Weak fertility links
An important part of a balanced soil fertility program is ensuring that secondary and micronutrients don’t limit yields. Soil testing is the place to begin.
Deficiencies of secondary nutrients such as sulphur and micronutrients such as zinc can limit responses to other nutrients and result in lower yields, higher cost per unit of production and lower profits.
Sulphur and zinc should receive special attention in high-residue, conservation-tillage production systems. Large amounts of surface residue insulate the soil, keeping it cooler and wetter in the spring. Both of these factors, and soil compaction, hamper early plant growth, making it harder for developing plants to get needed nutrients.
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Nutrient stratification may also be a problem in conservation tillage. With little incorporation, applied nutrients such as zinc may be concentrated near the surface.
The result is lower nutrient availability than might be indicated in soil samples, which include the zero to 15-centimetre soil layer. Analysis of the top five to 7.5 cm of soil can detect nutrient stratification and allow corrective measures such as the use of starter fertilizer.
Much of the soil’s potentially available sulphur is associated with organic matter. The sulphate-sulphur used by plants is leachable and may move out of the surface soil with snow. Cool soil temperatures limit release of sulphur from organic matter.
That and winter leaching suggests sulphur should be included in starter fertilizers to eliminate potential shortages early in the season and give plants a better chance for rapid growth and development.
High phosphorus availability can limit the zinc that plants take up. Starter fertilizers which contain phosphorus, banded close to the row, can improve phosphorus uptake. If zinc is already borderline deficient, the increased phosphorus uptake can make zinc deficiency even worse, so more should be added to starter fertilizer.
– Potash and Phosphate Institute
Crop rotation software
A new computer software program, called the Crop Rotation Planner, allows producers to manage crop rotations based on changes in rail freight rates. It was developed by the economics and business development section of Saskatchewan Agriculture, and is available on FBMInet and at all rural service centres.
The Crop Rotation Planner contains estimated yields, prices and costs for all the crops commonly grown in Saskatchewan. Producers using the program can adjust these standard costs and prices to show the effect that increased freight costs will have on crop returns.
“Increased freight costs will affect crops differently because crops have different values per unit of weight and different yields per acre,” says Blaine Sudom, provincial farm management specialist. “Crops which yield more volume will be affected more than higher value crops because freight costs represent a higher proportion of their return than higher value crops.”
Planning crop rotations often involves a compromise between growing high-value crops and other considerations such as disease control and soil conservation. Lower-value crops may continue to be included in rotations for these reasons and to provide livestock feed.
The new computer program will enable producers to plan for new crops and crop rotations in response to higher freight rates. Other features of the program include a stand-alone, IBM-compatible program, and the 1995 costs and returns for grains, oilseeds, special crops and spice crops for fallow and stubble.
The Crop Rotation Planner also provides data for three soil zones in Saskatchewan; prepares printed reports showing costs and returns per bushel, per pound, or per acre; compares rotations up to six years long; compares returns for single crops or crops in a rotation; and can be used to estimate the results of changes in farm size or investment in machinery and buildings.
– Saskatchewan Agriculture
