By Jake Leguee
Wheat is a staple food for 35% of the world’s population and it is Canada’s largest field crop. Wheat is grown on nearly 50,000 farms in Canada and our country is the fifth-largest wheat producer in the world.
Canada is the world’s leading exporter of durum wheat. Canadian Western Amber Durum is renowned for its high protein content, superior yellow colour and high semolina yield, durum is used for high-quality pasta and couscous.
We talked with Canadian wheat producer Jake Leguee about how he grows wheat on his farm.
Tell us about your farm.
Leguee Farms is a third-generation family farm growing durum, canola, spring wheat, lentils, peas, and flax over 15,000 acres. We farm near Fillmore, in southeast Saskatchewan.
We would like to hear more about your wheat crop. Can you start by explaining the seeding process for wheat on your farm?
We seed our wheat as early as possible in the spring. Some years, we can start as early as April 20, but in other years, we aren’t able to start until the fifth of May. It all depends on when the snow melts.
We seed with two 80-foot independent-depth control drills, which allows us to precisely place our seeds at the depth we want. Typically, with wheat, farmers will seed it at about an inch to an inch and a half down into the soil, but we will go deeper if moisture is limited. The drills are controlled by monitors in the cab of the tractors that adjust seed and fertilizer rates across different zones on every field. In doing this, we can tailor how much fertilizer we use to what each soil zone needs, ensuring accurate placement and rates. We rely on soil tests to help us determine exactly what the soil needs for all types of nutrients.
Seeding is one of, if not the most, complex and crucial jobs on the farm. Everything we do depends on doing a good job of getting our crop in the ground. There is a lot going on to get right, including accurate seeding depth and rates, getting the timing right, and relying on very specialized technology. There is little room for error. So, we build plans ahead of time to ensure we do it right.
Is wheat a sustainable crop? Why?
We grow a diverse rotation of crops on our farm. Every crop has its place, including wheat. It has enormous importance for breaking disease cycles in our other crops and building organic matter in our soils. Wheat leaves behind massive root systems and heavy straw, which microbiology in our soils depend on to grow. Wheat stubble, meaning the straw left behind after harvesting, captures snow during the winter, and this is crucial for establishment of the following crop. Wheat captures tremendous volumes of carbon in the soil, and the more successful the wheat crop is, the more carbon it stores.
For 30 years on our farm, we have been practicing no-till or conservation seeding, meaning we don’t turnover the soil before planting. This transition to no-till farming methods generated substantial benefits for prairie soils like ours, including capturing more carbon, minimizing wind and water erosion, and allowing us to grow a broader array of crops.
Wheat is a nutritious and healthy grain that provides enormous benefits to prairie soils like mine.
Can you explain crop rotation and why it is important?
On our farm, we grow six crops every year. In my part of southeast Saskatchewan, we have a plethora of options of crops we can grow, so narrowing that down into something we can manage logistically can be difficult. However, this variety of different crops has many benefits.
Growing multiple crops hedges our bets against both the markets and weather. When we go to the field each spring to plant our crops, I don’t know which ones will be successful. Depending on whether the season is wet or dry, different crops will succeed. Every year, certain crop markets do well. One year, it might be durum, the next it might be flax. No one knows that ahead of time. Growing a variety of crops gives us the ability to diversify our risk.
We don’t grow multiple crops just for the economics, though. I firmly believe having a diverse rotation benefits the soil. Each different crop roots differently, consumes water and other nutrients differently, and harbours different weeds and pests. Some crops, like wheat, are highly competitive with weeds, while others, like lentils, don’t do so well. Growing a diverse rotation keeps weeds and pests in check.
What else do you do to protect the soil and improve sustainability?
We use soil moisture probes to monitor how much water our crops have available to them at any given time. What this knowledge allows us to do is to make data-driven decisions on how to enhance our crops’ yield potential. This means we apply extra nutrients and crop protection products only if the crop needs it, ensuring we minimize the risk of wasting expensive inputs.
We avoid disturbing the soil as much as possible. We seed directly into the previous year’s stubble, return the straw to the soil when we harvest, and keep our soils anchored at all times to protect it from wind and water erosion.
Crops need water to grow. Do you use irrigation?
We do not have irrigation. Most farms in Saskatchewan don’t – we simply don’t have access to water bodies to irrigate out of. We rely on rainfall to produce our crops, along with water stored in the soil from the winter and previous fall. This can create substantial variation in year-to-year production. Some years, severe droughts can devastate crop production, resulting in almost no yield at all, while other years can have perfect growing seasons producing yields in the 80 bushel per acre range or more. We never know when we plant our crops which situation, we will find ourselves in.
Tell us about harvesting wheat. Is wheat hard to harvest?
Managed properly, wheat is one of the easier crops to harvest. It stands tall, it can wait until the entire field is fully mature before harvesting, and it can be kept clean of weeds. We use massive machines called combines to cut the straw, pull the heads of the wheat plant into the machine, then thresh and separate the straw from the grains. The straw is blown out of the back of the combine, spread across the field a lot like compost, and the grain is moved into the grain tank until unloading. A mature wheat field can be harvested at a steady pace throughout the day and even into the evening, depending on conditions.
The best way to tell if wheat is ready to harvest is to chew on a few kernels. If they’re soft and chewy, the combine won’t be able to thresh them. They need to be dry and firm. Wheat takes time to mature and usually isn’t one of the first crops we harvest. It’s typically harvested in late August and September.
Technology is rapidly changing in many industries. How has it changed farming?
Technology has changed almost everything we do in farming. Our tractors steer themselves down the field, our seeders automatically vary the rates of our fertilizer to match what each part of our field needs, we have sensors in the field telling us how much moisture we have in the ground at any given time, and we can even monitor our grain in the bins to minimize the risk of spoilage. Technology has allowed us to more precisely manage every aspect of crop production, improving our environmental sustainability, and minimizing our risk.
What do you think the future of farming holds for you and your family?
Farming is a multi-generational business. We stand on the shoulders of our grandparents to create a future for our children. So, we consider it of crucial importance to leave things better than we found them, to improve our soils and our balance sheets to build an opportunity for generation four to take over the farm someday, if they want to.
In the journey towards generation four, I think we will continue to see improvements in technology, which will continue to drive greater sustainability to our farms. Advancements in sensor technology will drive increasing precision in how we monitor and manage our crops, from spraying individual weeds to applying precise amounts of just the right micronutrient a given acre of crop might need. Not only will this drive greater yields, but it will also minimize the impact on the environment.
We live in an exciting time for agriculture, and I believe we can sustainably provide food, fuel, and fibre to our population for decades to come. The future of farming is very bright.
Recycling On The Farm: Cleanfarms