AGRONOMY OILSEED RAPE
FULLY LOADED
Left to right: Dave Clark with Sarah and Chris Kendall.
A move to growing Clearfield oilseed rape for the first time last season has made cruciferous weed control much more reliable at Arras Farm on the Yorkshire Wolds near Market Weighton, while maintaining performance progress seen in Oilseed YEN competition results. Arable Farming reports.
HYBRIDS
Maintaining OSR progress with Clearfield
T
he Oilseed YEN competition has become an important part of the Kendall family’s oilseed rape crop improvement toolkit. Chris Kendall says: “The competition provides a wealth of information about our crop and ways we might be able to improve it. Our entries averaged 4.7 tonnes per hectare and 4.9t/ ha in 2018 and 2019. Last year’s DK Imperial CL topped them both with a gross output of 5.2t/ ha. This was 47% of the site’s theoretical potential, compared to 41% and 36% previously. “I can safely say the seasons haven’t been getting kinder. So,
we’re clearly making the progress we want to. And, equally importantly, we’re continuing to gain with our switch to Clearfield-growing to combat the brassica weeds problems. Opportunity “This has given us the confidence to stick with the system while more than doubling our OSR area to 49ha this season to take advantage of what looks like being an even better market opportunity than we thought it might be when we made the decision last autumn.” The family’s agronomist, Dave Clark of Agrii, was particularly pleased to see last X
JUNE 2021 AF OSR p9 10 Clearfield TR KH MC.indd 2
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06/05/2021 11:28
