The drought monitor, as of Tuesday, April 14th, indicates an easing in drought conditions with Northeast, East Central and part of North Central Kansas out of dry conditions while the rest of the state slowly in worse shape. Our entire area is now in moderate drought. Only East Central Kansas is in good shape. The six to ten day forecast (April 20 to 24) indicates a 50 to 60% chance of likely above normal for temperatures and a 40 to 50% chance of leaning above normal for precipitation. The eight to fourteen-day forecast indicates (April 22 to 28) indicates a 33 to 40% chance of leaning above normal for temperatures and a 33 to 40% chance of leaning above normal for precipitation.
If you go back several decades, dryland agriculture in the Barton County area was much different. Crops consisted of cool season cereal grains, primarily wheat with some rye and the occasional field of oats; grain sorghum, some alfalfa and other feed crops. Some sunflower acreage was present but not extensive. The was essentially no dryland corn or soybeans except under irrigation. Continuous wheat was common. In the 1970s through the 1980s, while there was some conservation tillage and even less no-tillage production, tillage was common (including moldboard plowing) as we were still fairly limited on herbicides. Along with tillage, another weed, insect, and disease management tool was burning, primarily wheat stubble in the summer. It did help with eliminating weed seeds, and eliminating certain diseases that were in the stubble so they wouldn’t carry over to the fall planted wheat crop.
Fast forward to today and our cropping options have increased dramatically with glyphosate tolerant corn and soybeans, Bt corn, and breeding programs with more drought tolerant corn and soybean cultivars better adapted to our area’s climate. While there are resistance and cost issues, a producer has effective herbicide options. We therefore have more crop rotation options. Producers have adopted more conservation tillage options and until some of the herbicide resistance problems popped up, more no-tillage/strip tillage options. Burning of crop fields essentially disappeared.
We think of burning as primarily in perennial pastures (especially the Flint Hills) and CRP ground. There are negatives to burning: controlled burns that escape; smoke that can interfere with vision and pose health risks; loss of potential organic matter; in certain situations, it can increase erosion risks. However, in certain situations, it may be a valuable tool that can control certain pests and manage residue levels without needing aggressive tillage. And it may be counterintuitive, but it can help save soil water compared to aggressive tillage.
We aren’t talking about burning before every crop. Work at K-State has shown establishing an alfalfa field under no-tillage, especially after wheat, works better with a burn shortly below planting. There is still some cover, you haven’t disturbed the soil, and seeding/plant establishment is much better. Finally, winter canola producers planting no till under wheat stubble have found better establishment and winter survival with a burn just prior to planting.