Your Soil Test Is Back
Now What? Start With the Crop Plan.
Harvest is wrapping up and soil test results are starting to come back. It's tempting to go straight to fertilizer. But for ICAN member Kirsten Oram, an independent agronomist in Saskatchewan, the next step is the crop plan.
START WITH THE ROTATION
Almost every fall decision depends on knowing what's going into each field next year. Fertility rates, fall herbicides, and where sulfur gets spread all follow from the crop plan.
Kirsten keeps rotation records for her clients going back to 2018. That history isn't just record-keeping. It shows patterns that change what can safely go where.
Kirsten saw this firsthand with a client whose canola followed lentils, after a Group 2 herbicide had been used in the lentil crop.
"If you don't get enough rain in season, it'll carry over in the soil and it'll hurt your canola the next year… So we ended up having to switch his rotation."
The rotation had to change, and the field history is how they caught it.
Some producers like to pick their own rotation and talk it through with their agronomist.
Others want their agronomist to draft it first. Either way, the plan gets built field by field, including how many acres go to each pulse crop and where those acres move from year to year.
To make that easier, Kirsten put together a free crop rotation template. Download it below.
UNDECIDED IS FINE, EXCEPT FOR PULSES
Not every field needs a final answer this fall. If a field could go to canola or wheat, you can run a fertility plan for both and decide over the winter.
Fields headed to pulses are different. Fall residual herbicides go on around freeze-up, once soil temperatures drop below about 5°C, and they hold into spring to control the first flush of weeds like kochia. If you want that protection ahead of lentils, the decision has to be made now. Some residuals also carry restrictions for crops like canola, so check the label against your plan.
BUILD THE FERTILITY PLAN
With soil tests back and the rotation set, fertility planning goes field by field. Kirsten builds her clients' plans in spreadsheets that total up what's needed, so producers know exactly how much to order.
Most producers book fertilizer in late summer or fall to get early pricing. A common approach is to book an estimate early, then adjust the tonnage once soil sampling gives more accurate numbers, before it's delivered. Waiting has a cost: prices tend to climb heading into the new year as spring demand builds, especially for nitrogen.
The crop plan also decides where fall-applied nutrients go. One of Kirsten's clients spreads all of his sulfur in the fall rather than running it through the drill, where it can clump and be hard on equipment. That only works if you know where the canola is going.
For more on fall vs. spring application of phosphorus and potassium, see last month's post with ICAN member Bryce Moore.
WHERE PRICE COMES IN
Input prices shape the plan too. Producers are often more conservative with phosphorus and potassium on rented land, and use good price years to build soil fertility on land they own.
Yield goals are part of the same conversation. When prices are high, some producers aim for the middle rather than pushing for a top yield. The soil test tells you what the field has. The crop plan and the budget decide what you do with it.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Soil test results are the starting point, not the plan. Know where every field is going, make your pulse decisions before freeze-up, and book fertility around a plan instead of a guess.
DOWNLOAD THE FREE CROP ROTATION TEMPLATE
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