A canola agronomy expert is trying to revive a concept that matches fertilizer applications with the moisture that is expected to be available to the crop.
Jim Bessel, senior agronomist with the Canola Council of Canada, said by using low technology equipment and a few calculations, farmers might be able to make the most of their fertilizer investment.
Agronomists often preach to farmers about using soil tests and fertilizing adequately. But fertilizer is expensive.
“Economic times being what they are, telling producers to spend more money, no matter how you approach it, doesn’t always make them happy,” he said. “They want to see what the cost benefit is.”
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This got Bessel thinking about research presented by Rigas Karamanos and Les Henry of the University of Saskatchewan in the early 1990s.
The idea was to connect information from soil tests to moisture levels.
“It made a lot of sense,” Bessel said.
The idea is to measure how much moisture is in the soil in the spring, adding that to the amount of precipitation that can be expected during the growing season and calculating the target yield based on soil type and zone.
“From what I’ve seen, you can come up with a pretty close target yield for whatever crop you are putting in the ground,” he said. Then, using soil test results, you add fertilizer to attain that target yield.
“To me, that is just reducing your level of risk.”
Making rain accumulation predictions from long-term averages is not perfect, but it is better than guessing, he said.
“What else do you have to base it on? Hearsay? Coffee shop talk?”
Depending on seasonal precipitation forecasts, crop prices and the farmer’s ability to accept risk, the target yield may be adjusted to match a moisture outlook that has a greater or lesser probability of being met.
The research should be updated and Bessel plans to run several tests this summer to gather new data and fine tune the process.
For example, the introduction of canola hybrids has increased yield potential since 1990.
Hybrids, with their improved gen-etics and indications that they have more aggressive root systems, “are incredible with their moisture use efficiency,” Bessel said.
“I saw yields this past summer of well over 30 bushels per acre on a total of five inches of moisture. That is pretty good conversion, I would say,” he said.
“Now if you can figure out a couple of tools just to manage that a little better, go for it.”
