1. Agronomic management and how we improve production
Josh Lofton
Cropping Systems Specialist

2. Where are we going today?
Crop rotation
Why rotate
What we have that works
Why
Tillage
Advantages
Disadvantages
Planting practices
Bringing it all together

3. What we grow Crops in Oklahoma Why would we change?
Small grain or cereals
We know how to grow it
How to make it profitable (sometimes), especially with cattle
Why would we change?
“Input now, payback later”
Benefits to the system
IPM
Yield and profit
High input = yield stagnation
Lower input = yield decline

4. Historic wheat yields 1800-1950s 1950-1980 1980s-current
0.4 tons/ac
0.9 tons/ac
Semi-dwarf varieties
Improved fertilization
1980s-current
Increased only 5.8 lbs/year in the Great Plains
Oklahoma -1.0lbs/year
How can we improve these yields

5. Yield
Adding crop diversity has been shown to drastically increase crop yields
In Oklahoma
Adoption of canola in wheat production systems
10-20% increase in wheat yields
20-25% increase in forage yields
Increase net profits

6. Just in Oklahoma? Or Wheat?
Seen in most production systems
Midwest
Corn and soybean
Southeast
Sugarcane and soybean
Rice and soybean
Southern US
Wheat and soybean
Northern
Lentil/Peas and cereals
Why yield benefits?

7. Rotational benefits The benefits of rotations are basic Monocot-Dicot
Diversity in management/systems
Break cycles
Allows for rotation of management
Spreads risk/labor
Diversity in crop profiles
Rooting profiles

8. What could be add to our system?
Old reliable systems
Grain sorghum
The old reliant in our system
Crop failure is a minimized
Out of 75 years, it has only been a complete crop failure in a single year
Lower cost option for the typical return on investment
Increased grazing opportunities
Still a grass in a typical grass based production system
Decreases many of the rotational benefits
Challenging with limited herbicide options in-season

9. What could be add to our system?
Soybean
Profit potential is high
Great rotation with most small grains and cereals
Fits well into a complete summer crop rotation as well
Flexible for our typically production systems
Risk is high
Probably the most high risk crop we can move into
Water demand
Corn falls into the same aspect of soybean in nearly all categories

10. What could be add to our system?
Cotton
Increasing interest in the crop
Vast weed control options
Decent yield potential with increasing infrastructure
Weed control options because they have been an issue
Yields are good now but we failed to cut for nearly 4 years in the drought
Hard to do on small acres

11. What could be add to our system?
New faces
Sesame
Outstanding market
Greatly yield potential and even better profit margins
Herbicide outlook is grim
Contract based
Small acres will find it challenging
Knowledge base on management of most of our producers

12. What could be add to our system?
Summer edible beans and peas
Growing market
Farm-to-table does not seem to be going away anytime soon
Fresh market is not the only option
Some are
Grown just like soybean with better drought tolerance
Contracting and selling is tough

13. Crop rotations Remember this is just the beginning
This is only the one aspect of crop rotations
Many thing vary
Management can change greatly
Tillage

14. Tillage A lot of choices with tillage
There is not right and wrong answer
Advantages and Disadvantages of both systems
Sometimes one fits or sometimes both could fit
What helps you decide your tillage system?
Residue stability
Erosion potential
Surface compaction
Pest management
Drainage

15. Tillage Advantages Costly
Prepares the seedbed adequately for some crops
Help remove problem areas of the field
Incorporates residue, chemistry, and fertilizers
Pest management
Costly

16. Tillage Advantages Costly
Prepares the seedbed adequately for some crops
Help remove problem areas of the field
Incorporates residue, chemistry, and fertilizers
Pest management
Costly

17. Tillage Advantages Costly
Prepares the seedbed adequately for some crops
Help remove problem areas of the field
Incorporates residue, chemistry, and fertilizers
Pest management
Costly

18. No-till systems Advantages Costly Have to plant early and late
Erosions control
Few trips across the field
Moisture retention
Soil health
Can have increase resilience
Costly
Have to plant early and late

19. No-till systems Advantages Costly Have to plant early and late
Erosions control
Few trips across the field
Moisture retention
Soil health
Can have increase resilience
Costly
Have to plant early and late

20. In-between? So is there a system that incorporates aspects of both?
Strip-till
Seedbed preparation
Minimizing in-row weeds
Allows for no-till advantages between the rows

21. More importantly yield

22. Bringing it all together
Probably a fraction of what should be fully discussed
Integrating new crops into the system
Not necessarily new crops
Sorghum, cotton, corn
Adding diversity into the system
Agronomic benefits
Farm benefits

23. Bringing it all together
Cover crops
Adds the benefits of crop rotation
Not the economic benefit
Pest management
Proven to increase soil seedbank on some weeds
Including that cover crops can often been considered weeds
Crop rotation with no-till production
Management increases greatly
Decisions become critical
Heavily reliant on pesticides or high intensive management
Depends on scale

24. Questions? Josh Lofton Cropping Systems Specialist Osucrops.com