Farming Smarter reached seeding success this week, May 28, will all its trials and plots planted for the season. Except, of course, the late date plots that purposefully go in late about two weeks from now for our Agronomy Program.
Seeding dates and rates are often part of the trials and this year is no different. In the fields are trials related to agronomy, pest management, nutrient management, rotations, forms of tillage, precision planting vs air seeders, chemical pest control and cover crops. (it's possible I've left something out of the list :0! )
According to Farming Smarter Field-Tested manager Lewis Baarda, it's time to start watching for emergence and possible flea beetle trouble. Baarda manages the field scale trials at several location in southern Alberta that take recent learning from plot research to the next level. He also has an exciting technology project coming with LiteFarm at University of British Columbia.
Trevor Deering, Contract Reseach manager, also has all trials in the ground. He says there is a lot of diversity in the type of trials under his direction this year and he expects to learn much as the season progresses and the work continues.
Farming Smarter had 90% of its seeding done before the May long weekend rain. We expect all the trials to have a great start and look forward to a busy season in the plots.
We sincerely hope we can invite everyone to check all this out in July, but for now, check in with progress through our Plot Shots videos available to Agronomy Smarts subscribers and join us at the quickly approaching Virtual Field School June 24.