Production | Summer 2009
Winter wheat joins the prairie mainstream.
By Jennifer Barber
As arguments against growing winter wheat disappear, it’s showing up in more and more crop rotations.
Clayton Gast admits his biggest challenge with winter wheat is not giving in to the temptation to seed his whole farm to the crop.
“Every year I seed 25 per cent of my land to winter wheat,” says Gast, who farms 1,650 acres near Magrath, AB. “And pretty much every year, no matter if it’s wet or dry, I get 50-60 bushels at harvest. Growing winter wheat has a lot of advantages and gives consistent yields.”
Winter wheat is generating renewed interest across the west. Ten years ago fewer than 200,000 acres were planted prairie-wide, but by 2008 more than 1.6 million acres were grown.
Despite the increase, some farmers remain reluctant to try winter wheat because of perceived issues with respect to hardiness, disease and markets. But Gast waves aside these concerns, and insists it’s not only because of his southern Alberta location, a traditional spot for winter wheat production.
“There are lots of great varieties out there now,” he says. “On top of that, we have chemistry that can deal with weeds and diseases. We have all the information we need to make winter wheat a top crop for the prairies.”
A reliable “practice crop”
Seeding winter wheat helps Gast wind down after the craziness of harvest. He enjoys seeding in the fall, when the weather is still nice, and it helps him relax and prepare for the winter ahead.
“I also call my winter wheat crop the test harvest,” he says. “It comes off a few weeks before everything else, and that gives us a chance to make sure all our equipment is working properly. It gets our bodies used to the longer hours and helps us get ourselves organized.”
A long-standing advantage of winter wheat is that it’s seeded and harvested off-season, making productive use of both time and equipment. Gast says the crop also helps him use his bins more efficiently. “Almost every year I can fill my bins with winter wheat, haul it to the elevator and sell it before the bins are needed for my other crops. Then I have less to pile outside at the mercy of the weather.”
A crop for the prairies
“Winter wheat took off on the prairies once no-till farming became more common,” says Brian Fowler, professor, Department of Plant Science at the University of Saskatchewan. “Growers needed that standing stubble as a snow trap to overwinter the crop,” he says. “But it took a while to develop production practices for growing winter wheat. We have those now.”
Proper crop management is essential for consistently high yields, he cautions. Fertilizer, seeding date and seeding depth are all keys to getting a good stand and a successful crop. With all that in place it’s very unlikely growers will run into any problems with winter survival, Fowler adds.
“In all three provinces we’ve often seen winter wheat out-yield spring wheat,” he says. “That’s not to say growers should abandon spring wheat. But adding winter wheat to their rotation is simple, it’s a high yielding crop, and it helps conserve soil moisture.”
Market demand for winter wheat continues to grow, says Fowler. Current varieties range all the way from feed to premium milling grades. And there is added potential for lower-protein winter wheat to supply growing ethanol markets.
Room to grow
While many growers seed their winter wheat into canola stubble, Gast prefers barley stubble, which he says greatly reduces sawfly pressure. Winter wheat can also be an effective weed management tool. “It’s a competitive crop and it is already getting pretty big when some weeds and pests are starting to become a problem,” he notes.
Fertilizer timing and rates are more flexible with winter wheat, adds Gast. “It’s not that it uses nitrogen any better than spring wheat; rather, fall rains (along) with retained spring moisture mean that optimal rates of nitrogen can be safely applied.”
Issues with winter kill or germination have never come up, he says. New varieties virtually eliminate those risks. “But if everything goes crazy and you do have a problem, there is plenty of time in the spring to decided whether to reseed a field.”
While prices at the elevator might not be as high for winter wheat as for spring, Gast says when growers consider the efficiencies gained through better use of their equipment and time, they’ll see the high value of a winter wheat crop.
“In the past two years in particular, my top crop in terms of yield and profit has been winter wheat,” he says. “Those who think it’s difficult to grow should go back and take another look at what’s out there.”
