McCain trialing multi-species cover crop blend for rotation in the Canadian potato provinces

From : Potatopro

Soil organic matter has become a popular topic of discussion in the past year. In Ontario, a report from late 2016 indicated soil organic matter (SOM) levels in many parts of the province are at 15-year lows, coinciding with increasing interest in the use of cover crops, reduced- or no-till management and longer rotations in the past three to five years.

On Prince Edward Island (PEI), the issue of low soil organic matter levels is also a concern. During the 2018 International Potato Technology Expo this past February, soil health was one of the topics for presentation and discussions, as much of a concern among industry stakeholders as it is for growers.

Most growers are farming on 2.0 to 2.5 per cent soil organic matter, although some at the extreme end of the spectrum are under 1.0 per cent. It’s enough that retailers and seed companies are encouraging the use of cover crops to protect the red sandy soils on the Island. Some are also advising farmers to lengthen their rotations with corn, winter wheat or peas.

One of the surprising sights at the 2018 Potato Expo was at the McCain booth, where attendees could view a slide presentation on the company’s introduction of a multi-species cover crop blend, with a bag of the seed mix on display.

Bryce Drummond, territory manager with McCain Fertilizer, a division of McCain Produce, notes the soil organic matter issue has been developing for decades but that it’s become more serious in the past 10 to 15 years. Prior to 2003, P.E.I. had a healthy livestock sector with beef cattle and hogs. When bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) hit Western Canada, it also affected the beef sector in the Maritimes and reduced the hog market in the region shortly thereafter.

When there was a livestock sector, the conventional rotation for potato growers was potatoes, a cereal and then hay or a forage crop. After BSE hit, there was little or no market for beef or for the cereals fed to cattle.