A key component of the work agricultural sciences students undertake on the Student-Managed Farm - Powered by New Holland (SMF) is meeting challenges head-on and finding creative solutions for them.

For this year's Student Managed Farm SMF crop unit, left over straw from the pea crop presented a unique opportunity for industry collaboration and creating a dynamic hands-on learning event.

Students watch the tillage equipment in action.

“Last year's SMF unit planted peas on the field, which our unit harvested,” says Thom Heijmans, this year's production manager for the SMF crop unit. The production team establishes the crop rotation for the SMF land base and plans out all of the crop inputs for the upcoming growing.

“The peas left a lot of material laying on the surface of the soil, which could plug up seeders when seeding.”

Working it into the soil in the fall gives the leftover straw time to decompose, adding nitrogen to the soil for next year's crop and making seeding easier as well. Heijmans and the production unit, which includes six other crop technology students, discussed different options and machinery for dealing with the straw, drawing on their different farming backgrounds for ideas.

Students get a closer look at the workings of one of the pieces of machinery at the demo“We started discussing what kind of tillage everyone does on their own farms and couldn't decide which tool was best for the job,” explains Heijmans, who's from a farm near Rivers, Man. “We decided to go to Webb's Machinery to see what they had available and if they would come do a demonstration for us so we could see how the different machines worked. That would help us make a decision on which machine we'd like to use to work the straw under.”

The production team worked with Kevin Martin, Webb's sales consultant, and set up demos for two pieces of tillage equipment on the farm - the Versatile Fury HS300 and the Salford 5200 Enforcer, with two manufacturer reps attending as well.

Heijmans and his team invited the first-year crop technology students to attend as well. Each year, the entire SMF unit builds on the previous year's work, leaving an on-going legacy of hands-on learning and results-oriented education. They learn from each other and this is something Heijmans was very aware of when planning the demo.

“This year's first year crop students are going to take over where we leave off next year,” Heijmans explains. “It's nice to make sure they can see how we did things and why we chose to do them that way. It's a great learning experience for everyone.”

It was also a creative way to ensure everyone got to see some new equipment in action, with agricultural shows and other opportunities cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

A creative solution

Students watch as the tillage equipment works pea straw into the frozen ground.On Oct. 21, the day of the demo, the ground was frozen with a dusting of snow, which made it more difficult for the pieces of equipment to work the straw into the soil. Pulled by New Holland T9.600 tractors, the tillage equipment managed just fine, however, and Heijmans is pleased with how the demo worked out.

“Besides the cold weather, I think it went fantastically,” he says, excited to have so many opportunities to work with new equipment at Lakeland. “New technology is getting more expensive to buy and a lot of farmers can have trouble affording it, so they end up using older technology. When you come to a school like Lakeland and you get to drive a brand new 2020 New Holland combine with the latest technology that the best farmers in the world use, you learn so much from it. There is so much automated tech, it's honestly mind-blowing.”

Working on a solution to the pea straw problem also gave Heijmans and his unit new ideas to explore when it's time to seed next year.

“We are planning to grow peas on another field next year,” Heijmans says. “We learned that we have a couple of students who grow yellow peas back home and a couple who grow green, so we decided to grow both colours this time. They're the same crop but with different seed colours, so we decided to split the field in half next year, so we can see the difference between how yellow and green peas grow on the same field with the same climate.”

It's that spirit of collaboration and exploration that makes Heijmans' SMF experience even more valuable than he expected.

“Getting to collaborate with other producers and farmers is adding so much value to my Lakeland experience,” Heijmans says. “I came here because of the great SMF program Lakeland offers for crops and I absolutely love it.”

 

 Photos: Top-Students watch the tillage equipment in action. Middle-Students get a closer look at the workings of one of the pieces of machinery at the demo. Bottom-Students watch as the tillage equipment works pea straw into the frozen ground.