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PITTSBURG —
As the wheat harvest wraps up and the soy bean planting season nears, Crawford County residents have been seeing smoke on the horizon. That’s because some area farmers are practicing prescribed burning.
According to the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, fire can be used as a major management practice for native and introduced grasslands, hay meadows and fields. Burning can recycle nutrients tied up in old plant growth, stimulate tilling, control woody and herbaceous plants, improve grazing distribution, reduce wildfire hazards, improve wildlife habitats and increase livestock production in stocker operations.
In Crawford County, farmers typically burn their fields to clear wheat stubble and make it easier to plant soy beans, said Wildcat Extension District agent Dean Stites.
“It used to be that just about everybody burned the wheat stubble off so they could plant soy,” Stites said. “You used to be look in any direction and see a few smoke columns. But a lot of farmers now just plant right into the stubble.”
No-till farming, Stites said, is becoming standard procedure for planting soy beans into wheat fields, partly because it saves time and fuel. Sometimes, such as after a good growing season, the stubble is simply too thick to plant through and farmers don’t have a choice. Farmers typically will till their fields for corn, though.
“No-till planting for corn just doesn’t work very well,” he said.
Burning can be dangerous, and farmers have been trapped and killed by out of control fires. In order to burn, farmers typically tell the Crawford County Sheriff’s Department that they’re planning to burn a field, said Girard Fire District No. 4 firefighter Dave Garrett.
“If it gets away from them they call the Sheriff and they’ll tell them if there’s a burn ban in place,” Garrett said. “If it gets away from them, they call the Sheriff and they’ll page the local fire department.” Sheriff’s Department representatives said farmers don’t always alert the department, though.
There also can be damage to the soil if burning is not properly timed, including loss of organic matter; increased potential for soil compaction; greater potential for erosion from wind and water; loss of valuable nutrients such as carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, sulphur, calcium and magnesium; damage to soil structure such as poor drainage and less efficient transfer of water and nutrients to the crop; and lower microbial activity.
As the wheat harvest wraps up and the soy bean planting season nears, Crawford County residents have been seeing smoke on the horizon. That’s because some area farmers are practicing prescribed burning.
According to the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, fire can be used as a major management practice for native and introduced grasslands, hay meadows and fields. Burning can recycle nutrients tied up in old plant growth, stimulate tilling, control woody and herbaceous plants, improve grazing distribution, reduce wildfire hazards, improve wildlife habitats and increase livestock production in stocker operations.
In Crawford County, farmers typically burn their fields to clear wheat stubble and make it easier to plant soy beans, said Wildcat Extension District agent Dean Stites.
“It used to be that just about everybody burned the wheat stubble off so they could plant soy,” Stites said. “You used to be look in any direction and see a few smoke columns. But a lot of farmers now just plant right into the stubble.”
No-till farming, Stites said, is becoming standard procedure for planting soy beans into wheat fields, partly because it saves time and fuel. Sometimes, such as after a good growing season, the stubble is simply too thick to plant through and farmers don’t have a choice. Farmers typically will till their fields for corn, though.
“No-till planting for corn just doesn’t work very well,” he said.
Burning can be dangerous, and farmers have been trapped and killed by out of control fires. In order to burn, farmers typically tell the Crawford County Sheriff’s Department that they’re planning to burn a field, said Girard Fire District No. 4 firefighter Dave Garrett.
“If it gets away from them they call the Sheriff and they’ll tell them if there’s a burn ban in place,” Garrett said. “If it gets away from them, they call the Sheriff and they’ll page the local fire department.” Sheriff’s Department representatives said farmers don’t always alert the department, though.
There also can be damage to the soil if burning is not properly timed, including loss of organic matter; increased potential for soil compaction; greater potential for erosion from wind and water; loss of valuable nutrients such as carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, sulphur, calcium and magnesium; damage to soil structure such as poor drainage and less efficient transfer of water and nutrients to the crop; and lower microbial activity.
