18th annual national no-tillage conference des moines, iowa * jan. 13-16, 2010 2011 no-till on the...

18th Annual National No-Tillage ConferenceDes Moines, Iowa * Jan. 13-16, 20102011 No-till on the Plains No-till ExpoWallace, NE June 14, 2011

Water Use Efficiency in Northwest Kansas

Dietrich Kastens

Herndon, Kansas


A little about us:• Farm in Rawlins & Cheyenne Counties in Kansas

and Hitchcock County, Nebraska• Eco-Fallow rotation starting around 1990• 100% notill on some acres in 1997• 100% notill across the farm in 2003• Deep, silt-loam soils with ASW of 10”• Currently our base rotation is Wheat-Corn-Milo-Peas

(WCMP). Alfalfa in bottoms. Dabbling with soybeans• Heavy emphasis on science and technology• Lots and lots of on-farm research


2008


Same field in 2001


19001910

19201930

19401950

19591969

19821992

19972002

20070

5

10

15

20

25

mil

lio

ns

of

ho

rses

& m

ule

s

0

1

2

3

4

5

mil

lio

ns

of

trac

tors

Horses/mules and tractors on U.S. Farms

horses & mules

tractors

Source: U.S. Census of Agriculture

-- 40 years --


1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

Per

cen

t o

f ac

res

in n

o-t

ill

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

Source: CTIC, Crop Residue Management Survey (1999, 2001, 2003, and 2005 interpolated)

Percent of Acres in No-till by crop, U.S.

Soybeans

Milo

Corn

Small grains (F)

Small grains (S)

20 years already in our area and still lots of iron in the ground………


• Notill Adoption is a slow-moving technology (like tractors were)

• Requires a huge investment in time, education, money and research so folks will move at whatever speed is comfortable to them.

• The folks farming with horses yet in the 1950’s were too late in the adoption curve and most of those farms didn’t go on another generation. That is the risk for adopting a new technology too slowly.


OK, so let’s look at some water stuff from our farm…..


• This past dry winter we had lots of internal discussions about water storage and usage on our farm. Specifically, we were looking at better understanding profitability trade-offs and risks for planting corn vs. milo in 2011.

• Unlike the corn belt who harvests sunlight, we out here in the west harvest water.


• For our own farm we have a long-term primary goal and that is to always have yields be water limited. This assumes proper management around water (nutrients, operation timing, harvest, etc.,)

• Question: How good are we actually doing with the water we get?


Terraces allowed us to keep the water on the field during the old days but it didn’t do much good though.


Average Precipitation by Month for Kastens Inc. Farms(1994-2010)

0.00

0.50

1.00

1.50

2.00

2.50

3.00

3.50

Janu

ary

Febru

ary

Mar

chApr

ilM

ayJu

ne July

Augus

t

Septe

mbe

r

Octobe

r

Novem

ber

Decem

ber

Inch

es

Rainfall

21.5” of Rainfall Annually


Precipitation Coefficient of Variation by Month for Kastens Inc. Farms(1994-2010)

0.0%

20.0%

40.0%

60.0%

80.0%

100.0%

120.0%

140.0%

160.0%

180.0%

200.0%

Janu

ary

Febru

ary

Mar

chApr

ilM

ayJu

ne July

Augus

t

Septe

mbe

r

Octobe

r

Novem

ber

Decem

ber

Annua

l

CV


Water Table from Stone & Schlegelstone06.pdf

Max ET for a Threshold Yield vs. ET LT Yield vs. ETCrop full season variety ET Slope 1 Slope 2corn 25 10.9 16.9 13.3milo 21 6.9 12.2 9.4

sunflower 22 5.4 218 150wheat 24 10 6 4.6

soybean 24 7.8 4.6 3.8


Slope 1

Slope 2 1 ExpY

Start End Total Total ExpY Implied Lost H20

Rotation Month Month Months H2O (in) Thresh Slope bu/ac Eff. % inches

Wheat WF July June 24 42.98 10 4.6 50 33% 22.11

Wheat CFW October June 21 34.94 10 4.6 60 52% 11.90

Wheat WW July June 12 21.48 10 4.6 40 76% 2.78

Wheat WP July June 12 23.42 10 4.6 60 97% 0.38

Corn CW July September 15 29.5 10.9 13.3 100 40% 11.08

Corn CC October September 12 21.48 10.9 13.3 70 50% 5.32

Corn CM November September 11 19.54 10.9 13.3 70 61% 3.38

Milo MW July October 16 31.44 6.9 9.4 100 43% 13.90

Milo MC October October 13 23.42 6.9 9.4 80 52% 8.01

Milo MM November November 13 23.42 6.9 9.4 80 52% 8.01

Peas PC October June 9 13.46 0.085 3.0

Peas PM November June 8 11.52 0.085 3.0


Efficiency

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

WF CFW WW WP CW CC CM MW MC MM

Rotation Leg

%o

f to

tal w

ater

use

d

Efficiency

Not truly this high as peas areshallow rooted and do not harvest full water profile


Slope 1

Slope 2 1

Start End Total Total 50%

Rotation Month Month Months H2O (in) Thresh Slope efficient

Wheat WF July June 24 42.98 10 4.6 75.9

Wheat CFW October June 21 34.94 10 4.6 57.4

Wheat WW July June 12 21.48 10 4.6 26.4

Wheat WP July June 12 23.42 10 4.6 30.9

Corn CW July September 15 29.5 10.9 13.3 123.7

Corn CC October September 12 21.48 10.9 13.3 70.4

Corn CM November September 11 19.54 10.9 13.3 57.5

Milo MW July October 16 31.44 6.9 9.4 115.3

Milo MC October October 13 23.42 6.9 9.4 77.6

Milo MM November November 13 23.42 6.9 9.4 77.6

Peas PC October June 9 13.46 0.085 3.0 20.2

Peas PM November June 8 11.52 0.085 3.0 17.3

Let’s force everything to be 50% efficient


Slope 1

Slope 2 1

















Corn Yield by Water Use Efficiency

100

123.7

148.4

173.2

197.9

222.6

247.4

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Water Use Efficiency (%)

Co

rn Y

ield

(b

u/a

c)

Yield


Where are we losing Water from the system?

• Evaporation– Significant losses here, especially due to fallow periods in

the warm months (long or short fallow)

• Run-off and Drainage– Not much of a problem today with continuous cropped notill

• Transpired through non-crop species (weeds)– We all know that weeds can use a lot of water,


Evaporation

• Let’s borrow from Dwayne Beck and

“Take the E out of ET”.

– Or at least lets try to make it a small “e”.

• Fallow periods in warm months are a major problem.– Long summer fallow (traditional summer fallow)– Short summer fallow (after spring crop harvest)– Short spring fallow (before fall crops have canopied)


Evaporation

• Traditional long summer fallow is very inefficient– 25% water storage efficient (WSE) in Tribune, KS in 2010

• Short summer fallow is not a lot better– 30-35% WSE with straight cut wheat stubble– 35-40% WSE with stripper cut wheat stubble

• Short spring fallow has losses as well– Without adequate surface residue, lots of water leaves

before crop canopy


Stripper harvest of small grains provides uniform residue distribution and more stubble height to hold back wind, but after chaff breaks down, lots of soil exposed until stubble falls down over winter.


35 Day Drying Event (2005 DOY 249-283)

0

2

4

6

8

10

0 50 100 150 200 250Cumulative ETo (mm)

Sh

allo

w P

rofi

le W

ater

(m

m)

Short Cut High Cut Stripped

ybare = 0.0003x2 - 0.0992x + 10.175

R2 = 0.9928

ycut = -0.0279x + 8.4422

R2 = 0.9658

ystripped = -0.0277x + 8.7991

R2 = 0.9648

Evaporation for 35 days after a rain -Decatur Co, KS

Haag, L.A. and S.A. Staggenborg. 2006. Impact of Stubble Height on Soil Moisture Dynamics. 2006 International ASA-CSSA-SSSA Meetings. ASA Presentation No. 154-6. Madison, WI.


Corn Planted into stripper stubble


Emerging corn in stripper stubble


Only soil exposed to sunlight


Grain YieldRawlins 2007

Stubble x Hybrid

Stubble Treatment

25 cm (10 in) Cut 71 cm (28 in) Stripped

Gra

in Y

ield

(b

u ac

-1)

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

Gra

in Y

ield

(M

g h

a-1)

0

2

4

6

8

8534YG1/RR 8812YG1/RR

A

BBB

Means seperated at LSD (0.01)

Stripper stubble requires different management

Lucas Haag -2008


Surface conditions at wheat planting time in long fallow.


Surface conditions at wheat planting time in pea stubble.


Emerging wheat in pea stubble.


Emerging wheat in soybean stubble in 2011.-Dry conditions at planting followed by a week of high winds.


Emerging wheat in soybean stubble in 2011.-It’s going to take a few years to recover this ground!


Evaporation

• Short Summer Fallow– Probably too short of a season to grow another cash crop– Could we grow some cheaper nitrogen and not hurt water?

• On-farm research looking at cover crops after wheat starting this year.

• Must be careful not to harvest “Too Much” water or break down too much residue (hurt us during the spring fallow).

• At Dakota Lakes they have been experimenting with planting their summer cover crops on 30” rows instead of 10” rows for residue preservation.


Evaporation

• Short Summer Fallow– Could we grow something else beneficial to the system

while (at a minimum) not reducing WSE for the next crop?

– Bern’s brothers at Green Cover seed actually have some data from 2010 that showed a specific cover crop cocktail was able to grow without any measurable loss in ASW accumulation. Are they just trying to sell us seed?

This is where the on-farm research comes in.


Run-off and Drainage

Cropping Intensity (100+%)• Avoid too many low residue crops in rotation

Residue & micro-pore distribution & canopy closure• Narrow row spacing

– 10” rows wheat, peas and milo• With milo this results in a 10x10 grid of plants

• Should we be thinking about 20” corn?


Transpired through non-crop species (weeds)

• We all know weeds are bad, but full control carries some economic trade-offs, thus often is a “gut-feel” decision.

• We all have examples where we spent too much or too little on weeds, but it’s hard to find the middle ground.

• Where’s the science?


Lost wheat stand due to lack of kochia control.


Volunteer RR corn in fallow taps a lot of water


Crop Slope Field Size (ac) 1Wheat 4.60 Weed coverage 10%Corn 13.30 Duration (days) 14Milo 9.40 ET (inches/day) 0.19 (typical May)

Lost water (in/ac) 0.266NewC $/bu (051311)Wheat 7.54$ Yield loss Crop LossCorn 5.44$ Crop (bu/ac) Price ($/ac)Milo 5.30$ Wheat 1.2 7.54$ 9.23$ Soybeans 11.93$ Corn 3.5 5.44$ 19.25$

Milo 2.5 5.30$ 13.25$


http://cropwatch.unl.edu/web/cropwatch/archive?articleID=4199561

Managing for high residue helps


Transpired through non-crop species (weeds)

• According to experts, like Canadian Dr. Neil Harker, the best IWM program involves a diverse and intense crop rotation with emphasis on:– Seeding and Fertilizing– Growing competitive cultivars– Rotational diversity– Optimal agronomics– Harvesting

• Many weed seeds won’t germinate without sunlight.


Wrap-up

• We’ve made huge gains in water use efficiency over the past 20 years through:– Increasing cropping intensity (from 50% to 100%)

– Eliminating tillage

– Focusing on surface residue management• Volume and distribution (think uniformity)


Wrap-up

• Still have a ways to go when I see that we’re only 40% WUE for corn in wheat stubble or 52% WUE for milo in corn stalks.

• How much more can we push intensity?– Can we squeeze another cash crop in somewhere?– How might cover crops fit into our mix?


Wrap-up

• These are all questions whose answers must be found on our own farms.

• Notill management makes finding “answers” a moving target as relationships change along with the soil.

• More on-farm research needed


Wrap-up

• University systems can provide some answers but there are too many specific questions for them to cover everything.

• Private consultants can help steer folks in the correct direction, but you are the one spending the money and new technologies have to be evaluated on your farm.


Wrap-up

• Excellent Notill organizations out there– Notill on the Plains (www.notill.org)

– Colorado Conservation Tillage Assoc. (www.highplainsnotill.com)

– No-Till Farmer (www.no-tillfarmer.com)

• Excellent on-farm research groups out there as well– Kansas Ag Research and Technology Assoc.

• www.kartaonline.org

– Nebraska Agriculture Technology Association

• www.neata.org


2001

Questions?

Decision Making in the Field is STILL important!

18th annual national no-tillage conference des moines, iowa * jan. 13-16, 2010 2011 no-till on the...

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