GrainsWest Fall 2018

Fall 2018 Grains West 28 S “TILLAGE” STILL A four-letter word on the Prairies? The answer depends on who you talk to. General observation suggests more farmers have been using some degree of tillage in recent years. It’s not a landslide movement toward full-tilt conventional tillage, nor the season-long black dirt of summer fallow days, but farmers are looking at various tillage operations to fix certain field problems such as smooth- ing ruts, managing heavy crop residue, controlling weeds and breaking up compacted soil. Statistics Canada figures indicate con- servation and no-till farming practices re- main popular across the country. In 1991, about 70 per cent of Canadian farmland was conventionally tilled, with about 30 STORY AND IMAGES BY LEE HART The practice undergoes select re-incorporation while no-till remains dominant RE-EXAMINING TILLAGE per cent farmed using conservation or no-till seeding practices. By 2011, 80 per cent of cropland was managed with con- servation and no-till seeding practices while the balance was conventional. StatsCan reported that ratio has remained constant. Between 2011 and 2016 about 60 per cent of cropland was direct or zero-till seeded. Although about 40 per cent received some type of tillage. That included 24 per cent of land that was tilled but maintained most of the residue on the soil surface while about 16 per cent was tilled to incorpo- rate crop residue. Which way is crop production headed? Prairie farmers are increasingly exposed to educational programs and workshops promoting farming practices that benefit soil health. These encourage I FEATURE