The fall season field work was nicely extended with warm temperatures and now through the winter months the Westman Agricultural Diversification Organization (WADO) team is going over data collected and planning for next spring.
Applied Research Specialist with Manitoba Agriculture, Scott Chalmers, says they had some surprises in their field test plots near Melita when it came time to harvest their corn.
Chalmers says what surprised them the most is how quickly the corn dried down. They were expecting to harvest with moisture levels in the early 20% range but when their land cooperator called and said moisture levels were at about 18%, they managed to harvest close to a week later where moisture ranged between 13% to about 20% moisture.
The other thing that they saw was a large amount of lodging and ear drop in their corn plots, depending on the variety.
"Farmers need to hear that data because that's very important," he adds. "If you can imagine losing 30 bu/acre because of ear drop or lodging in your corn and multiply that across a thousand acres at $5 a bushel, that's a hefty sum of money. That's basically the gravy what farmers are looking for, that final 30 bushels to pay themselves."
The Manitoba Ag seed guide shares the data on those varieties that performed very well and those that didn't fare so well, documenting length of cobs and which varieties stood up straight during the two major windstorms.
"This data is something we can build on with our research, to find out what varieties put up with a lot of that extreme weather.
When it came to sunflower trials, again the WADO team recognized the stark differences between seed varieties, "and there were definitely winners and losers in that too. Some fell down because they were too tall," explains Chalmers. "Others were prone to bird damage. Just depending on their physiology, how they grew. Others did very good."
Please listen to more with Scott Chalmers as he shares on the corn crop of 2024 and the challenge of ear drop below.