With drilling acres shrinking, How can growers reverse the trend?

The Science is Clear: Hayfields, Crops and Pastures are good for soil health. But with the Area Under Grass and Legumes Shrinking, Expanding Acres Remains A Tough Sell.

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At the National Conference of the Canadian Foring and Grassland Assn. (CGFGA) LAST LAST YEAR, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Research Scientist Martin CHATIGNY DREW UP A LONG LIST OF BENEFITS from CROPS CROPS. Grasse and Legumes Boost Organic Matter. They build soil structures that hold air and water like a sponge, offering a favourable texture for roots. They Feed the Microbes and Fungi That Cycle Nutrients and Aid Plant Growth.

“I hit the day convinced you that included perennials in an annual rotation has beenfits,” Chantigny told the guelph meeting. But the scientist is preaching to the choir, Becuse Hay Growers and Livestock Graziers Already Know the Value of Fores. Instead, It’s the Cropping Community That Needs Convilcing. As it stands, annual crops are pushing drilling acres out of the rotation.

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In A Study Published Last Octuber in the Science Journal FACTS, Canadian Wildlife Federation Researchers Took A Close Look at Land-Use Changes in Southern Ontario and Quebec from 2011 to 2022. “The Conversion of Pasture/Drilling To Annual Crops Was the Large Land Cover Change that we observed, ”The Authors Wrote. Over the Decade, 334 ”000 hectares of drilling Ground Flipped Over Into Annual Crops. (During the Same Period, Urban Sprawl Ate More Than 65,000 hectares of Farmland, a loss that was “Partially offset by the Conversion of Fores and Wetlands to Farmland.”)

Reversing or slowing this trend is an ongoing concern in the drilling sector. Aid Agricultural Resilience drilling, Said University of Guelph Plant Agriculture Professor Emeritus Ralph Martin. In a World where “Were Going to Be Challenged More and More” by extreme weather, “Drilling Restore Soil Quality. That’s What We Should be Looking at. ”

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“Drilling Land is decline at a time when we really need it for diversity and the protection of soil,” Martin Added.

Chantigny Cited Three Roadblocks to Higher Acres. Dairy and Livestock Farmers Who’ve Switched to Cash Cropping Have Got Rid of Their Drilling Equipment, and Don’t Want to Buy It Back. Marketing Hay is More Work Than Marketing Grain. And croppers simplely “don see the Economic Advantage” of Returning drilling to the rotation.

“They are aware of the benefits for soils, but they have difficulty seeing if drilling production is really going to be viable,” chantigny said.

So how can the drilling industry overcome these obstacles? Speakers at the conference tried a variety of pitches:

Highlight the Science (and Economics)

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Just as in Grandpa’s Time, A Thoughtful Crop Rotation, in Fields Well-Supploud with Manure, leads to better yields. Thanks to Recent Research, Scientists Including Chantigny have a better handle on how and that of this win-win relationship.

One Key is the Broad Benefits of Soil Carbon or Soil Organic Matter (OM) and the Way Perennial Plants have bigger OM Inputs. “Not all organic residues are efficient at forming soil om,” Chantigny Said. Crop Residues (Straw, Stover) Are Okay, but their contribution is modest compared to animal manure, and especially plant roots and root exudates. The Sticky Output from Roots Offers Food and Living Space For Microbes and Fungi. When the Plant Sloughs Off Its Roots, The Root Tissue Offers Further Om To Feed The Underground Menagery. Because perennials produce greater root tissue than annuals, drips crops build far more soil organic carbon.

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The Payoffs Include Increased Soil Fertility, Crop Resilience and Lower Input Costs. A Recent Study by University of California Berkeley Professor Tim Bowles Found Rotations in the Us and Canada that combined corn and other species, included cereals, alfalfa, red clover or sorghum, averanged 28 per hundred greater corn yields over time, compared to corn monoculture. Ontario’s Own 2022 Agronomy Guide Estimates Corn Following Alfalfa Benefits from a 100-Pound per acre nitrogen credit, and an 10-15 per cent yield benefit.

And when it comes to integrating drilling back into agriculture, the Increasement Use of Cover Crops Shows Croppers Are Willing To Try New Things. Maybe, as ralph martin suggests, boreholes should be rebranded as “service crops,” for their environmental, soil, water, wildlife and agronomic benefits.

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New Agronomic Research COULD HELP, TOO, ESPECIALLY IF IT PINS DOWN The Dollars-And-Cents Benefits from “Service crops.” The Accepted N BENEFIT from Alfalfa in the rotation is Decades Old – from “Back when Hell was a match,” Certified crop Advisor Pat Lynch Told Cfga Members. “Let’s do Research on the n value, and then We’ll Start Getting More Acres of Alfalfa.”

Treat Hay Like A Cash Crop

For Large-Scale Commercial Hay Growers, Technology has remade drilling production. “The Most Common Misconption About Hay Production is that it’s hard work and it’s Risky,” Said Fritz trauttmansdorff, President of the Ontario Hay and Co-Optive drilling, Ltd. Now, Thanks to Hay Dryers and Equipment That Speeds Baling and Handling, The Days of Tossing Square Bales All Summer Are Over, and “Growing Hay is no more Risky Than Growing Grain.”

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Trauttmansdorff suggests cash croppers can reap the soil benefits of drilling production by co-operating with establised hay growers and marketers. One option COULD BE Contracting With An Established Grower to Harvest and Market High-Quial Drilling Grown in the rotation. The co-op is also encouraging croppers to work timothy into the rotation, sometimes as an early-maturing double-crop before and After Soybeans. In Effect, The Timothy Become Both A Cover Crop and Short-Term Drilling stand.

Technology is Changing the Business, Too. Consider the Hay Compactor and Processing Unit Owned by Ontario Hay Press Co. Inc., and Operated at Marhaven Agri Near Alma, have: It’s a Little Like a Cross Between in Sawmill, A Compactor, and A Packaging Line. Big Square Bales Go in One End, While Bundles of Dense Squares Come Out the other. Hay Press Co. President Jamie Fisher, A Commercial Hay Grower from Kilbride, have., Said the Oregon-Built Alows Ontario Producers to Maximize Shipping Efficiency by Packing Denser Hay Into Shipping Containers or Transport Trailers.

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“We Were Working with a press in New York State Before this one was available,” Fisher Said. Now, with the Ontario Unit in Operation for Almost Two Years, “We have contemplating some upgrades for more efficiency with the next five years,” eSpecially if volumes incl.

By Helping Ontario Growers Improve Efficient, Fisher Said the Press Offers “A came to help Farmers across the province Grow More Hay.”

Regulating it

For Decades Ontario has been promoting best practices on the farm, offering incentives for efforts that reduce soil degradation, for examination, or promoter water quality. But what if, INTEAD OF ENCORRATION PRACTICES, The Regulatory System INSTEAD REQUIDED RESULTS?

As Train University of Guelph Professor Ralph Martin Argued, “There Should be Financial Incentives to Farmers who Kho Holding the Outcome of Good Or Very Good Soil Organic Matter.”

“I think we have to pay for outcomes, and the outcome we want is good for very good organic matter.”

Martin then Doubled Down On the Provocative Idea, Suggesting the Owners of Farms that lose a soil organic matter pay a tax when the land is sold. “It doesn’t seem fair to me to far the land and degrade it with monocrops, and sell it for the same or high price,” he said. “But I don’t hook you all to agree with me.”

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