Charles Abel • Borders Farming
Borders does it best Investing in innovation and efficiency were recurring themes on the Chairman’s Tour of the Borders region of Scotland. Charles Abel reports
“We’re looking after somebody else’s asset, so we’ve got to get it right.” “The slurry is as valuable as the milk, it’s certainly making as much money.”
FARMING EFFICIENCY MOBILE phones, modern machinery and precision farming transformed arable farming, says Colin McGregor. Now McGregor Farms delivers an exceptional contract farming operation across almost 3500ha (8500 acres) of the fertile Tweed Valley. What Vaderstad’s drill started, by raising daily outputs from 40 to 100 acres a day, today Claas Lexion combines have continued, with a flexible 42ft belt-fed header raising output by 20% and 30% in wheat and oilseed rape respectively. At £435,000 each they must earn their way, which McGregor farms ensures they do. The dedicated team includes CFA-standard accountancy, delivered by wife Jill, and in-house agronomy. “With no scope for diversification we have to rely on pure farming, and contract farming is our diversification,” says Colin. Key to retaining 15 agreements is a reputation built on trust. “Economics is the driver, not politics, Brexit or anything else. And we’re looking after somebody else’s asset, so we’ve got to get it right.” A life-changing Worshipful Company of Farmers course in 2001 triggered the business expansion, with arable technical manager David Fuller joining from Yorkshire’s JSR Farming in 2008. Annual rainfall of 686mm (27 inches) and increasingly extreme weather means weather windows must be fully exploited. Investment in infrastructure includes a 4000t potato cold store and 10,000t grain store. People are invested in too, to retain a stable team. And the best possible innovation is captured through up-to-
08 • The Farmers Club Winter 2021
date machinery. “Depreciation is our biggest cost, but without the kit we couldn’t do the job. We’re investing in the ability to work shorter and shorter weather windows,” Colin says. This September’s drilling goal was 1000 acres/ four days. That’s do-able with multiple Quad-tracs and high output drills on a 12m Controlled Traffic Farming system to cut fuel use, limit soil damage and raise yields. If precision farming is going to work anywhere it will work here, with Tweed valley soils varying hugely, both within and between fields. McGregor Farms has been mapping since 1996, with electrical conductivity mapping now offering even more opportunity. Variable rate seed, backed by variable rate P, K, lime and N-sensor guided nitrogen applications, ensures crops hit optimum populations with eyewatering evenness, despite what lies beneath. “It’s a slow burn, but over a long period of time it works, and it gets us up the learning curve on new farms faster too,” says Colin. Technology should help with the worrying decline in crop protection options too. The 36m Agrifac Condor self-propelled sprayers have individual nozzle control to prevent overlaps, electro-charging pattern control and “green on brown” computer-aided targeting of weeds on bare land, and “green on green” targeting of weeds in crops a real prospect. “It’s expensive technology, but the savings are there,” says Colin. You’d back McGregor Farms against any farm anywhere in the world to extract the best efficiency gains – truly inspiring.
