Mike Hagen, Independent Contractor with CanSun LLC

mca2022dev on November 24, 2021

Mike Hagen, Independent Contractor with CanSun LLC

Mike Hagen is a self-employed independent contractor specializing in sunflower research through CanSun LLC. Mike earned his bachelor’s degree in agronomy from the University of Minnesota and his master’s degree in plant breeding from North Dakota State University. He has worked in both the research and commercial side of the sunflower business. Mike and his wife live in West Fargo, North Dakota.

Where did you work before CanSun LLC?

My first 27 years of life I was a beekeeper (more on that later). Directly out of graduate school I began working as a sunflower seed production manager, but I wanted to find a job in breeding. I was offered the head sunflower breeding job at Proseed, Inc. where I developed a full program including both mid-oleic oilseed sunflower and confection sunflower. During that time Proseed released several commercial hybrids of both oil and confection types, including one mid-oleic Clearfield hybrid.

After that I left the research side of the sunflower seed business and tried my hand at the commercial side. I worked as a sunflower seed product manager and managed a licensing and wholesale sunflower seed business. After eight years working in the commercial side and going through several acquisitions and mergers within the industry, I was looking for a way back into research when I was approached by the sunflower group from Carman, Manitoba. They were searching for new confection hybrids that could be grown in Manitoba.

What got you interested in this area of work?

I got a lot of exposure to sunflower breeding and seed production early on in life. My father was a sunflower breeder for Dahlgren & Co and built up a large bee operation on the side. His hives were used primarily for pollinating sunflower seed production fields for Dahlgren & Co in Crookston, Minnesota. I worked with my father in his sunflower breeding nurseries and in the Dahlgren seed production fields. This is when I got my initial exposure to sunflower breeding. I enjoy the work, being outdoors, and not spending too much time in an office. I like being involved in the agriculture sector and helping farmers.

Tell us a bit about what you’re working on.

In 2011 the sunflower group from Carman (now Manitoba Crop Alliance – MCA) was inquiring about the possibility of licensing confection hybrids from my father’s sunflower program. This eventually led to the acquisition of my father’s breeding material, the formation of CanSun LLC and the launch of a new herbicide tolerant breeding program owned by MCA.

Through this partnership I am contracted to develop a herbicide tolerant confection breeding program capable of generating herbicide tolerant long seeded confection hybrids that are highly adapted to the Canadian environment and can perform at a high enough level to be considered for commercialization. Based on results and observations made in 2021 it appears there are several pedigrees that could be considered for possible commercialization and moved into the pre-commercial testing phase.

What can you say about the value of farmers providing funding and support to your program with MCA?

Without farmer support of the program, I believe the progress of developing and isolating new hybrids for commercialization would have been much slower. Plant breeding is a “numbers game” and requires the development of numerous parent lines and the screening of hundreds of experimental lines in order to find hybrids that have all the traits necessary in a hybrid for commercialization. With farmer support we have been able to keep the breeding program at a level so we can achieve this.

How does that farmer funding and support directly benefit farmers?

Funding will provide new variety alternatives to Canadian farmers and also provide a long-term safety net as a potential source of new hybrids in the future. The industry can be self-sustaining rather than rely only on outside sources for confection seed varieties.

How do you spend your time outside of work?

Fishing, fishing, and fishing! I love being on the water. My favorite place to fish is Ontario, Canada

What gets you excited about the work you do?

Seeing progress. Each year the field of experimentals gets better. Based on the agronomics and seed types of several program hybrids in 2021 it appears that soon we will have hybrid(s) isolated that can be offered for commercialization.

What is the best piece of advice you’ve received?

I had a TA in college that said one day that I was “grad school material”. Because of that single statement/moment, I went on to graduate school.

Act Early to Secure Seed for 2022

mca2022dev on November 1, 2021

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The unprecedented heat and drought across western Canada this year has left farmers facing many challenges, ranging from grain yield reductions to herbicide carryover concerns. The combination of heat, drought, high commodity prices and in some areas, grasshopper damage, have led to concern over seed quality and availability for the 2022 growing season.

Grain yield is not the only factor impacted by heat and drought stress. Seed quality is also of concern as stress during the reproduction and grain fill period can lead to poor germination and vigour. If you plan on using farm saved seed, it is important to test for germination, vigour, thousand kernel weight (TKW) and seed borne disease through an accredited lab. Another consideration is that drought stress can also lead to smaller seed size. Knowing the TKW of your seed lot can help account for seed size variation when calculating seeding rates. More information on using TKW to calculate seeding rates is available here.

Seed test results can be used to determine if you have adequate seed quality. While seed can be tested immediately after harvest, germination and vigour can change throughout storage. It may be beneficial for producers to re-test seed closer to spring. Due to the widespread nature of the drought, certified seed availability may be more limited than usual. Testing seed early will allow for more time to find a quality seed source of a desired variety, if needed.

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Beware of brown-bag seed sellers too.

Unlike brown-bag, certified seed is authorized for sale, with a portion of the sale returning to the breeding program to develop new and improved varieties. Most varieties are protected by Plant Breeder’s Rights (PBR), and limit sale of seed intended for planting to authorized sellers. If a variety you are growing is protected under PBR legislation, you have obligations when you purchase, save, store, clean and use the grain you produce as seed. Under PBR protection (UPOV91), it is an infringement to buy farm-saved (brown bagged) seed. Not only is the seller of brown bagged seed liable for damages, but buyers are also liable.

It’s a good idea to do some research on other varieties that may be suited to your farm location. Newer varieties that have recently gained popularity are likely to sell out first, so having a backup plan is crucial. Consult the provincial seed guides and compile a list of varieties that perform well in your area. The more years a variety has been tested, the greater the confidence in the performance data. Your local seed growers will also be a valuable resource, as they are likely to have firsthand experience with newer varieties and how they compare to other popular varieties in your area. It is important to consider varietal factors that are most important on your operation such as FHB tolerance, midge tolerance, standability, sprouting tolerance, etc.

Farmers should start checking in with their seed suppliers earlier rather than later. Booking early allows seed distributors to transport a variety to local retailers. Shortages may be localized, so it could take more phone calls and a further drive to secure seed.

To view this article as a PDF, click here.

Additional Resources

Corn Ear Drop

mca2022dev on September 27, 2021

Drought conditions affect a corn crop in many different ways throughout the growing season. Silking and pollination stages are very sensitive to hot, dry conditions. Not only does the lack of rain and extreme temperature cause silks to dry up, poor pollination, and aborted kernels, but these conditions can also interfere with ear shank development.

In drought stress situations, the grain will “steal” carbohydrates from the rest of the plant, including the ear shank, in order to fill and improve quality. As result, the ear shank may become weak and eventually be unable to hang onto the ear as it becomes heavier. Another possible culprit for weakened ear shanks is in a year with rapid drydown in late summer. The cells that connect the ear shank to the ear dry too quickly and become brittle and unable to hold that ear tightly anymore. A disturbance to the corn plant, eg. a silager or combine header, can shake the ear from the plant which results in a complete yield loss for that plant.

Stalk diseases are not common in a drought year, however they are still possible. Stalk rots, such as Fusarium, will weaken the corn stalk and also the ear shank, potentially causing ear drop. Insects like European corn borer will also burrow throughout a corn plant, like in the stalk, ear shank and even the ear, which will weaken those areas of the plant.

This is generally not an issue related to genetics and it would be extremely rare to have a hybrid registered that showed such a glaring default. Ear drop won’t be something that occurs in every field, even if conditions were the same all season long. This will be an effect of planting date, conditions at planting, silking date of the given field and other agronomic factors. In other words, not preventable and simply, bad luck.

To mitigate some yield loss at harvest, combine (or silage) affected fields before any others. When harvesting grain corn, raise header just below cob height and reduce both ground and header speed. When silaging corn, it would be ideal to also raise the header, though that is not going to be popular advice to give a grower. Instead, slow ground speed to the point that you see greatest ear retention.

If there was evidence of stalk rots or insect damage, consider using hybrids with appropriate traits in the future.

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Several dropped ears in silage field. Photo credit: Madison Leonard, Clearview Consumers Co-op Ltd., Steinbach, Manitoba.

Article written by Morgan Cott, Agronomy Extension Specialist – Special Crops with Manitoba Crop Alliance.

Randy Kutcher, Chair in Cereal and Flax Crop Pathology, University of Saskatchewan

mca2022dev on September 14, 2021

Randy Kutcher, Chair in Cereal and Flax Crop Pathology, University of Saskatchewan

Randy Kutcher is the Ministry of Agriculture Strategic Research Program (SRP) Chair in Cereal and Flax Crop Pathology at the University of Saskatchewan (U of S). Kutcher completed both his BSc and MSc degrees in Agriculture at the University of Manitoba (UM). His master’s degree focused on blackleg of canola. Kutcher then moved west to complete his PhD at the University of Saskatchewan on barley diseases, followed by a post-doctoral fellowship at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, between Regina and Saskatoon, focusing on biological control of weeds using plant pathogens.

Where did you work before U of S?

Before joining the U of S, I worked in private industry for four years at Northern Sales Co. in Winnipeg and then after my PhD, as a Federal Government Research Scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada for approximately 15 years. I joined the Crop Development Centre (CDC) in the Department of Plant Sciences at the U of S in 2011.

What got you interested in this area of work?

I grew up in rural Manitoba (my grandparents and relatives farmed) surrounded by crops, where agriculture is top of mind. I always liked science, and having that interest, it was logical to get into agriculture.

When I went back to graduate school, I wasn’t sure I wanted to be a plant breeder, but I enjoyed working with fungi, bacteria and viruses (to a degree). I like fungi because you can see them growing in plates and you can trap the spores; they’re really neat organisms to work with. Once I started shopping around for a masters program I got along really well with Roger Rimmer (UM) and I’ve been enthusiastic ever since.

Tell us a bit about what you’re working on at the U of S.

My mandate is cereal and flax pathology, with a cereal focus on Fusarium head blight (FHB) in wheat and barley. Our priority at the CDC is to develop new varieties. In terms of FHB, my crew and I support the breeding program by managing the disease nurseries and evaluating the material in order to provide information to breeders, allowing them to make informed decisions on which lines should go forward. For any disease, relying on one strategy is probably not going to last in the long term so an integrated management plan is needed. The Manitoba Crop Alliance has contributed towards our Canadian Agricultural Partners program where we are looking at the impact of the crop sequences grown prior to wheat or barley on diseases such as FHB and the leaf spotters.

We do a lot of applied plant pathology work in terms of crop rotation, fungicide timing, and use of clean seed; in addition, we look at agronomic aspects of disease mitigation, for example, the impact of seeding date. Recently we have looked optimizing fungicide timing to improve FHB mitigation, and how that fits into an integrated pest management program. Things like trying to decide if and when fungicide will be of benefit, and determining the response to a fungicide application.

Another disease we are looking at (one which I like working on but we have not had severe problems with in the last few years, in Saskatchewan at least) is stripe rust. In 2011 we had a stripe rust epidemic in Saskatchewan. It was the first time a lot of people had seen it so there were a lot of questions about what varieties might be less susceptible and should we spray a fungicide? When should we spray? Is it too late to spray? Should we spray next year? We support the breeding program by looking for new sources of resistance for stripe rust and other management strategies. Unfortunately, because the rusts generally blow in from further south, rotation is not effective so that is why we have looked at fungicide control as another option when resistant varieties are not available.

One other disease we’re working on is bacterial leaf streak in barley. Over the last few years, we’re seeing it pop up across the prairies more and more, with some growers in Manitoba having issues with it last year.

What can you say about the value of farmers providing funding and support to your organization?

Farmer funding is critical. The Ministry of Agriculture provides a set amount of funding for the CDC, but to expand our research endeavors it is critical we have outside funding. Most of the funding for the applied plant pathology work comes from the grower groups to deal with issues on the farm. We’re very grateful for the funding and support we receive from them. We’re doing the best we can to provide the results as fast as we can to help improve farming operations.

How does that farmer funding and support directly benefit farmers?

The benefits to growers might be quickly applied, such as improved manage of diseases from fungicide timing studies (stripe rust epidemic in 2011, and FHB more recently), to delayed benefits, where we’re looking for new sources of resistance that won’t be available to growers for another ten years when the new varieties become available. Therefore, there are a wide variety of benefits that growers can use almost immediately to results that are going to take some time down the road before they see the benefits.

Breeding for genetic resistance to diseases is perhaps a little behind the scenes and longer term, but very important, while sometimes results from integrated disease management research can be given to growers within a year or two of starting the research. After three years of research, we usually have a pretty good idea how to improve management of a disease with fungicides, or possibly even the impacts of crop sequence, as opposed to fundamental knowledge, which usually takes longer to develop. It may take time to diagnose a new or uncommon disease and determine if it is due to a new pathogen or new race of an existing pathogen, or if a previously uncommon disease has become more of an issue due to changes in weather or agronomic practices. We need resources to develop an understanding of the pathogen and the disease, what conditions they need to become a problem, figure out why a disease has suddenly become a problem, and then figure out how to deal with it.

How do you spend your time outside of work?

I have too many hobbies! I really enjoy music, I recently volunteered at the Jazz Festival, and travelling – previously as a student and occasionally through my research collaborations.

What gets you excited about the work you do?

The very nature of the job. Every morning when I come in there is always something to do and it is often very different from the previous day. At the University, I get to work with young, enthusiastic students and I often get phone calls from growers to hear what issues they are facing. These are the kind of things that really make my job interesting. There are some routine aspects to science, but generally there is always something new happening.

What is the best piece of advice you’ve received?

Tenacity. Not everything is going to work out, but if you give it a good try and if you stick with it, things will work out in the end. Really, that is what research is all about, looking at the problems from different angles and talking to many people; there’s always some aspect of plant disease control you can improve to make a difference.

Yvonne Lawley, Assistant Professor of Agronomy and Cropping Systems at the University of Manitoba

mca2022dev on September 8, 2021

Follow @yvonnelawley_um on Twitter!

Follow @yvonnelawley_um on Twitter!

Yvonne Lawley is an Assistant Professor of Agronomy and Cropping Systems in the Department of Plant Science at the University of Manitoba (UM), and has been working with the University for ten years. She obtained her PhD from the University of Maryland in Natural Resource Management specializing in soil science, an MSc from the University of Saskatchewan in plant science, and has an undergraduate degree from the UM in agronomy. Lawley now lives in Winnipeg with her family.

Where did you work before UM?

Before joining the UM, I was a Research Agronomist with North Dakota State University in Carrington, North Dakota for two years.

What got you interested in this area of work?

I grew up in Winnipeg and always had an interest in going to visit my grandparents’ farm near Manitou, Manitoba. My interest in agriculture really grew in high school where I thought, if I can learn how to be an engineer, I can learn about agriculture, and off I stormed into my undergraduate degree. I started off in agronomy and then moved into plant science and that took me over to soil. The more I was learning about plants the more connection I saw between plants and soil management.

Tell us a bit about what you’re working on at UM.

I have had a good relationship with many of the organizations that now make up the Manitoba Crop Alliance and I feel connected to their membership. I have several projects (current and past) that have received funding from MCA. Most of them fall within the general area of crop and soil management. One unique part about the research I’ve done with MCA is that we’ve done both traditional small plot agronomy experiments as well as on farm experiments.

Some of my research has focused on corn and wheat agronomy as well as residue management including vertical and strip tillage. One of my current projects is focused on managing lodging resistance for high yielding wheat, kind of ironic to be working on lodging management in times of drought. I’m also doing a lot of work relating to cover crops. This involves a survey, on-farm experiments, and a crop rotation study at sites across the Prairies where we have some of the crops represented by MCA as part of the rotation. The rotation study is looking at how cover crops influence crop productivity, nutrient cycling, soil health, greenhouse gas emissions, water use, and soil carbon over time. For the extreme moisture project, we’ve been looking at the management of overwintering cover crops like rye to utilize water when it is wet in the spring and then later in the season how the residue from that cover crop could help conserve soil moisture during times of drought.

One thing that excites me about working with the MCA is the Whole Farm initiative. I’m a ‘whole farm thinker’ when I approach my research so I’m excited to see how the Whole Farm initiative grows and evolves. I think this new MCA initiative is going to enable researchers like myself to look not at just commodity specific questions, but whole systems wide projects.

What can you say about the value of farmers providing funding and support to your organization?

It is really enabling to have farmer funding. It’s motivational and it’s essential. Funding from farmer organizations like MCA enables me to pursue important research questions that other funders may not be interested in. It also allows me to train graduate and undergraduate students, which brings value back to farmers. These students are the ones who end up being future agronomists and researchers.

Another thing that’s really enabling is the interaction that comes with having funding from farmer organizations through extension events. They provide a ready venue for researchers like me to connect with farmers, or the graduate students I am training. These events inform me because I get to have conversations with farmers. Those conversations inspire new questions and also help me stay current in the classroom as I can gather feedback, questions and ideas to take back to campus when I’m talking with students.

How does that farmer funding and support directly benefit farmers?

Our aim and hope is that the research questions we’re asking in our projects are relevant to the questions farmers are asking on their farm. I also think there is value to farmers in investing in research that makes its way into the classroom. Having research at universities is important for training, and students get to learn about current research that is happening right now while they’re studying. Whether its at the diploma, undergraduate, or graduate level, new information and ideas go with those students when they graduate.

Government funding is now looking to organizations like MCA to match dollars invested in research and I think this helps gives farmers a voice. These check-off programs are going to be essential for funding agriculture research in the future. As government funding pulls back, that check off is going to be the way farmers have voice in directing funds to the research that matters to them.

How do you spend your time outside of work?

Research and family life have kind of crowded out most of my hobbies over the past ten years, but the ones that have survived are my interests in nature, food, music and travel. My husband and I are both professors at the UM and we have two enthusiastic school age kids that keep us pretty occupied after work!

What inspires you?

The conversations I have with students and farmers are very inspiring. It has been hard to stay excited and inspired in times of COVID, but the conversations I’ve been able to have with students and farmers really keep me grounded and connected. They motivate me to keep moving forward with research under difficult conditions because you can hear the impact and value that new information and ideas bring in these conversations.

What is the best piece of advice you’ve received?

When I was starting out as a new professor, a colleague said to me that you have to trust your gut. If you have an instinct about a project or you observe something that doesn’t seem right, you have to trust it, go after it and pick it apart. Life and research are full of surprises, you have to have confidence in what you’re seeing to be able to ask yourself, why did that happen?

Follow @yvonnelawley_um on Twitter!

Estimating Yield and Physiological Maturity

mca2022dev on September 2, 2021

Producers and agronomists should be assessing each grain corn field now for yield estimates. Pollination is long since complete and we have an excellent idea of how many kernels have been pollinated.

The following is taken from Dr. R.L. (Bob) Nielsen on estimating corn grain yield prior to harvest. Dr. Nielsen has some excellent articles on corn production that are worth looking into. (www.agry.purdue.edu/ext/corn/news/timeless/YldEstMethod.html)

  1. At each estimation site, measure off a length of a single row equal to 1/1000th acre. For 30-inch (2.5 feet) rows, this equals 17.4 linear feet.
    TIP: For other row spacings, divide 43,560 by the row spacing (in feet) and then divide that result by 1000 (e.g., [43,560 / 2.5] / 1000 = 17.4 ft).

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Figure 1. Row length required to measure 1/1000th acre in various row widths – Ontario Grain Farmer (ontariograinfarmer.ca/2017/06/01/cropside-corn-stand-checkup/)

  1. Count and record the number of ears on the plants in the 1/1000th acre of row that you deem to be harvestable.
    TIP: Do not count dropped ears or those on severely lodged plants unless you are confident that the combine header will be able to retrieve them.
  2. For every 5th ear in the sample row, record the number of complete kernel rows per ear and average number of kernels per row. Then multiply each ear’s row number by its number of kernels per row to calculate the total number of kernels for each ear.
    TIPS: Do not sample nubbins or obviously odd ears, unless they fairly represent the sample area. If row number changes from butt to tip (e.g., pinched ears due to stress), estimate an average row number for the ear. Don’t count the extreme butt or tip kernels, but rather begin and end where you perceive there are complete “rings” of kernels around the cob. Do not count aborted kernels. If kernel numbers per row are uneven among the rows of an ear, estimate an average value for kernel number per row.
  3. Calculate the average number of kernels per ear by summing the values for all the sampled ears and dividing by the number of ears.
    EXAMPLE: For five sample ears with 480, 500, 450, 600, and 525 kernels per ear, the average number of kernels per ear would equal:
    (480 + 500 + 450 + 600 + 525) divided by 5 = 511
  4. Estimate the yield for each site by multiplying the ear number (Step 2) by the average number of kernels per ear (Step 4) and then dividing that result by a kernel weight “fudge factor”. Unless your seed company can provide some insight into kernel weight values for their hybrids, I suggest simply performing separate calculations using “fudge factor” kernel weight values equal to 75, 85, and 95. This range of values probably represents that most commonly experienced in the central Corn Belt.

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Figure 2. Grain corn yield estimate formula – Iowa State University (crops.extension.iastate.edu/cropnews/2017/08/estimating-corn-yields-using-yield-components)

Example: Let’s say you counted 30 harvestable ears at the first thousandth-acre sampling site. Let’s also assume that the average number of kernels per ear, based on sampling every 5th ear in the sampling row, was 511. Using “fudge factor” values of 75, 85, and 95; the estimated range in yield for that sampled site would (30 x 511) divided by 75 = 204, or divided by 85 = 180, or divided by 95 = 161 bushels per acre.

Repeat the procedure throughout field as many times as you deem representative. Tally and average the results separately for each “fudge factor” used for the calculations.

Remember that this year we have very uneven uniformity in most corn fields, which will influence the accuracy of any yield estimation technique. The less uniform the field, the greater the number of samples that should be taken to estimate yield for the field.

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Figure 3: Measurements for each reproductive stage of corn development and how a killing frost would affect yield at that stage.

In early September, we tend to estimate when the corn will reach physiological maturity even more than we estimate yield in each field. In recent years, Manitoba has been getting early to mid-September killing frosts, so the chart above has been a very well-used reference. If you need help determining stage of corn, visit Grain Fill Stages in Corn (Purdue University), or a simple Google search for countless resources on how to properly identify milk line or physiological maturity (black layer).

Article written by Morgan Cott, Agronomy Extension Specialist (Special Crops) with Manitoba Crop Alliance

Economic Benefits to Winter Wheat Even in a Dry Year

mca2022dev on August 31, 2021

By Karli Reimer, Ducks Unlimited Canada

Manitoba’s Interlake region is no stranger to extreme swings in weather. More often than not, the area experiences high moisture levels and flooding, but that hasn’t been the case for the last three or four years. Now deep in drought, East Selkirk farmer, Doug Martin, has been weathering these storms since the mid-80s and remembers all too well the impacts of a dry 1988. But despite the year-to-year uncertainties, Martin has adapted and built an operation that is more resilient to change by implementing practices that better manage his risks. One of the things that helps him do this is growing winter wheat.

Despite the harsh growing conditions all crops faced this season, winter wheat has come out ahead in many areas. On Martin’s farm, his Wildfire winter wheat yielded 60 bu/acre while his spring wheat only hit 45. On top of the increase in yield, Martin cites a few other reasons why the crop is a mainstay in his annual rotation.

“Our winter wheat produced a lot of straw and straw is worth a lot more this year. It produced twice as much as our spring wheat,” Martin says, adding it didn’t take him long to sell the medium square bales that came off his 500-acre winter wheat fields.

Not only did he make money selling the straw, adding to his bottom line, marketing the crop is also easier than it used to be.

“Once harvested, the crop went straight in the bin and then right back out,” he says. “That’s just part of what makes it a good fit on our farm.”

Like many operations, the cost of machinery and labour can add up. Especially when trying to expand a business.

“We’ve expanded the farm the last few years, but I didn’t want to buy another combine and add to our costs,” he says. “I knew I had to spread out the harvest window to use our existing equipment better.”

Having winter wheat in his rotation is key to Martin’s plan of growing crops in harvest windows or in stages. “Growing winter wheat just spreads out our risk and our workload. It’s nice to have it in the ground every year.”

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But will it germinate?

The canola is coming off the fields early this summer, and because of this, there has been an increased interest in planting fall-sown cereals. Early to mid-September is the ideal window to get winter wheat in the ground, and crop insurance in Manitoba now allows it to be seeded even later, with full coverage until September 25.

Thankfully, recent rains in some areas have given the parched prairie ground some much-needed reprieve, leading itself to good winter cereal growing conditions, but the crop doesn’t need much moisture to get started after seeding.

“Winter wheat can germinate with only one-third of an inch of rain,” says Ducks Unlimited Canada agronomist, Alex Griffiths. “What I tell producers is to never wait for rain. Get it in the ground as soon as you can and then the next shower will get it started.”

The trick to this, is seeding shallow. “Don’t seed deep,” explains Martin. “It has better germination that way and often small showers are enough to get the crop off and running.”

Winter wheat experts such as Griffiths say .5 to one inch is the maximum depth to seed the crop.

Last fall, some of Martin’s winter wheat didn’t germinate until later in the season, but once it did, it continued to grow and still came through the winter well. Agronomically, winter wheat is a very competitive crop, but he credits new varieties like Wildfire for their excellent winter hardiness package.

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To test or not to test?

Both Martin and Griffiths encourage producers to get soils tested this fall. With the dry conditions, there could be a great deal of residual nitrogen leftover from the previous crop and it’s good to know what’s there and what is needed.

With fertilizer prices on the rise, Martin says split-applying nitrogen, half in the fall and half in the spring, may also be a good strategy. This is just another way to manage risks and to operate more economically.

For anyone new to the crop or for anyone who hasn’t grown it for a while, Martin stresses to manage your stubble properly.

“Watch your stubble as it can break,” he says. “Stubble management is key. Without proper stubble, it reduces the ability to trap snow and to protect the crop over the winter. You may have to slow down on the field especially when desiccating and straight cutting.”

One last practice Martin incorporates to manage costs is controlling weeds after seeding. Because winter wheat is so competitive, producers may not have to spray in-crop for weeds if they are taken care of in the fall.

“This can also save you on inputs if you don’t have to apply a broadleaf next year,” he says. “All these things add up.”

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