An on-farm assessment of seedbed properties, seeding performance, and stand establishment in high-residue cropping systems

Lead Applicant: Joshua Nasielski

Research Priority: Competitive Production Systems

Program Type: Tier 1

Funding Cycle: 2024/2025

Research Centre: NA

Research Summary: "Ontario corn and soybean farmers in no/minimum tillage systems deal with high levels of surface crop or cover crop residue. They can struggle with crop establishment, meaning the process of germination, emergence and final stand attainment. At the simplest level, crop establishment is a function of soil properties that vary spatially across a field (e.g. in response to residue amount or drainage). The underlying causes of poor crop establishment, or non-uniform emergence, have not been quantified on-farm in Ontario. While new planter and tillage tools are available to improve crop establishment, they must address the underlying cause of establishment problems to be effective.

To understand the underlying causes of crop establishment issues and their spatial variation, we propose to conduct on-farm trials across Ontario focusing on fields with a history of stand establishment problems. We will also develop field protocols to help farmers/agronomists diagnose establishment problems on their farms."