Agriculture and natural resources extension educator Dan Hudson, center, shows a canola crop as part of an alternative crop research tour to Howell resident Robert Hedstrand, left, and agronomy professor Russ Freed. Along with canola crops, residents were also given a chance to see barley crops firsthand to see if it would interest them.
Canola and barley crops were showcased Wednesday at the MSU and MSU Extension alternative crop research and demonstration tour.
Participants traveled to five fields across Ingham and Eaton counties to observe the crops being grown. The research tour began at MSU’s Agronomy Farm.
“MSU Extension is a function of the university that enables it to have outreach in the community,” said extension educator Dan Hudson. “Every year we do trials of different crops and then report those results to farmers so they can choose what to buy and grow.”
For $10 anyone could join the tour, though it’s usually farmers who choose to participate, Hudson said. Wednesday’s tour group consisted of seven farmers.
Having a group of so few people is good because it’s more comfortable and allows for better discussion among participants as they tour the fields and observe the crops, Hudson said.
Alternative crops is a subjective term, Hudson said.
An alternative crop is anything other than corn, soybeans, wheat or alfalfa and some mixtures of hays, which are traditionally grown by the majority of Michigan’s farmers.
“(There are) a lot of innovative things farmers are looking at, (they are) always trying to solve problems,” Hudson said.
Mariam Sticklen, professor in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, said waste products or biomass from crops like corn or alternative crops such as barley can be used to create ethanol.
Using biomass to create cellulosic ethanol is a better option than the current method of using corn seed to produce corn ethanol because it would not cause the cost of food to increase as corn ethanol has, she said.
“When we used corn seeds (for ethanol), the price of cereal, milk, everything, went up,” Sticklen said. “If we use waste, the price of nothing goes up.”
Hudson said it’s too early to tell whether these alternative crops will be a good choice for Michigan farmers.
More research will need to be done, but it is a good idea for farmers to consider introducing new crops to their fields, he said.
Rotating a few different crops can help to alleviate agronomic issues related to soil fertility and disease, which often occur when the same crop is planted repeatedly over the years in the same area without any variation, Hudson said.
“There’s a lot of people on campus who are doing alternative crop research,” said international agronomy professor Russell Freed. “I’ve been working with canola for six years or so.”
Freed said he has researched different varieties of hybrid canola, which first became widely available in 2002 or 2003.
Hybrid versions of crops increase yield dramatically, he said.
“If we look at the corn yield in Michigan in 1855, would be like 15 bushels (per acre) and today would be like 150 bushels (per acre),” Freed said.
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