July 2004 Study Tour

The following mostly technical dot points were written mostly by Nigel Wilhelm and Zoe Fulwood with some comments by myself (Bill Crabtree) and with some editorial.

Monday 2nd August to Friday 6th August

Monday 2^nd Aug

Santa Fe to Amarillo

• Kirk Gadzia travelled with us all day, he is a private consultant who is a former employee of Allan Savory (the father of cell grazing and holistic management). Kirk services this area but also has clients in Hawaii. He takes a wholistic approach to his work. His work involves working with large families or businesses, planning for grazing, land management, water management etc. Also financial planning, working with human resources (drug problems, goal setting and successional planning etc).

• Started as 250 mm rainfall country (summer dominant) increasing to at least 300 mm. Mostly cattle rangelands now but started as sheep.  The land supports one cow per 100 acres but now the land is worth up to $1,000/ac. This is due to real estate pressures around the holiday and recreational based city of Santa Fe which is at the base of the Rocky Mountains.

• Hunting of Elk is now becoming an increasingly important income stream with up to $10,000 per hunt being achieved.

• Native grasslands and low trees (pinion trees, junipers, cypress) and mesquite bush (legume) started in 300 mm zone.

• Onion, chilli and lucerne are the main crops in New Mexico.

• Beef, sheep and goat meat prices are high due to drought (worst on record) and Mad Cow found in Canada. For a 250 kg steer the price is US$1.40/kg. For a 60-70 lb lamb (live weight) US$1.30/kg (therefore mainly imported from New Zealand).

• Environmental pressure has reduced fires and predator control (foxes, coyotes, eagles, lions and bears) so sheep no longer popular (too many predators and low prices) and trees are creeping back in.  This has  lead to reduced carrying capacity and reduced water run-off into catchments – the metropolitan areas are now starting to get worried about this - they are starting to clear trees to increase watershed! Area was originally very open forest/grassland but reduced fires over the last 2 centuries have allowed trees to dominate. Both Elk and Bison once grazed these grasslands but reduced grazing has destroyed native grasses.

• Prairie dogs are common, they do great things for the soil, but they chew the ground bare.

• Government originally gave out land in 160 acre lots, farmers had to farm land and keep certain number of livestock, or they lost the land. This lead to the dustbowl days in the 1930s and 40s. Therefore New Mexico/Texas are major areas for conservation reserve program (putting out high risk areas and make good money). Lot of grain fattening of cattle. CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) gives them $40/ac to do nothing for 10 years, when the land is worth only $250-300/ac. Can’t do anything to CRP land except graze it once every 3 years and you lose some of your rent.

• Cap Rock area in Texan panhandle is the start of cropping area - 375-400 mm on a plateau. Very flat, topsoil a few centimetres thick underlain by rock, no trees, start of tornado alley, very windy (trees grow sideways, snow blows sideways, corn is marginal without irrigation.

• Traditionally a lot of irrigated agriculture, but groundwater supplies are now very low, so therefore have become very expensive and now more people turning to dryland agriculture. They have experience a very dry last 5 years. There is very little no-till adopted in the region, but the interest is rapidly growing as more people experience success. A lot of feedlots and big meat packing plants in the area.

• Hereford, western and northern Texas. We visited John Perrin who farms 8000 acres with 5000 acres cropped. He averages 7 bags/ac on winter wheat crops which are heavily grazed before going under snow in winter. Wheat price is currently US$126/t. He grows no broadleaf crops. Typical rotation was wheat/sorghum/fallow with cultivation.  This is the common dryland rotation for much of the dry central and southern Plains regions of the US.

• Soils here are a couple of feet deep and are slightly acidic silty loams. Soils tend to crust over which causes a lot of water to run off. Should get nearly 10 bags without grazing so surely break crops should be possible. Rarely any fertiliser is used but John is starting to use N. Cattle manure from feedlots is used for fertiliser by some farmers, applied at 20 t/ha ($10/t to truck), but John is too far from the feedlot. Sorghum is sown at 2.5 lb/ac seeding rate on 700 mm rows for but will go to narrow rows next year at same seeding rate. He is using a lot of chloracetylamide with crop safener on the sorghum seed for grassy and difficult to control weeds. 

• Majority of farmers have crop insurance for when crops don’t yield. Impression is that the country has been reliable enough that they have not had to challenge what they are doing and practices are still pretty traditional and conservative.

Tuesday 3^rd August

Amarillo, Texas to Limon, Kansas.
Steve Arnold (Johnson City)

• 10” rainfall country (including snow) on brown silt clay loam.  Where again a typical rotation is winter wheat/sorghum/fallow. Although Steve has been no-tilling for 5-6 years and his fallow is a chemical fallow - during the 1980’s this was commonly called eco-fallow, before no-till become the common term.

• Centre pivots are used on some of the farm which allowed corn to be included in the rotation, but other crops are irrigated also.

• Steve can pump out as much ground water as he likes (compete with neighbour) as water is free, but he is paying $2,500/month ($10/inch/acre) for electricity to run the pumps. Wells are running out so farmers are turning to dryland and unlikely to continue with irrigation much longer.

• No-till is improving his dryland yields substantially.

• Seed placement of sorghum into heavy winter wheat stubbles is a challenge (4 t/ha irrigated) because it occurs soon after harvest and the disc drills tend to ride up and over the heavy stubble patches, leaving the seed trapped in the residues, rather than in the soil.

• His sorghum crops were at heading and may yield 4 t/ha or better (on a little stored moisture  plus 7” of rain) with no-till.  We took a photo of one of his crops looking fresh but the neighbour’s going blue and rolling up [PHOTO] which is managed conventionally.

• Steve uses disc and “hoe” drills for no-till but is happier with hoe-drill in winter wheat.

• Irrigated corn will reach 210 bu/ac (about 16 t/ha) but costs will total 180 bu/ac. Some centre pivots have been running without stop since 1 April.

• Using N, P, Zn on most crops as liquids (for convenience rather than agronomic benefits)  uses a lot of UAN through centre pivot (uses up to 200 lb N/ac on corn)

• Lot of grain sold into local cattle feed lots or piggeries.

• Iron deficiency common through the district - especially where they have levelled centre pivot areas but scraping away the topsoil. Steve used 20t/ac of cow manure to correct the problem.

• Uses variable rate technology based on EM surveys (detecting soil type) to adjust N rates.

• Using 2.5 lb/ac seeding rate of sorghum dryland with 12,000 seeds/kg, leading to a target of 20,000 plants/acre from 32,000 plants/ac (25-30,000 in better areas of US).

• Monitors his crops weekly from the air with eye by flying a slow-moving para-glider. 

Garry Maskus, Arriba Colorado

• 16” rainfall country (10” in growing season) on clay loam and brown silt clay loam, short grass prairie

• Has been no-tilling since 1995 in some paddocks. He sees no-till as the way forward in their “dry” environment. This gives him the option to increase rotational diversity. The traditional rotation is winter wheat/fallow as it is too dry to grow anything else with tillage. Garry is running typically a 6 year rotation of double wheat followed by corn (sometimes irrigated), proso millet, sunflower, fallow (W/W/C/M/S/F).

• Centre pivots also used which allowed corn to be reliably included in the rotation.

• Struggling to produce sufficient residue to improve water infiltration, reduce evaporation and to always protect the soil from erosion.

• Most of his corn is Roundup Ready which costs about $3/ac at their seeding rates (seed is $60-120/bag, each bag is 80,000 seeds/bag) depending on variety, dressing etc. Still use some atrazine on RR corn but usually only one application of Roundup in crop is adequate.  We stood in one of his dryland RR corn fields that had no weeds in it, this was despite some poor crop establishment in some places. We stood in his corn which was very clean for weeds.

• In low rainfall areas, plant target for corn is about 15,000/ac on 30” rows - sunnies are about the same and lower levels may be justified in dry seasons.

• Wheat  yields are 30-40 bu/ac with no irrigation, While corn yields are up to 110 bu/ac.

• Soil temp target for planting corn is 50ºF.

• Land is fetching about $500/ac.

• Glyphosate is now about the same price as in Australia.

• Has used soybeans but now considers them too risky, as not enough rain in August.

Wednesday 4^th August

Central Great Plains Research Station, Akron, USDA Agric Research Station

• It is one of 4 research stations remaining on the Great Plains, it started in 1907 and consists  of 500 acres and it currently 6 professional staff.

• 16.5” rainfall country with 80% of rain falling in the summer growing season, about 35” of snow falls in winter (10” of snow = 1” of rain).

• Dryland cropping enterprises and rotations are being investigated.

• They have an advisory board of farmers who meet twice a year to discuss research outcomes and current priorities.  Many of these farmers are also members of the MEY (max economic yield) club which also discusses priorities and calls in experts. Both bodies lobby Congress to promote the station and secure funding. 

Alternative Crop rotation trial, Dr David Nielsen

• 23 rotations which are designed to examine ways of eliminating or reducing summer fallows from the system, some rotations include field peas (either for grain or for forage).

• 3 reps with all phases present each year, plots about 10m x 40m, started in 1991.

• summer fallows very inefficient at storing water (only about 10-15% of precipitation trapped in the soil profile, even with stubble retention may only get to 20%).

• Cropping intensity varies from 0.5 (wheat/fallow) to 1 (no fallow).

• Critical to have rainfall/plenty of soil moisture for corn in 6 week period (mid July to late August) around flowering.

• Best profit and most water efficient rotations are the most intensive

• Hail is a common feature in this region (perhaps the worst in the world), and is a bigger risk than drought.

• Can easily establish corn into 6 t/ha wheat stubble if harvested with a stripper front, left standing and sown with a disc drill.

• RR corn is typically used the trial with most rotations managed with no-till

• Soil strength in surface layers can increase with no-till but doubtful whether this is causing crop production losses.

• Winter wheat yields increase by 7.1 bu/ac for every inch of soil water at seeding (to a depth of 6 feet) but effect of stored water on corn varies from 4-27 bu/ac/in depending on conditions around flowering.

• Snow is critical to wetting up the soil profile in spring and is fantastic insurance against fluctuating rainfall events in spring/summer

Dr Ardell Halvorsen - saline seep, no-till and C sequestration researcher

• Trials at Fort Collins showing that conventional systems are losing OC but no-till is building levels (plus sequestering nitrous oxide) under irrigation.

• The fallow period has almost disappeared in the Great Plains.

• No-till and increased cropping intensity (fewer fallows) is leading to higher profits and increased water use.

 Dr Joe Benjamin - physics expert

• No-till is leading to increased soil bulk density and this might be leading to poorer root growth, whereas tillage and irrigation are not. A periodic till may help the problem.

• Not yet found evidence that tramlining or tillage work though. We are now beginning to research this

• Previous seasons crop has a big effect on current plant stress and water availability. 

Ken Remington (farmer)

• No-till results in a 15-20% increase in effective precipitation.

• Wheat is becoming a less valuable crop as summer crops are becoming more profitable.

• There is little incentive for young farmers to stay on land; Great Plains has been depopulating for the last 70 years.

• 50% of gross income in the Great Plains is agriculture, while nationally it is only 10%.

• US exports a quarter of the worlds wheat

• Corn after proso millet results in very clean crops. Millet is very shallow rooted so leaves a lot of deep water below.

• Sunflowers are the deepest rooting crop out of all those used, they therefore have better access to water table.  They are the most profitable crop. 

Richard Lewton - visited Ric’s farm which is near the research station.

• Saw Fe deficiency in millet, several photos taken.

• Ric grows corn, confection sunflowers, proso millet and winter wheat. He has 4,000 acres, mostly no-till but will use tillage sometimes to control native perennial grasses which are building up after several years - but he has not tried to kill them with a Group A herbicide in sunflowers.

• Uses 10 lb N and 20 P2O5 at seeding with most crops then follows up with stream applications of N mid season; 50 lb N/ac for wheat, 30-40 for millet, 40 for sunnies and 70 for corn.

• Winter wheat average is 42 bu/ac on the farm, 32 bu/ac in the area.

• Yield of sunnies is 1,000 - 2,000 lb/ac.

• Sunnies are planted by date when soil temperature is at 60-65°F for confection sunflowers (to avoid insect problems), when oil content is important best planted at (50-55°F)

• Rotation is usually winter wheat/corn/sunnies/proso millet/fallow or winter wheat

• No-till started 20 yrs ago and is now nearly the whole farm. He uses a Biomax drill for no-till paddocks (single disc)

• 30” solid rows for corn and sunnies. Dwarf sunnies now available (Triumph seeds). Same no. of leaves just shortened internodes

• Aiming for 10-12,000 plants/ad for sunnies, a bit lower for corn.

• Using liquid N (stream bars) for convenience factor only. 

Ken Remington - we walked into his skip row trials

• Trying skip rows for the first time now - used 3 applications of Roundup but same number also used in solids. Will use atrazine + bouncepro (1.75 oz/ac) next time in skips to improve control in RR corn. This will hopefully save the need for another application of Roundup.

• 45 bu/ac is break even for corn in this area

• Subsidised crop insurance is an important factor in the farm budget. For corn, despite much higher agronomic risk it is still a much better crop for budget purposes because of the insurance effects (wheat insurance costs $5/ac to farmer and $5/ac for the govt  and this gives $100/ac cover, while corn is $11/ac to farmer.

• Proso millet does well after corn.

• Using 8,000-12,000 plants/ac in corn (expects 90% plant establishment). Ken uses 60-80% Bt corn for corn borer.

• 25% of the country is out to the CRP - worth $42/ac/yr to farm. Can put pivot corners into CRP as only a circle within the field is irrigated.

• Great Plains has native sunflowers so development of RR sunflowers is doubtful as the RR genes may escape to the native sunflowers. 

Summary from Matt Hagny, No-Till Consultant was with us for 2 days.

• Matt considers no-till to only work really well after 5 years. Native grasses can be taken care of better with cover from crops and herbicides with no-till.

• A no-tiller is someone who no longer considers tillage to be an option.

Thursday 5^th August

University of Nebraska, Scott’s Bluff Research Centre.
David Baltensberger arranged for us to join in a tour of the research station and a free lunch.

• 16-17.5” annual rainfall (mainly May, June, July).

• They believe they are getting benefits from skip rows in dryland corn (idea taken from Graeme Hammer at Toowoomba only recently).

• Skip row trial with 10-25,000 plants/ac with solid/skip/double skip on 30” rows

• Lot of RR corn, they also have RR alfalfa and RR sugar beet. But sugar processors currently won’t take them so RR varieties not yet being used.

• Birdseed is a major industry in US, and lots of local crops go into this market.

• Proso millet (French) is the backbone of the industry.
  
  
• Foxtail millet is a better dual purpose crop than proso.
  
  
• They are trying niger thistle (although no drought tolerance) and canary grass.
  
  
• Winter wheats are only just creeping into the farming systems now (motivated by the last 5 years of drought which have been crippling their dryland summer crops.
  
  
• We saw RR alfalfa (which only received 2 applications of Roundup and is registered for up to 2 gal/ac (19 L/ha) of Roundup between every cut (1 US gallon = 3.8 L).
  
  
• We heard an inspiration talk by a government social work on how to make farming life healthy.

Friday 6^th August

Dwayne Beck, Pierre, South Dakota

• Dakota Lakes Research Station
  
  
  • 80% of farm run from profits, the staff’s base salaries are met by University. There are currently four staff; Dwayne, at least 2 technical officers and a secretary.
    
    
  • management committee comprises of 11 farmers.
    
    
  • Dwayne started in 1990 with no-till from the very beginning.
    
    
  • Seeding straight into 10-14 t/ha corn (HI of 50%)
    
    
  • Has 8” of water storage in top 1.5 m (corn gets this deep, wheat only goes to 1 m)
    
    
  • Using pinto bean/linseed mix; linseed holds the pinto beans up (pinto native to area)

  Has deep burrowing worms (lumbricus) who produce major channels to the surface. Any tillage seals these channels off and prevents them from being important sites of infiltration. Good infiltration is critical in this area where intense rainfall commonly comes through thunderstorms – otherwise lots of valuable rainfall could be lost in run-off which takes valuable topsoil with it