I have been married to Wendy for 21 years and still counting. We have three girls, Jennifer, almost 17, Kimberly 15 and Amanda 12. I've farmed all my life in the Leslie district. Our last summerfallow was in 1982. We started pedigreed seed production in the same year. In 1993, we began direct seeding and will continue until something better comes along.
I have been asked to give my views on two topics. The first topic will cover direct seeding in our area under wet conditions. Its fairly simple; if I don't get stuck, I seed. I have found that as we get further along with direct seeding, the land is more supportive. The surface can be wet, but will still support the equipment, allowing you to get the seed in the ground. I seed as shallow as possible and if the ground is wet, as it has been the past few years, you only need a little soil to cover the seed.
I have found that the sprayer easier to pull out than the air drill, so as long as there is enough growth for a pre-seeding burnoff, you test the waters with the sprayer. I don't worry about putting seed into the ground too wet. I have found that as long as I can drive over it and get the seed into a bit of soil, it will grow.
The second topic I've been asked to talk about, is pedigreed seed production using direct seeding. I'll admit that I don't have all the answers. We have been doing it for five seasons and it has been working well. The most important thing is rotation. Don't try to grow a pedigreed barley crop on wheat stubble. We grow durum, CPS wheat, HRS wheat, peas, canola, oats and sometimes barley and lentils. I try not to put any crop back to back, whether it's pedigreed or commercial. A typical rotation on our farm would be durum or another wheat on pea stubble, followed by oats then canola and back to durum. Field records are a must in every operation, unless your memory is much better than most. When you are growing seed, records are even more important. The rotation system that has worked almost all the time for me is to grow a cereal crop on a pulse or oilseed stubble. If I am changing varieties, I like to get two years of isolation, so I will grow peas on canola stubble. Don't grow canola on pea stubble as they are both susceptible to sclerotinia and the disease could hit the canola early enough to wipe out the crop. It's very important to get volunteer cereals sprayed out of isolation crops. It doesn't always work and a few times I have canceled a field before inspection or had a field rejected. Most years any volunteer crop will lose its germination while laying on the surface and one year of isolation will be enough.
1997 gave us problems on a couple of fields. We had durum on pea stubble and CPS wheat on canola stubble. The spring started off very cold and nothing was growing. Consequently, the pre-seeding burnoff was much less effective. I'm sure the early heavy snowfall in '96 kept some of the volunteer wheat viable and the late germination let it escape the pre-seeding burnoff. In spite of these problems, I won't quit growing seed or direct seeding. The benefits of direct seeding makes the extra management worthwhile.
If you are already in seed production, your present cropping plan will work for you. The only change will be growing a pulse or oilseed crop where you are now summerfallowing. If you are considering becoming a seed grower, but are hesitating because you are direct seeding, go for it! The main change will be getting used to watching that thunderstorm approaching while you spend the best harvest afternoon cleaning the combine.
In summary, direct seeding works. make sure you get equipment designed to work in your area. The wrong equipment has caused many first timers to blame the concept of direct seeding for a disaster, while the right equipment would have made it a success. You can direct seed a field without working the surface to dry it out. If you are able to get on a field to dry it out, you might as well have seeded it during that operation. It takes a few years to get the land in better shape to support the equipment, so start this spring. You can direct seed and grow pedigreed grain. Keep field records, control the volunteers in your isolation crops, pay attention to a four or five year rotation and you can make it work.