When the Saskatchewan government closed its agricultural representative offices, farmers Debbie and Terrance Kapeluck were left with no place to go for information.
“Over the years, we had learned a lot from our ag rep – proper field scouting and things like that. So it was a real loss to this area,” said Debbie from her 4,500 acres near Clair, Sask.
Three years ago they decided their only alternative was to pay for agronomic advice. They signed on with Agri-Trend coach Darwin Kells at Elfros, Sask.
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Their first big surprise was the yield target goal Kells set for the Kapeluck farm.
“We had always set what we thought were pretty high goals for our fields,” said Debbie. “Then Agri-Trend came along and set them even higher, higher than we had ever imagined. They looked at our fields and basically told us that we could be producing more and we could be making more money.
“Their goals were 10 to 15 bushels higher on our cereals and oils. And so far, we’ve hit their goals. This year, our Agri-Trend targets are 55 to 60 bu. for canola, 120 bu. for oats and 100 bu. for barley.”
She said that if the past three years working with Kells are any indication, they should hit those goals again this year.
“We used to be very happy if we had canola at 45 bu. Now we expect to get 55 to 60 bu.”
Debbie said their second surprise was the fertilizer bill.
“That first summer, it was very difficult for us to even look at our fertilizer bill. But then when we saw the yields we were getting, it started to make sense.”
She said the one thing that’s hard for farmers to get right is the balance of more fertilizer versus more bushels. There’s no point in adding more fertilizer unless it increases profit. And there’s no point in putting down the wrong ratios.
“The biggest change for us was the fertilizer blends. Agri-Trend taught us all kinds of things about trace minerals and soil nutrients we weren’t even aware of five years ago.”
Terrance said they are using more potash, sulfur and phosphate than before.
“So far, anything we have spent to increase our fertilizer has earned extra money for us. Except for boron. We tried boron in 2005, but we didn’t see any real gain.”
Rather than put the whole farm on the program, Kapelucks contracted with Agri-Trend for intensive management on one quarter of barley and one quarter of flax. They use the same two quarters year after year in order to build a better database.
“We take what we learn from those two quarters and apply it to the whole farm,” Debbie said.
“One field pays our whole Agri-Trend fee,” said Terrance. “The additional fertilizer makes extra money for us and the advice makes extra money for us.”
Debbie agreed: “Our bottom line is still not as good as we would like it to be, but it’s better than before. This has given us a whole new way of looking at our land and our farm. It’s the kind of thing that can help keep families on the farm.”
