AN INTRODUCTION TO AHDB’S STRATEGIC CEREAL FARMS AHDB’s Strategic Cereal Farm network has been increasing over the last few years, now with coverage across the UK. Here, Fiona Geary, AHDB’s Knowledge Transfer Manager, provides an introduction to the farms, their systems and research. East (2017-23)
West (2018-21)
Scotland (2020-26)
South (2021-27)
Host
Brian Barker
Rob Fox
David Aglen
David Miller
Location
E.J. Barker & Sons, Stowmarket
Squab Hall Farm, Leamington Spa
Balbirnie Home Farms, Fife
Wheatsheaf Farming Company, Basingstoke
Farm size
563ha arable farm
400ha arable farm
1,200ha mixed farm (800ha arable cropping)
700ha arable farm (670ha cropping)
Main soil type
Loamy and clay
Medium to heavy clays
Sandy silt loam
Silty loam over chalk with clay cap and flints
Cropping
Winter feed wheat, herbage grass seed, spring barley, beans and oilseed rape or linseed
Winter wheat, winter barley, oilseed rape, spring beans and spring barley
Oats, spring barley, winter wheat, spring beans, potatoes and brassica vegetables or carrots, grass
Winter wheat, winter barley, oilseed rape, spring barley and beans
Establishment system
Predominantly direct drill or strip till, with more cultivation as needed
Deep, non-inversion tillage
Mostly no-till for arable cropping with cultivation after vegetables
Zero tillage
Cover crops
Cover crops are used to make sure all land has cover over winter
Trialled but not part of the rotation
Cover crops are an important part of the rotation and are used where possible
All spring crops are preceded by a cover crop
Livestock
When appropriate, the cover crop and herbage grass will be offered to a local farmer for grazing
None
170 suckler cows are owned by the farm. Up to 900 sheep from a local farm graze cereals and cover crops during winter.
None
Drill
Sumo DTS & Horsch Avatar
Horsch Sprinter with 5” Dutch openers
John Deere 750A
Horizon DSX
Strategic Farm aspiration
“We are looking at landscape farming systems and how an integrated system can be brought together and communicated more widely.”
“Our goal was to reduce costs and move the ground as much as needed but as little as possible, on our heavy clays. We aimed to react to the situation rather than a blanket approach to farming.”
“Want to see how far we can push growing crops without artificial inputs while direct drilling.”
We want to create a roadmap for other people to move into regenerative agriculture, looking at how individual practices can be used on their own farm.”
AHDB Strategic Cereal Farms have been running since 2017. Each farm business, climate and approach to farming is different but they share the common goal of trying to farm in a more economically and environmentally sustainable way.
Baselining The first year of the Strategic Cereal Farm programme is designed to gather baseline data at the start of the project which then informs subsequent trials. The same baselining assessments are repeated in year three and year six of the project to measure change over time.
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On-farm research As a result of land drainage water baselining assessments in the East, one of their projects has been investigating the use of cover crops to improve water quality. Cover crops were sown in both ploughed land and over-winter stubble. Results from harvest 2019 and 2020 showed that a wellestablished cover crop is effective at improving water quality by 50mg/l compared to bare ground. Rooting is also a focus in the West, where a three year cultivation trial is running, to assess the impact of cultivation on crop rooting, yield and soil structure. The trial started in October 2018, comparing the effect of cultivation at 5cm, 15cm and 30cm depths with a direct drilled treatment included in harvest 2020 and 2021 trials. Harvest 2019 results showed an increased topsoil strength at a cultivation depth of 5cm, leading to a steeper ISSUE 14 | JULY 2021
