Glacier FarmMedia – Drought conditions in northwestern Manitoba have forced researchers at the Parkland Crop Diversification Foundation to terminate some projects and reseed others, although 40 trials continue at the site near Roblin.
“It’s been, as everybody knows, a very dry year where we are,” said James Frey, an applied research specialist with Manitoba Agriculture who has worked at PCDF for a decade.
Some trials have adapted better to the dry conditions than others.
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Some farmer co-operation projects, in which the diversification centres tackle research topics farmers have suggested, have been hurt.
Plots of teff, a grain from northeastern Africa that PCDF has been testing, were reseeded to canola at the foundation’s Roblin site, although the Ethelbert site fared better.
“In Ethelbert … the crop is actually doing very well. It’s beginning to head out, and looks like it should yield well,” Frey told participants in a July 30 Manitoba Agriculture Crop Talk webinar.
This year is the 30th for the crop diversification organization.
The foundation’s research portfolio includes trials specifically relevant to drought adaptation, including cover crop studies designed to increase soil health and moisture retention.
One major project examines growing wheat with cover crops such as clover or alfalfa and then following with canola, potentially creating a more soil-building version of the wheat-canola rotation common in the Parkland region.
“Rather than trying to inject a brand new crop into that rotation, we’re looking at … if wheat and canola are going to follow each other, can we increase diversity in-season?” Frey said.
PCDF provides local diversification research and data for farmers in an area contending with a shorter season and cooler temperatures.
“We don’t grow sunflowers up here, for example, just because they don’t finish out,” Frey said.
PCDF is also conducting greenhouse gas collection studies in partnership with Ducks Unlimited Canada, examining emissions from different fertility regimes. That research ties into broader climate adaptation efforts, Frey said.
The foundation has scaled back from 60 projects last year to 40 this year, but Frey said the plot numbers have stayed the same.
“Those tend to be more intensive projects,” he said.
Current research includes variety trials for winter cereals, oats, spring wheat, barley and oilseeds, as well as work with hybrid hemp production.
The Parkland region has been “ground zero for the hemp industry,” which farmers started to grow in the late 1990s after the crop was legalized.
