Higher wheat yields are possible

Is it possible to increase wheat yields to triple digits in the High Plains? Phil Needham thinks so. In fact, he thinks it is necessary for growers to compete on the world market.

"You compete with farmers in Russia, Australia and all over the world. Wheat is a common currency," Needham said. "For you to be effective, efficient and profitable long term; there are a lot of agronomic principles that you are going to have to focus on."

Needham, owner of Needham Ag Technologies LLC, said he has found weak links in High Plains production methods that could be shored up to increase yields.

Needham, a native of Lincolnshire, England, earned his stripes as a producer and student of high-yield agriculture in his native country. Needham began working in the U.S. in 1986 when Billy Joe Miles, an Owensboro crop protection product supplier, visited England. He quickly recognized that British farmers were seeing wheat yields as high as 130 bushels per acre.

Miles brought him to the U.S. in 1989, and he has been developing systems that have boosted Kentucky's average state wheat yield. Yields have climbed from 33 bushels per acre in the 1980s to yields now topping nearly 70 bpa. Needham has recently formed his own company.

"For the last 10 years I've been involved with some producers out in the Panhandle of Texas to Manitoba in Canada. I have a client near Enid, Okla., who went from yielding 30-bushel wheat to yields upwards of 90 bushels," Needham said.

Needham told those at the meetings that unless they market it at a huge price, it's not going to be practical or possible for them to make money from 30-bushel wheat.

"Other countries are using a lot of newer technologies to get their yields up. As a matter of comparison, the Kentucky state yield is 70 bushels per acre, versus 30 bushels in Kansas," Needham said.

Needham then offered ideas to increase the yield potential of the wheat crop. High wheat yields begin with the harvest of the previous years' crop, Needham said.

"Make sure your combine is doing a good job of crop residue distribution. You've got to start with chopping and spreading your residue properly."

Watch for worn stationary knives, Needham said, as they will not cut the straw lengths properly and it takes a long time for them to break down into the soil. Shorter length residue deteriorates faster to recycle the nutrients in the straw.

"One thing I want to mention is that John Deere has introduced their new PowerCast tailboard," Needham said. "It's essentially two hydraulic motor-driven spreaders on the back of the combine. It enables you to spread your residue much wider. It attaches to the back of a conventional straw chopper and improves spreader characteristics compared with previous models."

Soil testing is needed to begin a plan for possible nutrient increases to increase yields.

"A good history of your soil testing is needed. To have a consultant properly help you, you need a historical template," Needham said. "One farmer I work with has 30 years of testing data behind him for benchmarking fertility.

"When I talk about soil testing, that means testing for everything: Nitrogen, phosphorus, potash and sulfur. Check for copper and zinc, for organic matter percentage, for CEC for how the soil exchanges nutrients, for soil pH, for calcium and magnesium. I would like for you to build your soil test P levels to a minimum of 15 parts per million and preferably to 20 ppm."

It's important for producers to use the same lab for every test, because each lab has different criteria for extracting data, Needham said, and the manner in how they report their data may differ, too. To raise good wheat, use quality treated seed, Needham said.

"Shorter varieties stand better, they capture more nitrogen and give you more yield potential," he added. "Make sure your seed is heavily graded to remove all shriveled kernels. Nobody should plant naked seed. Seed treatments prevent a lot of early season diseases that a lot of you may have in fields at this time.

An idea whose time has come for High Plains wheat production, Needham said, is use of no-till.

"You can raise the same if not better yields with no-till at a lower production cost. It will make you more competitive on the world platform," he said. "Most of the guys in South America who plant soybeans cannot raise wheat, but most of them plant in a no-till environment. In order to be competitive with them, you need to be no-tilling also. "Consider what it costs to disc your field. Consider the moisture conservation problems you get unless you no-till. Just as a result of no-till, a farmer can seed a crop into moisture and make large increases in yields."

To that end Needham suggested producers look into products such as the John Deere 1895 air seeder.

"It provides flexibility with many different placement options and product options," he said. "You can put anhydrous or nitrogen down in the front units. You can apply P and K in your seed furrows. With most soils I would suggest you put no more than 20 to 25 of N, K and S in the row at seeding time.

"The value of the 1895 is the ability to apply fertilizer to the side of the seeding row into the soil rather than broadcasting it. Essentially you save a pass across the field with a sprayer as well as place the fertilizer in between the rows."

Pre-plant applied nitrogen is not something Needham encourages.

"I would encourage you to consider post-applied N applications," Needham said. "It's going to give you a way to feed a crop more appropriately. You'll know better what the yield potential and moisture is to help you on rates and timings."

While no fan of continuous wheat, Needham said he encourages producers to think about raising no-till canola in rotation with wheat.

"I've raised canola with growers for at least 16 years. It's a great rotation crop to seed into wheat, a great opportunity crop," Needham said. "Try some to see if it works for you. Soybeans work great too. Definitely don't plant wheat after wheat. There are a lot of diseases that dominate in wheat after wheat."

Needham said producers "need to come to grips" with the issue of tiller management.

"As you increase your nitrogen levels at or before Feekes growth Stage Five, just before jointing, the number of tillers that you will generate will increase proportionately," Needham said. "For those of you who apply fertilizer at planting, you will produce an excessive amount of tillers. You need to be in the 500 to 600 heads per square yard range. That's heads, not tillers."

Most years, about two-thirds of wheat tillers that are generated early in the season produce heads. Needham challenged the producers that they likely are even higher than that total in their fields.

"That is an excellent example of raising 80-bushel straw and 30-bushel wheat. You have to manipulate so your tiller numbers are more into grain rather than straw," Needham said.

"The earlier you plant a crop the more it will tiller. In our intensive management system, we increase the seeding rate with the planting date. We recommend seeding at the number of seeds per pound in addition to the tillering characteristics of the variety."

Planting depth is important to higher yields, too, Needham said.

"Use a planter with a single depth opener. The control is unmatched especially for wheat and canola. The deeper you plant wheat the less it will tiller," Needham said. "Variety selection also is important in tillering characteristics. You need to know which varieties do more tillering.

"Also if you are heavily front-loading a wheat crop and planting it early it will raise you a lot of straw but not much grain. Soil and ambient air temperatures play a part in tillering. Early springs contribute more to tillering than late ones. Generally, we will plant wheat thicker than usual because it will generate more main stem tillers that mean more yields."

Needham also suggests controlling the traffic in fields by using tramlines that remain in the same place every year and using equipment of similar widths, such as a 30-foot wide tractor, a 30-foot wide combine and 90-foot sprayer booms.

"This way you can eliminate compaction even in a dry climate," Needham said. "There are ways to spend $30 per acre and triple your present yield," Needham said. "It's a matter of tying all these things together and removing the weak links."