Why didn't we get wheat?

The dip in wheat yields in 2022/23 came as farms had to cut costs significantly due to low grain prices. Ilya Ilchenko, chief technologist, agro-engineer of the Peschanokop Agrarian Group, expressed this point of view at the round table “Harvest begins with seeds”. The expert agreed with colleagues that the right agricultural practices were much more important than the characteristics of the varieties.

Ilya Ilchenko, chief technologist, agricultural engineer of the Peschanokopskaya Agrarian Group:

– The 2022/23 season was unique. Peschanokopskaya Agrarian Group conducts its activities, as we joke, "at the junction of three states" - the Rostov region, Kalmykia and Stavropol. In our natural and climatic zone, we are accustomed to constant drought, and all our thoughts and management decisions were usually aimed at accumulating and conserving moisture. In the 2022/23 season, this was not required.

We, like our colleagues, do demo crops and look at the plots, how different varieties behave. This year, Pobeda 75 became the leader in terms of yield. It gave 90 centners per hectare. In second place is Agrifak 100, in third place is Akhmat. But the results of other varieties - Shkola, Emma, Timiryazevka 150 - turned out to be close, the difference in yield is only 2-3 c/ha.

I cannot say that in 2023 we experienced a drop in yields. Compared to last year, the average indicator decreased by only 1 centner per hectare - on an area of 15,000 hectares of commercial crops, this is, consider, an error. But there is a feeling that we did not get enough, because the potential of the year was high: we did not encounter return frosts, there was enough rainfall. All this made it possible to count on a harvest larger than last year.

The reason for the shortage of wheat harvest is in savings on technology - agricultural engineer Ilya Ilchenko

We have seen clear evidence that the yield potential will not be realized. For example, some noble varieties - Timiryazevka 150, Alekseich - did not have sufficient grain content. Perhaps the reason was the belated application of herbicides. There was no need to dream of three or five grains, through the grain - in every second ear.

You ask at what point in the 2022/23 season we began to lose the chances of obtaining the genetic potential of varieties ... In my opinion, the prerequisites for a crop shortage were laid back in the fall of 2022, when many farms, including us , were preparing for sowing winter cereals. Wheat prices were then very low - at the cost level, and we were afraid to make large investments: ammophos costs over 60 thousand rubles per ton, prices for HUS, saltpeter, UAN were exorbitant. Therefore, having seen that the reserves of nutrients in the soil allow us to do this, we began to reduce the doses of fertilizer application.

In addition, we saved on the purchase of growth regulators. We wanted to have a lower cost. And how to do it? I think many agronomists have gone through this: when you sit and look at the technological map: what can you save on? For example, we have never seen lolled bread in our fields - maybe they really do not lie down? We received 7-8 t/ha of wheat on the vine, not lodged for three years. Maybe you don’t need to work as morphoregulators? I convinced myself of this. Saved... We left the regulators only for seed crops, you can't joke with them. And that's it. If the wheat lays early, don't expect quality or quantity.

But with the last nitrogen top dressing, intuition did not let us down. We have seen low ratios of nitrogen to phosphorus and potassium, and quickly worked through nitrogen in the late phases, when flowering was already underway. We saw how the fields lay in the Krasnodar Territory, we observed a strong development of diseases and felt that high-quality grain would be valuable. Top dressing gave a good result: even on the Shkola variety, the protein is higher than 13.5%. Once again, we were convinced that nitrogen can catch up with protein on any variety.

The cost of additional nitrogen fertilization was justified. We spent two thousand rubles, which the difference in price for high-quality wheat and fodder covers. The difference in protein by one and a half percent gives an additional 2.8 rubles in the price of a kilogram of wheat.

We have not used dry phosphate fertilizers for more than five years. We use ZhKU, UAN, but we apply it not on the leaf (with the low air humidity that we observe almost every year, you can just burn the leaves), but intrasoil. This scheme turned out to be economically more profitable. We also used liquid ammonia when this method of mineral nutrition was cheaper than others. Preparing for the autumn sowing, we look at the cost of various fertilizers and calculate which application scheme will be the most profitable.

The 2022/23 season proved once again that in crop production you need to be flexible, not follow a pattern, but make decisions according to the situation. But in order to perform suitable techniques, the agronomist must have a wide range of tools.