The Rural Voice, 2019-09, Page 60added to the field in eight years.
“I rely on rotation – that’s it,” said
Suhr.
He does not see any deficiencies
in most crops but does note his grain
fields are not as green because they
are missing nitrogen.
For this bean field, Suhr hopes the
field will average 30 bushels per
acre, lower than normal because of
the late planting date.
Johnson asked how Suhr manages
to control the weeds that can
overwhelm other organic farmers.
“Weed control is management,”
said Suhr. “The clay soil is not too
bad but the loam soil is a nightmare
for lamb’s quarters. We don’t seem
to have that much weed pressure but
we do plow and we do cover crops.
Clover and twitch is here but not too
much sow thistle.”
Speaking of his rotation and
growing organic crops as a whole,
Suhr said if he were to “do it all over
again” he would incorporate a
herd of 150 cattle into the operation.
He needs the manure and he
needs the hay rotation to maximize
his organic crops.
“I have 60 acres of hay for 800
acres of organic and I really should
have 200 to 300 acres of hay,” he
said. Though he has a flock of sheep,
they do not require that much hay or
produce enough manure to meet the
field’s needs.
“This organic farm runs at 50 to
60 per cent of the capacity it could
be,” he said.
However, he keeps it organic
instead of making it conventional
like his other crop farms because he
really does believe organic is the
right way to go. Also, he jokes, “I’m
greedy.”
“I make twice as much money on
the organic fields as the
conventional,” said Suhr. If managed
properly you can make $30 per
bushel on beans versus $10. Corn
profits can range from $10 to $13 a
bushel. This is because of less inputs
and also because organic corn seed is
cheaper than conventional treated
seed.
Stones are another issue in organic
farming because all scuffling brings
them to the surface. “Stones are a
labour of love when you go organic,”
laughed Suhr.
One farmer asked how Suhr
maintains soil structure when he uses
so much tillage. “I use hay for
bedding (the sheep) and I work it all
in. I also work all the cover crops in,”
said Suhr.
Following the walk through his
bean field, Tori Waugh, Agricultural
Outreach Coordinator with the
Saugeen Valley Conservation
Authority gave a presentation on soil
health in the field across the road.
Eating ham sandwiches and
apples from the bagged lunches
supplied by the tour, farmers watched
as Waugh and volunteers performed
an aggregate stability test using two
clumps of soil. One sample was from
one of Suhr’s conventional fields
(wheat/corn/soy rotation with
minimal tillage) and the other sample
from an organic field (hay for three
years, then sunflowers, now
soybeans). Both were heavy clays.
“Visually, we aren’t seeing a
whole lot of difference,” said Waugh.
The clumps were busting apart about
the same rate, indicating that they
were both stable and able to absorb
water.
Waugh had also done latex molds
in both fields to check for earthworm
volumes.
She discovered the conventional
field had more deep burrowers while
the organic field had more surface
worms. Worm volumes were the
same at about 10 worms per shovel
full.
“That’s not bad but we’ve heard
counts of 98 worms to a shovel full,”
said Waugh.
This comment garnered a snort
from Johnson. “Sounds like coffee
shop stories,” he said. “Are any soils
like that?”
Waugh agreed that 20 worms per
square foot is considered a good
amount.
As to the difference of surface
worms versus deep burrowing
worms, Johnson explained: “The
minimum tillage on the conventional
fields means there is more residue on
the surface of the field to feed the
worms. Meanwhile, the tillage done
on the organic fields is hard on the
Crops
56 The Rural Voice
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