8 Cover story SMALL PLOTS, BIG CHALLENGES Size can be a misleading factor in assessing management and efficiency. Just ask Greg Wilson. In 2016, he and his wife, Jolene, started BlackCreek Research, an independent research farm near Plattsville. The complex nature of what they do has demanded a premium on organization, with roughly 200 acres featuring corn, soybeans, and wheat along with dry beans, dry peas, lentils, spring cereals, and almost any vegetable crop known to Ontario. In addition to Greg and Jolene and their four children, they have six full-time staff, seven university students, and one high school student working for them. Despite their farm’s smaller size, it’s how those 200 acres are used that makes things especially challenging between managing employees and maintaining research plots in a wet year like 2024. “Growing up, it was, ‘put your head down and get the job done,’ and there are days that I still have that mentality,” says Greg. “However, with research, you have to be patient and take the time to get things done correctly. That might mean taking two hours to plant an eighth of an acre for a corn or soybean trial or taking three hours to count Colorado potato beetle larva.” When he started BlackCreek Research, he had to make sure they had the right equipment to do the job correctly. That might mean using a 1940s beet lifter to harvest sugar beet trials, but it was better than digging them by hand. It may not be a typical grain operation, but there are many similarities. “We’re on the small but detailed side of things, looking for a 10 per cent difference in weed control between two rates of the same experimental product,” he says. “But regular [grain farming] is very similar with all the details of maximizing your yields, improving soil health, reducing the environmental impact, and reducing input costs while trying to make it home every night to see the family.” Preparing for harvest actually starts at the end of December when they have their research-designed combines checked over as early as possible. Greg knows he’s fortunate to have mechanics willing to work on small, older John Deere combines or research plot combines. For all machines, they try to have the most common belts, bearings or other parts that wear or break on the shelf, just in case. “For the plot combines, you can be waiting for months for a belt to come from Europe, so we try to have everything checked over and as field-ready as possible, long before winter wheat is ready to harvest,” he says. “The wheat crop is a good test to make sure everything is ready to roll for dry beans, soybeans, and corn.” Fall harvest can also present some intriguing challenges for the next growing season, as Greg found out last year when his sprayer broke down, with a month’s downtime. One site that had heavy chickweed pressure during winter wheat planting provided a herbicide trial for chickweed, but the rest became an eyesore, making residue management in the fall key to improving efficiency the following spring. • continued from page 7 THE DIETRICHS FUEL ON-THE-GO TO IMPROVE EFFICIENCY. (PHOTO: SUPPLIED)
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