AHDB STRATEGIC CEREAL FARM WEEK Sharing AHDB’s Strategic Farm demonstrations and practical ‘how to’ resources virtually AHDB’s Strategic Farm Week goes digital
perennial flower strips and boosting early crop biomass.
Usually, summer sees each AHDB Strategic Cereal Farm host open their doors to those interested in learning about the research programmes put into field scale demonstrations onfarm. However, due to Government restrictions, this year’s programme took place in a purely digital format comprising videos, webinars and a podcast.
Lower input, higher margin farming, regenerative farming and soil management all came together in one of the key webinars of the week in which Brian Barker, Tim Parton and Simon Cowell took part, see the featured article.
The webinars during the week covered a range of topics including monitoring crop development, pests and diseases, reducing chemical inputs and masterclasses on crop establishment, soil structure assessments, mole drainage and soil loosening. Experts from AHDB and across the industry led the sessions including pioneering farmers Simon Cowell and Tim Parton, and soil expert Philip Wright. This year, Strategic Farm East host, Brian Barker from Lodge Farm, Suffolk and Strategic Farm West host Rob Fox at Squab Hall, Warwickshire, were joined by a third. Farm manager David Aglen, is the newcomer having joined the Strategic Cereal Farm programme earlier this year, extending the network up to Scotland for the first time. Having yet to start trials at Balbirnie Home Farms, David is interested in looking at regenerative agricultural practices, plant and soil health and carbon offsetting through the Strategic Farm Scotland programme. David said: “There is little research going on into regenerative agriculture in the UK currently. This is the direction we want to take our business so working with AHDB offers the opportunity to harness the research available and get more work done to help us and the industry succeed in moving towards our goal.” At Brian Barker’s farm, a lowering inputs demonstration is one of several demonstrations taking place, which was showcased during the week alongside research looking at cover crops, 70 DIRECT DRILLER MAGAZINE
Farm manager, Rob Fox is overseeing a separate set of demonstrations in the west of the country looking at soil cultivations, the impact of summer catch crops and pests and natural enemies.
This season has been a particular struggle for Rob, who at one point was considering throwing in the towel altogether. Following a season of heavy rainfall, he struggled to get crops in the ground, let alone establish his demonstrations. As a result, a significant portion of the research programme at his farm had to be written off.
year, as the summer approaches and harvest 2020 beckons. AHDB looks forward to your joining us to hear about the results from all the harvest 2020 demonstrations at Lodge Farm and Squab Hall in the autumn. To access any of the content from Strategic Farm Week 2020, including watching back the webinar videos, please visit: https://ahdb.org.uk/sfweek2020 To find out more about the host farms please visit the dedicated webpages using the links below: • Strategic Cereal Farm East (Lodge Farm): https://ahdb.org.uk/farmexcellence/strategic_cereal_farm_ east • Strategic Cereal Farm West (Squab Hall Farm): https://ahdb.org.uk/ farm-excellence/strategic_cereal_ farm_west • Strategic Cereal Farm Scotland (Balbirnie Home Farms): https:// ahdb.org.uk/farm-excellence/ strategic_cereal_farm_scotland
How to decide when to lower inputs
Since then Rob has soldiered on having endured, along with the rest of the country, a prolonged dry spell; going from one extreme to the other. “It’s been a tough growing year meaning we’ve had to reduce what we had planned for the season. “It’s not all been bad news though as we’ve been able to add in an additional demonstration looking at summer catch crops. We’ve planted two different mixes: one is a bought-in mix of phacelia and fodder raddish, the other is home saved spring beans and spring barley. The aim is to see if they is any benefit to the following wheat crop.” Attention now turns to later in the
Chris Leslie
AHDB’s Knowledge Exchange Manager for Scotland, Chris Leslie, hosted the “How to decide when to lower inputs” webinar, as part of Strategic Farm Week in June 2020. Here he talks through some of the key findings and topics of conversation from the webinar, featuring farmers Simon Cowell, Tim Parton, Brian Barker and David Aglen, along with Catherine Harries, AHDB. ISSUE 10 | JULY 2020
