Canola King Challenge | Help from Mother Nature and heavy hand with inputs nets Sask. farm a ‘truly amazing’ yield
In a year that saw a record harvest in Western Canada, one number stands high above the rest.
Lakeside Farms of Hyas, Sask., achieved 91.82 bushels an acre in one of its swathed fields to win this year’s Canola King Challenge.
Dan Owen, agronomy manager for Hudye Soil Services of Norquay, Sask., which sponsors the annual event, said Lakeside’s bumper canola crop is probably the highest yield achieved on the Prairies.
“It’s truly amazing,” he said.
The contest allows producers to use any management strategy they see fit to obtain the highest canola yield possible.
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Lakeside Farms is a 4,200-acre mixed operation owned by Steven and Donna Toffan, their son, Justin, and son-in-law, Scott Effa.
They credit Mother Nature for much of this year’s winning yield, but Lakeside also adapted an aggressive and intensive management practice co-ordinated by Hudye ag-ronomists.
Seeding began May 21 on an above average yielding field with L130 seed at a rate of 4.2 pounds an acre using a Bourgault 47 foot 5710 one-pass unit with mid-row coulters.
The fertility package was designed using fall soil tests. It consisted of 100 pounds of nitrogen in the form of anhydrous. A dry blend was put down with the seed comprising 35 lb. of phosphorus, 10 lb. of potassium and 15 lb. of sulfur. Seed had been treated with Emerge Canola, a nutrient package of phosphorus, potassium, micronutrients and a plant stimulator.
Steven Toffan said the farm’s two-year-old high clearance sprayer has become his new best friend. It was put to use for six applications throughout the growing season.
“The approach these guys took was a little and often feeding approach,” Owen said.
“They kept topping up fertility through the season.”
Liberty and Centurion were applied June 20 for broad and grassy weeds, well before bolting.
A hailstorm June 26 forced them back out to the crop to heal it after six percent damage. A “pick-me-up” solution called Golden Harvest was applied along with a chelating agent to stimulate the plants and get them growing again. A fungicide for blackleg was also applied at the same time. Added to that was Energize Canola, a micronutrient product.
The hail was early in the season and didn’t significantly damage the crop’s reproductive ability. Effa thinks it helped further develop the crop.
“It’s almost like it helped the crop be stronger,” he said. “When the crop was under stress like that, we gave it what it needed and it just came back with a vengeance.”
Added Steven: “It branched out. It took off. I’ve never seen a crop like that.”
It was after the fourth application that Justin said his father started to become upset with him for making sprayer tracks on the crop. Owen said the average number of passes for most farms is three.
Fungicide was applied again July 15 at five to 10 percent bloom. Another micronutrients product, Recharge Canola, was added.
“This is something these guys have only really adopted in the last couple of years and have seen some huge results from using the fungicide in the crop. Along with Mother Nature and fertility, I think this is one of the things that really did help build that yield through this year for them.”
Another shot of Recharge Canola was applied two weeks later to make sure the crop had everything it needed to get the biggest possible berry.
The decision to swath Sept. 2 was made only after a looming forecast of frost.
“We went as far as we could without getting the canola to shell so it had the longest time to fill,” Justin said.
“We were watching it every two days because it was changing daily.”
The crop was harvested with a John Deere T670 Oct. 15 when it was nicely dried and cured down.
Owen judged one acre of combined swath from each of the 10 entrants. He measure the plot, swath and amount of dockage and moisture to determine the yield. His calculations were then verified at Hudye Soil Services.
Owen said there’s no magic yield increase potion.
“It’s basically protecting what is in that seed from day one. We’re going to lose potentially 50 percent of that genetic yield just from Mother Nature alone and things we can’t control.”
Lakeside applied its winning formula to a 500-acre field which averaged 81 bu. per acre.
Its preparations are underway for next year’s contest. Soil tests have been done on the chosen field, seed has been ordered and it plans to use many of the same products in a quest to be back-to-back kings of canola.
Despite the added financing, the farm plans to increase its production next year across the entire farm using some of the same micronutrients.
“It might cost you more, but when you yield a crop like that, it’s amazing,” said Steven.
