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Determining best management practices for Alberta soybean growers under the careful supervision of Manjula Bandara. PROJECT TITLE Developing Red Lentil Cultivars for Alberta and Analyzing the Newest Red Lentil Cultivars for the Starch Profile to Attract New Lentil Markets PROJECT LEAD Manjula Bandara, Alberta Agriculture and Forestry TOTAL VALUE OF PROJECT $661,060 DURATION (START & COMPLETION DATE) 2012 - 2017 GROW GENETICS 12 | Pulse Research Report PROJECT TITLE Soybean Genotype Study PROJECT LEAD Manjula Bandara, Alberta Agriculture and Forestry TOTAL VALUE OF PROJECT $373,988 FUNDING PARTNER Alberta Innovates Manjula Bandara's evaluation of promising soybean lines is helping southern Alberta producers consider this new crop with the best possible set of information. The Road to 60-Bushel Soybeans How much room is there to increase soybean acreage in this province? Consider that in 2016, Manitoba grew 1.6 million acres of soybeans, with Saskatchewan contributing 240,000 acres. Last year, Alberta farmers grew 15,000 acres of soybeans. On the face of it, Alberta seems to have plenty of runway for more soybeans. In practice, however, Manjula Bandara believes the crop could be a tough sell in the region south of Highway 1 where it's best suited. "We have so many cropping options in southern Alberta today," said Bandara, Brooks-based Pulse and Special Crop Research Scientist with Alberta Agriculture and Forestry (AF). "Beyond the traditional crops, there's now more corn, perennial forage crops like alfalfa, sugar beet, potatoes as well as dry beans. So when we have the option to introduce a new crop into southern Alberta's irrigated areas, it has to be competitive." As AF Economist Ron Gietz pencils out the costs and returns of soybeans in southern Alberta, he finds the proposition interesting but not necessarily compelling, yet. Assuming soybeans sell for around their long-term price of $9 per bushel, a grower would need to produce a 60 bu./ac. crop to earn a place in a crop rotation. YIELDS APPROACH ECONOMIC COMPETITIVENESS Over the past four years, Bandara has been working on a project that could tip the balance in soybeans' favour. With funding support from the Alberta Funding Consortium including Alberta Pulse Growers, he's been evaluating soybean varieties under southern Alberta growing conditions. This is part of a longer-term involvement with soybean that, for Bandara, began in 2004. "Based on the varieties that are available, not a lot of people will be growing soybeans north of Highway 1," he said. "Our goal is to evaluate soybean varieties south of Highway 1, in order to minimize the risk for growers." Soybean breeders send their lines to Bandara, who evaluates them based on agronomic criteria such as seeding date, density and spacing, as well as the use of nitrogen. At any one time, he'd like to see 16 to 18 promising lines in his program. Overall, Bandara sees soybean yields approaching a threshold where southern Alberta farmers will start to get interested. Yields in recent years' evaluations have ranged from 35 bu./ac. to 60 bu./ac., with the occasional spike north of 70 bu./ac. Bandara suggests that, for areas with 2,300 to 2,400 heat units available, and 115 to 121 days of growing season, soybeans can be competitive with other high-value southern Alberta crops. One wild card is the incidence of disease under irrigation. After 12 years evaluating soybeans in southern Alberta, Bandara isn't predicting explosive acreage growth to the levels seen on the eastern Prairies. Still, if the right factors align, there's a good chance Alberta will see more soybeans in the coming years. "That is our hope," Bandara said, "but it all depends on the price and how crushing capacity unfolds. As long as the price is reasonable, a moderate increase can be expected."

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