37 www.seed.ab.ca | fall.2018 a small amount of contamination if seed from another crop is found in a producer’s sample, Chalmers points out. “There’s no way you can clean out every canola seed in pea,” he says. “There’s always going to be half a per cent kicking around.” Planning for Success Alberta’s Greg Stamp, director of seed sales for Stamp Seeds based in Enchant, agrees that getting into intercropping could present a number of challenges for growers. Although Stamp Seeds helps clients with cover crop projects, they have yet to experiment with intercropping but have seen some of the work that Bremer and his team have done. “There is definitely potential for this production practice in the future on the Prairies. When you look at the benefits to producers, with reduced pesticide and fertilizer usage, you can see how it could be an attractive way to diversify your operations,” Stamp says. “As seed growers we are multiplying and growing seed crops on our farm or in the local area. We really get to know the characteristics and quirks – good and bad – of the varieties we sell and that can be valuable information for producers trying intercropping for the first time. When you know how a variety will perform in your local area sometimes that can make all the difference.” Stamp notes also that using certified seed, which comes with a guarantee of health and vigour, will further manage agronomic risk in producers’ intercropping efforts as you are starting with a high-quality seed product. When Rosengren and his Three Farmers partners first started intercropping, they Alberta Agriculture offers their recommendations for those who wish to give intercropping a try. https://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/ deptdocs.nsf/all/faq8444 ran strip trials to compare intercropped and monocropped systems, but they soon abandoned the practice because the benefits were so obvious. “There are a million products that offer two extra bushels of yield per acre, but that’s pretty hard to measure,” he says. “When you’re talking 25 to 30 per cent extra yield, it’s significant enough to measure. It was dramatic enough that we quit doing the strips.” Axten also believes intercropping is the way of the future for Western Canadian farming. “I think of all the problems that have happened in agriculture, things that have come to light in the last 15 years. We keep trying to do this monocrop thing, but I don’t think we’re showing that it works very well.” Julienne Isaacs & Marc Zienkiewicz An example of pea roots with nodules growing close to canola roots. Courtesy Scott Chalmers