Wednesday, November 7, 2007 - 10:30 AM
262-3
Crop Rotation Studies on the Canadian Prairies.
Development of crop rotations in the Canadian prairie region has been shaped by farmer knowledge, soil and climate conditions, markets, development of crop cultivars and other technologies, and government policy decisions. Predominant crops in the region include wheat, barley, canola, forage, pulses, flax and various other crops. Crop rotation and cropping system design have been of interest to researchers and farmers in the region for over 100 years. For example, the rotational benefits of flax to following wheat crops were first documented in 1895. The first no-till field experiments in the region were conducted in 1892! The Canadian Government Agriculture Research Branch (and to a lesser extent, prairie Universities) have a history of establishing and maintaining long-term crop rotation experiments in the region. These field experiments have focused on crop yield and quality, summerfallow management, herbicide effects, soil quality, no-till, rotational benefits, plant health, the role of forages and new crops in cereal rotations, organic production and the use of legume cover crops, and have been invaluable tools for designing sustainable cropping systems. However, while researchers continue to document the benefits of crop rotation, crop rotation diversity on commercial farms remains somewhat less than ideal, and even shows signs of diversity decline. In conclusion, crop rotation remains an important cornerstone of sustainable dryland crop production on the Canadian prairies and potential exists to capture more of these benefits on commercial farms.
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