin and Taras Lychuk of Brandon’s Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada research station. From 1994-2003, the pair’s team cross-compared organic, reduced- input no till,


Dr. Alan Moulin takes tour attendees through the field.

Measuring tillage impact

There may be a middle path that gives the best results

Conventional wisdom says less tillage is better when it comes to soil structure, but the issue is more complex when comparing organic soil health to zero till, according to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada researcher Dr. Alan Moulin. Moulin’s team looked at “soil aggregates,” or how soil particles bind together into larger groups, under high-input conventional

The University of Manitoba’s Martin Entz, an agriculture professor and cropping systems specialist, suspects reduced tillage and organic production may not be mutually exclusive.

Can organic no till work in the field?

Environmental benefit is part of organic market value, but organic weed management usually means tillage, commonly considered a black mark for soil health. Is there a middle ground?

Hairy vetch may be the key to reducing tillage in organic farming, at least in the short term. Martin Entz, a professor and agriculture systems expert from the University of Manitoba has been looking at mulches for organic weed suppression, rather than the tillage typically used. “We found that when we used the right mulch,


soil

Farmers’ focus must shift from yields to soil health

But looking after the land doesn’t have to result in a ‘yield penalty’

A funny thing happens whenever talk turns to how to make farming more sustainable. As various options for improving how agriculture treats the natural environment are discussed, someone inevitably brings up the “yield penalty” farmers and society would pay. That penalty is seen as the gap between conventional methods using tillage and high rates of

Dr. Yvonne Lawley of the University of Manitoba presents initial data in front of her newest line of plots evaluating the impact of tillage on soybeans.

To till or not to till? For soybeans that’s the question

The Westman Agricultural Diversification Organization is testing out planting dates and 
pre-seed tillage systems in its latest round of soybean experiments

Conventional wisdom says to break out the harrow before planting soybeans, the better to expose black earth and warm the soil, but new research is putting that assumption to the test. Dr. Yvonne Lawley of the Unive­rsity of Manitoba is measuring the effect of seeding date and different tillage systems on soybeans through several regions


Adding more nitrogen in crop, instead of in the fall or spring before planting, is one way to use nitrogen more efficiently. The 4R tour visited Tyler Russell’s cornfield near Carman where about 60 pounds of nitrogen was applied at the V4 stage. Depending on the crop, more will be applied just before tasselling.

Better nitrogen efficiency, now and in the future

The June 28 4R nitrogen stewardship tour looked at current research and tools that could be coming in the future

Increasing yields while applying the same or less nitrogen is good for farmers and the environment. It also sums up the goal of the 4R stewardship program. The four Rs refer to applying nitrogen to crops using the right source and rate at the right time and right place. “That’s our big challenge,” University of