| In
the whirlwind of new technology swirling in the wake of Washington’s
great no-till experiment, some bold new drills, deep shank machines,
cultivators and chisels are nudging the concept closer to wider
commercialization.
But tongues
remain in check as products like Exactrix’ direct nitrogen injection
no-till drill/airseeder system make their debut.
“We tried the unit for the first time last fall, so we really
won’t have a true test until we see the spring results in the 2000
crop,”says Wilbur-Ellis service/sales agent Ric Murison, Fairfield.
Injecting
fertilizer into the ground by cutting a very small slice in the
soil makes it possible to apply NH3 with minimal disturbance of
the ground, he explains. “You don’t have to till the ground before using the machine,”Murison
says. “This allows us to
make a one-pass shot to inject anhydrous ammonia and liquid materials
needed in this part of the state.”
Wilbur
Ellis is trying the unit for possible use in its custom operations
in the future.
“We
borrowed the machine from our Moscow, Idaho, plant to see
how it would do, but this is a first-time trial, so it’s too
early to say much about how successful it might be,”says Wilbur-Ellis
salesman Adam Druffel.
Wilbur-Ellis ran the
unit at six area farms in 1999 on pea, lentil, barley and
wheat stubble, and in a Kentucky bluegrass field.
“This will give us a chance to see how it performs
in different situations, which is important before we can
say this is a good or bad idea,” Druffel says. |
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If manufacturer claims that the Exactrix can enhance application
precision, save $15,000 a year on 5,000 acres, and increase
production up to 40 acres a day are true, “that’s pretty exciting
news for those thinking about no-till,”says Druffel.
The
Exactrix manifold may help us put a more uniform rate on the
field, says Murison. “If we can get improved accuracy from each of the ports, growers
running on hillsides will be able to get the same application
from one side of the unit as the other, and that could be
quite a valuable tool for no-till growers.”
If bluegrass yields
can be enhanced with the injector it would be good news to
growers in Spokane County, where burning is banned.
“If we can get the fertilizer under the thatch where
plants can use it more readily, we have hopes for better yields,”he
says. “It sure looks
like something that will work, and we're encouraging growers
to give it a try. It’s
a farmer-friendly machine, with low maintenance and easy to
use with little expense.” |
| BLUEGRASS
ECONOMICS
Grower
Wes Hein, using the injector for the first time in 1999 on
old bluegrass stands, likes the added capability of getting
the fertilizer under the thatch. “It looks like a good idea, but the proof will
be in the spring,” says the Fairfield producer. He is comparing a 40-acre injector-treated planting with a 30-acre
field on which he applied dry fertilizer in his conventional
manner.
“When
we look at how yields come out this year, we’ll know if we
have a great new idea or not, ”he says. “If we find it works, it could help in our
quest to find a way to grow bluegrass without burning.”
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Unable
to burn his 130 acres of bluegrass land, Hein is concerned
whether he can continue to get economic yields and remain
in the seed business. “I
have hopes, but like all new ideas it is still a stab in the
dark,” he says. “In
a way, I guess you could say the future of bluegrass in Spokane
County pretty much rides on how well this kind of new technology
works out.”
Hein’s
bluegrass cleaned out at about 90 pounds in 1999, losing money
for the grower who got 450 pounds an acre when burning prevented
weeds and diseases. Fire
is also believed to stimulate high-yielding bluegrass seed
heads. |
| Rockford
grower Paul Dashiell, an Eastern Washington bluegrass producer,
also tried the direct inject anhydrous unit for the first
time last season on 200 acres.
“When
we continually topdress, the root mass forms close to the
top of the ground, and this allows us a way to get the fertilizer
deeper and improve the root system, he says. The thin slice made in the soil surface improves
water and oxygen health of the land, he adds.
“I’ve
injected aqua in the past, and found that when we burned it
was able to stimulate the old stands. Now using this device, we can inject gas and
hopefully get improved yields as a result.” The product injection places the material in
a liquid, non-aberrant state above and below the ground line,
the manufacturer states. |
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Dashiell,
who says his bluegrass yields fell 75% as a result of not
burning, says he cannot continue this below cost of production
farming, and that new technology is “greatly needed by every
bluegrass grower in the region today.”
If the
technology fails, bluegrass will be lost not only to his area,
but throughout Washington as no-burning laws tighten down
on the industry, he says. |
“Already,
a lot of growers have left the business, realizing that without
burning, bluegrass isn’t economical,” he says.
“Fields have been plowed under in dryland areas, but some
of us are trying to hang on to see if we can find new ways to meet
the challenge.”
Bluegrass
is the only Washington agricultural industry, which is threatened
with total extinction, Dashiell believes.
“Wheat, forest, fruit - they can all still burn, but bluegrass
growers lost 100% of their burning rights, and that’s discrimination
against our farmers.”
Dashiell
and others have launched a lawsuit against the state of Washington
for failure to compensate growers because of the burning ban.
“We have not been compensated for the established stands
which experienced shortened productive life,” he says.
If
the state would relax its burning ban to allow a “bale-and-burn”
technique that is now used by some farmers on Idaho’s Coeur d’Alene
Indian Reservation “we would have more hope for bluegrass in Washington,”
he argues. In Idaho, farmers
are finding successful yields, and even some increases, by baling
straw following harvest, then burning the remaining stubble only.
This reduces smoke by 80% or more, says Dashiell.
The
bales are shipped to Pacific Northwest Fiber Company in Plummer,
Idaho, for use in plywood manufacturing.
Dashiell is president of the company that began operations
in late 1999.
Baling,
which he is currently doing in Washington, costs him about 25% more
in production expenses over burning, which does not pencil out in
view of reduced yields due to the inability to burn remaining residue,
he says. He ships his bales
to the Plummer strawboard plant.
“New techniques
in burning, new varieties that will grow well without burning and
new machines like this injector are what are needed today by bluegrass
industry,”he says. “But it is needed now.”
Trying
to fill that last part of the order is Exactrix planning and development
spokesman Guy Swanson, Spokane, who worked closely with Dashiell
on his rootbound problems.
ROOTBOUND
PROBLEMS
“Our work
to get nutrients down where they’re needed most became more critical
as regulations against burning increased,” he says.
Relatively
opposite of the function of most similar machines, the injector
applies the NH3 as a liquid, maintaining that state all the way
to the injection point, which helps increase accuracy from each
port, he explains. Growers
who must compensate for uneven applications with other machines
usually over-apply nitrogen on parts of the field.
While nitrogen
costs are low, and adding extra N does not represent a major added
expense, today’s nitrate groundwater contamination concerns bring
new emphasis to application methods which do not lead to overdosing.
Heavy surface
runoff common to bluegrass that hauls surface applied nutrients
into waterways underscore the need for injections of fertilizer.
“Getting the nutrients off the surface and into the ground is perhaps
the biggest advantage the injector offers,” Swanson says.“Once the
ground freezes in Washington during the winter, a lot of water and
nutrients can run off these fields if they are not banded.”
Cost savings
using ammonia, about half to two-thirds the cost of top dressed
urea can be important over time.
“Growers might be looking at as much as $12 an acre savings
at the 120 pound Nrate,” he estimates.Additionally, rigs can run
further using ammonia without refilling, giving another potential
operational savings
“This
can make things more competitive for firms like Wilbur-Ellis,”he
says. “They can bid up against urea, and take away that business
using the injector. I believe with a new piece of technology, fertilizer
dealers will be able to expand their client base.”
Improved
port-to-port accuracy of the injector provides a potential for tonnage
increases, he adds. “The injector isn’t the
key to making no-till work, but can be an important piece in the
puzzle,” he says.
Variable-rate,
site-specific farming interests will like the new unit, he feels,
because of its quarter-of-a-second response to rate change callouts.
“NH3 has not been able to be used in variable rate technology
because in a gas system it takes 15 seconds for the volume in the
lines to recompress at rate changes, ”Swanson says.
“Getting
rates super accurate is vital to today’s agriculture, ”he believes.
The injector, the company claims, is about three times more
accurate than a ground sprayer.
Exactrix
advertises the unit’s variances as low as 1%.
NO-TILL
TILT
A side
effect of no-till farming practices, which more Washington growers
are trying, is a proliferation of “no-serve”customers for companies
like Wilbur-Ellis “More farmers are buying
their own applicators and doing it themselves, versus renting machines
from us,” says Wilbur-Ellis sales and service agent Ric Murison,
Fairfield.
“It has
definitely cut into our business,” he says.
“Growers may be savings some money, but some of us in the
service end may see some profit losses as technology changes.”
But the
problem has been gradual rather than severe, he says. “Not everyone
can run out and buy a no-till drill, so we still have that business,
and we still sell the fertilizer and chemicals they need. Where we’re losing out is in the running of
the rigs.”
No-till
and minimum-till is growing in Spokane County, which has banned
field burning, he says. “A lot of growers are going this way because
of the erosion control it offers.”
But Wilbur-Ellis isn’t resting
on convention. “Ag changes and we change,” Murison says. “No- till
is a good thing, and we’re 100% in back of the idea if it works
out economically for farmers.”
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