Optimum rate

Jan 16, 2025

Variable rate (VR), as a phrase, is thoroughly uninspiring. Boring. People want to hear about VR about as much as they want to hear about the 50-year-old wool suit I bought at Value Village for $22. I see that now. But optimum rate! That inspires.

In October, I wrote a LinkedIn post about a breakfast conversation I had with Blake Weiseth, who runs Discovery Farm at the Ag In Motion site west of Saskatoon.

“Variable rate is sexy, but it’s not the next logical step for a lot of farmers,” Weiseth said at breakfast. “For many farmers, using a fertilizer blend and rate appropriate for each field is their next step to more precise nutrient management. With field-to-field variability sorted, then let’s tackle in-field variability.”

I shared this quote on LinkedIn and asked, should precision ag advancement follow a step by step path? Or can farms skip from (a) one fertilizer blend and rate for all canola or wheat or pea fields to (c) precise management of zones within each field? This would leap past the middle step of (b) a fertilizer blend and rate appropriate for each field.

The responses were varied and insightful, founded largely on farm and agronomy experience.

Click here to see more...

Video: A chain harrow is a game changer

Utilizing a rotational grazing method on our farmstead with our sheep helps to let the pasture/paddocks rest. We also just invested in a chain harrow to allow us to drag the paddocks our sheep just left to break up and spread their manure around, dethatch thicker grass areas, and to rough up bare dirt areas to all for a better seed to soil contact if we overseed that paddock. This was our first time really using the chain harrow besides initially testing it out. We are very impressed with the work it did and how and area that was majority dirt, could be roughed up before reseeding.

Did you know we also operate a small business on the homestead. We make homemade, handcrafted soaps, shampoo bars, hair and beard products in addition to offering our pasture raised pork, lamb, and 100% raw honey. You can find out more about our products and ingredients by visiting our website at www.mimiandpoppysplace.com. There you can shop our products and sign up for our monthly newsletter that highlights a soap or ingredient, gives monthly updates about the homestead, and also lists the markets, festivals, and events we’ll be attending that month.