By Kevin Hursh
What will be the next big thing in Western Canada’s crop production? Before speculating on that, let’s look back at some of the massive changes we now take for granted.
Growing up in southwest Saskatchewan, the discer (one-way) was the king for seeding implements. The first air seeders had a lot of issues – seeding skips, poor depth control, inadequate trash clearance.
Those problems were gradually resolved and the era of direct seeding began as glyphosate became cheap enough for pre-seed weed control.
Where I grew up, over 90 per cent of the crop rotation was durum wheat followed by summer fallow. No use trying to grow a crop on stubble. Gradually, it came to be accepted that much of the problem with stubble cropping was a lack of nitrogen fertilizer.
I distinctly remember a New Year’s Eve gathering in the early ’90s when a family friend took me to task for experimenting with pulse crops such as lentils. “Durum grows best on my farm,” he proclaimed, even though he had never really tried anything else.
Today, canola and wheat are the largest crops in Western Canada, but a multitude of cropping options are available and that has had an amazing impact on profitability. Widespread adoption of pulse crops provides our agriculture with a much lower carbon footprint.
Crops all used to be swathed. There was little choice with pull-type combines. Now, about the only crop that might see a swather is canola and that is declining as pod-shatter resistance becomes available.
High-clearance sprayers that once seemed like an expensive luxury have become the most used piece of equipment on many farms.
GPS equipment guidance saw an amazingly rapid adoption. It was available as an add-on to existing equipment and reduced overlap while decreasing operator fatigue. Despite the early naysayers, the technology spread like wildfire. Now, a GPS problem is often enough to stall an entire seeding or harvesting operation.
Just as younger people don’t remember what life was like before the internet and social media, many younger farmers don’t remember the landmark changes that have occurred in grain production.
Looking forward, it’s difficult to envision the sort of mega changes of past decades.
Variable rate seeding and spraying continues to see more adoption, but it’s gradual. Time constraints and technology issues have flattened the adoption curve.
Autonomous field equipment has received a lot of attention for many years, but there’s still more hype than reality. Along with autonomous equipment goes the concept of numerous small units doing the work rather than big outfits. However, new farm equipment continues to grow larger and larger as do farms.
In the U.S., spray drone sales are booming. Here in Canada, crop protection products aren’t legally registered for drone application and adoption is much slower. There’s also the question of whether drone application can be sufficiently uniform with enough acre per hour capacity to seriously compete with high-clearance sprayers in broadacre agriculture.
Herbicide resistant weeds are likely to force the use of more mechanical and agronomic weed control. Growing perennial forage crops within the rotation has long been touted as an effective weed control procedure. Perhaps, this will see more widespread adoption.
If the climate continues to warm as expected, ultra early seeding may become more common to take advantage of early season moisture while avoiding some of the summer heat. Agricultural practices may also be influenced by sustainability initiatives generated either by government regulation or demand pull from the marketplace.
Other than that, my crystal ball is murky. Let me know your thoughts on what the next big trend will be. My email is kevin@hursh.ca.