Family farming is a way of life in Ireland, but it can be found all around the world on small and large-scale farms. Gord Ellis runs a family-run grain farm an hour’s drive north of Calgary in Olds, central Alberta, Canada.

Gord’s three sons help out when possible and there is one full-time employee and a seasonal worker too.

The farm runs to 3,000ac of owned and rented ground.

The soils around Olds are a clay loam, with around 30% clay and organic matter levels of eight to nine per cent.

While yields in Alberta are generally pretty low compared to Ireland, the soils in this part of the province are highly productive when conditions allow.

The difficulty in recent years is that they increasingly do not.

This part of Alberta used to struggle with too much moisture at the wrong times but in the last four or five years, drought has been the defining issue.

No-till

No-till has been used for many years and while it once made sense, mainly as a labour and fuel-saving measure, it is now a moisture management tool. The undisturbed soil structure and chopped straw on the surface means crops can get through dry spells a bit better than under a tillage system.

All straw is chopped at harvest, with a straw harrow, or heavy harrow as it is known in Alberta, used afterwards to distribute it evenly across the full working width of the combine.

Crop rotation

Canola, wheat, barley and yellow peas make up the crop rotation. Yellow peas were dropped from this year’s cropping plan due to a 100% tariff imposed by China on the import of yellow peas from Canada, which Gord says is a major market for the peas. The tariffs have now been removed but it was too late for Gord to change his plans so there will be no peas on the farm this year.

All establishment is done with a 67’ wide Bourgault no-till seeder which can plant around 38ac per hour. Seed goes in at a depth of 1.25” on 10” row spacings. The seed is placed in a 3” band behind a tine coulter. At this depth, Gord hopes to have plenty of moisture below the seed and even a bit above it too.

Phosphorus and copper are placed with the seed while urea and potassium are mid-row banded. This means that it is placed between the rows of seed at a slightly deeper depth. Elemental sulphur is broadcast once every four to five years.

Variable rate nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium are applied across the farm through the seeder, with each 160ac field divided into management zones based on detailed soil sampling and yield maps from previous years. Copper is not applied variably but it is only applied to some zones. A variable seed rate is sometimes used too.

Sowing runs from the end of April to the middle or end of May. Harvest starts in late August and can stretch into October in a slow season. Grain comes off hot, with grain temperatures of 30 to 40°C normal during an Alberta harvest. Aeration fans in the on-farm grain bins are used to cool it quickly. A grain dryer is available for wetter years.

Malting barley and milling wheat

Barley is grown for the malting market, with a premium of $1/bushel (the equivalent of €28.50/t) available for grain that meets specification. Gord says that the farm hits that standard in most years. Wheat goes for milling when the season and the markets allow. Around 30 to 40% of the expected crop is forward contracted before harvest each year.

Herbicide resistance in Canada

Wild oats are the main grassweed problem for Gord, with resistance to both ACCase (such as Axial Pro, Falcon, and Stratos Ultra type herbicides) and ALS herbicides (such as Broadway Star and Pacifica Plus) well established across much of Alberta.

However, luckily, blackgrass has not made its way to Alberta and Italian ryegrass is not a problem weed. Volunteer cereals and canola also need careful management throughout the rotation.

In terms of broadleaved weeds, wild buckwheat, stinkweed, hemp-nettle and dandelions are the main culprits. The canola (oilseed rape) is genetically modified. Gord says the introduction of hybrid GM varieties has greatly increased the yield potential.

Roundup Ready varieties are grown which simplifies broadleaved weed control considerably, but it has created its own problem.

Glyphosate-resistant kochia has appeared as a direct result of the selection pressure these varieties generate.

Fungicides

Septoria, fusarium and stripe rust are the main threats in wheat, while net blotch can hit barley. One fungicide per crop is standard, applying it at flag leaf on barley and at flowering on wheat, where fusarium is the main target. Wheat will sometimes get an application at flag leaf too.