Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Kiwi croppers share expertise

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Top Kiwi farmers are showing America’s best arable producers how to grow premium wheat and barley as a crop rotation. The world-record holders for wheat and barley yield are set to again impress a discerning American crowd with crops produced by remote control.
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Last July Eric and Maxine Watson and Warren and Joy Darling showcased premium, spring-sown plots at a major agricultural trade field day in the United States.

Working with Bayer NZ Mid and South Canterbury regional sales manager David Weith the families directed the planting and care of the crop at the annual AgPhD  in South Dakota without setting foot in the country.

Their skills were on show at the annual AgPhD field day, the brainchild of South Dakota seed-company owners, brothers Darren and Brian Hefty, who saw a need for an agronomy-based radio show for the state’s farmers.

AgPhD is also a radio and television show and Weith, who is a fan of AgPhD in all its formats, noticed on one show the Hefty brothers dishing praise to local growers for a yield of 100 bushels an acre, equivalent to 6.7 t/ha.

In August 2017 Weith, who provides crop care for the Watsons and Darlings, sent the brothers a link to Bayer’s You Tube videos showing how the families won their Guinness world records. 

About a week later he got an email back asking whether the Kiwis would like to contribute at some point to what we’re doing over here?

Weith heard nothing more from AgPhD until late December when suddenly the Heftys invited them attend the 2018 show. That was all well and good but then came a twist –  an invitation to put in a 60m by 40m plot each of barley and wheat.

The Cantabrians excelled at the job, creating a breakthrough moment for barley-growing in the state. 

Traditionally, North Dakota grows the crop, not its southern neighbour. Overall the Kiwis did so well in South Dakota they’ve been invited back to the 2019 AgPhD to showcase winter-sown wheat and barley.

To pull off the act of virtual crop management Weith and his clients spent countless hours in NZ phoning and emailing each other and American contacts. At nearly every step they had to precisely communicate the next step in their production plan, right down to accurately translating American imperial measures to metrics.

Drawing on decades of experience the Darlings and Watsons did it with a flourish, capping a superb few years of arable farming.

In 2015 the Darlings, farming near Timaru, produced 13.8t of barley a hectare, breaking the previous Guinness record of 12.2t held by Scottish grower Gordon Rennie since 1989.

Then two years later there was more collective glory for NZ arable farming when the Watsons, farming near Ashburton, achieved their Guinness world record for wheat yield in 2017. The couple produced a staggering 16.791t a hectare, beating the previous record of 16.519t held for two years by a British farmer. 

Irrigated wheat yields in NZ average about 12t a hectare.

Weith said the main things the Kiwis brought to the wheat and barley plots in South Dakota were a focus on a lower seed sowing rate resulting in lower plant populations and a greater number of tillers per plant. Other plot-holders had 1.5 million plants an acre while Kiwis had 850,000 plants an acre and got a similar yield.

With help from Weith and his US-based colleague, key account manager Brad Powell, the farmers excelled at early use of fertiliser rather than spreading it across the growing season.

They also increased use of fungicides to keep the crop greener for longer and because of the plant growth regulator and thinner crops they had much better control of ear disease.

Powell said the Kiwis impressed with their use of plant growth regulators to shorten and even-up the crop. Their corrected yields were similar to the American plot entrants with lower seed cost and half the plant population. They also made excellent use of foliar insecticides to eliminate barley yellow leaf virus which can reduce yield.

The Kiwis’ yield figures told part of the story. Their South Dakota plot sowing rate for the wheat plot was 50.35kg/ha (45lb/acre) whereas the normal South Dakota wheat sowing rate was 100kg to 134kg/ha (90lb to 120lb/acre). 

Weith said compared with NZ the seed size was very small.

The New Zealanders’ South Dakota plot sowing rate for the barley plot was 52kg/ha (46.5lb/acre) while the normal North Dakota rate is168kg/ha (150lb/acre).

To put the Kiwi output in perspective, an exceptional yield in South Dakota is 100 bushels/acre( 6.72t/ha) for wheat and 120 bushels/acre (8.07t/ha) of barley.

The state’s average yields for the 2018 harvest were 52 bushels/acre (3.5t/ha) for wheat and 75 bushels/acre (5.04t/ha) of barley.

NZ average yields for wheat were 10t/ha (148 bushels/acre) and Watson’s was 16.7910t/ha (242 bushels/acre). The NZ average yield for barley is 7t/ha (104 bushels/acre) and Darling’s was 13.8t/ha (205.2 bushels/acre).

Weith said looking ahead to now tending winter-sown crops for AgPhD 2019 the group is worried about damage from snow and severe South Dakota frost. However, their AgPHD contact Glenn Herz assured them the plot area isn’t as snow-prone as other parts of the state.

“It’s still a risk but it’s not as high a risk,” Weith said.

Hertz is convinced the American crowd is in for another treat when the Kiwis show off their spring-sown crops in July.

“They’ve made a lot farmers have a look at what they are doing and it will lead to a lot of discussion over the winter months.”

Weith said growing winter wheat in South Dakota is the equivalent to sowing in May in NZ. He wants the wheat to be grown just like he’d do it at home so he asked Herz to aim for 75lb an acre, equivalent to 84kg/ha.

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