Do Winter Crops Fit into Your Rotation?

Friday, November 21, 2025

Spreading out the workload & maintaining winter ground cover

By Emily McKinlay

While many farmers across Ontario are familiar with growing winter wheat, other winter crops, including canola, barley, triticale, and rye, have garnered a growing interest from both grain farmers and livestock producers.

Better field conditions during planting, winter ground cover, and earlier feed harvest are just a few reasons why a farmer might incorporate winter crops into their rotation. But, as with any new crop, adding winter varieties to a rotation has implications for planning, management, and marketing.

What benefits can winter crops offer a rotation, and what management factors need to be considered in advance to maximize the opportunities associated with these crops?

What can winter crops contribute?

Individual farm goals will influence the reasons why – or why not – a winter crop is a good fit for a rotation.

Allan Thompson, a farmer from Peel Region, says that the current poor crops markets are part of his motivation to diversify his rotation.

“I decided to try planting winter canola last year. The corn prices were bad, and commodities were going in the toilet even before the tariffs,” explains Thompson.

“Luckily, I was able to get a good price for canola this spring before that nonsense. When pencilled out, it was probably my most profitable crop in terms of return per acre.”

Thompson adds, “I wanted to get out of that routine of corn-soybeans-wheat and thought, let’s try something a little different here. If you want to get ahead, you have to keep trying new things. I think all of us have to get more curious about opportunities with our crop rotation to cope with markets for the next three years.”

Thompson hopes that the non-GMO characteristic of winter canola may even open more markets.

“Right now, there isn’t confidence in commodity markets,” says Thompson.

“If we can get the winter canola market up, being a non-GMO crop, we can maybe push hard for more European markets and get better premiums than what we are getting now.”

Blair Balog, seed sales specialist for Stamp Seeds in Alberta, says that they have seen a rising interest in hybrid fall rye and fall triticale. Some of this trend has come from improvements in genetics and the ability to distribute workload across the cropping season.

“This interest has increased with new genetics coming along. With improvements in traits like winter survivability, it helps ease the stress of putting seed in the ground by knowing it’ll be there in the spring,” says Balog.

“Winter crops benefit our customers by spreading out the workload. There’s a lot of pressure to get the crop in during the spring, and fall crops reduce some of that.”

Balog notes that a lot of the hybrid rye and fall triticale will be used for cattle feed. An earlier harvest window allows livestock producers to fill their silage pits earlier in the season. Hybrid rye can also enter the milling, distilling, or ethanol markets.

Planting winter crops has also helped some farmers manage weeds.

“If they are able to get a residual herbicide on the field ahead of planting hybrid rye, the crop can grow from there,” says Balog.

“Hybrid rye has an allelopathic effect that takes hold and gets ahead of the weeds. We have issues with resistance out here, with wild oats and kochia, and producers are looking for ways to get ahead in their weed management.”

Stuart Wright, a dairy farmer in Kenilworth, was initially interested in winter crops as a potential solution to poor planting conditions in the spring.

“We had some poorly drained or untiled land, so I wanted to see if I could do an all-winter rotation,” says Wright.

“Originally my thought was to find a way to make the best use of poorly drained land and not beat it up more than it already was. Wheat comes off in the summer when the land is dry, then you put manure on, or organic amendments, and prepare for sowing winter canola in late August or early September. It’s often dry then as well, so you are not working or compacting the ground when it’s wet.”

Wright adds, “On land with imperfect drainage, if you can get the crop off to a good start, that’s a huge advantage. We did learn that poorly drained land is poorly drained land, so we transitioned to better, tiled land and saw much better yields.”

In addition to an advantage in sowing conditions, Wright also had soil health in mind.

“Being a past president of the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association, I also had an awareness of the connections with soil health and water quality.

“The greatest risk of runoff and phosphorus release into water bodies is during the late fall and early spring, so my thinking was that if there was a crop growing in the fall, it would be taking up phosphorus, and the roots would be there to hold the soil in place. In the spring, especially since winter canola has an early start in the spring and does not take much heat to get growing again, then possibly that would have an effect in reducing runoff and phosphorus loss as well.”

While winter crops offer a variety of benefits to crop rotations, they can require additional preparation.

Planning ahead

Winter crops come with their own challenges and considerations. Farmers need to account for planting and harvest timing, soil preparation, pest and disease risks, winter survivability, marketing opportunities, and seed availability.

To start off a winter crop right, producers need to line up their seed well in advance.

“You have to have your seed ordered for the year typically by July,” says Thompson, who notes that a lot of the seed comes from Kentucky, leading to the early ordering dates.

Producers also need to be ready to prepare their fields for a fall crop. Without the winter to break down residue, it can be difficult to prepare the soil.

“After wheat, it can be tough to make a nice seedbed for winter canola with that kind of root mass. We tended to cut low while combining, and we baled the straw off,” says Wright.

“We found that a high-speed disc or a short disc had a better chopping action, and then you can put a packer behind them that will smash up any soil clumps. It can be a bit ugly after wheat, and it can be even worse after winter canola. It is a challenge to get that pretty seedbed like in the spring when the residue is rotted down.”

Thompson adds that tillage is also important for insect management in winter canola.

“For winter canola, you have to work the ground, because the crop is susceptible to slugs,” says Thompson.

“For no-till farmers, it is pretty hard for winter canola to work into the rotation. I borrowed my nephew’s high-speed disc to get a better seedbed and broadcast some fertilizer. I also put some on with the planter.”

He notes that no-till is still a viable option for other fall crops.

“I like no-tilling winter wheat in the heavy clay soils in the Peel area. In a winter with a lot of frost, I find wheat survives much better in no-tilled ground, and I think that helps with drainage too,” says Thompson.

“When I’ve grown winter barley, I had good luck with no tillage. With winter triticale, we have done some switching back and forth. If you can get it in within a decent timeframe, no-till works well, but if I have to, I’ll work the ground for quicker tillering. It’s something to think about, because at the end of the day, you want that feed.”

After tillage, when planting winter canola, Wright recommends using an air seeder to sow winter canola and target a seeding rate of two to three pounds per acre. He notes that after bolting, canola plants can fill a lot of space.

Volunteer crops can also cause trouble in winter crops, so it’s important to create a plan for herbicide applications.

“Certainly, there were challenges with winter crops – mostly with volunteer crops. You can get volunteer wheat in canola, which is very manageable with chemical,” says Wright.

“You can also get volunteer canola in your winter barley crop, but it’s fairly manageable as well. Be ready to be on top of it and get the spraying done when it needs to be done. As soon as you get that sense the wheat is competing, you have to get out there and knock it down.”

Balog adds, “It’s important to take care of volunteers to have better survivability. Plan ahead on what works for that crop and which acres are open and to be able to potentially lay down residual herbicides, leaving less work in the spring to take care of the flush of weeds.”

Once the crop has emerged in the fall, it’s important to watch for insects – like slugs or flea beetle in canola – and continue to scout to assess development. Wright says that a pencil-sized root in winter canola is a good indicator of winter survivability.

Balog says, “With fall crops, we’ve seen that planting timing is key to get good growth in the fall and enhance winter survivability.”

Before any plans are made for adding winter crops to a rotation, a marketing strategy should be determined. While many elevators will accept winter canola, crops like winter barley, rye, or triticale may need to be contracted for seed or used for feed. Crop prices should also be considered.

Balog recommends that anyone considering planting winter crops start making a plan early.

“If you are thinking about fall crops, call and ask what seed might be available,” says Balog.

“It’s good to get a plan in place in June or July so you know that the seed is there, and you are able to enact that plan when you get the crop you want to follow off. Get herbicides down and plant in adequate time.” BF