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When it comes to seeding his cereal crop, Ron Wurtz, a farmer based in southwest Saskatchewan, lives by a golden rule: Get into the field as soon as possible and attempt to beat the later-season heat.
It’s a seemingly simple practice that Wurtz learned from some tough challenges – mainly, the bigger and more promising a cereal crop may look, the harder it can fall after weeks of intense drought and blazing July temperatures.
“The biggest secret for us growing cereals in southwest Saskatchewan is getting in early. That’s our saving grace,” Wurtz says. “Every day you gain or lose is magnified come July. That’s why we’re usually in the field by the first week of April. And when we do that, we have our best crops.”
Wurtz’s strategies for early seeded cereals are part of what Brian Beres, senior research scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Lethbridge, Alta., calls both a “game changer” and a “paradigm shift.” Beres’ latest work has seen him take an in-depth look at ultra-early seeding in wheat.
Source: 2024 Bayer Market Development Farm Yorkton, SK., Seed Treatment Trials.
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