Specialist says producers should plan for an eight-year rotation to reduce clubroot risk and herbicide resistant weeds
For years, canola-wheat-canola-wheat has been the dominant crop rotation in many parts of Western Canada.
Many producers like the ease and profitability of the system, but the pendulum is beginning to swing away from that simplistic rotation, say industry agronomists.
“Guys are realizing that with canola-wheat-canola-wheat, they’re not making the money (they used to)… and they’re seeing more disease issues, which (is) very frustrating for farmers,” said Anastasia Kubinec, Manitoba Agriculture oilseed specialist.
Kubinec, who spoke earlier this month in Brandon at CanoLab, a Canola Council of Canada educational workshop, said producers should think about and plan for an eight-year rotation.
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“More and more (farmers) are moving into that because they’re thinking about herbicide resistant weeds and they’re thinking about the potential for clubroot.”
Producers are also thinking about the time and cost of spraying crops and considering complex rotations as a way to manage disease.
“Blackleg is a way bigger issue than clubroot in Manitoba. And it (blackleg) is tied to crop rotation,” Kubinec said.
“The tighter your canola rotation you’re going to have more blackleg. It’s just automatic.”
A percentage of farmers may be thinking about disease and herbicide resistance when planning their crop rotations into the future, but many others focus on the bottom line.
“Its all economics driven,” said Kent McKay, co-manager of Double Diamond Farm Supply in Boissevain, Man., who attended CanoLab.
“If there is good money in a simple rotation that’s how it will go. If there isn’t that’s when the rotation will get more diverse.”
Farmers, agronomists and industry representatives at the Brandon event broke into small groups in Kubinec’s session, then devised an eight-year rotation for a specific geography and agronomic challenge within Manitoba.
They eventually worked together to create a hypothetical eight-year rotation
Rachel Evans, Flax Council of Canada extension agronomist, collaborated with Kubinec on the crop rotation exercise.
“I’ve been invited by the Canola Council to be here… because flax has a place in canola rotations,” she said. “There is absolutely a place for flax in your canola rotation. It’s so good at breaking up disease pressure.”
Kubinec agreed. Flax shouldn’t follow canola because the oil-seed needs a healthy population of mycorrhizal fungi in the soil, but canola and flax do have synergies.
“If you go back to the 80s before canola became the massive crop (it now is), guys were putting canola in their crop rotation to break up the flax,” Kubinec said.
“They had too much flax in their rotation and they were seeing issues with pasmo.”
An eight-year rotation shouldn’t be etched into stone, as prices affect year-to-year decisions. But devising a long-term plan may provide a balance between profitability and agronomy.
“I think it is a good idea to have a plan. (But) it isn’t the end of the world if you don’t necessarily follow it,” said Angela Brackenreed, Canola Council agronomist in Manitoba.
“But at least sit down and think about the issues that could arise with different rotations…. If the price of peas all of a sudden look really good, then you’ve thought about the (agronomic) issues that could be there and know where it might not work.”
