Mike Howell (00:08):
The Dirt, with me, Mike Howell, an economics podcast where I present the down and dirty agronomic science to help grow crops and bottom lines. Inspired by economics.com, farming’s go-to informational resource, I’m here to break down the latest crop nutrition research, news, and issues, helping farmers make better business decisions through actionable insights. Let’s dig in. Listeners, welcome back to The Dirt, glad you’re tuning in again this week as we continue our focus on The Calgary Stampede and agriculture across Canada. To help us talk a little bit more about that today, we’ve got Amy Crozier. Amy is a marketing rep with Nutrien, based in Canada. Amy, if you will, tell us a little bit more about yourself and what you do with Nutrien.
Amy (00:57):
Hey, Mike, thanks for having me on. With Nutrien, I am the specialties marketing rep for ESN and MAP+MST. I have a background, I have a family grain operation and dairy operation, and I’ve been in the industry for about 20 years, and have been really happy to be part of the Nutrien team, marketing our specialty products.
Mike Howell (01:15):
Amy, if you will, tell us a little bit about your territory. What areas do you cover?
Amy (01:23):
I cover Alberta and British Columbia, so the two most Western provinces.
Mike Howell (01:24):
Okay, and what all crops are being grown in those areas this year? I know canola is always a major crop up there, but what other crops are you all looking at?
Amy (01:31):
The most dominant, especially this year, just with the way the markets have been, wheat and canola, but there’s also a variety of specialty crops. Down in the south, we’ve got some sugar beets, they grow some corn and potatoes. There’s also some other potato pockets in the more central areas, as well as a lot of feed crops that’s grown, alfalfa, barley, [inaudible 00:01:52] corn, so there’s a variety. There’s a little bit of fun with some quinoa played with, and some field peas, as well.
Mike Howell (01:57):
Okay, sounds like you’ve definitely got some diversity to keep you busy up that way. Amy, one thing we wanted to talk about today is the SeedMaster contest. If you would, tell us a little bit about what the SeedMaster contest is.
Amy (02:14):
SeedMaster essentially reached out to a bunch of industry partners. They have a new drill, the SSR Ultra, so it was a precision seed placement drill, and they wanted to partner with different people in the industry with some premium technologies, to give one producer essentially 160 acres of gold, is what they called it. It was with canola crop. We supplied our ESN technology, which was a really good fit. The precision seed placement with their canola seed, that was supplied by BSF, and then we supplied the ESN, which was a perfect fit. It had three times the seed safety, and as well as it essentially provided efficient source of nitrogen.
Mike Howell (02:53):
Okay, so how could a grower enter this contest?
Amy (02:55):
The contest launched … We have a big agricultural show in Red Deer, Alberta. It’s called Agritrade, and farmers could enter there. It launched in November of 2022, and it was drawn on January 26th. It had over 1000 entries, and they just filled out an application, and then it was drawn on air with Real Talk Radio with Shaun Haney.
Mike Howell (03:17):
Okay, so it was more of winning the prize instead of actually doing something to win the prize. Basically, they just filled out an application? Is that what I’m understanding?
Amy (03:25):
Yeah, so they went to the show, the ones that won it, from what I believe, is, they filled out the … It was funny because he was saying, I wasn’t sure I wanted to fill this out, and he doesn’t win anything, but this time, he did.
Mike Howell (03:37):
Okay, so tell us a little bit about what he actually won. You mentioned the 160 acres of gold, what all is involved in that?
Amy (03:43):
It involves essentially, everything that you need to grow 160 acres of canola. So that starts, up in this area, it was a zero till field with the SeedMaster. It is a precision place drill, obviously you don’t need to do a lot of field prep for it. So essentially started off with a pre-burn, all the chemistries that you need in order to control your weeds, fungicide in order to control any of the pests, Sclerotinia and whatnot. Also included fertilizer, the ESN was donated by Nutrien for our premium technology. Essentially, it’s a polymer-coated urea that is slow releases over the season to provide season-long feeding, as well as the canola seed. So essentially, it was everything that you need in order to grow a good canola crop on 160 acres.
Mike Howell (04:31):
Well, Amy, it sounds like it’s quite a prize for somebody to win 160 acres. I’m glad the winners are able to enjoy that, and we’re going to talk with them here in a few minutes and find out a little bit more about their experience this year, and see how their crop’s turning out. Before we do that, we’re wanting to focus in on the Stampede a little bit this week, Amy. Can you talk a little bit about the Calgary Stampede and why that’s so important for Calgary and Canada as a whole?
Amy (04:54):
Well, Stampede has been around since 1912, it’s been a long tradition in Alberta. As a kid, I can remember going there with my family and always watch the rodeo, the midway, get a beaver tail. That was always a Canadian treat you always look forward at the Stampede.
Mike Howell (05:10):
Okay, wait a minute, let me stop you right there. I know what a beaver tail is in my neck of the wood. We would trap beavers and take those and turn them in and get a bounty for every beaver we turned in. Somehow, I don’t think that’s the same thing you’re talking about.
Amy (05:23):
No, it’s not actually off a beaver, fortunately. Essentially, it’s a dough pastry that they deep-fry, and they lather it up in butter and cinnamon and sugar, so it’s every kid’s dream.
Mike Howell (05:35):
Well, that sounds a lot like what we call elephant ears down here. If it’s anything similar to that, I know it’s wonderful. I hate to interrupt you with that, but I wanted to make sure we knew what a beaver tail was.
Amy (05:44):
Yeah, so the Stampede is actually one of the largest festivals in Western Canada for the rodeos. And it’s not just about the rodeo, it provides access for a lot of different community events. We have a lot of local kids that come and perform. You have your show riders, showcases, and it really just brings the entire community together, and it’s a huge economic driver, as well, for a lot of the local businesses in the area that really depend on the rodeo.
Mike Howell (06:15):
You mentioned a few things, and I’ve always watched the Stampede on television, and it’s on the bucket list to get up there. I was hoping to get up there this year, it just didn’t work out. I always thought about it as just being a rodeo, and it sounds like there’s so much more to it than that. I had no idea that there was the midway aspect of it, and all the rides and that kind of stuff. Sounds like quite an event for the family to go out to. I’m sure looking forward to getting up there one day, I’m not sure when it’ll be, but that’s definitely one of the things I want to get to before I get too old to travel anymore. Hope I still have a few years left to travel. Amy, you talked about going to the Stampede as a kid, and some of your memories there. Do you have any really memorable experiences that you want to talk about a little bit, things that happened at the Stampede?
Amy (06:56):
Well, I married into a farm and I went to university for agriculture. I always lived rural, and the one thing … I always loved the Riders and watching them. It was always just a family event, and we always looked forward because all our family ended up going down to Calgary, and I have an uncle that lives down there, and it was a lot of excitement, and watching all the riders in the world-class rodeo and the bull riding is always something to remember.
Mike Howell (07:21):
Okay, well, Amy, we sure appreciate you taking time out of your busy day to visit with us for a few minutes. We’re going to move on now. We talked about the SeedMaster contest, and we have the family that actually won the contest with us today, and we’re going to talk with the Krywko family in our next segment. Listeners, I’m pleased to let you know that we have the winners from the SeedMaster 160 Acres of Gold giveaway with us today. The winner of that was Mr. Ken Krywko. Ken, welcome to The Dirt.
Ken Krywko (07:48):
Thank you. Thanks for having us.
Mike Howell (07:50):
Ken, you also brought your two sons, who do a little farming with you, as well, Dan and Brad. Gentlemen, welcome.
Dan Krywko (07:55):
Thanks for having us.
Brad Krywko (07:56):
Thanks for having us.
Mike Howell (07:57):
Now Ken, I understand that your family has been farming for just a few years. If you will, give us a little history and background into your operation. Where do you farm, how many acres, how long has the farm been there? A little bit about what crops you grow, things like that.
Ken Krywko (08:11):
All right, we farm in northern Alberta. I’m a third generation farmer. My grandfather moved out in the area, farmed back in the ’30s, and my father took over. And then, us boys farm now, and I’m looking at my fourth generation farmers here, and hopefully they can take over one day. I think they will. We grow oil seeds, cereals, barley, hard red spring wheat, RCPS wheat. That’s typically what we generally grow on our farm.
Mike Howell (08:40):
Tell me why you chose to stay on the farm and keep the family history going. Have you ever considered doing anything else, or is farming something you always wanted to do?
Ken Krywko (08:48):
Actually, I didn’t want to be a farmer. As a kid at home, we worked hard and had cattle and pigs, and there was never no time to do anything else, so we worked. And I thought to myself, man, you know what? There’s more to life than this. I don’t really want to be a farmer, so I took up a sheet metal trade and went to Nate and got my ticket and everything doing that. And then, after tin bashing for about 10, 15 years I decided, you know what, maybe farming ain’t so bad after all. So I come back to dad and asked him if I could get back into the farm, he said absolutely, and then we started farming, and then I decided it was time for me to branch off on my own. And I’m glad where I am now, would I change anything? Absolutely not, I love being a farmer.
Mike Howell (09:28):
Brad, obviously to keep a farm going for as long as you’ve had this one going, you have to be doing some things right. If you would, tell us a little bit about some of the practizes that you do there on the farm that help make it sustainable so it’s there for next year and can keep this tradition going long afterwards.
Brad Krywko (09:44):
I think the biggest importance for us, between me, dad, and Daniel working together is, we can really get stuff done and focusing on things. And as far as keeping it sustained, we definitely work together with all the various tasks that we do. It’s a lot easier for us to get things done and finish things up between the three of us, so that definitely helps a lot, having all of us helping out, definitely for the harvesting and the seeding and all that stuff, as well. We’re all pretty fussy with how we seed, obviously, it’s the most important thing. So I think working together and making sure that we’re doing the right job seeding, doing the right practizes in cleaning, we definitely are helping ourselves sustain by helping each other out and having the right practises.
Mike Howell (10:31):
Okay, and Dan, I’m going to ask you a similar question that I asked your dad earlier. Why did you choose to stay on the farm instead of venturing off into something else?
Dan Krywko (10:40):
Well, I kind of ventured off into something else. Out of high school, I went to university, I took a bachelor of arts degree. During that time, I worked for Sturgeon County, it’s the county where we live, and I worked in the ag department there, did that for six years. After my bachelor of arts degree, I took a bachelor of education degree and got a job teaching high school social. And during that time, I was always on the farm, helping out on the farm whenever I could. And after I graduated university, I moved close to the farm, close enough that I could continue farming and helping out in the evenings and on the weekends. And even now, moving forward, starting on to pick up just like Brad, farming more land ourselves, and all working together to farm is one big farm, but we all farm land ourselves, and kind of growing that way, as well. It’s easier to pick up more land when you have lots of help instead of trying to do it all by yourself.
Mike Howell (11:29):
Exactly. So Ken, let’s talk a little bit about the 160 Acres of Gold giveaway. I’m not really familiar with that giveaway, so if you will, tell our listeners a little bit about what all you received as winning that.
Ken Krywko (11:41):
Well, I received a phone call from Tim from SeedMaster, and he informed me that I won this prize of 160 acres of gold. And at first, I didn’t really believe it, I thought nah, it’s got to be a hoax or something. But all in all, Brad actually was notified first, and it was actually his birthday that day. And Brad texted my wife, Janine, because I couldn’t answer my phone, and dad’s got to call Brad right away, it’s very important. I did, and he told me what happened, and yeah, I was quite shocked and impressed and very happy about it. And what it involved was, they were supplying 160 acres of Liberty seed, all the fertilizer, the chemicals, the use of a SeedMaster drill and tractor, sponsored through Martin Farm Equipment, also in Edmonton. Also, we were given an agronomist for it and harvesting of it, we get a combine to harvest the field.
Mike Howell (12:39):
Wow, that’s quite a big prize.
Ken Krywko (12:40):
It was, it was a very big prize. We were pretty excited and stoked about it. At first, it was sort of surreal, there’s no way. And then, after Tim and Dwayne came over and did a farm visit and we sat down, we went through everything, I go, okay, this is real, this is what’s going down. So it was pretty cool.
Mike Howell (12:56):
So I’m assuming by this time of the year, the crop’s in the ground and everything’s growing. Tell us a little bit about the crop and how it started off, what kind of conditions did you have, and what the crop’s looking like today.
Ken Krywko (13:05):
We did not start off very well. It was quite dry this year, so we were seeing our canola an inch and a half in the ground. Generally, we seed about three quarters of an inch. Because of the dry conditions, we went deeper, and thank goodness we did, because we did not get no moisture for a long, long period of time, and the roots shot down fairly deep, actually deeper than I thought canola could even go. But roots went down, it sustained itself until we actually did finally receive some rain. We received two and three-quarter inches of rain, and then about three days later, another two inches, so we got just about five inches of rain. And the crop, right away, as soon as we received that moisture, then took right off, and as right now, it actually looks pretty nice. It’s in the flowering stage right now, probably 30, 40% flowering.
(13:57)
And also they supplied us with Sclerotinia products through BSF to spray it. They were supplying everything to grow this crop, whether it was fungicides … We did spray it for cutworms, also, there were some cutworms in the field. The agronomists found them, said we need to spray, and which the chemical was supplied for that, also, and we sprayed for cutworms. If we didn’t spray for cutworms, we would’ve lost the crop. They can go through the field pretty fast and be pretty devastating. We managed to stay on top of that, and not only that field, all our other canola fields, we were watching it very closely, and we did spray some other fields, also. As of today, crops are looking pretty nice. We’re supposed to get some more moisture here in the next couple of days, I think, which will be good to help finish her off. I would suspect by end of August, probably be swathing it. Or if we’re not, we’ll straight cut it a couple of weeks later.
Mike Howell (14:50):
Brad, your dad mentioned one of the things that was part of this contest was the drill. If you would, tell me a little bit about the drill. I’m assuming that this is a newer piece of equipment with some technology on it. Can you talk about that a little bit?
Brad Krywko (15:01):
We got the chance to use an Ultra SR, so it’s a single row shank system, and it’s set up as one system, the tank and the toolbar all into one frame chassis. At first, seeing the unit, it’s a nice unit, I think, when we’re using it. I really like the emergence, it did a great job on the emergence of the crop. Also, the way it follows and contours the ground, being that it’s all one unit on a frame. The shanks are independent on the frame, so it follows the ground a lot better, being that they’re all connected to one unit, so it helps follow the ground and contour way better. Very impressive unit, and I’m curious to see how it works out with the canola that we did.
(15:43)
We tried some wheat with it, and we tried some canola, so we have a little bit of trials with it. It does have 15-inch spacing on it, where our drill, we run 12-inch spacing, so we’re also trying that new on our farm, as well. So I guess we’ll see, once we actually get the crop off, how well it works, and we’ll see the difference between the two spacings of the units and the difference between being one unit or a tank and tool combined.
Dan Krywko (16:10):
Just to add to that, as well, the SeedMaster was seeding at three and a half pounds an acre, 3.8 pounds an acre, where we’re usually seeding five to five and a half with our drills. So seeing the emergence from seeding at a lower rate, getting the same emergence as seeding with our drill at a higher rate, timesing that by thousands of acres, and should substantially make a cost to your seed.
Mike Howell (16:30):
Well, that sounds like a big savings just from the emergence standpoint. Now, I also understand that with this equipment, you can place the fertilizer down with the seed and make all that in one application. Ken, if you will, talk a little bit about the fertilizer application side of it and how that works.
Ken Krywko (16:46):
Everything’s done in one pass. We deep band the fertilizer deeper than the seed. The seed is sideband on a single shoot opener. I would say it’s about three eighths of an inch from the fertilizer, the seed is.
Mike Howell (16:58):
So Dan, we were talking about the fertilizer. Did I hear right? Is this all going down with the seed in a sideband application? And if you will, tell us a little bit about the ESN to urea ratio, and talk a little bit about the rates of these products.
Dan Krywko (17:11):
We don’t put any fertilizer with the seed, we do a sideband. We are putting down about 120 pounds of end with about a 30% ESN ratio. In the field, they take about 86 soil samples throughout, and with those soil samples, they map the field, and they do a variable rate throughout. So in some parts of the field, it is getting the full 120 pounds of end in a single pass. In some areas of the field where it maybe doesn’t produce the best or it already has high nitrogen levels, it’ll cut back to 100 pounds of end, depending where it needs it the most for your best yield. Again, cutting in the cost of how expensive fertilizer is, cutting into the cost of fertilizer for your expenses, it helps out.
Mike Howell (17:52):
What kind of fertilizer do you use? Is it a blended fertilizer? Are you putting out different types or different grades of fertilizer? What kind of fertilizer are you applying with the seed?
Ken Krywko (18:01):
Yeah, cereals and canola, we use different blends. It’s a blend made up at, a local fertilizer distributor makes up a blend for us for the canola. We’ve got some potash in there, of course, our nitrogen, and some Sulphur. And I got some ESN, ESN, this year, was put on our SeedMaster field. I generally don’t grow ESN on canola fields, but I may change my mind on that now once I see what comes off of it. We do definitely use ESN on our cereals, absolutely, and we notice a big difference in proteins, and that gives you more money per bushel with the higher proteins. Yield-wise, I think we may gain four or five bushels an acre on yield, also using ESN. I experimented back and forth on that aspect of it. I think now with this ESN in there, if it’s going to produce a better crop, and which I will know because this year, I tried some without the ESN, so I’ll have a good side-by-side comparison, the difference. I’m hoping it will make a big difference.
Mike Howell (19:05):
Always good to do those on-farm trials and see how these products are going to perform in your fields. Dan, another thing that they talked about was the seed. Now, I don’t know a lot about canola and canola seed, but sounds like some new seed technology, as well. Can you talk a little bit about the seed?
Dan Krywko (19:21):
It’s crazy, the amount of technology that goes into it. So they have shadow-resistant varieties, they have late-emergent varieties, Sclerotinia-resistant varieties. Typically, depending on where your location is geographically, whether you want to straight cut it, swath it, lots of different varieties to go with to help you manage your farm, what best suits your practize.
Ken Krywko (19:41):
With clubroot. [crosstalk 00:19:42].
Dan Krywko (19:42):
Yeah, nowadays, with a lot of our land in our area, we suffer with clubroot, which is a disease to the canola. So a lot of these canola producers are making … Or people who make the canola seed, they’re starting to do clubroot resistance so that way, you’re not getting diseases. I think every year they make the canola, put some more technology into it, and figure out what guys need to sustain their land in their areas. Because you get a lot of diseases with canola, so you got to be careful and try and minimize those diseases. We also take crop rotation management on our farm, rotating crops every year to make sure that less disease, even for our wheat and canola, for better yields.
Mike Howell (20:24):
Okay, sounds great. There’s always something new and exciting coming along, and need to take advantage of these new technologies when we can. Ken, I understand this is you all’s first experience with the SeedMaster seeder. If you would, tell us a little bit about what you’ve learned, and what could you tell somebody that may be considering using one of these. Give them a little advice before they get started with it maybe next year.
Ken Krywko (20:45):
I think the SeedMaster drill, again, I think we said earlier, it works on [inaudible 00:20:50] pressure, so it doesn’t work off your frame for placing the placement of your seed. I think that’s a real big benefit, you can set each one individually to how deep you want to put that seed, where, the current drill we run right now is basically off the frame. If your frame is square and level and everything, it’ll put the seed exactly where you want it, but if it’s not, you could have some seeding deeper than others. The front row could be deeper, the back row could be shallower, so I think SeedMaster’s got a real nice product there that will follow the ground a lot better.
(21:26)
And I think it’s very crucial, especially in canola seeds, is to make sure every spring, when you pull out the tool to get into the field working, that it is level, take the time, level off the drill, make sure everything’s good, otherwise, you could have a real nightmare. Cereal’s a little more forgiving, if you’re cereals are out a little bit, you’re seeding deeper, it’ll grow anyways, but canola’s very crucial to get the right seeding depth, for sure.
Mike Howell (21:49):
Well guys, we really appreciate you taking the time to visit with us today and share a little bit more information about the contest and what you won and how it’s working. I do have one more question, and I’m going to ask it of all three of you. I was not able to get to Calgary this week for the Calgary Stampede, and that’s something that’s definitely on my bucket list. So if you would, take just a minute and tell me what I’m missing, make it really exciting, make me want to get back up there next year if I can.
Brad Krywko (22:15):
Well, you were lucky for yesterday because last night, we got a bad hailstorm come through here, so you’re lucky you missed out on that. Other than that, the weather’s been beautiful so far that we’ve been here. Lots of people, great atmosphere, and the stampede, a rodeo. Who doesn’t like a good rodeo, right? So it’s just a great atmosphere, great people here. Also seen [inaudible 00:22:39], they also show new technologies. They have a little farm egg show here, as well, showing some stuff, so it’s kind of cool to see what’s new, as well.
Dan Krywko (22:47):
I travelled with kids, so my perspective’s a little different. The kids are super excited to go to the rodeo, and there’s rides here, again, at the hotel, or the staff here in Calgary are super friendly, accommodating. Yeah, my kids are super excited to go.
Mike Howell (23:02):
Brad, anything to add?
Brad Krywko (23:05):
Well, you guys said it all. It’s all good, yeah.
Ken Krywko (23:07):
You’re travelling with kids, too?
Brad Krywko (23:09):
Yes, I used to.
Ken Krywko (23:12):
I’m looking forward to it. To be honest with you, I have not been to a Calgary Stampede yet, this is my first time, so I’m sure I’m going to enjoy it, from what I hear and see, I’m looking forward to going, which will be today.
Mike Howell (23:23):
Okay, sounds good. I know the pain of travelling with kids, I just have seven myself, so not easy going anywhere.
Brad Krywko (23:30):
Oh, yeah.
Dan Krywko (23:32):
Just thanking all the sponsors and everybody that helped us with this 160 acres of gold. We really, really appreciate-
Brad Krywko (23:39):
Yep, it’s been awesome.
Dan Krywko (23:40):
… how much attention to detail went into this and us winning this package, and we can’t thank you enough of the supporters and the people we had helping us grow this 160 acres of gold.
Brad Krywko (23:52):
Yeah, and Martin Farm Equipment, too.
Dan Krywko (23:53):
Oh yeah, huge.
Brad Krywko (23:54):
They’ve been very supportive and made sure that everything … When they brought out the farm equipment to do the job, it was …
Dan Krywko (24:00):
The best.
Brad Krywko (24:01):
… The best, yeah, everything was set proper, everything was dialed right in.
Dan Krywko (24:05):
Ultra was out all day setting up the drills. They didn’t leave, they made sure everything was set up, ready to go.
Mike Howell (24:10):
Guys, I really appreciate you all taking time out to visit with us. Listeners, we really appreciate you tuning in today. As you know, now we’re moving into our second segment where we talk about somebody important in agriculture. Now, continuing our theme on Canadian agriculture this week, today, we wanted to focus on Phil Thomas, an agronomist from Alberta. Phil was known not only in Alberta, but across western Canada and many parts of the world as Mr. Canola. Phil devoted more than 50 years of his professional career to agriculture research and extension services. The majority of that time, he was the go-to guy in all aspects of canola production and agronomy.
(24:51)
Phil worked with the Alberta agriculture for 34 years, serving first as district agriculturalists for about 10 years before taking over in 1977 as supervisor of oil seed crops. He was there when canola was first introduced as a crop, and he went on to become a leading expert on growing canola. Phil was born in Red Deer and studied agriculture at Olds College and the University of Alberta. Now, within a few years of canola being introduced and Phil starting to work with canola, he had written a book entitled Canola Grower’s Manual, and it was published in 1984, and this was the go-to publication for all things about canola.
(25:33)
After retiring from Alberta agriculture, Phil went on to serve another 17 years as consultant and senior agri-coach with trend agrology. So today, we want to pay tribute to Mr. Phil Thomas and recognize all of his work of working with canola and helping to educate growers on the proper techniques of growing this crop. Well, listeners, this is going to conclude our series from the Calgary Stampede. I hope you’ve really enjoyed this as much as I have. Really think we brought a lot of useful information on Canadian agriculture and focused in on that part of the world a little closer this last three weeks. So if you need any further information on anything we’ve discussed, you can visit our website, that’s nutrien-ekonomics, with a K, .com. Until next time, this has been Mike Howell with The Dirt.
