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Impact of Cropping Practices on Soil Health, Crop Productivity and Profitability in the Brown Soil Zone

Ongoing rotational study considers long-term pulse benefits

With a valuable 24-year crop rotation study about to end, a new project leader took up the challenge, with pulse producer funding to keep it going and head in new directions.

Back in the early 1990s, dryland crop rotations in southern Alberta were neither diverse nor especially productive in terms of soil health and growers’ returns per acre. The wheat-fallow crop rotation was still king.

Look today. Producers now have more options for growing different crops, protecting the soil and making a good living doing it. The big change: less fallow, more pulses.

“Soil health, as an issue, is very hot now,” said Eric Bremer, Head of R&D at Western Ag Innovations. “We often talk about the benefits of pulses, but it’s another thing to quantify the benefits in terms of bushels per acre or a financial benefit.”

In 2015, Bremer saw an opportunity to do this through a provincial government crop rotation study at Bow Island, which had been active for 24 years. The project had been managed for many years by Alberta Agriculture and Forestry’s Ross McKenzie, then by Doon Pauly when McKenzie retired. Pulses, mainly peas, had been in the rotation for many years.

Beginning in 2016, with funding support from Alberta Pulse Growers and others, Bremer proposed to keep the site going and take the study in new directions.

A valuable resource

Everyone knows that a pulse crop this year sets up a nice cereal crop next year. With the Bow Island site and its precious 24 years of data as his starting point, Bremer wanted to look deeper.

“I wanted to know the long-term benefits of growing pulses,” he said. “We know that it’s a benefit the year after, but now we’re looking two or three years ahead.”

Bremer’s methodology is to plant the same crop on the whole site each year. In 2016, it was hard red spring wheat, with or without 72 lb. of nitrogen per acre. For 2017, he’s putting in mustard. Pulses, likely peas, will be part of the rotation in the longer term.

Bremer will assess the impact of these cropping practices on yield, soil organic matter and soil health more broadly, as well as associated economic implications.

Over time, Bremer expects to build a solid set of data on the agronomic and economic benefits of having pulses in a brown-soil-zone crop rotation.

Which pulses, and how often, produce the best result in terms of productivity, soil health and dollars in farmers’ pockets? The coming years will fill out the picture. One thing’s for sure, though: Given the known but not yet fully quantified benefits of pulse crops, the once-standard wheat-fallow rotation won’t be making a comeback any time soon.

“Twenty years ago, there was still a lot of fallow-wheat, but it has gradually decreased because of zero-till, better agronomy and better knowledge,” Bremer said. “Pulse crops in Alberta have made a dramatic difference to cropping practices, giving producers more options, more valuable crops, and reducing the need for fertilizer.”