Research Priorities
Soil Fertility, Tillage/Cropping Systems and Greenhouse Gases Issues

By Ken Hough, OCPA Director of Research and Market Development

Several priorities addressing these areas of research are listed below. In general, the research issues are listed from highest to lower priority within each research area. The OFCRC has made no attempt to rank priorities across areas, especially in light of the interactions and interrelatedness of the areas.

Although the priorities have been listed separately for each of these three research areas, it is recognized that there are significant interactions among these broad research areas. Farmers must deal with these issues from a systems approach, i.e., the tillage and crop rotation systems they choose will have significant impact on how they need to manage their fertility programs, and each of these will clearly affect the level of success in addressing GHG concerns (carbon sequestration and nitrous oxide emissions). Therefore, research into these issues must also be approached in a holistic manner, so that management recommendations effectively address all aspects which farmers and production agriculture must deal with or are held accountable for.

Although these research priorities are still fairly broadly defined, nevertheless, it is the hope of the OFCRC that this direction on priorities will be useful to public sector researchers and research administrators in determining allocation of research resources (personnel, facilities, operating budgets).

The OFCRC and our member groups welcome further input from farmers, and will be consulting with researchers and program managers in regard to these priorities, and how they can best be addressed.

Note: items indicated below by an asterisk (*) relate directly to carbon sequestration and/or nitrous oxides issues as indicated under the GHG research priorities.

Soil Fertility Research Priorities
• Manure management from the perspective of optimizing nutrient utilization efficiency (maximizing crop productivity), protecting water quality, and minimizing negative GHG effects *
• Improved N management:
- develop techniques for identifying soil mapping units and/or nitrogen management units suitable for variable-rate N management, where advantageous*
- develop/refine soil and/or plant-based indicators of N status for use as tools for N recommendations (on a field or N-management unit basis), i.e., PSNT, canopy reflectance, etc. *
• Research into the effects of K fertility on soybean productivity and the interactions among K (potassium) placement, tillage systems and row widths
• Basic nutrient management research, such as urea management and micro-nutrients.

Tillage & Cropping Systems Research Priorities
• Definition of tillage protocols for manure management that reduce potential contamination of both surface and sub-surface water, as well as ameliorating GHG effects*
• Development of manure handling/application systems applicable in minimum or no-till crop production systems*
• Development of ‘strip-tillage’ system(s) that improve soil conditions (comparable to other reduced till systems) and allow for integration of fertilizer and herbicide banding in corn, and perhaps soybeans *
• Medium and long-term implications tillage systems on organic carbon content and structure of soil (macropores, drainage), including understanding the influence of occasional (rotational) tillage operations*
• Optimize the rotation benefits of cereal crops. Rotational studies to define optimum/maximum ‘cereal-free’ period for a range of conditions/cropping systems (i.e., soil type, disease pressure, other crops in rotation, etc.)*
• Develop improved techniques and/or species for vigorous and uniform establishment of cover crops in winter cereals to enhance N fixation, manure N sequestering, soil structural improvements*
• Assess opportunities to mitigate soil compaction and improve soil aeration*
- Reduce high axle-load compaction by lower tire inflation pressure. Increase awareness of growers and pressure machinery companies to make alternatives available and cost-attractive (seek allies with groups in other jurisdictions for latter).
- determine need to supplement Ontario data on:
1) Compaction impacts on both soil surface and sub-plow layer soil structure and tillage X wheel traffic interactions
2) Deep tillage amelioration of compacted soils in Ontario, including impact on soil properties and crop yield, and long-term stability/tendency to reconsolidate
3) develop a rapid test for compressibility and state of compaction for agricultural soils. Soil compaction database for Ontario.

Research Priorities for Greenhouse Gases Mitigation
• Impact on carbon sequestration and reduction of nitrous oxides emissions, under representative tillage regimes, of the various factors denoted with * above
• Quantify potential GHG reductions achievable with more widespread adoption of reduced tillage
• Explore GHG mitigation in forage-based and/or manure-based systems (livestock production)
• Determine benefits of implementing of long-term on-farm benchmarking data collection (similar to PFRA), to complement the long-term research station tillage/rotation/fertility sites.