GrainsWest Winter 2018

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RURAL POWER
Rural based. Rural focused. Rural experts.
BE IN 2018
The Alberta Seed Processors and our
partners are reminding you to be
SEED SMART as you plan for this crop year.
A seed test is the best way to predict seed
performance, and ensure your farm is using the
highest quality seed possible.
For more information, stop by your local seed plant or
visit our website: .
To pick your 2018 varieties, check
out the Alberta Seed Guide
by visiting .
fields in the Lethbridge area. Where the digging of potatoes
creates potential for erosion, farmers are sowing cereals.
Another related practice Kirschenman has incorporated
is intercropping—growing two crops in the same field
simultaneously. He said this is a way to introduce diversity and
the multi-species cocktail concept within a shorter growing
season. The practice may utilize two cash crops or one plus a
companion crop. In the latter vein, he has grown canola and
clover together and paired sunflowers with hairy vetch. He
has also grown true intercrops that include peas with mustard
and chickpeas with flax. Harvested together, they’re easily
separated afterwards, given their size difference, using an
on-farm cleaner. Kirschenman uses a rotary cleaner.
“You’re using the diversity and the strengths of one of the
species to offset the problems of the other species. You can
grow a pea that lodges quite a bit because the mustard will
hold it up.” In many regions, he said, the mustard doesn’t
yield enough to be economical. But pairing it with peas, the
total gross per acre comes up substantially. He estimates
$90 to $120 extra net income per acre is produced this way.
In flax and chickpeas, the flax acts as a disease break for the
chickpeas, so inputs are diminished and the chickpeas add to
the financial return.
More typically, Alberta farmers have limited experience
with cover crops. Dave Wolfe farms grains near La Crete in
northern Alberta and is one of a handful of farmers in his area
who have tried cover crops over the last two years. “I didn’t
really end up with the results I wanted. It was just too dry this
year,” he said. “But I will probably do it again.” With a multi-
species mix that included forage brassica, hairy vetch and
turnips, he seeded barley slightly deeper. Though his aim was
to build soil nutrients, he also hoped to break up hardpan
and suppress toadflax. While the barley grew well, the cover
species remained thin. After mowing twice, when the weeds
kept coming, Wolfe disked the lot under. He suggested that
in future he’ll likely try a pulse or legume crop with a cereal
for fibre, and that he will treat this combination as a green
manure crop in the way he wound up doing with his first
cover crop attempt.
Though not always easy to incorporate, Kirschenman
suggested that the impulse to explore these soil health
practices is a productive one. “If we don’t, I think it will be
forced upon us legislatively,” he said. “There is definitely room
there. And economically, if you’re willing to put in the time and
the management, it will benefit the bottom line. It all comes
down to dollars and cents; you still have to make money. It
doesn’t matter how good your soil is if you go out of business
and the bank takes it away.”