Keeping an open mind
Other options for soil enhancement
Heather Smith Thomas
May 6, 2008
David Takeda of Iron Springs, Alberta and his family run a farm and feedlot north of Lethbridge, growing mixed crops. For several years he has been using some organic compounds to aid soil fertility.
“We’re using products from Bio Ag across the board on all our crops – from seed canola to barley silage, corn, etc.,” says Takeda. “We also broadcast some of the granular products on hayfields, since we don’t have a way to inject it through an air system on those. We just broadcast it on the surface and it helps to reduce the weed load, mainly dandelions. The granular products contain calcium, and dandelions don’t like soils high in calcium. We also use this in our yard and barnyards on the lawns and it seems to control dandelions there – not 100 percent, but certainly better than using no control.”
The hayfield they took out of production last fall (an alfalfa-grass mix) had been in for seven years.
“Most of our land is irrigated, and normally we take out an alfalfa stand after just three or four years because of dandelion problems,” he says. “This stand was seven years old and we didn’t take it out because of need for weed control; we took it out to rotate the land to another crop, and put alfalfa back in another quarter. So this product retards dandelions to where the crop has a chance to grow up, take over and shade the dandelions out.” Otherwise, the dandelions literally take over and crowd out everything else.
“This product also loosens soil particles and reduces compaction,” he says. “We noticed this most in the regularly seeded fields, such as corn silage. Two years ago we were able to direct seed grain, following a corn silage crop the previous year. Normally, corn ground is so hard that it’s nearly impossible to get any kind of a seedbed with our air drill. But the ground had loosened enough, due to the calcium product, that we were able to do it; the air drill was able to stay in the ground. The pull wasn’t so hard that it slowed down our ground speed.
“After three years of using the calcium product, it affected the soil profile in that field enough that we were able to direct seed ground that we normally would not have been able to do. It reduces the pull load, fuel usage, wear and tear on the cultivator, etc. One of our neighbors who uses the product had come to the point he felt he needed to increase his tractor size in order to do the job. But once he started to use the product, within a couple of years he noticed he was able to increase his ground speed. The tractor wasn’t having any problems.”
Another product offered by Bio Ag is called N-Fix, a nitrogen fixing microbe product.
“You inoculate soil either by applying it to the seed or the soil,” explains Takeda. “You can apply it to any plant – barley, corn, alfalfa or peas – but we still purchase inoculants specifically for legume crops. I haven’t trusted it enough yet to let it take over those applications, but in other crops where you have no nitrogen-fixing bacteria normally, this seems to supply a significant portion of the crop needs. We see good results using this, also. It’s not host specific and you can use it on any plant. It’s soil activated so it’s working within the soil, fixing the nitrogen that’s in the top couple inches of the soil profile. It takes nitrogen from the air and fixes it into compound form.”
He is pleased with the way these products perform, but says local fertilizer dealers are very skeptical about them.
“I don’t blame them. I had the same mind set earlier, because I was brought up using chemical fertilizers and regular macronutrients available through the dealers,” says Takeda. “But I also like to think I’m open minded enough to try something else, if there’s a better or more natural way. I’d like to take advantage of what’s around us rather than forcing something unnatural. I’ve stayed with this a number of years and have consistently seen the yield advantages and improvements. It’s just another thing to try, in the bag of things a person can do.”
He is very optimistic about these products, after using them now for several years. “Corn silage is one good example,” he says. “Corn seems to respond very well to this program. We have our corn seeded and custom silaged by a local custom crew. At seeding time we put this concoction of liquid products together, or blend some products into a liquid form. We also use a liquid fertilizer that is injected with the corn seed. Our biological products from Bio Ag are added to this liquid. It’s a slurry that goes with the seed. In 2007 we were the only farmers that utilized either of these products in this custom operator’s clients, but we consistently have the top or near the top yields they see when they go around at harvest time. They wonder if it’s worth the hassle at seeding time, but they also see the yields we are achieving.”
Takeda adds that corn responds very well. He’s had variable results with the barley, but they haven’t lost anything.
“They are doing trials to try to figure out why we are not seeing consistent 100 percent improvements,” he says. “But on average it seems to have benefits on yield. One crop a few years ago, however, had a 20 percent reduction. There could be other factors coming into play, compounded by a problem with these products. We just need to figure out why, and what’s going on in these situations. They have some ideas we are looking at doing this spring. We’re thinking about pulling out one of the products, since there may be some interaction issues with different blends.”
Part of the problem, he says, is they don’t have a huge network of expert scientists they can go to for information. A lot of these products are farmer driven and there hasn’t been much scientific testing. Takeda has personal contacts – friends who work at the research station at Lethbridge – and has talked to them.
“They shake their heads and say there’s not a chance they’ll ever do any tests on these because they don’t think the products will work,” says Takeda. “That’s the way the government looks at this. They are blindsided by the fact the fertilizer companies are funding a lot of the research that’s done in the research centers. Since the government isn’t supplying the money for research anymore (it’s private industry or companies), they are not going to back out the company that’s feeding them, so to speak. This is a lot of the resistance we run into in trying to get them to look at some of these products.”
There are a number of different ways to do things on the farm, however, and he feels it’s worth looking at some of the alternative methods. If they work, they may be better for the land, or better for a specific operation.
“Bottom line, the dollar is always important and drives the majority of our decisions,” says Takeda. “If we can raise crops in a more natural way, this may work well. I hate the word ‘organic.’ Our operation is by no means organic. My goal has never been to farm organic, but it doesn’t hurt to be open minded to try things that may be beneficial for the crops.”