Potato producer Sheldon Wiebe, who farms near MacGregor in Canada’s Manitoba province, can wax poetic about how production has evolved on his operation, J.P. Wiebe Ltd., since its inception in the mid 1960s, as Gord Leathers explains in an article titled “Setting up fertigation in potato crops for success“, published by Manitoba Co-operator.
Like other Manitoba potato farmers, the introduction of irrigation is part of that story, but today the practice is about more than just water. Today, the farm’s pivots are also an important part of how fertilizer applications are split and applied. Irrigation eventually branched out to become fertigation, and Wiebe has noticed the benefits.
Wiebe’s comments were made as part of a three-farmer panel on fertigation during January’s Potato Production Days in Brandon, Manitoba. He, along with Russell Jonk of Swansfleet Alliance and Darren White of White Potato Services, spent an hour talking about the advantages and problems of the practice.
“So, what’s the point of fertigation?” Jonk posed to the crowd. “The first reason is to reduce the leaching potential that comes along with broadcast fertilizer, but I think a better reason is that it gives me the ability to delay nitrogen applications until after we have initiation.”
Source: Manitoba Co-operator. Read the extensive article here
Photo: Credit KlAnke from Pixabay
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