Tired, degraded soil saved by injection of cocktail crops

About five years ago, producers in the Peace River Block of Northern Alberta sought advice on something called cocktail crops.

Years of continuous cropping had degraded their soils. To get a decent crop meant buying and applying lots of fertilizer and substantial spraying for weeds. The producers at Manning, Alberta wanted to know if there were another way to grow a crop and improve soils at a lower cost.

Since then more farmers, particularly younger operators, are warming to the idea of cocktail crops.

Cocktail crops are a variety of broadleaf plants and grasses, both warm season and cool season, planted together in a field.

The idea behind cocktail crops is to improve nitrogen fixations, reduce soil erosion, reduce soil compaction from heavy machinery, improve water saturation and cut down on weeds.

The cocktail mix injects soil with different root systems in different zones of soil to different parts of the soil. One Southern Alberta farmer seeds a mixture of sanfoin, vetch, alfalfa, soft tall grass, orchard grass and brome. Laura Paulovich of the North Peace Applied Research Association told a farm media outlet that cocktail crops are a shift away from the “quick fix” of applying more fertilizer and herbicide. “Patience is the biggest factor,” she said. Improvements in the soil will take time. A five-year study on cocktail crops at the Lethbridge Research station showed a net gain of $20 an acre profit on canola the year after. And a 30 per cent yield increase in wheat was registered. Saltcoats farmer and agrologist Kevin Elmy tried a tillage radish cocktail mix six years ago, seeding tillage radish to build soil microbial content. When he planted corn the year after, the yield was six tonnes an acre more than on a non-radish field.

Two years out of five, says the Saskatchewan farmer, cocktail crops work wonders. Two years are okay, and one is a failure, but the two great years make it all worthwhile.

Cost of a cocktail crop is estimated at $100 an acre, not including the loss of one harvest.

Some benefits are hard to measure, thus keeping farmers from trying this way. How do you measure the increase in water saturation? One per cent increased organic matter holds another 45,000 gallons of water an acre.

One agrologist suggests combining cocktail crops with zero till, plant diversity, and livestock grazing to better manage soil health at less expense. Farmers interested in these crops can get a better idea of how they work by talking to someone who has used this system. This system has been used for years in New Zealand and Australia and by organic farmers.

Ron Walter can be reached at ronjoy@ sasktel.net