During the 1995 Innovators conference in Saskatoon, participants were invited to share some of their farming practices in a survey questionnaire. The survey was prepared by Cecil Nagy, a graduate student studying in the Dept. of Agriculture Economics with Prof. Dick Schoney. In an earlier article I reviewed those aspects of the survey which dealt with machinery sizing and the seeding operation. In this article I would like to discuss some of the information gathered on crop rotation used and harvesting practices.
Of the 53 producers surveyed, 58% followed a regular crop rotation, while the remainder made cropping decisions on a year-to-year basis. While 34% of the farmers surveyed came from the Prairie region (Dark Brown and Brown soil zones), and 66% from the Parkland (Black and Gray soil zones), 91% of the group continuously cropped. When asked to respond to crop rotation followed, 52% reported a rotation with an equal proportion of broadleaf and cereals, usually cereal - pulse - cereal - oilseed, where occasionally flax was grown in place of the pulse crop. The majority of these farmers (70%) were from the Parkland, indicating that rotating between high and low residue crops is working as an effective management tool for direct seeding in high production regions. Four percent of the participants reported growing a winter cereal in place of a spring cereal (cereal - pulse - winter cereal - oilseed).
When asked about seeding dates of crops grown, 86% of producers reported that a cereal or pulse crop would most likely be seeded first, with wheat and peas seeded first and second the majority of times. This was followed by canola and flax, with barley seeding dates evenly distributed throughout the seeding sequence. From a question regarding beginning and ending seeding dates for each crop, it was a surprise to find that producers in the Thin Black soil zone reported the longest seeding window for cereals and pulse crops, while Black and Brown soil zone respondents report the shortest seeding window. It would appear that delays due to cool and wet spring weather, and fear of fall frost, limit the number of seeding days for producers in the Black and Gray soil zones. Alternatively, fear of mid-summer drought and heat stress in the Brown soil zone limit the number of desirable seeding days in that region.
Participants were questioned about the harvesting period on their farms. It was interesting to find that regardless of location in the province, farmers reported about 27 harvesting days available in a normal year and about 17 to 18 days in a short (weather limitation) year. Those producers in the Parkland, using pickup combines and without grain driers, reported the longest harvest days. Of the farmers who responded to the harvesting question, 81% had the capability of straight combining. There were 76% of the Parkland farmers who had a grain drier, compared to 32% of the Prairie farmers. All of the Parkland producers who reported using a straight cut combine also had a grain drier, indicating the importance (or dependence) of these two technologies on one another. A review of the days required for harvesting revealed that the combination of straight cut combining and drying could add from 4 to 8 additional days to harvest, a major management tool during challenging harvest seasons.
In summary, the survey results on crop rotation and harvesting indicate that most direct seeding farmers are incorporating many of the agronomic and technological advances which are available. These include rotation of high and low residue producing crops, optimizing spring wheat and pulse crop quality with early seeding, and utilization of straight combining and drying at harvest. While some of these management tools may be minor when considered alone, there combined influence can have a significant effect on enterprise efficiency and profitability.