A weekly report prepared by staff of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA). For further information, call the Elora Resource Centre at 519-846-0941. Office hours: 8:30am to 4:30pm. For technical information, call the Agricultural Information Contact Centre at 1-877-424-1300 or visit the OMAFRA website: www.ontario.ca/omafra
While growers are encouraged to find all avenues possible to clean or market their corn, with elevated ear moulds in the 2018 Ontario corn crop, there may be fields with DON levels that render the crop unmarketable.
These fields will require destruction in preparation for the 2019 crop season. Destroying a corn crop at harvest will present challenges for 2019, and research investigating destruction strategies at harvest time is limited. If the corn crop is still in field and there is a high confidence DON levels throughout the entire field are too high for marketing, or the field has been released by crop insurance and must be destroyed, there are a few considerations for destruction.
Volunteer corn management will be a key concern when destroying a corn crop at harvest time. A 200 bu/ac corn crop may produce around 400 kernels per square foot. One approach may be to remove grain from the field entirely or destroy kernel viability in-field.
Combine Harvest
Combining can remove grain entirely from the field. This is beneficial from a volunteer corn perspective, but harvest operations can be costly and still presents the challenge of disposing of large volumes of unmarketable grain (see “Disposing Unmarketable Grain Corn”).
There has been some consideration of spreading and leaving kernels on the soil surface (avoiding tillage which may bury or protect kernels) to promote germination or rot, though practical experience with this method is limited.
Forage Harvester
Forage harvesting provides the advantage of simultaneously harvesting and destroying kernels in-field.
While an additional cost, custom forage harvester costs for grain destruction may be comparable to custom combining, though local custom forage harvesters may not be an option for all growers. Combine heads would be preferred so only ear material is passed through forage harvesters (like earlage production) but require adapter kits for attachment. Kernel destruction is the goal, so kernel processors must be installed.
Spout customization (deflector plate, fins etc.) is recommended to spread processed material across the full cutting width of the harvester. Assuming sufficient grain damage is incurred, removing recutter screens and operating cutterhead at maximum length of cut can increase efficiency.
Where silage heads are used, the same settings are recommended while operating head as high as possible while still collecting ears. This will be processing more material, so will not be as efficient as an ear picking head.
Volunteer corn may still be manageable in 2019 without grain removal.
When destroying the corn crop with tillage, it is essential to know a more intensive volunteer corn weed control program will be required next spring.
For full article visit www.fieldcropnews.com/2018/11/destroying-a-corn-crop-at-harvest-time
– OMAFRA field crop team
Coming Events:
Dec. 12 – Garlic Workshop. This workshop will focus on the production and pest management of growing garlic in Ontario.
See website – https://onvegetables.com/2018/09/26/garlic-workshop-dec/
Workshop will be held at 1 Stone Road West, Guelph, Ontario.
Register by contacting OMAFRA’s Agricultural Information Contact Centre (AICC) by calling 1-877-424-1300. Space is limited so register early.
