Good crops in the past two years have depleted soil fertility levels, and it’s beginning to show up in early soil samples.
Blaine Welsh of the Agro Guys in Galahad, Alta., said only two of the seven soil samples sitting on his desk have more than 10 pounds of available nitrogen in the soil.
“The two fairly good crops in a row have sucked most of the nitrogen out of the ground,” said Welsh.
“It’s going to take a little nitrogen if guys want to get the same yield next year. Some of them have depleted the buffer that may have been left from the drought years.”
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Spending a few days crisscrossing fields taking soil samples is one of the simplest and most accurate ways for farmers to determine the level of nutrients in the soil available for next year’s crops.
Ross McKenzie of Alberta Agriculture said only 10 to 15 percent of farmers soil test their fields.
It’s those soil samples that give farmers a clear picture of how much and what kind of fertilizer they need to apply, said Welsh.
“We’ve got people who don’t soil sample and some that do it every year. The guys that don’t soil sample, it’s hard to know what’s happening in their ground. Some are just plain frugal, which makes no sense to me.
At less than a buck an acre, or two pounds of nitrogen, if you can fine tune your nitrogen, that’s the price of a soil sample. The guys who do it every year know what’s going on.”
Soil tests cost $50 to $150, depending on how much information farmer’s want back from the laboratory.
Welsh said soil tests have given his clients a better understanding of low chloride levels and the low soil pH, which can affect chemical residue.
With the soil tests, Welsh knows the addition of potash is a relatively simple fix for low chloride levels.
“I’m looking at one sample. It says he has 11 lb. of nitrogen in his soil and if he wants to grow a 30 bushel canola crop, they’re saying he needs between 90 and 100 lb. of N, and to be flat honest, I know damn well he ain’t putting that on. He’s a 50 lb. of N guy. But maybe that’s why he got 25 bu. of wheat this year and everyone else got more.”
Welsh said older farmers tend to follow the same fertilizer prescription that has given them good crops in the past, and they’re not going to change their fertilizer requirements based on soil test results.
“The older generation probably doesn’t have a lot of faith in soil sampling. The younger generation tend to look at stuff a little differently,” said Welsh, one of the many farm input retailers on the Prairies who offer soil sampling services.
Alberta Agriculture agrologist Mark Cutts said the increasing price of fertilizer has encouraged some farmers to soil test this fall.
“They want to be sure they’re spending their money properly if prices are going to be high. It’s not uncommon to spend a little money, evaluate the nutrient level of their fields and make their fertility decisions based on that,” said Cutts of the Ag-Info Centre in Stettler.
“Nitrogen certainly is the big driver for guys to go out and get soil samples and figure out where they’re at for fertilizer.”
However, he said many farmers put on the same amount of fertilizer each year.
“If their target yields are being met by their present fertility applications, then they’re probably happy with what’s going on.”
Like Welsh, Cutts expects nitrogen levels will be low after two years of good yields.
“I don’t know if anyone would be sitting on a huge surplus of nitrogen.”
Dianne Kemppainen, account manager with the soil testing lab ALS Environmental in Saskatoon, said the company has received more soil samples than it did by the same time last year.
“This increase could be the result of sampling conditions that some areas experienced this spring that didn’t allow samples to be collected at all,” said Kemppainen, who was reluctant to give an average of the fertility levels seen in this year’s tests.
Soil samples have come into the lab with low levels of nitrogen and sulfur, while others have come in with high levels of nitrogen and sulfur.
“The main message we’d like to get out there is to take a sample and see what they have.”
