The Manitoba Crop Alliance (MCA) is calling for participants for their 2023-24 winter wheat trials.
In its ongoing Research on the Farm program, MCA plans to explore seeding rates and fertilizer use.
MCA research trial specialist Daryl Rex says the purpose of Research on the Farm trials is to take science-based recommendations and ground truth them on regular working farms. They will treat the trial crops the same as they treat the rest of the farm.
Rex said the program creates recommendations based on data a farmer can trust, including agronomic information in accordance with scientific standards.
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“Everything is done with their own equipment and their own unique way of doing things. This program does not run trials on new technology or new procedures. It runs trials on a farmer’s established systems,” Rex said.
“MCA’s role is to ensure data is collected in accordance with normal scientific standards at seeding time and again at harvest. Trials are managed with the support and guidance of MCA staff trained in conducting on-farm trials. That’s how we test plot information against the real world.”
He said six growers are needed this year to help determine optimal winter wheat seeding rates, while another four growers are needed to test fertility rates.
Seeding rate — The research aims to measure the agronomic and economic impacts of a reduced seeding rate and an increased seeding rate compared to a normal seeding rate.
Rex says the seeding rate trial will use the co-operators’ normal winter wheat seeding rate as the control. From that point, the producer will seed a strip at 20 percent lower than the control and another strip at 20 percent higher than the control. The grower will seed their normal seeding rate in four strips, alternating with four strips each of a lower and a higher seeding rate.
Fertilizer use — This trial measures the agronomic effects of the application timing of nitrogen fertilizer in winter wheat. The project will include four co-operators. The grower will apply rates of N at various times.
“Out of this, the farmer gains a better understanding of where his normal winter wheat seeding rates and nitrogen rates fall within higher and lower rates,” Rex said.
He said the farmer buys all inputs, as they normally would. The biggest benefit to the grower is ownership of the results after the documented harvest.
In addition to these two winter wheat initiatives, MCA is running nearly a dozen other Research on the Farm projects this summer.
Since 2018, when MCA was formed, more than 150 Research on the Farm projects have been completed on Manitoba farms.
MCA is a commodity organization representing farmers who grow wheat, barley, corn, sunflower and flax.
