Grainswest - Fall 2022

Fall 2022 Grains West 28 McKenzie’s fellow scientist Johan Dormaar calculated the cost of losing five centimetres of soil at $7,606 per acre in 2013. McKenzie suggested the value today would be double this. research, McKenzie estimated the replacement value of the organic matter and total nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium lost in the top five centimetres of a long-term, continuously cropped dark brown soil. In 2013, that number was $7,606 per acre. According to McKenzie, Dormaar’s research was representative of soil types and cropping conditions across southern Alberta. Using the number above, McKenzie said the approximate value of five centimetres of topsoil on a 5,000-acre farm would have been $38 million. “This is a staggering value,” he added. “Further, this is in 2013 dollars and fertilizer value. In 2022, the value would be approximately double.” Ken Coles is executive director of Farming Smarter, a non-profit agronomic advisory organization in Lethbridge. He has done similar calculations that use land value. “In southern Alberta, the irrigation land values are so bloody high, you could just take the current land value and divide it by your topsoil,” he said. “If you lose all of your six inches of topsoil, it’s not productive land. Who’s going to want to buy it?” Like McKenzie, Coles is passionate about soil health. Farming Smarter places much of its focus on applied research with the aim to address pressing farm issues. Recently, the group secured $150,000 from RBC to evaluate the use of fall-seeded cover crops and strip tillage to address erosion on irrigated land, particularly acres planted with potatoes, dry beans and sugar beet. But Coles believes more needs to be done. “Research alone isn’t going to solve the problem,” he said. The problem is partly cultural, especially on irrigated acres where tillage is still widely accepted. He added more equipment development needs to be done, and manufacturers need to offer implements that can seed through bigger crops and higher residue. To actively reduce the risk of soil erosion, stop fall tillage altogether, advised Coles. Create a plan to deal with high-risk areas, and incorporate strip tillage where possible. He also advises farmers to adopt cover crops to protect soil where leaving stubble behind isn’t possible. Monica Klaas, contract agronomist with the Western Winter Wheat Initiative, would also like to see the adoption of cover crops and more acres seeded to winter wheat. The aim of the project, initiated by Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC), is to support, educate and equip western Canadian farmers in the production of winter wheat. Winter wheat has high yield potential. Klaas points to Statistics Canada yield data that suggests a range of between 15 and 40 per cent higher than Canadian Western Red Spring wheat. It also negates seeding problems when spring is late or wet, and because it matures earlier, planting winter wheat spreads harvest operations out and reduces the potential for grade losses due to early frost. Perhaps most importantly, though, winter wheat provides soil cover during the fall and winter, thereby reducing the potential for soil loss due to water and wind. DUC is involved because winter wheat also makes great habitat for migratory waterfowl. “When the birds are migrating in the spring, the fields are seeded and it provides good nesting habitat versus a spring cereal where the seeding operation in the spring may disturb the nest,” said Klaas. Once disturbed, the pintail duck will not renest in that year. “And that presents a huge population issue.” Where there are ducks there is often water, another source of soil erosion. FEATURE