Traditional intercropping dates back to early planting practices but researchers are looking for ways to make broadacre intercropping more efficient for modern practices. (Photo 185598616 © | Dreamstime.com)

By Becky Zimmer

Double down

Intercropping research growing across prairies, farmers urged to start small

Jul 28, 2021 | 11:23 AM

HUMBOLDT, Sask. — Intercropping is far from a new idea, including for Western Canadian commodity growers.

Now the multiple crops, or companion planting, method has seen a resurgence in the last few years, according to Lana Shaw with the South East Research Farm.

The method where growers intentionally plant multiple crops in close proximity to each other—in Canada, the two prominent methods are planting seeds interspersed among the same row or along alternating rows—dates back to the three sisters planting by Indigenous growers; squash, corn, and peas in the same mound providing both stability, nitrogen fixation, and weed control.

Intercropping in different forms is common around the world but turning to intercrop with full-scale mechanization and broad acres is not common right now in the Canadian agriculture industry, Shaw told farmnewsNOW. In Western Canada, intercropping accounts for tens of thousands of acres in each prairie province but the data collection is problematic. In Saskatchewan, approximately 70,000 acres of intercropping was documented by Saskatchewan Crop Insurance in 2019 but the data does not say who or where this intercropping is taking place, said Shaw.

For growers who want to build intercropping into their planting season, Shaw said they do not have to convert 100 per cent of their operation into an intercropping system. Start small, she said, which can mean anywhere from 20 to 160 acres. A lot of it is going to be trial and error for growers who are just starting to introduce intercropping into their operation, she said.

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“There’s some element of finding what’s compatible and then there’s a whole lot of work required to make it actually functional. I try to get an idea of which crops seem like they’re compatible, that just starts the process of what seeding rates are we using.”

From there there is a lot of further “complicated tweaking,” said Shaw, into factors such as fertilizer rates, maturation, and effective and efficient separation, for growers to have that success with their intercrop.

“That’s what we’re trying to figure out on really small scales—on research scales—figure out which ones can be threshed successfully and separated successfully. Then they’re relatively easy to scale up.”

Benefits vary depending on the combinations that commodity growers are working with. Some combinations bring beneficial insects or insect predators to the field to act as its own pest control while one crop can act as a deterrent for weeds that are harmful to the companion crop.

One combination that Shaw said works for beginner intercropping is peas and mustard, and this usually is a strong combination in many growing regions.

“Maturities line up quite nicely, it’s really easy to separate, the mustard helps hold up the peas, the mustard is relatively high value usually. So that usually makes the combination worth a decent amount.”

There is still much that Shaw wants to research about intercropping but funding has been a challenge in the past. Much of the commodity research is funded through individual commodity organizations; for example, canola research being done by the canola commissions, said Shaw. However, in the last few years, funding has been available through the Agriculture Development Fund and Western Grains Research Foundation. For growers who are looking for more information, YouTube is a wealth of videos about intercropping, including presentations by Shaw at different agricultural conferences discussing her research, as well as plenty of growers who have already introduced intercropping into their operation. If commodity growers are asking for information, that is the first step to introducing intercropping onto their own production.

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becky.zimmer@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @bex_zim