Leo and Andre Gignac state that the risk of crop loss due to poor or incomplete emergence is now the biggest risk in modern farming. They extensively utilize pre-harvest and pre-seeding burn-off with Round-Up. They stay current with the latest farming techniques and are generally on the leading edge with their farming methods.

Here is what they have to say about their experiences with the system:
“We have compared all of the seeding alternatives that allow one pass seeding and we are convinced that the Mid Row Bander® System on a 5710 Air Hoe Drill gives us the best chance of producing a good crop. In fact we had some of the most popular one pass systems in the same field this spring and evaluated their performance. The fact that the seedbed is not compromised by application of the nitrogen fertilizer is the key issue especially in dry years. We feel that by using good straw management and one pass seeding with Mid Row Banders poor germination can always be avoided unless the seed happens to be bad.”

Leo and Andre have modified the packer wheels on their 5710 air hoe drill where they welded an rolled angle iron on edge on their 4” steel packer wheels. They are seeding with knives so they need a narrow packer wheel profile to ensure packing of the seed. However they also need extra support or floatation in their peat moss type soils or the seed would be pushed too deep. This arrangement gives them the best of both worlds.

“We feel that the excellent germination that we received even when seeding canola into really dry soil is as a result of this modification. We installed it ourselves and it was a lot of work, but, we are extremely pleased with the performance.”

Leo and Andre apply their nitrogen in the NH3 form. “Last year when we used the NH3 banders we were a little concerned about loss. The crop results were excellent so we expect that the losses were obviously quite small. A little NH3 makes a lot of smoke. This year we used the new delivery tube that Bourgault designed and it has eliminated any concerns we had about gas losses. Overall we had a very good crop this year. The spring was really dry but because we one pass seeded, we got excellent germination. We also did some custom seeding for others and they were also very impressed with the results. We feel that the Mid Row Banding system is the best seeding technology currently available in the market. This technology combined with herbicide tolerant canola has given us a lot more options and greatly reduced the risks of getting poor emergence in heavy residue”.

“One thing we did notice this year is the highest protein levels in wheat that we have ever experienced. We are not sure why it is higher, but it is a full point higher. We are using more micro nutrients which may account for the increase, however a more robust root system occurs with Mid Row Banded crops that may be the reason for achieving the higher protein levels.”

“One pass seeding with a Mid Row Banding system is an excellent tool to help you to minimize your costs and reduce your risks. We certainly could not see ourselves reverting back to how we used to seed our crops.”