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Experiences with Direct Seed Cropping Systems in the Low Precipitation Zone2002
Direct Seed Cropping Systems Conference I am Lon Welch. I
farm 2500 acres of land in Franklin County. My farm is divided into 3
units: the Homestead farm, the School section and the Kahlotus farm. A
portion of the homestead farm is located within the Northern city limits
of the city of Connell, with the balance of the farm extending North approximately
two miles. The soil on the lower bench of the Homestead farm is marginal
with sandy soil on the top three feet and an abrupt transition into coarse
black sand below. The upper bench is medium quality soil. The School section
unit is located south of Connell with high quality soil. The Kahlotus
farm is located about 6 miles North of the city of Kahlotus with mostly
high quality soil, but the terrain is steep. Over one hundred
years of experience has told us that not only the best, but the only way
to farm this land is through a summer-fallow program, producing a winter
crop every other year. The old maxim was that one-half a stand of winter
wheat was better than a full stand of spring wheat. The farmers of this
area have utilized new tools each era to become very proficient at this
cropping system. Some of the tools that stand out are the rod weeder of
the 30s, the deep furrow drills of the 40s and the chemicals of the 50s.
It is also my perception that there are two major factors in successfully
farming low moisture fields: reserving moisture for the crops and controlling
wind erosion. The weakness of the
summer-fallow system are moisture utilization and erosion control. It
appears that we loose nearly seventy percent of our moisture to evaporation
with the summer-fallow program. Every tillage operation is a contributing
factor to the loss of moisture and also contributes to susceptibility
for wind erosion. I had experienced conditions such as winter freeze-out
on summer-fallow land that reduced cover residue followed by strong winds
later in the season. A Franklin County dust storm is not a pleasant experience,
especially if it is your soil that is boiling through the air in billowing
clouds of dust that block the light of day. As a farmer, it appears to
me that serious wind erosion destroys the microbes of soil life that enable
it to bind together and resist further wind erosion. The result is a chain
reaction of lowered soil health, moisture retention, production of crop
residue and resistance to wind erosion. I had investigated direct seed annual cropping for several years. I was aware of the earlier failures farmers had experienced with this cropping program. However, it appeared that the neglect to recognize the necessity of avoiding the "Green Bridge" was the primary source of these failures. I listened to those who had been successful with the Direct Seed Program and became convinced that it would work. Once again, new tools and technology were now available for a transition in farming. Chemicals would enable us to break the "Green Bridge," and control the weed that had required tillage. The new direct seed drills would enable us to complete the program with a one-pass operation. Input cost of labor and equipment would be lowered. Crop input investment would be "in the ground" for a much shorter time. Soil health would improve with reduced tillage alleviating wind erosion and moisture retention. It looked worth the investment in equipment. The last year for
a summer-fallow crop on the School section was 1996. This crop produced
45 bushel wheat and a lot of residue. The combines were not equipped with
chaff spreaders, therefore the chaff trash was concentrated in trails
behind the combine. The field was clean of weeds including cheat grass. My odyssey into Direct
Seed Annual Cropping began with the purchase of a Morris 7000 Series Air
Cart with a hydraulic driven fan and Morris Maxim Air Drill to direct
seed the 1997 crop onto the School section. The drills are equipped with
12" spacing dual shoot paired row shanks with fertilizer placement
1 ¼ inches below the seed. Finding the seed depth with my old JD
Z drills was straight forward and easy. However, the paired row of the
Morris was a real challenge. The desired seed placement is 1 ¼
inched deep, but I found seed at ½ to 2 ½ inches deep. The
seed was all over, some falling to fertilizer depth, some on the side
of the packer tracks. Part of the problem was that the soil was still
a little wet. Also, the Morris used tubeless tires on the drills. One
had a slow leak that affected the seed depth as it went low over several
days. Additionally, the drill had a j-hook that functioned during transport
and would occasionally hang up the drill platform in the field causing
seed depth problems. Morris sent me an updated hook but the hang-up problem
was completely eliminated by removing the hook, except during transport.
The supply hoses
from the cart to the drill came off a few times causing a skip of about
10 feet in width until I caught the problem. It was usually when turning
that I could see a hose off, with a mile between turns that can leave
a quite a skip. Also, if the cart fill lid is left open or loose, the
tank will not pressurize resulting in bridging of the wheat with a varied
application of seed ranging anywhere from a full rate to no seed at all.
I found that a flow monitor on each of the seed and fertilizer manifolds
saved a great deal of trouble, because they will let you know immediately
if a feed hose to a distribution manifold has pulled off or if the bin
door is open. After correcting a misprint in the calibration manual I
found the Drill very easy to calibrate accurately. Once these problems
were corrected the drill was a pleasure to operate. In the Franklin county
area, the rule has always been that if you must put in a spring crop,
get it in as early as possible, no latter than the 15th of March. This
rule stands in opposition to the new rule of annual cropping that requires
waiting for soil to warm up to allow for sufficient germination and development
of weeds for a clean kill with a spray operation. After spraying, you
must wait for at least two weeks, three being better, to break the "Green
Bridge". At that point you can begin the seeding operation that should
be completed by March 15th!? Spring preparation
for seeding the 1997 crop consisted of an aerial application of roundup
and soil samples to determine fertilizer needs and the moisture in the
profile. According to the sample taken on March 11th, I had 5.7 inches
of moisture. I waited two weeks after spraying and started to move the
equipment into the field. I was eager to get started due to the timing
requirements for maximum growth of plants prior to hot weather. When I
pulled into the field with the seed truck it sank in the mud. I have never
had that happen before. I then waited another week to started seeding
with my new drills. I made a significant
mistake by following the furrows of the prior year. This places seed in
heavy residue of straw and chaff. I discovered that seed placed in heavy
residue tended to rot rather than grow. There were long blank spaces where
the seed had gone into the "hot zones" of the old residue filled
furrows. (That Fall Dr. Cook showed a slide of my spotty crop taken in
the spring to illustrate why you must not seed parallel to the old furrows.
I believe the photo also illustrated the effects of not having chaff spreaders
on the combines.) I found that we had a much more even stand in places
with double passes as in seeding out corners. The question in my mind
was, "Is it due to the extra seed and fertilizer, or is it due to
the extra tillage enabling seed placement in cleaner soil?" As farmers
will, I agonized over what to do about the thin stand, but ended up doing
nothing. The weather was excellent with timely rains and ideal conditions
for a spring crop. The combines with their new chaff spreaders harvested
29 bushel wheat. A post-harvest pass with a noble plow was utilized to
stop thistle growth. The next year, 1998,
in the first week of March, after waiting the required two weeks following
spraying, I pulled into the field that now had 4.11 inches of moisture.
The truck did not sink into the mud. I looked forward to getting it right,
avoiding all the problems of the first year. While the chaff spreaders
corrected problems of chaff rows for the 97 harvest, the chaff rows of
96 remained a problem. I seeded diagonally to the furrows of the prior
year keeping the seed in cleaner soil. The stand of wheat came up much
better and looked pretty good. Unfortunately, the rain was not as good
in timing or quantity as the prior year. We harvested what felt at the
time a disappointing yield of 28.37 bushel wheat on the School land. The Kahlotus farm
was taken out of CRP and put into production that year. The ground had
been disked very lightly in 1997, just enough to knock down the grass
and cover it with soil. A heavy spring application of Roundup by air took
care of most of the grasses. Seeding into the grass residue was a little
lumpy but we got a good stand. We discovered that the air plane struggles
to get a clean kill on steep hills and at the bottom of coulees. It also
became apparent that weather was as important as rate in getting a good
kill on weeds. The harvest yielded 27.9 bushels of wheat. The Homestead farm
went into a direct seed program in 1998 also. The prior summer-fallow
crop had yielded 51 bushels so once again we were dealing with a heavy
residue, although the combines had utilized chaff spreaders. The field
had been swept with a noble plow with 6' sweeps in the fall of 97. The
hard soil broke up into very large and uneven chunks. This, along with
the heavy residue, made it difficult to get a good placement of seed.
Therefore the seed came up uneven and somewhat weak. Harvest yielded an
average of 19.6 bushels to the acre. Once again we used the Noble plow
to sweep the homestead and school section fields after harvest. The Kahlotus
farm remained unplowed. comparison of moisture
and fertilizer levels. However this supplier used a different lab to process
the soil test. When I got the results back there was such a large difference
in the soil moisture between years that I felt it to be meaningless and
quit taking soil samples. It may have been more accurate than I thought
and in hindsight, was a mistake to stop sampling. At any rate, 1999 was
even dryer than the prior year. The 1999 seeding
started first on the Kahlotus farm. I now had all the changes made to
my drills and was able to place the seed where I wanted it. I had contracted
with my seed supplier for registered Kulm, however, when it came time
to seed he did not have it ready. He sold me a partial load of certified
Kulm from the University in North Dakota to get me started. When I got
to the field 20 miles away, I was shocked to see that the seed was small
and shriveled; it made me think of chicken feed. I increased the seed
rate from 80# to 100# hoping to compensate. By this time I was getting
very comfortable with the drill. The Kahlotus farm took about a week to
seed, and the home place came next followed by the School Section. When the seeding
was finished, I check the stand on the Kahlotus place. It was all coming
up, except the first 180 acres seeded with the certified Kulm. I found
the darn stuff growing upside down. The seed supplier came out and looked;
sure enough, it was growing upside down. I did not know seed could do
that. I reseeded with Butte 86 the third week of April. I figured that
would pull the average yield down, but it yielded the same as the rest
of it, 19.2 bushels. The Homestead farm
did not do so well. Pressure from cheat grass hurt the yield. It came
in at 9.9 bushels and the School Section came in at 12.2 bushels. This
was the year that I became acquainted with Fusarium graminearum. This
disease was thought to be a problem only with early seedings of winter
wheat. We found that DNS, when moisture stressed, is susceptible as well.
Dr. Cook indicated that this was a problem for direct seed farmers in
Australia. I then had a downward spiraling of wheat yields. The red flag
was out on the project. 2000. Kahlotus was
once again seeded first into untilled soil, this time, with 80 pounds
of Scarlet. Good emergence resulted in a great looking stand. Other than
the coulees, we had good grass control. This crop looked like it would
yield in the mid 30 range. It really looked better than a lot of the winter
crops. However, a hard hit of Fusarium reduced yield to 25 bushel high
protein wheat. The good news was that the yield had improved over the
prior year. It looked like Scarlet was the answer if something could be
done about the disease. Two thirds of Homestead
was seeded with Scarlet, the remainder with Spillman. We had mild problems
with cheat grass on about a third of the farm. Once again, a hard hit
by Fusarium dropped the yield to 13 bushel wheat, but the protein was
good. On the School section
farm, I seeded Spillman into weed free soil. It was a good stand with
no weed problems, but Fusarium hit the crop hard. Dry weather was blamed
for the outbreak of Fusarium. The crop yielded 11.62 bushel of high protein
wheat. I reviewed the disease
problem with Dr. Cook. He suggested a winter crop of white wheat that
is less susceptible to Fusarium and better able to utilize a suspected
build up of nitrogen. On October 12th 2000,
I sprayed out the Homestead and the Kahlotus farms with roundup. On October
16th, I started seeding the untilled ground of the Homestead farm with
60# of Eltan. I finished up by the 18th of October. The crop came up and
looked pretty good. However, winter was favorable to cheat grass because
it stayed a little below freezing through out the winter. There was also
little or no precipitation. On March 13th, 2001, 366 acres of the Homestead
farm were sprayed by air with Sencor to control cheat grass. It did not
work well and with no rains in May, June or July I had a total crop failure;
4.9 bushels of white winter wheat. On October 22, 2000
I started seeding the untilled ground of the Kahlotus farm. There was
a little more moisture on the Kahlotus farm, so I spent a day making sure
drills were set just right in hopes of getting the seed up with existing
moisture. I finished seeding on the 30th of October. The seed did not
emerge well, because I seeded it a little too deep. The weather turned
cold early in November and stayed that way until spring. As with the Homestead
farm, the cheat grass grew well through the winter. When spring came,
I spent a great deal of time scouting the fields trying to decide what
to do with the worst mess I had seen for a long time. The weaker ground
had a good stand of wheat but the heavier soil had a lot of cheat grass
with a weak stand of wheat. I estimate that the cheat grass reduced the
yield by at least 5 bushel per acre. The rest of the loss was due to the
lack of moisture. A final yield for the winter white wheat was 9.9 bushels
per acre and because the volunteer DNS did not freeze out, I ended up
with about 6% mixed variety. 2001. The School
section was sprayed for weeds by March 20th. I was finished seeding by
April 10th. A nice rain after seeding brought up an excellent stand. Every
kernel of wheat must have made it up. It was a great looking stand, the
best yet and clean of cheat grass. It looked like this might be a year
for spring wheat. However, I waited for rains that never came. In June,
my wheat started to get the leopard look. I thought it was disease, but
Dr. Cook said it was moisture stress. I called in the crop adjuster. He
estimated the potential yield at 10 bushels. I thought, "Sure, in
your dreams." I harvested 4.38 bushels. Note that there was
little difference between the winter white wheat yield on the Homestead
farm (4.9) and the DNS yield (4.38) on the school section. After the harvest
of 2001, a great big red flag waved on the Direct Seed Annual Cropping
Program for Franklin County. In looking back at costs, it appears to me
that a big red flag waves for either program if we do not get parity for
our wheat. We have experience a tremendous increase in productivity in
the last 50 years, but we have also had a tremendous increase in our input
costs. To illustrate the drastic loss of parity, we can look at the cost
of a family car per bushels of wheat. During the depression, when wheat
dropped to 30 cents a bushel, it took 2333 bushels of wheat to buy a new
car. In 1974, when wheat was $5.26 a bushel, it took 752 bushels of wheat
to buy a new car. Today, it takes 6666 bushels of $3.00 wheat to buy a
new car. The American farmer is good, but we are not raising 8.86 times
as much wheat. That would take a yield of 265 bushels per acre! We have discussed production, the following are production costs for the 2001 crop on the School Section. There are no figures for equipment, interest or labor expenses. Because we were short of moisture in the spring, I made the estimates to decide whether to plant a spring crop or just to summer-fallow it for 2001. When I spray for weeds in the crop, I use a more expensive spray with a residual in hopes of controlling weeds so I don't have to sweep the fields with a tillage operation. This farm is leased from the DNR with 72% crop share; they do not share any expenses. Break even for these variable costs was 19.9 bushels at $3.70 per bushel. Based on the estimated figures, I decided to go ahead with the spring crop. However you can see that estimates can be deceiving and are generally lower than what the actual expense will be. It is important to use estimates to know your costs and avoid unnecessary losses. 2001 Direct Seed
Production
This chart shows
all costs with the exception of depreciation for my 1998 crop year. There
were 2550 acres of Alpowa wheat in production, 70 acres were Irrigated.
Spread sheets are a great help with financial planning, they clearly illustrate
your costs and the required income to show a profit. It is always a shock
to see what actual costs are. Break even for this example is 24.5 bushels at $3.70 1998 Costs Direct
Seed Annual Cropping
This chart illustrates Summer-Fallow Cost, the years are 1995 & 1996. Because acres are uneven for each year, a two year average is shown. Of acres shown, 70 are irrigated. Use this chart to compare Summer-Fallow costs with the Direct Seed costs on preceding chart. The cost per acre of Summer-Fallow was $92.01 while the cost of Direct Seed was $89.83. Summer-Fallow
Cost
Break even for this
example is 50 bushel wheat at $3.70 per bushel. The cost of Direct
Seed Annual Cropping is a little less than Summer-Fallow Cropping. What
does not show up is the difference in equipment requirements of the two
systems. Direct Seeding solves
the problems of soil erosion, requires less labor, less equipment and
as a bonus improves soil quality. Direct seeding will clean up many weed
problems. However, more work needs to be done on disease control. Scarlet
shows promise, but we need a Fusarium resistant variety. After going through all this, it is my conclusion that five dollar wheat, April showers, and a nice June rain would make either program work well. In that case, I would prefer the Direct Seeding Annual Cropping Program. |
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