Adopting innovative agronomic practices and research – a Canadian experience

Take home messages

• Western Canadian grain growers are trying to balance enhanced nitrogen use efficiency (NUE), reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and on-farm profitability. However, agronomic solutions do not achieve all three simultaneously and the most profitable solution is the most widely implemented.
• Grain growers are faced with an overwhelming number of ‘quick fixes’ that distract them from putting enough time and attention towards foundational agronomic practices. On-farm trials take considerable time and effort, but they are an excellent tool to understand the frequency and magnitude of benefits associated with ‘quick-fixes’.
• Simple crop rotations dominate western Canada as they are easy to implement on large acres and are generally profitable. However, countless research studies document the benefits of diversified rotations. Scientific findings alone do not provide enough incentive for many growers to diversify their crop rotations. Grain growers should consider starting with small changes to their crop rotations to experience the benefits first-hand.
• Decisions based on peer-reviewed research and/or on-farm testing help grain growers to invest in profitable agronomic practices and not throw good money after ‘quick fixes’. To achieve long-term sustainability, grain growers should start small and slowly increase the diversity of their rotations.

Background

Canada, Australia and all grain-producing regions are facing a myriad of abiotic and biotic stresses that limit crop yields, marketability and profitability. Producers may compromise foundational agronomic practices, such as nutrient management and crop rotation, while spending too much time, effort and money on ‘quick-fixes’. Navigating this complicated space can be aided by on-farm trials and unbiased, peer-reviewed research.

Balancing NUE, GHG emissions and farm economics

Improving NUE is critically important to achieve improved profitability and reduce the environmental footprint of food production. In Canada, there is growing public and political pressure to improve NUE and reduce GHG emissions. However, adoption of enhanced efficiency fertilisers (EEF) and biologicals is limited due to their lack of profitability at the farmgate. Peer-reviewed research highlights that, on some soil types, the use of foundational nitrogen (N) management practices negates the on-farm benefits of EEF and highlights the need for other economic incentives to increase EEF adoption if the sole benefits are reduced GHG emissions.

Sorting out the truth of ‘quick-fixes’

There are an overwhelming number of ‘quick fix’ solutions being marketed to grain growers. It becomes more and more complicated to sort through worthwhile products and products that are a waste of time and resources. To benefit a farm, a product must work consistently year after year and produce enough yield benefit to cover the cost of the product and its application.

Academic and government researchers do not run product comparison research trials. In the absence of third party, independent research, on-farm trials provide an ideal platform to test the frequency of a product’s benefit (is the benefit seen once every three years or every year?) and the magnitude of the product’s benefit (is the yield increase 2% or 10%?).

Balancing logistic ease with complex crop rotations

In western Canada, crop rotations are primarily two-year, spring wheat-canola rotations, which are profitable and easy to implement on large acreages. However, there are increasing examples of soil-borne disease and low NUE that could be managed with more diverse rotations. Furthermore, numerous research studies repeatedly find that inclusion of N fixing pulse crops and/or winter cereal crops provide numerous system health improvements.

A recent survey of western Canadian grain growers indicated 62.5% agree or strongly agree they need to diversify their current crop rotation. The same survey found that having a crop rotation with better net economic returns would be the number one reason convincing them to change their current crop rotation. Given the profitability of current crop choices, diversification is challenging for western Canadian grain growers.

Method

Balancing NUE and farm economics through the lens of small plot research

A recently published study from Fast et al. 2023 tested the benefits of EEFs on spring wheat grain yield and quality at eight locations, representing three different soil types, over four growing seasons. The five N sources tested were:

• urea
• urea + urease inhibitor, N-(n-butyl) thiophosphoric triamide (NBPT)
• urea + nitrification inhibitor, Nitrapyrin
• urea + dual-inhibitors, (NBPT + Dicyandiamide)
• polymer-coated urea, Environmentally Smart Nitrogen®.

Each N source was tested at four N rates (60, 120, 180 and 240kg N/ha) with all N fertiliser applied at planting in either a mid- or side-row band.

Balancing the benefits of N fixing foliar bacteria with yield through the lens of on-farm research

Alberta Grains, a commodity organisation funded through a refundable producer levy, has built a robust program for on-farm research to evaluate agronomic questions related to the performance of genetics and/or management practices on individual producer farms. In 2022, four on-farm trials tested the performance of two biological products (Utrisha-N™ and Envita®) with an untreated control on spring wheat for their ability to increase yield and quality.

Balancing logistic ease with complex crop rotations by implementing small plot research

A diverse team of experts collaborated on a four-year research project to evaluate yield and yield stability, NUE and net economic returns of six crop rotations in the Southern Prairies, Northern Prairies and Red River Valley ecozones of western Canada. Six crop rotations tested in the study were:

• the traditionally recommended rotation in each ecozone
• pulse or oilseed intensified rotation
• a diversified rotation with multiple pulse species and/or winter cereals
• a market driven rotation based on crop types selected for their high commodity prices
• a high-risk rotation
• a soil health rotation.

Results and discussion

Balancing NUE, GHG emissions and farm economics

The Fast et al. 2023 study found that N source affected grain yield in the Dark Brown soils only. Here, the dual-inhibitor treatment increased grain yield relative to urea and polymer-coated urea. However, on the Black Chernozem and Dark Grey Luvisol soils, there was no improvement in yield or grain quality with the EEFs compared to untreated urea.

The use of a dual-inhibitor resulted in higher net returns ($62 CAD/ha) than urea in the Dark Brown soils (Figure 1). However, on the other soil types, there was no economic incentive for grain growers to use an EEF product.

Figure 1. Net return response to N source in both Dark Brown Chernozem and Black Chernozem (combined) with Dark Grey Luvisol Soils. Values are least square means. Different letters above means indicate significant differences between N sources at p ≤ 0.05. Source: Fast et al. 2023.

The lack of yield response to the EEFs in the Black Chernozems and Dark Grey Luvisols may be attributed to the use of N fertiliser best management practices. For example, the foundational agronomic practices of N application at the ‘Right TIME’ and the ‘Right PLACE’ are thought to be mitigating the benefits of the ‘Right SOURCE’ on these two soil types.

Sorting out the truth of ‘quick-fixes’

At all four on-farm testing locations, there was no statistical difference in yield or quality parameters when Utrisha-N™ and Envita® foliar N fixing bacteria treatments were applied under these trial conditions, compared with the check (Table 1). In comparison, advertisements to growers cite a 2.2bu/ac (0.12mt/ha) yield increase, which occurs 67% of the time (based on data from 12 responsive field trials in 2021). When assessing the likelihood of an economic response, growers need to proceed cautiously, as the company advertised revenue from the 0.12mt/ha of increased grain sales (based on spring wheat at $364 CAD/mt) is $43.68 CAD but the product sells for approximately $16 CAD/ac ($39.54 CAD/ha). Given that there is also an application cost, it is very challenging for this practice to be profitable, especially when this yield increase cannot be counted on annually.

Table 1: Spring wheat yields in response to N fixing biologicals, from Alberta Grain’s four on-farm testing locations in 2022.

Within each site, yields followed by the same letter are not significantly different based on a Tukey mean separation at p=0.05.

On-farm implementation of more diverse rotations

In the Northern Prairies, the higher net returns often associated with the market driven rotation are attributed to the high frequency of canola in the rotation and the high canola crop prices. This market driven rotation often has canola being grown in three of four years, which is an agronomically risky practice due to the long-term impacts of canola disease build up in short rotations. The soil health rotation consistently has some of the lowest net returns, due to the lack of yield in the green manure year of the rotation resulting in no saleable grain in one of four years.

Table 2: Net economic returns of the crop rotation treatments at the four locations in the Northern Prairies ecozones of the Canadian Prairies.

Within each site, net economic returns followed by different letters are significantly different based on a Tukey mean separation at p=0.05. Adapted from: Strydhorst and Liu, 2023.

When assessing trends from all site-years, the intensified rotation (POS) had relatively high yields combined with a low CV, giving it some of the most consistent yields over time and growing environments (Figure 2).

Figure 2. Yield stability of the crop rotation treatments over 27 site years. The horizontal black bars represent the standard error of the mean. The vertical dashed line indicates the Canola Equivalent Yield averaged across all six crop rotation treatments: Control; POS, Pulse- or Oilseed- Intensified System; DS, Diversified System; MS, Market Driven System; HRHRS, High Risk System; and GMS, Green-Manure, Soil Health System. The horizonal dashed line is the average CV across all six crop rotations. Adapted from: Strydhorst and Liu, 2023.

If a grower has been adhering to a wheat-canola rotation across all their fields (i.e. 2023ha farm with 31 fields), grain growers need to give serious thought to taking a small step beyond their comfort level and diversify their rotations. This could take the form of a wheat-barley-canola rotation on one of the 31 fields. Then, the following year, a feasible goal would be to introduce a pea-wheat-canola rotation on a second field. The idea is not to become overwhelmed by the changes but to gradually incorporate them into the routine. Diversity can be achieved by gradually adding winter cereals, pulse crops and other cereal species. Over time, the small steps accumulate and lead to a more diversified rotation across the entire farm.

Conclusion

• When foundational best management practices are used, such as ‘Right TIME’ and ‘Right PLACE’, the benefits from Right ‘SOURCE’, such as EEFs, might be limited on some soil types. Grower adoption of EEFs will depend on profitability.
• Caution must be used when deciding to apply products which are not ‘tried and true’, and profitability may not be guaranteed. On-farm testing is a platform to assess product profitability when third-party independent research is lacking.
• While the benefits of more diverse crop rotations have been documented in research studies, the operational logistics and the lack of rotations with better net returns make it challenging for growers to diversify their rotations. However, grain growers should consider slowly implementing more diverse rotations on a small portion of their farms. This will allow them to capture some of the yield stability and long-term system health benefits.
• While foundational agronomic practices take more time, planning, and knowledge, they present growers with the opportunity to harvest some low hanging fruit while maintaining yields and profitability.

Acknowledgements

Travel to attend this meeting was made possible by the support of the GRDC, the author would like to thank ORM and GRDC for the opportunity to share western Canadian agronomic practices, struggles and solutions with Australian grain growers. This presentation would not have been possible without the diverse network of researchers (especially Drs Brian Beres and Kui Liu), agronomists (Jeremy Boychyn), grain growers, crop commissions (Alberta Wheat and Barley Commissions, Alberta Grains, Saskatchewan Wheat Commission, Alberta Pulse Growers, Sask Canola, Manitoba Crop Alliance) and funding organisations (Western Grains Research Foundation, Alberta Agriculture and Forestry, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership – a provincial-federal-territorial initiative) from western Canada who made this research possible.

References

Alberta Grains 2022 Nitrogen Fixing Bacteria Trial Results 

Fast A, Strydhorst S, Wang Z, Hernandez-Ramirez G, Hao X, Semach G, Thompson L, Holzapfel C, Enns J, Spaner D, Beres BL (2023) Integrating enhanced efficiency fertilizers and nitrogen rates to improve Canada Western Red Spring wheat. Canadian Journal of Plant Science

Strydhorst S, Kui L (2023) Comparison of integrated crop rotation systems in western Canada. Crops and Soils 56(3), 22-29

Contact details

Sheri Strydhorst
3401 Twp Rd 622, County of Barrhead, Alberta, Canada, T0G 1R1
+1-780-284-1849
sheri.agconsulting@gmail.com
@SheriStrydhorst