He Plants, Harvests Two Crops From The Same Field

He Plants Harvests Two Crops From The Same Field CROPS New Techniques Andrew Pohl worries less about yields than he does profit While others chase maximum yields with one crop he is looking at the profit potential of planting two crops in the same field at the same time “My goal is no inputs and I’m doing it in steps ” says Pohl “Last year I reduced my fertilizer purchases by 30 percent This coming year I hope to drop them to 50 percent of my traditional levels ” Given the ever-higher prices for fertilizer any reduction is money in the bank Pohl is holding onto that money by promoting an active soil biology through crop rotation reduced tillage and fall seeding a legume cover crop For the past two years he has also experimented with intercropping two crops in the same field “I tried it for the first time two years ago ” says Pohl “I planted peas and oats and it produced my highest net return per acre for the year The low input costs and the return sold us on it ” At the time Pohl planted peas at three bushels per acre and oats at one He ended up with 65 bushels of oats and just under 30 bushels of peas In single-crop fields he would expect around 50 bushels of peas and from 80 to 100 bushels of oats Given the prices two years ago he would have grossed as much as $400 for the oats on an acre or $500 for the peas “With the combined yield I grossed $520 with very little fertilizer plus the peas climb up the oats ” says Pohl “Normally the peas go flat when ripe and if you get precipitation they are harder to combine Double cropping makes harvesting easier and it’s not as hard on equipment ” Pohl expects he can boost yields on both crops by adjusting the seeding rates and timing He is also switching to barley and peas to clean up a wild oat problem He has also added a bushel or so of flax seed to his normal rate of wheat seed “It had no impact on the wheat yield and the flax went through the combine like butter ” says Pohl “I harvested 50 bushels of wheat and 20 bushels of flax Flax prices were awesome which really pushed up the profit with flax seed the only additional input ” Double cropping does require one additional important step Pohl runs the combined grains through a Kwik Kleen to separate the crops for sale “I call it my Slow Kleen for wheat and flax but mixes like oats and peas go through fast ” he says This year was a tough one with hot dry weather in Alberta High temperatures in June hurt the flax and yield dropped to only five bushels Pohl thinks he did see some weed control benefits with the peas and oats Unfortunately the peas aborted from the heatwave which also hurt oat yields “It was going to be challenging whether monocropping or double cropping ” says Pohl “However wheat and canola did okay as monocrops I am considering planting them together next year ” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Andrew Pohl RR#5 Wetaskiwin Alberta Canada T9A 1X2 ph 587-876-2110; apohl86@hotmail com

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