This year’s dry conditions really tapped sub-soil moisture reserves on crop land this year.

Leaving tall stubble behind when straight cut combining can help trap snow for extra soil moisture and improve water use efficiency by up to 16%.

Ken Panchuk says leaving tall stubble is part of good soil conservation practices and can be a real benefit when seeding fall rye or winter wheat.

"Giving them that protection they need during the winter and collecting that snow and using it as an insulation blanket," he said.   

Research has shown that early harvested and tall stubble from canola or flax crops can make excellent fields for establishing winter cereals.

He says a lot of producers are implementing these kinds of soil conservation practices.

"We have no idea how much precipitation is going to fall between now and freeze up this winter," Panchuk said. "The strategy would be to leave the stubble as tall as you can, as tall as you practically can due to crops being fairly short."  

He adds using a fine cut straw chopper is another advantage since spreading the crop residue can provide good ground cover which helps minimize evaporation from the soil surface.