Adopting warm season crops, like corn, in cool season areas, like Western Canada, takes time, patience and adaptation. The first crucial step is access to shorter season varieties, which we’ve got, but from there the nutrient/pest/harvest management trial and error learning has to follow.
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Grain corn isn’t necessarily a brand new crop for many in Manitoba, but increased interest in the crop means that there are farmers trying the crop for the first time. (This isn’t a Manitoba phenomenon, either. Click here for a discussion on successful corn growing in Alberta.) For those new to the crop, and even for those very experienced, nitrogen management is a bit of a different beast than typical western Canadian crops. Achieving high yields with corn takes oodles of nutrients and precise planting. It’s a corp requiring intense management to achieve success.
In this podcast, David Franzen, soil scientist with North Dakota State University, lays out his most recent research in two parts. First, a discussion on the nutrient management challenges of growing corn in the north (hint: the differences vs. more southerly corn is related to soil type, not weather), and then walks us through the really neat part of his work: developing split N application rates based on GreenSeeker technology correlated to Manitoba and Northern Plain-specific growing conditions. Why is that so important? And what, as farmers who employ this technology, is the next step in fine-tuning N management? Listen below for those answers.
For PDFs on Franzen’s work, click here.
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