Arable Farming October 2022

In this issue of

Comment

12 Talking Arable

There is little point in burning diesel, metal and carbon to manufacture a seedbed Talking Agronomy

First wheats are in the ground and emerging in the North East Talking Roots

Potato yields are either very good, or very average

64 Talking Policy

No guarantees of AN production once the summer order book is completed

Business

6

Counting the cost of rising interest rates

What the increasing cost of finance means on-farm

8 News review

Crops ‘will not be grown in fields’ in 30 years’ time

Technical

18 Beet moth pest threat to sugar beet crops

How a rare insect pest has taken advantage of the Mediterranean summer Yields up in an historic harvest

Harvest may have been early but yields are up

28 Growing for gold with new spring bean

Why growers should look beyond the yield of a new spring bean

31 N prices set to remain high

Fertiliser supply at market and crop level were on the agenda at a recent conference

38 Controlling costs and cultivating resilience

Find out what is on offer in the seminars at this year’s CropTec Show

R&D

40 Improving wheat resilience through genetics

How pre-breeding research is helping improve wheat varieties on-farm

Farm buildings

45 Biomass grain drying offers cost savings

Why one Borders business has turned to biomass to power its grain drying

Machinery

52 Dammann sprayer hits the spot

Dyson Farming’s route to improving spray targeting and cutting herbicide costs 54 Joystick steering ideal for centre-feed harvester

How a Nottinghamshire farming company has boosted its harvest capacity

58 Raft of Lexion updates

Claas revealed a raft of updates to its Lexion combines at an event in Germany

60 700 Series loaded with next gen upgrades

Fendt has launched its 700 Series tractors, with power outputs of 203-283hp

Podcast

65 Where next for NPK usage?

A look at fertiliser markets, organic manures and Farming Rules for Water

BASIS news

66 Getting soils into top condition

Get savvy with training on soil and water management

Energy cropping

With maize AD feedstock volumes down, getting clamping right will be even more important this season

35 R&D

Transforming farming

Low carbon fertilisers and decarbonising the potato supply chain are among pro jects winning a share of an £11 million funding pot

42

Farm buildings

Agchem storage

How a Shropshire farming business set about designing and building a new spray store

48 Machinery

Spray application

Two Lincolnshire farming brothers’ quest for a sprayer fit for work on the wolds

62 Machinery

Precision farming

How a Wiltshire family farming business realised its precision drilling ambition with minimal outlay

a word from the editor

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How quickly the season seems to have changed. One day we were basking in glorious summer sunshine, the next night time temperatures were well down into single figures and daylight hours were noticeably shorter.

The arrival of rain has brought relief to parched soils but it has been patchy and not everyone has benefited. Oilseed rape crops have been glad of some moisture, although cabbage stem flea beetle appears to have put in an unwelcome appearance in many crops.

National headlines are dominated by energy costs, rising interest rates and our burgeoning national debt. The Government’s Energy Relief Scheme has had a mixed reception in the farming sector, with growers pointing to the need to make cropping and planting decisions now against a backdrop of uncertainty be yond April 1 next year, when the scheme will end.

Reading our farmer and agronomist contributions as they arrived, the message was loud and clear that managing costs is front of mind. What is also clear is attention to detail and careful agronomy are under pinning approaches to cost management, but there is also an acceptance that change will be necessary, whether to a rotation, a cultivation system or atti tudes to the adoption of new technology.

Future of crop production

So, it is particularly timely that in this issue we bring you an insight into some of the projects helping to shape the future of crop production with funding under UK Research and Innovation’s Transforming Food Production challenge (p35). Robots and artifi cial intelligence of course feature strongly, but there are also projects focused on new fertiliser production processes and decarbonising the potato supply chain. We also discover how pre-breeding research in wheat

could pave the way for improvements in resistance to pests, including aphids and slugs; disease, including yellow rust, and drought tolerance (p40), with field testing of some of these traits already underway.

The decision to adopt new technology is rarely taken lightly and so we are grateful to the farmers and growers prepared to share their experiences with us and Arable Farming readers. A Wiltshire family farm’s quest for an affordable entry into variable rate drilling (p62) and a Lincolnshire agribusiness’ am bition to reduce herbicide use with green-on-green spot spraying are among this month’s case studies.

And last but not least, the countdown to CropTec is well underway. Catch up with plans for what is shap ing up to be an exciting seminar programme on p38.

www.croptecshow.com 23-24, 2022

Origination by Farmers Guardian, Unit 4, Fulwood Business Park, Caxton Road, Preston, Lancashire, PR2 9NZ. Published by Agriconnect. Printed by Precision Colour Printing, Halesfield 1, Stirchley, Telford TF7 4QQ.

No responsibility can be accepted by Arable Farming for opinions expressed by contributors.

Arable Farming, Unit 4, Fulwood Business Park, Caxton Road, Preston, Lancashire PR2 9NZ

Counting the cost of rising interest rates

The cost of finance is rising. Cedric Porter finds out what that means on-farm.

For more than a decade, interest rates were more of an academic interest than a business one. The financial crash of 2008 saw the Bank of England’s base rate plunge from 5.0% to 0.5% in just six months.

The rate jogged along at that level until the next UK financial shock in 2016 when the UK voted to leave the EU when it dropped to just 0.25%. By early 2020 it had gradually risen to 0.75% but Covid-19 sent it plunging to an all-time low of just 0.1%.

Since then it has crept upwards again and as the world started to recover from the pandemic and Russia invaded Ukraine the rate jumped again, increasing to 2.25% in September.

Market analysts say the base rate could be at 3.0% by the end of

the year and up to 4.25% in a year’s time. That means that a variable rate £100,000 loan is already costing £183 a month more than it did a year ago and could rise by another £57 a month by the end of the year and another £105 next year – a possible increase of £345 in 18 months.

Debt

Farming is not so heavily borrowed as other sectors. The average debt across all English farms in 2020/21 was £246,100, with cereal farms matching that average, according to latest Defra figures.

Debts for arable farms with roots were at nearly £400,000, which was £200,000 less than those of pig and poultry farms. The average net worth across all farms was £1.94 million, giving an all-time high liquidity ratio of

262%. Net interest payments were 10% of farm business income, with loans accounting for 70% of debt, mainly owed to banks and institutions.

The recent increase in interest rates may have been dramatic, but it has to be put in context, according to Graham Redman, editor of the John Nix Pocketbook and partner at the Andersons Centre.

He says: “It has to be remembered when the Bank of England base rate dropped in 2008 it fell below 2% for the first time ever, so today’s rates are still historically low. That being said, there will be some farms that have much higher borrowings than others who will be seeing a significant increase in their repayments if they are on variable rates.”

Those on variable rates should consider a discussion with their lenders about fixing rates, he says.

“That might be sensible if borrowers think rates will continue to increase. Fixing rates

does also give you more certainty when you are budgeting.”

The rise in interest rates should also not rule out strategic investments that will strengthen the business, adds Mr Redman.

“It is more important than ever to carefully assess and plan an investment that could make farming operations more efficient, add value to crops or develop a new source of income by diversifying. The rise in fertiliser, fuel and energy costs may mean there is a need to invest in

Some farms will be seeing a significant increase in their repayments if they are on variable rates

GRAHAM REDMAN

The rise in interest rates should not rule out strategic investments, says Graham Redman of the Andersons Centre.

renewable energy investments.”

Well-planned and justified investments may be a way of helping to manage tax burdens too, says Mr Redman. The Annual Investment Allowance on eligible investments has been retained at £1m a year until at least March 31, 2023.

Investments to make a business more financially and environmen tally sustainable are on the agenda of many farm businesses, according to a survey by Paragon Bank. It found that 73% of agricultural small and medium sized enterpris es (SMEs) had made progress in

compared with an average for all types of businesses of 46%.

Of those questioned, 59% said investment in sustainability improved the reputation of the business, 47% said it gave a competitive advantage, 41% said it ensured compliance with legislation and 26% said it saved money. While 80% said they were willing to invest in more sustainability projects, there were fears about the cost of borrowing.

Ashley Butterfield, regional director of SME lending at Paragon, says: “With the recent rate

impact to global supply chains affecting the sourcing of new, greener equipment and ongoing concerns about inflation, it is understandable that many firms in the sector are cautious about financing and the costs of taking further steps towards sustainability.

“There is a range of financial products and support, including refinancing, available to SMEs in the sector that can help provide them with the practical solutions they need,” he says.

Frustration

Another survey, this time by NatWest, highlights the frustra tion rising costs are holding back investments in climate change mitigation measures. It found 82% of farmers surveyed reported a feeling of frustration or guilt that they were not able to take planned action on climate change.

To help address the increase in input costs and interest rates, the bank has said it is freezing all charges and tariffs on its business current accounts for at least 12 months and reducing interest rates on small business loans up to £40,000 by 0.51.35% depending on the terms and length of the loan.

Ian Burrow head of agricul ture at NatWest says: “We want to provide the financial means and accessibility for farmers to pursue their climate ambitions.

“Addressing climate change and reducing environmental impact is a key issue for farmers,

ASHLEY BUTTERFIELD

so we’re working to remove the barriers and help the sector make changes now, which will save money and safeguard businesses in the long term.”

Interest rates can be expected to be elevated for the next year at least, but they may not be higher for a prolonged period. The Bank of England has been increasing rates to help curb inflation which is near 10%.

The Bank had forecast the Consumer Price Index inflation rate to rise above 13% by the end of the year, with some commercial banks predicting a rise to nearly 20%.

However, the Government’s commitment to capping domestic energy bills and supporting businesses is likely to mean a lower inflation rate. A weaker global economy and reduced energy usage could also reduce inflation, with many banks expect ing the base rate to be at or below 2% by the end of 2023.

Many firms are cautious about financing and the costs of taking further steps towards sustainability

Bank of England base interest rate

SOURCE:

Protein content falling in milling wheat crops

Provisional results from harvest 2022, using data to August 30, suggest that milling wheat samples are displaying lower percentage protein content, but that specific weights and Hagberg Falling Numbers (HFNs) look high, says AHDB.

The average protein content of UK Flour Millers Group 1 varieties sits at 12.5%. This is below the milling specification of greater than or equal to 13%. The figure is down 0.7 percentage points from 2021 (at 13.2%) and lower than the three-year average (2019-2021) of 13%. Lower

Just under a third of Group 1 wheat samples met a typical milling specification in tests conducted to the end of August.

protein levels are likely to be a result of limited nitrogen uptake due to hot and dry weather at the time of final application.

Average HFNs of Group 1 wheats were at 346 seconds.

This is 60s (21%) above 2021, and 37s (12.1%) above the three-year average.

The average specific weight of Group 1 varieties is 81.8kg/hl, up 6.4kg/hl (8.4%) from last

year’s average. Compared to the three-year average, average specific weight for Group 1 wheat is up 4.2kg/hl (5.5%).

Specification

Overall, provisional results show 31% of Group 1 samples are meeting a typical Group 1 specification (specific weight ≥ 76kg/hl, protein ≥ 13.0%, HFN ≥ 250s).

This is up 11 percentage points from the 20% that met specification in the final 2021 results and nearly in line with 2020, where 32% of Group 1 samples met the specification requirements.

Call for more detail on energy bill relief plans

JBusinesses need certainty beyond the next six months if they are to ‘plan for growth’..

The Energy Bill Relief Scheme, revealed by the Department for Business, Energy and Industry, means wholesale prices are expected to be fixed for all non-domestic energy customers at £211 per MWh for electricity and £75 per MWh for gas for six months.

The scheme will apply to fixed contracts agreed on or after April 1, and variable and flexible tariffs and contracts, with the Government negotiating with suppliers to ensure

everyone can switch to a fixed tariff for the duration of the scheme if they wish.

For businesses not connected to either the gas or electricity grid, the Government said equivalent support would be provided for non-domestic customers who use heating oil or alternative fuels instead of gas.

Critical time

Prime Minister Liz Truss said she understood the huge pressure businesses were facing and this scheme would keep businesses’ energy bills down.

The end of the Government

Farm groups have warned rising energy costs are set to lead to a reduction in plantings next spring.

support package will come at a critical time for the salad industry.

Lee Stiles, secretary at Lea Valley, said growers needed to make cropping decisions now

Rise in UK tractor registrations

JAfter a couple of months of year-on-year declines, UK registrations of agricultural tractors (over 50hp) moved slightly above last year’s level in August.

At 834 machines, the monthly figure was just five higher than in August 2021, and only slightly further ahead of the August average from the previous five years.

The total for the year to date was still 5% lower than in January to August 2021, though, as supply chain disruptions continued to delay delivery of tractors to customers.

and required more detail and extended support to do so.

“The announcement is not enough to encourage growers to order plants now for planting in December/January, due to the uncertainty of the six month period that will end when growers have started picking the crop,” he said.

“Growers in discussions with retailers on cost of production price increases are unable to factor in the ending of the support scheme on the April 1.”

‘Crops will not be grown in fields in 30 years’ time’

JA leading agrifood expert has claimed crops will not be grown in fields in 30 years’ time.

According to Clarke Willis –who spent 15 years as chief executive of Anglia Farmers, the UK’s largest agricultural input supply co-operative – ‘controlled environment agriculture’ (CEA) will dominate over the coming decades.

CEA takes place in an enclosed growing structure, such as a greenhouse or plant factory, and aims to maintain optimal growing conditions throughout the development of a crop.

Speaking during a food security REDTalk organised by the Rural Policy Group think tank, Mr Willis said: “My view is fairly controversial. In 30 years’ time, we are not going to be growing crops in fields, certainly not to the level we are now in soil. CEA is going to be the main way forward. It is happening globally.

Strategy

“Singapore which, bear in mind, has got no land at all, has got [a target] to produce 30% of its food by 2030. It is a clear strategy.”

Jose de Mayne Hopkins, expert in sustainability for MHA Macintyre Hudson, agreed, claiming climate change would force businesses to produce food differently.

“Wheat is extremely sensitive to heat, so if the climate agenda

CLARKE WILLIS

does not get pushed forward and climate issues are not taken seriously with transition plans, we may not have high yield producing fields in 2030 or 2050.”

Mr Willis went on to say the whole food system in the UK is ‘dysfunctional’ because it is not producing what people want to eat.

He pointed to the example of durum wheat, which is used to make pasta but is not grown in great quantities in the UK.

“Another example is potatoes,” he said.

“We produce 22% of the UK’s potatoes here in Norfolk. How do we consume our potatoes? In frozen chips, which we import from Belgium and Holland.

“The whole system is completely dysfunctional and that is why we need a rebalance in our whole feed sector.”

RELIABILITY AND SIMPLICITY

By improving selection and seed placement, the MAXIMA 3 is more precise at speeds up to 10 km /h.

The seeding unit offers exceptional stability and guarantees a very regular seeding depth thanks to its powerful depth control system.

Controlled environment agriculture is going to be the main way forward. It is happening globally

Crop production is set to move out of fields within 30 years, according to former Anglia Farmers chairman Clarke Willis.

ABIKay

What would it take for you to put on your marching boots, leave the fields and descend upon London to protest?

That is a question I pondered last month, as Farmers Guardian looked back on the 2002 Liberty and Livelihood March for its 20th anniversary.

Speaking to people who attended the protest, it became clear just how fondly the event is remembered. More than 400,000 demonstrators travelled to the capital on 2,200 coaches and 31 special charter trains to remind Tony Blair’s Government that rural communities had a voice.

Marchers recalled feeling a real sense of power, unity and purpose on that day.

The demo was organised in opposition to the legislation banning hunting, but it became much more than that, as the countryside came together to show it would no longer be neglected.

And it seems to have had a big impact, with Blair later admitting the move was one of his biggest domestic regrets.

Mobilisation was only possible, though, because there was a common ‘enemy’ – as Countryside Alliance chief executive Tim Bon ner, who helped organised the event, put it.

Today, it can feel as though farming is besieged on all sides, but it is hard to lay the blame at anyone’s door.

ABI KAY

Causes of some of the problems faced can be hard to identify and even more difficult to influence. Taking to the streets outside the Kremlin to complain about energy prices, for example, would be as pointless as it is dangerous.

And on other issues, such as trade, farmers have a range of different views. A divided house cannot stand.

Protest

There was also a fear among the people I spoke to about the march that any future protest would be counterproductive.

It is easy to see why they would draw that conclusion when the urban-rural divide has never been wider.

The gaping chasm was illustrated perfectly by a recent University of Exeter and Farming Community Network study, which found farmers are regularly subjected to abusive behaviour from members of the public during the course of their working day.

Survey participants said the demographic in their villages had changed significantly over the past 20 years and one told of his

experience of getting ‘sly comments’ from walkers on footpaths or being sworn at in the tractor when on the roads.

When farmers are saying they feel ‘alien’ on their own doorstep, it is understandable that they feel the urge to retreat to the farmhouse.

There is one thing, though, that Mr Bonner thinks could bring rural people out of their homes once more, and that is the controversial land use issue.

With more and more agricultural land being snapped up for rewilding, tree planting, solar panels, infrastructure and housing, questions are being asked about whether countryside communities are facing an existential crisis.

Could it be that this is the issue farmers and other rural folk will coalesce around over the next 20 years? Only time will tell.

Another Liberty and Livelihood March unlikely as the urban-rural divide has never been wider

rAbi Kay is head of news for Arable Farming’s sister publication Farmers Guardian.

About the author

Marchers recalled feeling a real sense of power, unity and purpose on that day

OLLIEMartin

Ollie Martin is responsible for the arable and grain business enterprise across Bedfordia Farms’ 2,450-hectare operation, with 27,000 tonnes of grain storage, near Bedford.

He studied agribusiness management at Writtle University College and has had previous farm management roles in Norfolk, Hertfordshire and Fife.

With a giant leap of faith, we sowed just shy of 400 hectares of oilseed rape in the first three days of September. In the days that followed there was nowhere near as much rain as had been forecast. Ideally, I would have liked to wait another week or so to get past the main migration of the dreaded cabbage stem flea beetle (CSFB).

Sure enough we are now suffering significant damage with the crop at a vulnerable growth stage.

relatively relaxed pace. With harvest finishing so early and little in the way of precipitation to stop us we have, like many I suspect, enjoyed an unusual amount of downtime for this time of year.

The plough has been out to turn over some particularly ‘bromey’ and ‘black-grassy’ land. With a good four weeks between harvest and ploughing, I am hopeful the soft brome will have broken dormancy before it was buried so that we are not just saving the problem for later.

OLLIE MARTIN

I have seen on social media a handful of people applying pyrethroid insecticides as a supposed means of control. I’m going to put my head above the parapet and state that I believe that to be an irresponsible use of such products.

With an estimated 80% of the CSFB population resistant and possibly as little as 50% of targets hit, control levels could be as low as 10%. Meanwhile, how much harm has been done to the wider insect species populations?

Farm facts

rBedfordia Farms has more than 2,400 hectares of combinable crops including wheat, barley and beans

rThe business also provides grain testing in its on-site lab and has 27,000 tonnes of grain storage and processing capacity

rThere are 27 soil types across the farms, but most of the land consists of Hanslope clay, Faulkbourne and Stretham, which are classified as chalky clay, becoming waterlogged in winter

rThe farm utilises a number of precision technologies and has two pig units totalling 1,100 breeding sows

An application of Panarex (quizalofop-P-tefuryl) at 0.5 litres/ha is planned for the coming days to control volunteer wheat, with Centurion Max (clethodim) likely to follow in a few weeks when – if – the crop makes it to 4 true leaves. Pig slurry is being applied as I write (September 17) which should hopefully give the crop a shot in the arm.

Meanwhile, cultivations have been moving on at a

The continued lack of moisture in the South East has made for challenging conditions and has been hard on the kit. Thankfully we tend to keep a healthy stock of spare parts in stock as lead times from some manufac turers have been painful. Something resembling a seedbed has been achieved for the most part – no mean feat on some of our ground in a dry year.

Direct drill

This year we will aim to direct drill a significant proportion of our first wheats, a notable shift from our ‘standard’ methodology of recent years. I am confident that the soil condition in these areas is suitable and as such there is little point in burning diesel, metal, not to mention soil carbon, in an effort to manufacture conditions for establishment.

Despite the relative lack of moisture, we have seen a good flush of black-grass in the last week or so. No doubt there is plenty more to come. We will make

The continued lack of moisture has made for challenging conditions and has been hard on kit

Cultivations have been progressing at a relatively relaxed pace.

every effort to delay wheat drilling until October 1. That said, with nearly 1,650ha of wheat and beans to sow this autumn I shall make no apology if my nerve gives out a few days early. Despite the increased cost of glyphosate, rates for stale seedbed applications will remain robust – we can’t afford any hint of resistance to this active.

Wheat prices have firmed as little

trust is placed in the longevity of the Black Sea grain corridor. Milling premiums also remain significant as grain protein was, it seems, generally found lacking across Europe this harvest gone. This is all just as well as input prices are only going one way. You could have been forgiven for thinking last season’s fertiliser prices could not be topped but it seems we are now in a perfect storm of extreme gas

The plough has had an outing to turn over some land affected by grass-weeds.

prices, no domestic production and weak sterling.

With machinery prices going the same way and many

pesticides in short supply or even unavailable, it looks like a particularly challenging year ahead for the arable sector.

BEN Boothman

A large amount of my first winter wheat acreage is now in the ground

It is as if someone upstairs was listening, or my rain dances worked. The rain eventually arrived here in North York shire two weeks ago. This was the much-needed booster shot that some of these oilseed rape crops needed. Apart from the odd monsoon it arrived in dribs and drabs with just over 50mm being accumulat ed so far (September 19).

As well as giving crops a new lease of life, soil conditions have eased up after some rain, allowing an army of cultivators and drills to race to fields and start their autumn campaign. Softer conditions underfoot are also a welcome relief to our soil sampling outfit; concrete fields were taking its toll and I’m pretty sure if you melted down all the bent probes from this season you could rebuild the Titanic.

Early-sown oilseed rape crops are finally up and away from flea beetle threats, with

Agronomist facts

the most advanced crops now reaching six leaves. I am sure, however, these critters are not going to starve, as they seem to be filling their bellies on the late-August-sown crops. These later-drilled crops paint a different picture as the voracious beetles refuse to stop and I fear may win on several fields.

Costs

I have applied very few pre-emergence herbicides to OSR crops this year due to dry conditions and the threat of not having a crop to protect from weed invasions.

Costs were kept to a minimum with just a low rate graminicide applied so far stopping volunteer cereals pilfering any early traces of moisture. Weed flushes have begun following the rain, so a single application of halauxifen-methyl + picloram is planned and this will be followed by another graminicide targeting black-grass and the secondary flush of volunteers.

Winter linseeds have gone into near perfect conditions and, with rain straight after drilling, jumped out of the ground within six days. First true leaves are unfolding so graminicide sheets are being left to tackle early cereal volunteer flushes. Pre-emergence sprays seem to be holding up to expectations on light land.

A large amount of my first winter wheat acreage is already in the ground with the exception of any bad black-grass situations

or where there was a lack of seed on-farm. Soil conditions are near perfect with some very good seedbeds being produced. Earliest sown wheats have all now emerged and it won’t be long before a green tinge can be seen across fields.

Slug activity has so far been low but as soon as they realise a smorgasbord of fresh food is available then the buffet table will be open. Where grass-weeds are not the main target an ever-reliable mix of pendimethalin and diflufenican will be my go-to choice pre-emergence. Unfortunately, many fields now have a wide range of grass-weeds, including the ever-present black-grass, bromes, ryegrass and Vulpia (rat’s tail fescue) to name but a few.

The base of my control in these situations remains flufenacet, with different modes of action included to match the major weed burden. I will be dipping my toes into newer chemistry and having a go with the newly approved cinmethylin (Luximo) and see what this combined with other actives brings to the never-ending war against black-grass.

Winter barleys have followed in the wheats’ footsteps and are now all safely in the ground and in most cases pre-emergence herbicides have been applied. I favour pre-emergence plans with barley to get on top of any grass-weed problems early as post-emergence options are very limited and prone to more variability.

JBen Boothman is an independent agronomist and member of the Arable Advisor Group and the Association of Independent Crop Consultants (AICC), covering Yorkshire and the North East. He is BASIS, FACTS and BETA qualified and studied for a degree in agriculture and crop management at Harper Adams University.

GREG Taylor

OSR crops that went in at the start of September are growing away strongly

The past month has quite literally been a watershed for us, with a couple of inches of early September rain proving transformational.

A flurry of drilling in the first 10 days of the month put both our winter oilseed rape and cover cropping plans back on track. And the moisture has made all the difference to drilling conditions for the first of our wheats, which should be in by the time you read this.

Thankfully, the OSR that sat in the ground from early August sowing is motoring now and crops that went in at the start of September are growing away strongly. Our latest plantings should be coming through imminently in warm soils.

Agronomist facts

JGreg Taylor has been an Agrii agronomist for more than a decade, servicing around 6,000 hectares of mainly combinable cropping across a broad range of soil types in Oxfordshire, Warwickshire and Buckinghamshire.

As a Harper Adams graduate, he has worked on farms in New Zealand and the USA, and is now responsible for the trials and demonstration work on the Brackley i-Farm.

He is particularly engaged with direct drilling, soil improvement and regenerative agriculture and is an ardent rugby fan and marathon runner in his spare time.

With both daylight hours and temperatures declining noticeably, we are not out of the woods yet. However, flea beetle grazing remains minimal and, fingers crossed, we have yet to see any upturn in slug pressures. Providing everything doesn’t turn bone dry again in the next few weeks, we should be in a good place with the crop after all.

Winter covers

While catch cropping ahead of winter cereals has been completely scuppered by the drought, the recent rain has avoided us having to move to plan B on the winter cover cropping front.

It may have been on the late side for phacelia, buckwheat and vetch sowing but most of our planned covers are also now establishing. We don’t expect them to develop anywhere near last season’s levels of biomass, but they should have time to produce the rooting systems we have found surprisingly valuable under previous less-than-ideal sowing conditions.

The arrival of rain has left much of the wheat ground we are increasingly keen to sow in September following our black-grass management efforts in a much better state for direct drilling too, especially so where we have successfully built up soil health.

Paying dividends in both respects here have been more extensive rotations with two spring crops in a row and linseed as a low-trash entry as well as regular additions of organic matter, cover cropping and the least possible soil disturbance at every stage.

Having straw-raked or lightly tickled the stubble surface on all but our highest risk black-grass ground we are currently biding our time for the

flush of grass-weed growth that we invariably see 14-21 days after decent rain. This means we should be able to spray it off with glyphosate and drill the wheat by the first week of October.

Where we have greater black-grass concerns, of course, we shall be holding off until mid-October for an even greater weed flush to take as much pressure as we can off the chemistry.

Robustness has been our key criterion in variety choice this season to reduce risk and, where possible, save on inputs. In the absence of sufficient seed of new, incredibly clean introduc tions KWS Dawsum and LG Typhoon, we are concentrating on other wheats with high Agrii sustainability ratings – most notably,KWS Extase and old favourites Graham and KWS Siskin.

With fertiliser costs continuing to escalate and AN supply tighter than ever, we are also looking at every opportunity available to minimise this input.

For one farm this means switching almost entirely to spring barley, while for others it means more pulses, better balanced overall crop nutrition, alternative nitrogen sources and careful field-by-field N targeting.

With very much higher input prices here to stay, we are also looking more strategically at the extra tools that stewardship offers – not least now the rule book has become less dictatorial. They may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but stewardship options do involve less investment and deliver a known income. Equally, though, they require care ful planning and implementation if they are to be integrated into rotations for the greatest benefit and sufficient future flexibility.

DARRYLShailes

Depending on water availability, potato yields are either very good or very average

We’ve been busy in the garden over the last few days. We leave an area down close to the marsh to grow, which isn’t mown during the spring or summer to encourage the wildflowers and wildlife and it’s full of various different wet marsh plants. Meadow sweet, which smells like Germolene and is a natural antiseptic, is the main species, but also ragged robin and a strange plant which is pollinated by water figwort wasps is abundant near the Driftway, the drain that links into the Waveney at the bottom of the garden.

Once a year we mow it down then rake it all together and burn it to prevent nutrients building up and the land becoming swamped with nettles.

We’ve also been busy picking plums and apples and trying to find a recipe for the abundance of large quinces we have this year.

Just recently we have started to spot the young male pheasants change colour, as the brood we had earlier in the year matures.

The recent rain, we had about 20mm, has

started to make the grass grow and we’ll need to cut it next week – the first time for a while.

Generally where the rains have come crops are looking better, although its still very patchy, so I tend not to ask growers in case they’ve not fared too well.

The caterpillars of sugar beet moth beetle are causing a bit of a headache to the beet crop in many areas. Not normally a problem in the UK and even pretty sporadic in warmer parts of Europe, it is moving across East Anglia.

Crown damage

Easily identified by the frass in the top the crown of the beet, the caterpillar then burrows into the crown. It can cause issues with damaging the crown and affecting new leaf growth and in extreme cases induce fusarium later in the crop’s life. We don’t have any effective answers to manage it once it gets into the crown and the application of ineffective insecticides will do more harm than good.

If it is to become a frequent issue then, no doubt, we will have to adapt a cutworm- (also a moth caterpillar) type warning system to manage going forward. Apparently, like cutworm, it doesn’t like rain, so unless these extended periods of dry weather become more frequent, we may never see it as bad again.

Disease is still relatively low in most beet crops, with mildew and rust being the main

issues and I’ve seen very little cercospora where there’s been no rain. With the factory openings delayed we need to keep a close eye on the crop.

Potatoes are interesting; depending on water availability the yields are either very good or very average, but so far bruising levels aren’t too bad considering the high dry matter. The only blight I’ve seen is at our trial site, but that’s been inoculated, however it’s still not romping away.

There’s quite a bit of secondary growth and sprouting in the field even where maleic hydrazide has been applied so this may cause a problem into store where chits are knocked off providing an entry for disease, so care will be needed during the curing phase.

With crops already breaking dormancy in the field chitting in store earlier than normal can be expected, so the approval of I,4 Sight (DMN) is welcome and along with the other treatments will help to manage the issue.

The high cost of electricity in cold storage may cause some growers to look at keeping the crop slightly warmer and using another means of managing chitting in store now that we have more cost-effective products available to us, but this will need careful thought and management.

I recently went to our local harvest service and the curate thanked agronomists for helping the farmers to grow their crops. Now there is a first.

JDarryl Shailes is root crop technical manager for Hutchinsons, with a nationwide remit. He has been working in potato agronomy for more than 20 years. facts

Growers attending a BeetField event in Norfolk were updated on the damage being caused by a hitherto rare pest of sugar beet in the UK. Teresa Rush reports.

Beet moth pest threat to sugar beet crops

Insect pests are agile oppor tunists and this summer’s hot, dry conditions appear to have opened the door to a new threat to sugar beet.

Growers in the Bury St Edmunds beet factory area in Suffolk and Cambridgeshire have been reporting black heart symptoms in their crops and the same damage was clearly visible in early September in the crop at a British Beet Research Organisation (BBRO) BeetField event at Fersfield near Diss, on the Norfolk/Suffolk border.

Had the symptoms been seen earlier in the season, in May or June, downy mildew or boron deficiency would have been suspected, BBRO head of science Prof Mark Stevens told growers attending the event.

“But if you get your penknife and start digging around in these heart leaves, you’ll probably start to find larvae

which are anywhere from a couple of millimetres to a centimetre long and vary from light green to dark green, red, purple and even black. And, unfortunately, it’s the larvae of the beet moth.

“Beet moth is something we’ve been keeping an eye on. We did see it in 2019 at about this time of the year. But I think from what we now know it was

probably starting to show in Cambridgeshire back in May. And it’s been very much favoured by the weather pattern that we’ve had. It likes it warm, and it likes it dry. And unfortu nately, with the dry conditions being so prolonged, these larvae have probably been able to go through two if not three generations.”

Check crops

He advised growers to go back to their farms and check their beet crops.

“You’ll probably find four, five, six larvae per crown and what they’re doing is feeding on the inner heart leaves and potentially are grazing out the heart all together.”

Control is difficult, but heavy rain events, thunderstorms and even irrigation will often destroy the larvae, which are normally regarded as a transient problem and not really an issue.

More than 90% of the BeetField site was affected and there is also damage in BBRO trials. Crop damage is wide

JWhile the summer’s drought put many sugar beet crops under considerable stress it has provided an opportunity to measure drought resistance in sugar beet varieties, said BBRO head of knowledge exchange Dr Simon Bowen, who encouraged growers to assess the performance of different varieties on their farms.

“Take the opportunity to see how each of the varieties is performing and recovering because there are differences,” he said.

Canopy recovery is one aspect, but final root weight time to assess

Beet moth has been very much favoured by the weather pattern that we’ve had

PROF MARK STEVENS

spread along the A14 trunk road corridor through Suffolk and into Cambridgeshire.

Chemical control options are

varieties on-farm

and sugars will also need to be measured, he added.

“But there are some quite big differences. We’ve been walking the Recommended List trials and scoring them.”

Next season

Looking ahead to next season, he urged growers to think about the key traits in the varieties they have ordered.

“Because using those in a tactical way can give you an advantage, whether you’ve got BCN tolerant varieties or more specialised ones such as AYPR or early drilling.

“Often in a drought year we see a lot more BCN patches

limited, and label approvals tend to be specific, targeting silver Y moth for example, although cypermethrin has an approval for general caterpillar control in sugar beet. There is also a physical challenge with getting an insecticide spray to where it is needed.

“The problem with this is that they [the larvae] are embedded within the heart. You cannot get the product to them and you really need that contact activity to try and control them,” said Prof Stevens.

Spray volume

A spray volume requirement of 600-1,000 litres per hectare is also adding to the challenge.

At the BBRO Morley site near Norwich, damage levels had increased from less than 1% of the crop affected in early August to 10-20% by early September.

“They are damaging the heart but they are not completely killing it out and that’s really important. I hope they will come back but if you lose the apical dominance what you are going to get is a late multi-crowning effect and smaller leaves and that will potentially

have an impact on how these crops grow and accumulate sugar as we go through the rest of the autumn.”

Questioned on the lifecycle of the pest, Prof Stevens said it overwintered on chenopodiaceae species as well as on beet or in the soil surrounding beet.

“I’m not sure how cold it would need to get to take it out. We’re also learning as well as trying to work out what’s going on. There is some work in eastern Europe looking at neonic sprays that may have efficacy, but the problem is you need something that’s going to be systemic to get into the plant or something, as with the pyrethroids, with a high water

PROF MARK STEVENS

volume to try and get at it because once it’s protected, it’s a bit more like leaf miner – as soon as it goes into the leaf you are struggling to deal with it.”

Beet moth is a Mediterranean pest that with climate change and climate volatility has started to head further north, he added.

“It’s probably something we’re going to have to either live with or potentially think about alternative strategies [for control].

“But if you haven’t walked your beet recently, it may well be worth just having a look.

“It [beet moth] may just be transitory on the back of this summer, but it has now got a foothold, more so than I would like,” said Prof Stevens.

in fields. You will have an opportunity to soil sample if you want to make sure of that, but make a note where you’ve seen it and make sure you deploy those BCN varieties in the right fields next season.”

There is concern BCN levels are increasing, but with no data to back this up a survey is planned within the next couple of years, said Dr Bowen.

Early autumn is also a good time of year to look at differences in levels of foliage disease across varieties.

“It is really quite important to use that information when it comes to where you may put your varieties next year,

DR SIMON BOWEN

particularly in the context of fields which you’re going to earmark for later lifting.”

If you haven’t walked your beet recently, it may well be worth just having a look

Take the opportunity to see how each of the varieties is performing and recovering because there are differences

Black heart symptoms indicating beet moth larvae damage in a sugar beet crop near Diss, Norfolk, on September 8.

Clamp considerations for successful storage

Do we know as much as we ought to about storing silage for use in anaerobic digesters (AD)? Can we learn from experience overseas and improve silage quality and gas yields in UK AD plants?

These are questions occupying the mind of Will Wilson of silage storage expert Ark Agriculture, after more than a decade of building silage clamps across the UK.

“We have a phenomenal amount of value going into AD plants,” he says, reflecting that this year’s silage crop is possibly the most valuable silage growers will have made.

“You may have drilled this year’s silage at last year’s prices, but you will be valuing it at this year’s prices,” he says.

Which makes any losses – and loss levels of up to 20% through fermentation and aerobic spoilage are not uncommon –even more costly.

Mr Wilson would like to see clamp design move up the priority list when AD plants are being designed and constructed. Clamp design is not complicated, but it is very easy to get wrong, he says.

Drainage

“You will look at diagrams and it will be a square box drawn with a ruler and it has no detail about the drainage or capacity.

“All it will say is there is a four to five metre-high back wall and it has three bays. So, it will be length times width times height equals capacity, but what we know from

experience is a lot more detail needs to be thought about at the early stage to get the design right.”

A scenario Mr Wilson often encounters is a lack of capacity.

“Clamps went into planning that were maybe 4.5m high, they were too wide, too short and we would

end up with a scenario where a clamp to store 10,000 tonnes had to store 20,000t. Initially there may have been plans to build several extra clamps but they never happened.”

What then happens is that clamp walls are overloaded, leading to collapse, which increases the risk of a pollution incident.

Choice of clamp base is another area where there is room for improvement, says Mr Wilson.

“We see a lot of plants that were built with concrete; it was a cheaper solution at the time. But we are now seeing after 10-15 years that concrete has not worn as well as asphalt, especially on the expansion joints. And you are left with fewer options

Continues

With maize silage volumes down after a hot, dry summer, getting clamping right will be even more important this season. Teresa Rush finds out more.

We have a phenomenal amount of value going into AD plants WILL WILSON

Consider the relationship between harvester output and compacting capacity when filling a clamp.

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TECHNICAL CROPS

to repair a concrete base than you have with an asphalt base.”

These issues should be considered on day one of the planning process, along with contingency plans and how Environment Agency requirements will be met.

“A contingency plan might be AgBags, a long-term plan might be to have a budget for future extensions to the clamp or satellite clamps, neither of which are quite as good as having capacity on site.”

Probably the most logical way of understanding how strong a clamp’s walls will be is to think about axle load, says Mr Wilson.

This indicates the maximum weight of compacting machinery that can be used on the clamp and how high up the panel can compaction safely occur. Modern clamp machinery can weigh more than 20t and compacting machinery will have two axles, which means maximum axle weight would be 10t.

“So that is something you might want to ask anyone who is building your clamp. Can you express your design in terms of axle loads?

But for those with existing clamps, the first and obvious thing to do is look after it, says Mr Wilson.

“People forget about silage clamps and their day-to-day maintenance.

“Clamp drains, walls, joints are all important.  You can get big problems with silage clamps that you have not maintained; it is going to cost you

a lot of money to sort them out in the long term.”

He recommends plant operators pay attention to joints where a concrete base meets an asphalt base.

“Those areas are really important to pay attention to because what happens is the joints expand and leachate goes underneath and can travel under the base and undermine the walls.”

Filling the clamp is all about reducing the amount of air in the silage and creating a high level of anaerobiosis – the anaerobic condition which stops silage breaking down and ensures that the energy that growers have spent so much money trying to bring into the clamp is retained, says Mr Wilson, who has several tips for creating the optimum clamp conditions.

“If you are moving material from a field to the AD plant and it is travelling a long distance, you want it to be coming in a regular pattern. You do not really want to have the first 10 trailers of the day arrive all at once. I know several AD plants where contractors set their people off staggered times.

Logistics

“The logistical exercise of moving hundreds of thousands of tonnes of silage is a military operation when we start talking about bigger plants.

“So one of the golden rules is basically a third of the weight of the grass and a fifth of the weight of the maize that comes into your silage camp per hour should be on the clamp’s compacting machinery.

“So, 100t of maize per hour arriving in the clamp equals 20t minimum weight of compacting machinery on the clamp.

“But 100t of maize arriving into a clamp is nothing. There will be plants that do 100t in 20 minutes. In which case you need to upscale your compacting machinery or slow your harvesting down, but it is almost impossible to slow down a contractor.”

“The faster you go, the less compaction you achieve.”

An emerging trend within the last couple of years has been to either leave clamps uncovered or cover them with a layer of digestate, to reduce labour costs and the amount of plastic waste.

“I can see all the reasons why operators do not want to be involved with uncovering and re-covering clamps but the more we look into this the more we understand that the losses are phenomenal,” says Mr Wilson, who cites recent research conducted at a plant in Northamptonshire comparing a digestatecovered clamp to one covered with proper sheeting.

Losses were found to be about 40-50% where digestate was being used to cover the clamp.

“Which is a phenomenal amount of money,” says Mr Wilson.

“And there are other implications of not covering or covering with digestate; the loadings on the walls increase massively because your clamp is absorbing a huge amount of rainfall rather than letting it wash off.

silage films, which should be low as possible, and use of sidewall sheets.

“Sidewall sheets are still a no-brainer. I know people do not want to use them, but they do such a good job of protecting the walls and creating tight seals around the edges.

“Hopefully, we can develop new products that remove the labour intensity of these solutions. But at the moment, the best thing to do is try and engineer out the labour requirements,” he says.

Safety

Looking to the future, he suggests clamp safety is one of the biggest challenges facing AD plant operators.

“We have not really addressed the problem that silage camps are probably the most dangerous structures on an AD plant. You send operators to work at height on unstable surfaces to uncover and re-cover silage clamps and they have to do that in all weathers. We have to

More information

WILL WILSON

Silage layers should be no thicker than 20cm and compacting machinery should move slowly across the clamp.

“Environmentally, you are putting a lot more stress on your leachate collection because you are not collecting rainwater, you are collecting slurry that comes off the digestate that then fills your drains.”

Other points to consider include the oxygen transmission rate of

For more information on ADBA, visit adbioresources.org

If we could reduce waste by 5%, we could make a massive difference to the carbon footprint of our feedstock

JWill Wilson was speaking at an Anaerobic Digestion and Bioresources Association (ADBA) clamp management and compliance training event.

Reducing feedstock storage costs is a key challenge for AD plants.

Clamp design considerations

rWhat is the maximum fill height of the finished clamp across the face?

rIs it only designed to be filled level with the tops of the panels or can it be filled higher?

rWhat is the density of the silage the clamp is designed to hold (t/cu.m)?

Grass, maize and wholecrop have different densities, which can also be expressed as dry matter percentages.

rHow close can the machinery used on the clamp be driven to the edge of the panel?

Some designs mean that compacting machinery cannot operate within four metres of the inside edge of the wall, which is a significant flaw in a clamp that requires even distribution of the weight of compacting machinery.

rWhat is the maximum weight of the compacting machinery that can be used on the clamp and how high up the panel can compaction safely occur?

The best way to understand this is based on axle weight.

Source: Ark Agriculture

work out how we can help making uncovering silage clamps safer.”

Storage costs make up a large proportion of the costs associated with silage and there is room for improvement, says Mr Wilson.

“It is all relative to the cost of the

value of the silage but how do we reduce the cost? How do we make silage covering simpler? How do we automate more of it?

“It is a real challenge, especially when we have clamps that aren’t really designed well to begin with.”

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And he highlights issues around the environmental impact of silage production for AD, not only in terms of pollution, but the environmental cost of losses too.

“If we’re throwing away 20% of our silage, we have already burned

the diesel to do that. If we could reduce that waste by 5%, we could make a massive difference to the carbon footprint of our feedstock, which in the future may become really valuable,” Mr Wilson concludes.

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Harvest for many was early, dry and hot, but crops generally did well this season. Alice Dyer gets a harvest round-up.

Yields up in an historic harvest

Record temperatures, combining at 5am to get the morning dew and months without a drop of rain will make the 2022 season a memorable one for many.

But despite the obvious challenges, many growers were left pleased with the amount of grain that went into the shed this harvest.

With most of the AHDB winter wheat Recommended List harvest results for treated trials now published (September 9), how varieties performed in the challenging conditions is becoming clearer.

Despite the lack of rainfall, some areas saw very high yields and as of September 9, the average yield of control varieties – Skyfall, KWS Siskin, KWS Barrel, LG

Skyscraper and Gleam – stood at 11.5 tonnes per hectare, 0.64t/ha ahead of the five-year average.

Living up to its name, newly recommended Group 4 (hard) variety Champion topped the results at 106%, followed by other Group 4s (hard) SY Insitor on 105% and newly recommended KWS Dawsum on 104 %.

Gleam, Graham and KWS Cranium were on 103%, but LG Typhoon has underperformed in 2022 on 98%.

Soft Group 4s

Highest yielding of the soft Group 4s in 2022 at 103%, was LG Skyscraper and newly recommended RGT Bairstow.

In the quality bread wheats, the top-yielding UKFM Group 1

bread wheat variety is KWS Zyatt at 101%, well ahead of Skyfall (97%), RGT Illustrious (96%), and Crusoe (94%).

In UKFM Group 2, KWS Extase is highest yielding at 103%, two points ahead of newly recommended variety KWS Palladium, while Mayflower sits at 97%.

Reflecting the low disease pressure year, the average yield of control varieties in untreated trials was 9.67t/ha, 0.91t/ha ahead of the five-year average.

Quality bread wheats are coming out on top for the 2022 harvest, with KWS Extase performing very well at 124%, followed by newly recommended varieties KWS Palladium (117%) and Mayflower (116%).

Continues on page 26.

RL yield results in brief

rWinter wheat: As of September 9, the average yield of control varieties was 11.5 tonnes per hectare, 0.64t/ha ahead of the five-year average.

rOilseed rape: Winter OSR yield results for RL control varieties was almost 0.5t/ ha above the four year average at 5.72t/ha.

rWinter barley: Average yield of the RL control varieties in the treated trials is 9.72t/ha, just below the five-year average of 9.81t/ ha, while wide variations in yield have also been reported in commercial crops.

rSpring barley: The average treated yield of control varieties is 8.08t/ha, almost half a tonne above the fiveyear average. Despite the heat and drought, spring barley trials have performed surprisingly well in 2022. The highest AHDB RL yields were in Scotland.

rWinter oats: Final winter oats RL harvest results show good yields in treated and untreated trials.

The final average yield of treated control varieties was 9.7t/ ha, 0.58t/ha ahead of the five-year average of 9.12t/ ha.

However, there was a lot of variation between trials, says AHDB, and high levels of crown rust were reported in some trials. Mildew levels were relatively low.

rWinter rye and winter triticale: The average yield of the control varieties in the winter triticale trials just exceeded the five-year average and was below the long-term average in the winter rye trials. Quality was variable in both crops.

Source: AHDB

Wheat generally performed well this season considering the heat and lack of rain most areas experienced.

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Pleasing performance from oilseed rape

JLast season was relatively kind to winter oilseed rape, both commercially and in trials, with plenty of moisture around at drilling and flea beetle pressure relatively low in many cases.

In north east Lincolnshire, grower Peter Hewson harvested some of his highest ever yields.

Mr Hewson, who farms near Wold Newton, cut 80 hectares of the August-drilled crop in ‘perfect conditions’ during the third week of July.

He says: “To get anywhere near five tonnes/ha on this wold farm is unexpected, so I am extremely pleased. We aim for big yields and are grateful when we reach them. This year fields averaged 4.7-4.9t/ ha, which is one of the highest yields we have had.”

With crops generally escaping attack from cabbage stem flea beetle, the farm’s five-year average for oilseed rape is about 4t/ha. Mr Hewson grew the varieties Acacia, Aurelia and Elgar and trialled a small amount of Campus.

Oilseed rape also produced

above average yields in RL trials, where control varieties yielded almost 0.5t/ha above the four year average. The nine treated trials of control varieties Campus, Aspire, Aurelia, DK Expansion and Temptation averaged 5.72t/ha.

Hybrids

In data up to September 7, the highest yielding recommended varieties were three UK hybrids - LG Aviron, newly recommended LG Auckland and Aurelia, all on 105%.

This is also in line with their four year average performances. In 2022, these highest yielders were closely followed by Ambassador at 104%. Newly recommended Annika was leading conventional varieties on yield at 102%, followed by Acacia at 101%.

Pink straw sparks potassium concerns

JAlthough the exceptional weather made for a rapid harvest, lack of rainfall and early crop senescence meant potassium offtake from straw was significantly higher than usual for some crops, with pink coloured straw normally an indication of high levels of the nutrient.

Frontier’s national crop nutrition technical manager

Edward Downing explains: “If you get rain it washes some of the potassium off the straw and back into the soil before harvest and baling, but in dry years that does not happen and you tend to see more potassium taken off the field.

“This year, unfortunately, straw potassium offtakes are going to be more than normal, and quite significantly more.”

In replicated trials in 2018 when pink straw was also widely seen, offtake was 50-100% more than the RB209 Nutrient Management Guide average figures.

Mr Downing recommends sending grain off for nutrient analysis - results will help identify actionable steps for fertiliser strategies for this season.

Clubroot variety Crocodile continued to do well at 103%, while Matrix CL was the highest

Farm harvest saw earliest

JDry weather and a lot of sunshine was the recipe for a successful harvest across much of Scotland.

For Annabel Hamilton and her father Will, who farm 1,130 hectares near Eyemouth in the Scottish Borders, the usual midSeptember end to harvest was brought forward three weeks this year, with the last crop of spring oats combined on August 21.

Ms Hamilton says: “This is by far our earliest finish date and one of our easiest harvests ever. Usually we are drilling cereals and combining at the same time, but this year all the cereal drilling will be done without having to juggle in combining. We also normally have to dry everything but a quarter of our wheat was just under 14% which has been a luxury.”

Oilseed rape yields

This year fields averaged 4.7-4.9t/ha, which is one of the highest yields we have had PETER HEWSON

Pink coloured straw is normally an indication of high levels of potassium.

With his OSR escaping attack from flea beetle, Peter Hewson says his crop yielded well above the farm’s five-year average.

Business Development Manager

Agriconnect is a business unit within the Arc network, a global events, data, and media platform. Arc is a fast-growing global events, data, and media platform with a varied portfolio content led portals, magazines, and events. Agriconnect’s mission is to empower, inspire, and connect people and business in agriculture by creating trusted content and connections that help the industry thrive.

Since 1844, the brands of Agriconnect have been the trusted source of information for farmers and with brands like Farmers Guardian, events, like LAMMA and Farm Business Innovation, and digital platforms, like FG Insights, Agriconnect continues to bring together the British farming community.

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yielding of the herbicide-tolerant varieties at 98%, followed by LG Constructor CL at 95%.

Interestingly, AHDB saw a trial damaged by clubroot in southern Scotland, similar to the case recorded in north east England in the previous season. At these sites, there was no recorded history of the disease.

ever finish in Berwickshire

extremely pleasing, with plenty of straw in the swath.

“For wheat we grow a large percentage of Grafton and Graham as they are early varieties, allowing us to have an early entry into OSR after wheat. Graham has outyielded most of the other varieties apart from LG Spotlight this year.

ANNABEL HAMILTON

averaged just under five tonnes/ha despite two fields of oilseed rape being affected by clubroot, which has been prevalent this season. Autumndrilled Conway spring oats achieved the highest ever yield on the farm at 9.2t/ha, while spring-drilled Conway oats averaged 6.5t/ha.

Ms Hamilton says: “LG Diablo malting spring barley has been a top performing crop this year, averaging 9.2t/ha, which is

Sunshine

“We don’t block crop wheat varieties and each variety is selected to a specific field, allowing Grafton and Graham to reach just under 12t/ha and LG Spotlight reaching 12.5t/ha.

“It has been incredibly dry here and all crops just seem to have been enjoying the sunshine. There is a local farming saying that ‘Berwickshire does well in a dry summer’ and most fields performed surprisingly well. The only exceptions have been the shallow soils on the cliff tops.”

• The main function of the role is to develop business through growth in revenue, yield, and to increase customer numbers. You will be required to identify new opportunities and influence companies’ media buying habits within the agricultural sector. Due to the ever-changing nature of the industry, this person will have the ability to spot new avenues and exploit market trends.

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We strive to create a culture that is open and respectful, where differences are valued and celebrated. We want everyone to be able to reach their full potential, so we are committed to cultivating a company that promotes inclusion and belonging.

To apply for this role, please email amber.tabiner@agriconnect.com

This is by far our earliest finish date and one of our easiest harvests ever

Growing for gold with

Spring bean Yukon may not seem an obvious choice for growers at first glance of the Descriptive List, but there is more to the variety than its yield. Arable Farming reports.

With a yield rating of 91, Yukon trails its stablemate variety

Lynx by some margin. But keep reading to the right across the PGRO Descriptive List columns and some interesting figures emerge.

First off, Yukon is the earliest

maturing variety on the spring bean list and the only variety with an 8 rating for earliness, making it a contender for growers in the north of England and Scotland in particular.

Ranking

Indeed, the early maturity may explain its yield ranking in trials as, unlike in most farm situa-

tions, all varieties in trials –whether early or late maturing – have to be combined together.

It also has the highest downy mildew rating (8) among the pale hilum varieties on the list, a clear plus for all growers, whether in the north or south of the country.

To add to those benefits, Yukon has a very high thousand seed weight (TSW) at 632, giving it a very marketable sample for buyers in Egypt who form the main export market for UK-grown beans. However, Yukon is not just a variety for the North. According

Continues on page 30.

Yukon crop timeline. May 26: Crop established.

August 7: Senescence.

August 10: Harvesting.

June 15: Flowering.

new spring bean

In the field McGregor Farms, Berwickshire

JMcGregor Farms grew a seed crop of Yukon last year. Arable manager David Fuller says while the variety was later at every growth stage during the growing season, its maturity accelerated and it was harvested on September 17, which was the same day as the farm’s other spring bean crop, and it provided a

comparable yield and moisture content.

He says: “We do find in our part of the world that harvest date is dictated more heavily by drilling date and weather patterns than bean maturity.

Maturity

“Having said that, the earlier the crop matures the more available

suitable harvest days there will be. Downy mildew was less problematic in the Yukon.

“We grew Yukon again this year and harvested them on August 27, with a yield of just over six tonnes per hectare.

“There are still spring beans in the Borders that haven’t, as yet [September 10], been harvested.”

Bold samples help marketability

JAndy Bury, pulse manager for Frontier Agriculture, highlights several marketing pluses offered by Yukon.

He says: “The key benefit for us is Yukon’s high thousand seed weight [TSW]. That means a nice, plump sample for our customers in Egypt who form the main human consumption export market for UK-grown beans.

“Buyers in Egypt like larger beans as they are ideal for splitting (or dehulling, as it is called in this market). That helps us compete against the largersized Australian beans that are our key competition. Indeed, once Aussie beans hit the market in midNovember, that usually closes off the Egyptian market for us.”

Mr Bury adds that the variety’s TSW is also of value in the equally important UK aquaculture market for dehulled beans.

“In summary, Yukon has good visual appeal - its large size and brighter, less-stained sample is something that is ideal for our markets,” he says.

August 18: In store.

September 9: Sampling.

July 6: Podding.

TECHNICAL PULSE CROPS

to Michael Shuldham, pulses product manager for the variety’s breeder, LS Plant Breeding, its early maturity with the added benefits of the highest downy mildew resistance rating and a high TSW means it has a place in the rotation with southern spring bean growers as well as with those in the north of England and Scotland.

Marketability

He says: “Equally important is its marketability, where its high TSW gives a good sample for Egyptian buyers who form the main human consumption export market for UK-grown beans. It is also a plus for the equally important UK aquacul ture market for dehulled beans.

“We believe Yukon will find a

MICHAEL SHULDHAM

firm place with UK spring bean growers where its benefits will put it alongside its sister variety, the market leader Lynx.”

Seed growers have been gaining experience with Yukon over the last three years as the variety is multiplied up ready for its full launch for spring 2023 drilling.

JAmong the first growers of Yukon were Alex and Robert Brewster, who farm near Dunfermline in the east of Scotland. They say their experience in 2020 confirmed the variety’s earliness.

Alex Brewster says: “We drilled Yukon on March 25, in line with most other spring bean growers around here. Our yield was very respectable, with a shade more than five tonnes per hectare.

“What was even better was that we harvested on September 15 – that’s 14 days before most of the others in the area – which is

ALEX BREWSTER

a valuable practical benefit for us.

“And it was a dream to cut, with the pods starting higher up the plant than other varieties we have grown, and it produced a big, bold sample.”

JYorkshire grower J. Hopwood and Son has just completed its third year of growing seed crops of Yukon on-farm to the south of York.

The business farms 200 hectares of combinable crops, growing spring beans, wheat, winter and spring barley, oilseed rape and combining peas on light-medium loam, typical of the Vale of York.

Julian Hopwood says: “The spring beans are a good entry for wheat – and we only grow first wheat. We gave up potatoes five years ago and the beans give us a good, flexible break and tick the boxes for us.

“This is the third year of growing Yukon and the variety was drilled in three fields in early April at a rate of 45 seeds/sq.m, based on the advice of seed supplier Peter Fox of Daltons Seeds, allowing for its thousand seed weight of 632, one of the highest on the PGRO list.”

The Yukon was grown after cover crops, so it did not need

JULIAN HOPWOOD

phosphate, just an application of potash.

The weed and disease control programme started with Nirvana (imazamox + pendimethalin) pre-emergence followed by applications of Tomahawk (fluroxypyr), Teboo (tebuconazole) and Signum (boscalid + pyraclostrobin) during the growing season.

Clean

On the disease front, it was worth noting that Yukon was very clean, with no issues with downy mildew, says Mr Hopwood.

The crop also received applications of liquid

manganese and Odyssey biostimulant.

Yields were down this harvest after a hot, dry summer.

“We‘ve never dried our beans and they usually come off under 17% – and this very dry year we were down to 14 or 15%,” says Mr Hopwood.

“The very hot and dry spell in June took a bite out of our yield and it was a drop from

the 2.5t/acre we achieved in the first two years.”

Anecdotally, the farms’ 2020 crop of Yukon was the highestyielding bean seed crop among Dalton Seeds’ 22 growers that year, he adds.

“In compensation for this year’s low yield, the quality was high, with the Yukon giving a bright, bold sample with little bruchid damage.”

In the field J. Hopwood and Son, Yorkshire

The very hot and dry spell in June took a bite out of our yield

In the field Alex and Robert Brewster, Fife

It was a dream to cut, with the pods starting higher up the plant

Its high thousand seed weight gives a good sample for Egyptian buyers

High costs amid reduced farm support, and fertiliser supply issues at market and crop nutrition level were

Nitrogen prices are set to remain volatile as gas prices continue to put pressure on production in Europe.

Speaking at an ICL Fertilizers conference in Grantham, Humphrey Knight, potash markets analyst at business intelligence company CRU, said: “What has changed in recent weeks is that although Russian fertiliser supplies have been maintained, Russian gas supplies in Europe have not.

“We expect this to cause price upsiding in nitrogen fertiliser prices following the extreme gas price.”

Fertiliser prices reached an all-time high after Russia invaded Ukraine in March this year.

But weakened fertiliser demand and disruption to supplies not being a bad as previously predicted saw nitrogen prices fall back, in some cases quite quickly.

Lasting impact

However, with natural gas in Europe now worth 10-20 times more than in previous years, this has a lasting impact on nitrogen production, Mr Knight said.

“Production costs have gone up so much that for many European ammonia producers it is now prohibitively expensive to produce ammonium.

“Many are now shutting down and we have probably more than half of European ammonium capacity offline. This just adds to pressure.”

However, not all nutrients are equally affected and the outlook is more positive for phosphorus and potassium.

N prices set to remain high

HUMPHREY KNIGHT

Mr Knight said: “Phosphate prices have begun to come down and we expect that to broadly continue, although supply is still very tight and there is disrupted supply, with export restrictions in China getting more severe.

Prolonged

“For potassium chloride we generally have weakened demand – potash supply tightness and disruption is continuing to improve and bring prices down and we expect it to continue to do so over the coming months.”

Mr Knight added: “However, the key takeaway is while prices have come down for some nutrients, the factors that drove prices to such high levels have not yet fully gone away, which means we could have prolonged elevation of prices.”

More from the conference over the page.

The factors that drove [nutrient] prices to such high levels have not yet fully gone away

Humphrey Knight told the conference phosphate supply is likely to remain tight.

Profiting from low-till

Along-term trial is revealing the impact of tillage system on crop establishment, fuel use, work rates and farm profit.

The trial, which is being conducted by the Allerton Project in conjunction with Syngenta, is in its fifth year and is comparing results from the Allerton Project’s main, heavy land site at Loddington in Northamptonshire with those from a sister site in Kent, on light, sandy loam soil.

Joe Stanley, head of training and partnerships at the Allerton Project, told the ICL Fertilizers conference: “In a pure arable situation, what are the impacts when reducing the intensity of tillage based on a five-crop, five-field rotation if you compare direct drilling with continuous ploughing?

“Crop establishment was 8% down, as expected when using a direct drilling system. Yet, we are saving nearly 50% in fuel use, 50% in work rate as farmers can do the work in half the time. This is increasingly important in a world with closing weather windows.

“Net profit increased per

Allerton Project work found fuel use and work rates halved when running a direct drilling system.

hectare. We are producing nearly 10% less grain but are actually 20% more profitable.”

Huge benefits can be measured when altering tillage methods, not just through profitability but also from a sustainability perspective.

Emissions

Mr Stanley reported a reduction in soil greenhouse gas emission of 13% from the light land site and 20% from the heavy land site through the use of direct drilling.

“Ten per cent of all UK carbon emissions are from agriculture and

currently we are only sequestering 2% of this,” he said.

“We have a long way to go on this journey before farmers can start absorbing significant amounts of carbon from the atmosphere.”

The Allerton Project is part of the YEN Zero Project, which is aiming to ‘decarbonise agricultural production to the greatest extent possible’. Mr Stanley highlighted individual crop footprints, with winter oilseed rape producing the largest carbon footprint and peas producing the lowest.

“There are huge variations in carbon footprint seen between growers of the same crop. Trends point towards higher yields and lower carbon footprints, which shows it doesn’t have to be smaller scale farmers that can be sustainable,” Mr Stanley added.

He concluded by underlining the importance of using accurate figures when discussing benchmarking and measuring the ability to sequester carbon.

“It is vital to use the right figures in the right place,” he said.

More page 34.

SULPHUR’S ROLE IN NITROGEN USE EFFICIENCY

rApplying autumn sulphur to winter wheat and malting barley could help improve nitrogen use efficiency, according to trials by ICL.

Scott Garnett, ICL senior agronomist, explained that across the 23 sites where an autumn dose of sulphur was applied, excess nitrogen averaged 9.5kg/ha and a 36% improvement in nitrogen availability over winter was seen. He said: “If we can get another 10kg/ha in our crops

like this over winter, could we take it out in spring?”

BETTER METRICS TO ASSESS FARMING SUCCESS

rFarm size is often associated with success, but figures from the Andersons Centre, presented by Graham Redman, showed that when farm profitability is broken down into hectares, performance was similar on all farms assessed ranging from 97 hectares to 589ha.

He said: “Whether you have a big farm or small one,

performance is very similar –it’s not farm size that makes a difference, it’s how good you are at doing the farming.”

LONGER TERMS FOR BORROWING

rFarmers are borrowing more and for longer, which could raise concerns over rising interest rates.

Graham Redman, of The Andersons Centre, said: “Some might start to feel the pinch as the cost of borrowing goes up.

Last time we saw inflation at these kind of levels the

cost of borrowing was 15%.

“The fact it is 1.75-2% is somewhat reassuring and I don’t believe it is necessarily going to reach those kind of levels. But it is worth reflecting for those people who have recently expanded and borrowed.”

The cost of farming is set to be 20% higher this year than it was the same time last year across all sectors, according to agricultural price index data from Defra, Mr Redman told the conference (See pages 6-7 for more on interest rates)

Conference

Analysis of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) using the Anderson Centre’s set of model farms has shown the extent of the impact that Basic Payment Scheme cuts will have on farm incomes in 2023.

The model farms, which represent typical farm businesses including a 600 hectare and 200ha loam arable farm, and 90ha and 200ha mixed farms, see net losses ranging from £5,600 to more than £52,000 for 2023.

Speaking at the ICL Fertiliz ers conference, Andersons

Centre economist and author of the John Nix pocket book, Graham Redman, said: “Very simply, if all these farms did everything possible [currently available in the SFI standards], total income from SFI minus the BPS loss expected for 2023 shows a net change in Govern ment support and some of these figures are fairly substantial.

Transition

“We are not far through the transition but we are already seeing tens of thousands of pounds coming off the income of some of these businesses.”

However, while on paper this looks bleak, Mr Redman had some words of positivity.

Data going back to 1985 shows that, despite political events such as the MacSharry reform in the 1990s, Single Payment Scheme decoupling and set-aside being abolished in the 2000s, cropping area has stayed relatively static.

fairly dramatic changes in policy over the transition period through to 2028, history maybe shows us that farming will carry on.

“Over the long term you’d expect the cropping and land area not to change so dramati cally as some people have been scaremongering.”

Mr Redman said: “It’s going to be difficult for some people, but there might be opportuni ties for others. Some might not survive, but I would suggest it is not those you think will go out of business that actually do go out of business.

GRAHAM REDMAN

“Although we are facing some

However, farm business structures are likely to change, with more part-time farming and farms becoming fewer in numbers but larger in size.

“It will be those that are not necessarily the least profitable, but have the least drive and determination to change whatever needs to be done to ensure they remain viable.”

JPhosphorus, potassium and pH levels of UK soils have declined over recent years, according to soil analysis conducted by Lancrop Laboratories.

The firm’s laboratory manager, Jon Telfer, told the conference that Government policy on diffuse pollution introduced in 2018, which required any farmer applying slurry or fertiliser to land to provide a basic analysis, had resulted in an increase in soil samples submitted to the laboratory.

More than 60% or, almost two-thirds, of samples are below optimum pH, said Mr Telfer.

Excessive

More recently, growers have shown interest in analysis showing excessive P, where the focus is minimising the risk of polluting the environment, he added “In real terms, a phosphorus deficiency will inhibit the ability to use nitrogen efficiently,” said Mr Telfer.

“Professional Agricultural

Analysis Group data suggests one-quarter of arable soils are deficient in phosphorus, with most soils on target.

“The real disaster is, in my opinion, that one-third of UK grassland soils are deficient in phosphorus.”

He described these deficien cies as ‘low hanging fruit’, providing growers with an opportunity to address them to improve nitrogen use efficiency (NUE).

Results for potassium analysis

were surprising in terms of how much excess K was noted in arable soils. However, grassland analysis revealed 32% of soils with K deficiency, particularly on land used for cutting.

Imbalance

“Often, thoughts are ‘I’ll put slurry on; that’ll be plenty of potassium’ but it’s not enough,” said Mr Telfer.

“Only 9% of UK soils have the correct levels of P and K; 90% have some degree of imbalance.”

SFI income gap seeing of coming off the some

Farming faces some drastic funding changes, said Graham Redman.

Low carbon fertilisers and field robots are among the projects winning £11 million of funding from Defra. Alice Dyer finds out what’s on the horizon for emerging agtech.

Funding helping shape future crop production

The challenges and opportunities that surround UK crop production are diverse and wide-ranging, taking in social, economic and agronomic factors.

But the search for new solutions to address these is being supported by the Small R&D Partnerships competition, managed by UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) Transform ing Food Production challenge,

Scaling up clean fertilisers

JFor the arable sector, fertiliser prices and availability are perhaps at the forefront of most growers’ minds at the moment. And with many fertiliser plants scaling back due to rocketing gas prices, a Swindon-based clean tech company is looking to expand production of its nitrogen products.

CCm Technologies produces fertilisers using a process it developed using carbon dioxide to stabilise organic waste streams. These nutrient-rich materials are combined to create fertiliser formulations that address specific agronomic

and environmental needs through significantly lower than usual carbon and resource footprints, says the company.

UKRI has awarded the firm £682,000 of funding that will see its first-year joint project with Cranfield University at the Luton Hoo estate extended to three years.

Data

CCm says the additional funds will provide continued data on crop yields from three different types of fertiliser and generate new data around the long-term retention of soil carbon and nutrient use efficiency of the products.

CCm’s formulations have different volumes of nitrogen (5%, 10% and 15%) enabling the trial to test whether the fertiliser could equal or outperform conventional fertilisers with reduced amounts of nitrogen being applied, bringing a range of economic and environmental benefits.

The first year’s trial produced results indicating equivalent farm crop yields using 20% less nutrient application when using a CCm fertiliser, the company claims. It says the

which funds industrial research studies focused on major on-farm or immediate postfarmgate challenges.

The latest beneficiaries of the

£11 million of funding have been announced, with applications focusing on sustainability, resilience, productivity and net zero ambitions.

More funding winners over the page.

slow-release composition of the pellets has suggested conventional spreading windows could be extended.

The extension of funding

from UKRI will allow CCm to increase in-field fertiliser applications from three tonnes to 1,000t across a number of farms in England.

CCm’s process stabilises organic waste for use in fertilisers.

The fertiliser pellets have a slow-release composition.

Robots to replace harvest teams

JWith labour availability the biggest threat to the horticulture industry, exciting developments are being seen in the world of field robotics.

Supported by £1.7m of UKRI funding over 19-months, a collaborative project between Muddy Machines and its growers will develop and demonstrate a working herd of lightweight, battery-operated robots able to harvest vegetables in-field sustainably and reliably.

Precision

Muddy Machines’ technology allows farmers to precision harvest crops like asparagus and its Sprout robot can drive through fields, harvesting accurately for up to 16 hours a day with no need for breaks and no decline in performance.

CEO of the company, Florian Richter, says: “Despite these successes, a single Sprout cannot selectively harvest a typical crop alone and a herd of semi-autonomous Sprouts is needed.

“This represents our

The Muddy Machines team is looking at the potential to harvest courgettes using its Sprout robot.

next significant innovation challenge, realising a herd, or swarm of robots.”

The company, which has already built and successfully field-tested an autonomous asparagus harvest robot, has also received funding to work alongside fresh produce grower Barfoots of Botley to explore the feasibility to harvest courgettes with Sprout.

Mr Richter says: “Courgettes present more complex challenges for imaging software and, in particular, the gripping mechanism, which will need to twist the courgettes off the plant rather than cut at ground level.

“This project is an important step on our journey to develop a completely novel class of agricultural machine that can reliably replace manual labour

From washing machines to intelligent weed control

JPerhaps better known for their white goods, German engineering company Bosch’s project will develop, build and evaluate a camera-equipped self-propelled sprayer for blackgrass mapping and precision patch- or spot-spraying, using artificial intelligence to identify weeds and generate precise

weed maps. It will then develop bespoke recommendations for herbicide choice and variablerate application of pre- and post-emergence herbicides.

Artificial intelligence

The smart spraying technology uses cameras and artificial intelligence to identify a weed

and selectively spray it with a herbicide. It works by first recording images with cameras that cover the entire operating range of the sprayer.

It then uses classic deep learning algorithms for computer vision to recognise the different plants in the field and distinguish between

to address the needs of UK growers, whose platform can be used in this project.”

Also receiving UKRI funding in the horticulture sector, the G’s Fresh Sentinel crop disease surveillance network project uses several identical sensing devices located in a crop to provide an early warning of the presence of disease pathogens and present a recommended fungicide management plan.

Automated

Meanwhile, S&A Produce’s Project Blue Planet II builds on the success of its predecessor to develop automated technology incorporating machine vision systems which improve crop yield and quality of fruit, improving flavour and consistency.

weeds and crops. The software automatically selects the type of herbicide to spray, signalling the sprayer where to work.

Bosch says the process of finding a weed and spraying it takes just 300 milliseconds and the new technology can reduce herbicide use by up to 70%.

The Sprout robot is designed to work in herds to harvest vegetables.

JIn a bid to achieve net zero by 2030, national potato supplier Branston is heading up the TuberNetZero project, bringing together big players in the UK’s potato supply chain to develop genuine, practical, commercially viable, low-carbon solutions for growing, storing and transporting potatoes, without compromising quality.

The partnership, which was awarded £2 million of UKRI funding, is collaborating with agritech firm B-hive innovations, the University of Lincoln, crop storage technology firm Crop Systems and growers in Lincolnshire and Scotland.

Branston technical director Mark Willcox says: “The TuberNetZero project brings together expertise from the areas impacting most on the

carbon footprint of potatoes: soil management and fertiliser use in the field, transport and cold storage.

“The three-year initiative will trial specific approaches to reduce carbon and cost in each area with the overall goal of enhancing the longterm sustainability of the fresh potato industry in the UK.

Regenerative

“In the field, experimental methods of growing potatoes are being trialled alongside the University of Lincoln, with new regenerative agriculture practices including cultivation techniques aiming to minimise soil disturbance, maximise biodiversity and minimise human input.”

By far the biggest GHG

MARK WILLCOX

emitter throughout the potato production chain is the use of nitrogen-based fertilisers, so Branston has been working on the development of a revolutionary low-carbon fertiliser which uses potato pulp, a by-product of their peeling process.

This should release around 80% less carbon than standard

synthetic fertilisers and will be fully trialled at field scale as part of the next phase of the TuberNetZero project.

Branston’s work with Crop Systems includes trialling the introduction of its WarmStor technology while the potatoes are in transit. Crop Systems’ low energy air source system gently warms or cools the load ensuring potatoes are at the optimum temperature for handling when they arrive at the packing site.

The project is also looking at further enhancements to potato cold store efficiency, using a new system of airflow which does not require a defrost cycle and assessing the potential for a slightly raised storage temperature while maintaining quality and sprout control.

Decarbonising the potato supply chain

The threeyear initiative will trial specific approaches to reduce carbon and cost

Branston technical director Mark Willcox (left) and Vidyanath Gururajan, B-Hive managing director in the field.

Monetising natural capital and tackling climate change are set to be examined in CropTec’s seminar programme.

Controlling costs and cultivating resilience

This year’s CropTec Show will be the 10th to take place since the event’s launch in November 2013.

Hot topics in the seminars back then included the use of technology to optimise nitrogen inputs and the need to ‘do things differently’ when it came to crop protection, with a particular emphasis on the use of integrated crop management techniques.

Some might argue that not much has changed in agriculture in the intervening years and indeed these topics are set to feature in this year’s seminar programme.

But the context is very different. In 2013 the focus was on the push to squeeze out that little bit more yield, as well as looking ahead to the eagerly awaited arrival of new crop protection products (CPPs).

Cost effective

Today’s the emphasis is on making the most of every penny spent on inputs and reducing use of those inputs where it is cost-effective to do so.

And while new CPPs have arrived, the aim in 2022 is careful stewardship to protect the environment as well as the longevity of these new materials, against a backdrop of an

More information

JThis year’s CropTec Show takes place at the East of England Showground, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire on 23-24 November.

For more information on the CropTec seminars and to register for the show, go to croptecshow.com

increased policy focus on environmental management and ongoing loss of plant protection actives through regulation and resistance.

Coping with change:

rSeminar 1: 9:30-10:30am

rSession chair: Day one – Abi Kay, head of news at Arable Farming’s sister magazine, Farmers Guardian. Day two –Joe Stanley, head of training & partnerships, GWCT Allerton Project

From international trade to environmental policy, speakers in this session will tackle pressing questions around cost management facing the arable sector.

The seminars at this year’s CropTec Show will once again bring together leading farmers, policymakers, technical experts, advisers and scientists to discuss and debate the big issues facing the arable sector.

From managing costs to monetising natural capital and tech for optimising fertiliser inputs to traits for better disease resistance, the seminar programme will tackle the challenges of farming in a changing climate, providing pointers to controlling costs, while cultivating resilience.

rSeminar 3: 12:30-1:15pm

rSession chair: Dr Liz Reddy, director of policy and economics, ADAS

rThis session will help farmers understand the options when it comes to monetising revenue opportunities in the natural capital sphere.

From carbon to water, experts will look at the drivers influencing the supply chain of these environmental deliverables to identify financial gain.

Speakers

rGeorge Cook: Senior farm business consultant, Andersons

As farm businesses grapple with the concept of ‘natural

capital’ and what it means for them, George Cook will break down the natural capital schemes in place and look at where income can be generated on-farm, specifically looking at environmental deliverables such as carbon and water

rMichael Kavanagh: Co-founder and director, Green Farm Collective Shropshire farmer Michael Kavanagh will take a practical look at the Green Farm

Collective’s successful efforts to quantify and profit from natural capital trading on-farm

rDr Nigel Davies: Managing director at Maltdoctor

With an increasing number of food and beverage companies calculating their carbon footprint, many are finding that a major proportion of carbon

footprint arises from the carbon embedded in the growing of food-based raw materials.

With a requirement to change farming practices to reduce overall carbon footprint, this highlights a new potential risk to continuing supply with farmers. Brewers, distillers, millers, and maltsters are keen to work with farmers to understand these issues and potential remedies.

Dr Nigel Davies will examine the carbon footprint challenge in more detail and explain the impact that is being delivered by engaged and proactive farmers in delivering the dual benefits of improved soil health and carbon sequestration.

Maximising natural capital revenue opportunities: A hard look at waysto monetise environmental deliverables on-farm

Michael Kavanagh

change: Costs, environmental regulation and cultivating resilience

Sponsored by

in the Environmental Land Management programme.

rHarry Henderson: Knowledge exchange technical manager, AHDB

Speakers:

rCaroline Nicholls: Sustainable Farming Incentive content team leader, Defra Future Farming and Countryside Programme

As the rollout of new support policy continues, Caroline Nicholls will share developments

Harry Henderson will look at cost management in arable farming and tackling barriers to regenerative agriculture to ask: is it just good husbandry with a fresh focus on soil care?

rCarl Atkins: Agribusiness adviser and farm management specialist, Terravost

From conflicts and climate change to trade deals and technology, Carl Atkins will look at international

perspectives on regenerative agriculture, including cost and competitiveness and the implications for trade flows.

rEd Reynolds: Farmer, Cambridgeshire Ed Reynolds will look at his business, focusing on how the transition to regenerative ag techniques, particularly adopting reduced tillage alongside cover cropping, has made his farm more resilient and helped to diversify income streams.

rSeminar 2: 11-11.45am

rSession chair: Matt Culley, Hampshire farmer and NFU combinable crops board chairman

Against a backdrop of continuing upward pressure on fertiliser prices, this session will dive deep into the technology for optimising fertiliser applications, assessing its

adoption and the potential it offers to help control fertiliser costs.

Speakers

rMark Tucker: Agronomy and marketing manager, Yara UK & Ireland

rTom Hawthorne: Farmer, Flawborough Farms, Nottinghamshire

rAgronomist TBC

Strategies for disease control in a changing climate: Where next?

rSeminar 4: 2-2:45pm

rSession chair: Anthony Hopkins, chief combinable crops advisor, NFU

rWith the farming industry coming under increasing regulatory pressure, farmers are looking at ways to reduce their chemical inputs and find alternative crop protection tools.

From integrated pest management to analysing the role of plant breeding in the crop protection armoury, this session will explore strategies to help farmers deal with disease control challenges as well as looking to the future to ask ‘Where next’?

Speakers:

rAndrew Watson: Head of membership technical services and east region agronomist, NIAB

Leading agronomist Andrew Watson will take a practical

look at the loss of fungicides and the knock-on implications of controlling yellow rust and growth of milling wheat varieties

rDr Phil Howell: Head of breeding, NIAB

Dr Howell leads NIAB’s prebreeding and breeding work across a range of broadacre arable crops.

At CropTec he will examine the latest technical advances in breeding for pest and disease resistance and how these must continue to adapt in the face of challenges, including a changing climate, fewer active ingredients and societal pressure to reduce inputs

rColin Chappell: Farmer Lincolnshire farmer Colin Chappell will focus on ‘getting off the treadmill of inputs we find ourselves on’ to provide a practical guide to reducing fungicide use on-farm

Trusting data: How tech could be key to controlling fertiliser costs

Sponsored by

Colin Chappell

Matt Culley

Ed Reynolds

Nearly two decades of pre-breeding research has been conducted within the Defra-funded Genetic Improvement Networks. Andrew Blake reports on the latest work on wheat.

Improving wheat resilience through genetics

Genetic tweaks helping wheat to use nitrogen more efficiently have been one of the keys to raising yield and quality.

Prof Malcolm Hawkesford, head of the Designing Future Wheat Institute Strategic Programme at Rothamsted Research, says: “Since 2004 we’ve conducted field trials of more than 60 varieties to examine yield, quality and nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) at various nitrogen rates.

“This unique dataset has given us insights into genetic and climatic trends including annual variability. For example, we’ve shown how recent higher yielding varieties can better use more N and hence have a higher NUE.”

WGIN advances

rAphids and BYDV

A new bioassay testing wheat germplasm to distinguish between resistance to aphid feeding and resistance to BYDV is being piloted as a service to commercial wheat breeders.

rResistance to multiple pathogens and insect pests

A promising new pre-breeding collection, based on a diploid wheat rarely used for modern wheat improvement, is to be evaluated by breeders.

The Genetic Improvement Networks, or ‘GINs’, were set up to bridge a gap between researchers and plant breeders, once described as a ‘valley of death’, by creating pre-breeding

material having new profitable and sustainable characters.

WGIN4, the latest in a series of projects on wheat starting in 2003, aims to improve the resilience of the crop through genetics and targeted trait analysis, explains Rothamsted’s lead scientist, Prof Kim Hammond-Kosack.

“A third of our effort goes on developing new genetic resources,” she says.

Germplasm

“This has involved purifying the Watkins wheat collection, never previously used in commercial wheat breeding, precise sexual crossing, and seed multiplication through generations in glasshouses and then small field plots.

“The new wheat germplasm arising is made available directly

from the researchers involved and via the Germplasm Resources Unit at the John Innes Centre.”

The material, free of intellectual property, may be used by all breeders.

Over the years, various methods have been used to place molecular markers on each of wheat’s 21 chromosomes in the new germplasm.

“This gives each genetic stock

rRoot anchorage

Varieties and individuals from populations showing strong root anchorage have been identified.

They are likely to be more resistant to lodging and their stronger, deeper root system may contribute to drought tolerance.

rSlug damage

Seed of a line from the Watkins collection showing some resistance to slug

damage is being distributed to selected farms for testing.

Although not providing funding, AHDB is involved throughout the project as a member of the WGIN management group, attending three meetings a year, with representatives from all UK-based breeding companies, Defra, NIAB and Bristol University.

rSpring drought

Chromosomal regions from

a drought-tolerant wheat are being introduced to a UK variety for field testing.

rYellow rust resistance

Despite the UK/European population changing several times, one Watkins line remains fully resistant.

Subsequent analyses show this highly desirable trait is controlled by one or two dominant genetic loci and could be introduced into commercial wheats.

This unique dataset has given us insights into genetic and climatic trends including annual variability

PROF MALCOLM HAWKESFORD

The WGIN is creating wheat pre-breeding material with new profitable and sustainable characters.

a unique fingerprint,” says Prof Hammond-Kosack. “These markers are also used for fine mapping the location of genes controlling each desired trait on the different chromosomes.”

The rest of the research effort goes on analysing various traits under four overarching challenges:

rResilience: Resistance to slugs, BYDV*, septoria, yellow rust and take-all.

rSustainability: Yield stability, spring drought, lodging* and stem anchorage*.

WGIN-driven advances welcomed

JDefra should be commended for thinking ‘long term’ with all the GIN programmes, says Nicholas Bird, winter wheat research lead at KWS UK.

He says: “Breeding an improved wheat variety takes at least 10 years from the initial cross to farmers’ fields.

“Introducing novel genetic regions can double that. This is where long-standing investment in academic research with industrial involvement can really start to make a difference.

“The WGIN programme is a fine example of this;

rQuality and yield: Grain protein and specific weight*, nitrogen use efficiency and nutrient partitioning as affected by N input and disease*.

rEfficiency: Enhancing nitrogen resource efficiency.

The analysis of various desirable crop traits is done by specialised teams or individuals using established and/or newly developed quantitative screening methods to detect variation in each desired trait, says Prof Hammond-Kosack.

“Sometimes the screening is by eye, but often it involves handheld devices, specially designed larger equipment, or analysing images collected by high specification drones.”

It had been hoped that

the industry welcomes the current research findings and is deploying them in breeding programmes.

“Given this year’s difficult growing conditions, which mirror 2020, the research into drought tolerance and rooting is timely; it should help future varieties cope with lower rainfall once the relevant genetic regions are deployed.”

Managing pests and diseases with fewer control options, either through legislation or reduced biological activity, is another area where

WGIN4 would become more closely involved with the AHDB monitor and strategic farms.

“But farmers don’t have equipment to do small plot trials and WGIN researchers don’t have enough seed of promising lines to undertake field-scale trials,” says Prof HammondKosack. “So, the ‘valley of death’ remains but has shifted location.

Results

“The Rothamsted stand at Cereals, JIC annual Plant Breeder days and the annual stakeholder meeting [currently held online] are great ways to see how we evaluate the new traits, see the latest results, and meet the WGIN scientists.”

rTopics marked * are new for WGIN4.

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WGIN can help, says Mr Bird.

“Research into novel germplasm collections showing promise against resistance in septoria, yellow rust, slugs and aphids should allow faster and more effective deployment into mainstream breeding activities.”

The work on nitrogen response has been positive for breeders, allowing them to show how they have been selecting varieties better placed to make use of that nutrient, he adds. “Using predictive breeding strategies means further advances should be possible.”

About WGIN4

rMarch 2018 – March 2023 (to be extended by one year due to Covid-19)

rTotal: £1,698,677: Rothamsted Research, £995,050; John Innes Centre, £645,995.

Subcontractors: Arbor Biosciences, Michigan, USA (DNA-RNA capture technologies), £28,452; Dovetail Genomes, San Diego, California USA, £14,332; Bristol University + Affymetrix, £13,056; NIAB – yellow rust wheat seedling screen, £1,790.

rFor more information, visit wgin.org.uk

Agchem store is fit for

Reducing the risk of pollution from spraying operations is a primary consideration when building or upgrading an agchem store.

Jane Carley looks at one new development.

Bradford Farming is developing a new spray store at the heart of Bradford Estates, Shropshire, designed to service 2,000 hectares of arable land currently transitioning into a more sustainable system, with livestock, reduced cultivations and cover crops recently introduced.

The farmland is situated in the Shropshire Middle Severn surface water catchment and

with salads, potatoes and cereals in its nine-year rotation, loss to water of crop protection products, nitrates and phosphates is of concern.

Partnership

A new partnership, Bradford Farming was established after a strategic review in 2019 and has brought the management of the farming business back in-house after a period in contract farming agreements.

Operations are centred at Woodlands Farm near Weston-Under-Lizard and carried out by four full-time staff, supported by harvest students.

Farms director Oliver Scott has pioneered a new machinery policy, with most of the fleet leased on short-term agreements for straightforward updating as

technology advances. However, with liquid fertiliser as well as chemicals generating a yearround spraying workload, there is one notable exception.

Sprayer

He says: “We have bought a 6,000-litre, 36-metre boom Horsch Leeb trailed sprayer and JCB Fastrac 4220, plus an 18,000-litre Philip Watkins bowser.

“The sprayer will be stored, filled and washed down in a purpose-designed building, which will also house the chemicals.”

Funding from Severn Trent’s Steps scheme has been used to cover some of the costs of the spray store development and Mr Scott is looking at further projects to reduce the impact of

The sprayer will be stored, filled and washed down in a purposedesigned building

OLIVER SCOTT

Oliver Scott

The sprayer is supported by an 18,000-litre Philip Watkins bowser.

A new spray store is part of a programme of developments by Bradford Farming in Shropshire which has recently taken its 2,000ha back in hand.

Agchem store floor planthe future

JThe store features racking for chemical packs and IBCs for easy access at filling, a bunded floor draining to a tank which is then piped to the biofilter and the water inlet.

Washdown

Empty chemical packs will be stored outside in a covered skip, and the area behind this has been earmarked for a second washdown for use with the boom open.

Water runoff tank under skip

Covered skip

Biofilter

Sprayer fill pipe

Racking for chemicals plus chemical IBCs

Additional racking

Health and safety notice board and chemical stock whiteboard

Roller shutter door

Funding

JSevern Trent’s Steps

scheme now offers up to £30,0001 match funding for farms in pesticide catchments wishing to upgrade their sprayer washdown and pesticide handling area.

The funding can be used to cover part of the cost of constructing a bunded washdown pad, roofing (or to roof an existing washdown area) and biobed or biofilter. The washdown area can be sited in a dedicated building which may also be used for pesticide storage.

Farms in the catchments can now apply for the funding at any time and will then

the estate’s agricultural activities on the environment.

The 18x10 metre steel structure will have extensive racking for chemical packs and

receive a visit from an expert adviser to help plan the project.

1Where work is completed within six months.

Other water companies offering grant funding for spray filling area projects include:

rSouthern Water southernwater.co.uk

rThames Water thameswater.co.uk

rAnglian Water anglianwater.co.uk

Grants for rainwater harvesting are also available under the Government’s Farming Equipment and Technology Fund.

IBCs, with the convenient location speeding up filling and reducing risks of spills when moving products from a separate store. A bunded X

Personnel door Personnel door Water tank

PPE

PICTURES: PAUL CARLEY

concrete floor slopes to a drain at the rear, which is connected to a biofilter. Filtered water is then pumped to a holding tank for storage until it can be irrigated onto farmland.

A covered skip is being fabricated to accommodate empty spray packs for recycling, keeping rainwater out while freeing up space in the store.

“We have earmarked land at the rear of the store for a 36m wide washdown area for use with the spray boom open, so we can carry out all sprayer washing in one place and safely collect the liquid,” he says.

Spray water is currently piped from the mains, but Mr Scott is exploring the possibility of reusing filtered washings and harvesting rainwater from the roof areas of new buildings at Woodlands Farm, which include a large machinery store.

“With a growing population in the local area, demand for mains water will increase, and it makes sense for us to recycle water where possible.

“I would be keen to tap into expertise from Severn Trent to develop the washdown area to ‘best practice’ standards and we would then happily make it available for other farmers to visit.

rThe Health and Safety Executive’s Agriculture Information Sheet No 16 (available to download from hse.gov.uk) offers detailed advice on siting and designing chemical stores.

This includes guidance on

At the moment there is no defined standard to follow, so we are reliant on input from our construction contractors. For example, the store building would have been better with insulation, to avoid having to drain down the sprayer ahead of freezing conditions.”

Software

Store management is co-ordinated by arable manager Doug McCowan using web-based Muddy Boots software to give access to the team as a whole and linked to invoicing in the farm office.

All filling and mixing is carried out at the store, with the filled sprayer travelling out to

purpose-built stores, storage inside a larger building – which may also house the sprayer (Bradford Estates’ building is an example), converting a structure, such as a shipping container, or small-scale storage inside cabinets or chests.

the field where it is supported by the Watkins bowser.

The 18,000-litre unit, carried on a triaxle with flotation tyres, has been specified with a hydraulic jack for levelling to ensure complete emptying and has a molasses tank fitted to the front of the frame. Large lockers accommodate chemical packs and equipment.

“In combination with the 6,000-litre sprayer, this gives plenty of capacity for a day’s work,” says Mr Scott.

“We may also add a 150-litre induction hopper so the bowser operator can pre-mix to save time in busy periods.”

Chemical store construction

Demand for mains water will increase, and it makes sense for us to recycle water where possible SCOTT

While most of the machinery is leased, a large spraying workload has necessitated the purchase of a 6,000-litre Horsch Leeb sprayer and JCB Fastrac 4220.

One farming business in the Scottish Borders has redesigned its approach to grain drying around a 1MW biomass boiler. Ash Burbidge and Toby Whatley report.

Biomass grain drying offers cost savings

Growing a significant area of combinable crops in the Scottish Borders will always involve some catchy weather and less than ideal cutting conditions.

To address this, Mountfair Farming uses a mixture of drying systems across multiple sites to achieve the 14,000-tonne capacity it needs.

Aidan and Jorin Grimsdale know the challenges only too well, but it has taken a while to get to the point where they are now comfortably able to handle all that the elements can throw at them.

Aidan says: “For years we have focused on having enough drilling, spraying and combining capacity because without those vital tools you have got nothing ultimately.

“Being a relatively young business, we had to make do with what we had in other areas, particularly with our drying and storage facilities.”

The solution to the storage and drying challenge got

underway in 2015 with the construction of a new 30 metre x 72m building, which was extended further in 2021 to 30m x 102m.

In addition to two 700t drying floors, there is also a 2019 48t Opico 4810 Magna batch dryer, which has recently been re-sited to its permanent position.

Combination

The storage site is one of four grain stores with Opico dryers operated by the business.

The site utilises a 1MW biomass boiler as its main heat source to dry a combination of crops. The business harvests around 14,000t of crops including oilseed rape, wheat and oats per year.

The dry weather this harvest has meant the business has only dried 3,000t, which has resulted in a huge cost saving.

Aidan says: “It has been one of the driest years anyone can ever remember. We do not normally manage to cut wheat under 15% moisture.

“This year we were cutting day after day at 12-13% all day long.”

The Opico 4810 unit is a conventional diesel-fired model operated in combination with a heat exchanger fuelled with Continues over the page.

The main store at Mountfair Farming dries 10,000 tonnes of cereals and oilseeds annually.

The 1MW boiler is fully automated.

hot water from the main biomass plant.

Positioned about 60m from the main boiler, an additional insulated pipe circuit has been installed to bring the hot water to the dryer-mounted radiator.

The hot water is pumped through a large radiator mounted on the air intake for the dryer, lifting the air up to 55degC from ambient before being blown in. The diesel burner then lifts the air temperature the remaining 45degC to the 100degC target operating temperature.

The process of pre-heating the intake air has allowed for a more than 50% reduction in the diesel requirement to run the unit.

“Most of the time it runs on the low flame, except on colder nights when the high flame is switched on too,” says Aidan.

“Initially we had some challenges in setting up the diesel burner, as the set up required some unusual nozzle jets. Originally even the low flame was burning far too hot, however, once that was sorted and set up correctly it works well.”

Included in the assembly is an automated valve which diverts the water flow once the dryer burner cuts off during the cooling cycle. The addition of the radiator has increased the cooling cycle by 25-30 minutes as this must be cooled down before cooler air can be pushed through the grain.

“The cooling cycle is longer, but this is fairly consistent, so we factor this in when running the plant and the time it takes to run a batch through the dryer,” Aidan adds.

In terms of operating costs, using the biomass boiler to pre-heat the air has made a significant difference to the cost per tonne to process the crop, although costs have increased as a result of the higher diesel price.

Diesel prices

“So, instead of being £2.50/t we are back up to £5.00/t, almost like when we were just running straight fuel; this is because diesel prices have doubled,” says Aidan.

However, other adjustments have been made to improve the economics of using the Opico dryer, he adds.

“We have also managed to reduce our electricity consumption. Because we do not currently have a meaty enough three-phase supply to run the

dryer we have been reliant on a generator.

“It requires an inverter which has enabled us to tweak the drier fan. Rather than running at the standard 50 Hertz, we have reduced it to 40Hz.

“The downside of that is we have to run the dryer slightly slower – it is 10-15% down – but it means we have halved the generator fuel consumption. That reduction in capacity is a penalty that is well worth paying – the whole set-up is now so much more energy efficient,

“Electricity price increases have not as yet affected us because we’re still in contract until the end of this month [September] so we are still running at 18p/kWh,” says Aidan.

The biomass source previous-

ly was windfall softwood which is bought round and chipped on-site as required by a specialist contractor.

This year they have managed to source most of the softwood on farm due to Storm Arwen that came in last November.

“Lots of the wood that has been used this year has been our own wood that we chopped up and got the chipper in for. There was an abundance of wood on the Scottish Borders as we got really hammered by the storm.

“We use roughly 300t of dry chip a year, but that does vary a bit depending on our intake source,” says Aidan.

“Usual moisture content for the chip is 20%. We have had it as low as 18% and as high as 23%. Obviously, the wetter the chip,

The cooling cycle is longer, but this is fairly consistent so we factor this in when running the plant

AIDAN GRIMSDALE

Aidan Grimsdale

the more we use.

The price of woodchip has not moved much, adds Aidan.

The biomass plant supplied by Topling is automated and controlled through a central touch-screen.

A hydraulic walking floor

pushes the chips into the boiler intake auger, which regulates the fuel input based on the demand from the system.

The boiler is aligned to a Renewable Heat Incentive scheme, so the capacity and its use to dry grain and a small amount of firewood on the drying floors are matched to optimise this system.

The dryer, elevators and store handling are all automated through a central control, linking the demands of the dryer and the output of the dried crop.

A recent installation of a large wet pit has allowed more utilisation of this system, reducing the labour requirement to operate the plant.

Aidan says: “For the first two seasons we had the 48t set-up

outside with a 25t bin feeding it, but it meant having someone on hand all the time to keep it running at full capacity.

“Last winter, the store was completed, the dryer fully integrated, conveyors installed, and a 300t wet grain bunker installed with a proper trench intake conveyor to keep it constantly fed.

Revolutionised

“With it wired into the dryer’s touch-screen computer, it now loads and unloads itself under its own steam.

“It has totally revolutionised the job so that it will process 150t without anyone going near it. I can now load up the bunker at 11pm and leave it running all night.

“Dropping 17% moisture grain down to 14.5%, will take about three hours per batch, doing three batches before it needs any attention.”

In the two seasons that the Grimsdales ran the 48t drier in its temporary position, with the 25t intake bin, it required someone on-site all the time it was running, loading the hopper and managing the dryer’s discharge.

That often meant it might sit idle through the early hours of the morning until someone arrived to start loading it.

With the addition of the 300t intake bunker and some changes to the store discharge system, Aidan estimates that the requirement for human input has been reduced by an average of six hours every day.

It has totally revolutionised the job so that it will process 150t without anyone going near it AIDAN GRIMSDALE

A hydraulically-operated walking floor pulls material towards the intake auger.

The radiator heated with water from the biomass plant pre-heats the intake air to 55degC.

Search for stability leads to Infinity

For Ed Smith and his brother Oli, farming on the Lincolnshire Wolds is not without its challenges. One of which is the steeply rolling countryside that can see machine power and stability tested to its limits.

“We have some really steep gradients, which does push machinery to its limits,” says Ed.

“It also puts a lot of emphasis on logistics when it comes to spraying. And that includes tackling the steeper parts with less liquid in the tank to continue to operate safely.”

The brothers run a 2,000-hectare business that comprises its own land, plus rented and contract farming customers, spread over a 10-mile radius from their base near Horncastle, Lincolnshire.

While spray tank capacity is essential for output, the family have been in search of better traction and stability, to maintain forward speed on slopes and lift productivity.

Oli says: “A recent change in how we farm has seen the new

Sands Infinity sprayer brought in to replace a 24-metre Househam AR3500 and a 36m Sands Horizon with 6,000-litre tank. And the Infinity is proving to be a considerable step up from the Horizon.”

Wheelbase

Launched at Cereals earlier this year, the Infinity sees an all-new chassis underpin this latest self-propelled sprayer range from British maker Sands Agricultural Machinery. Only

the cab is shared with the Horizon, with the rest of the sprayer new from the ground up. While the Infinity chassis is identical in length to the

Horizon, its wheelbase is around 200mm longer than the Horizon for better weight distribution. This change also supports the use of larger wheels and tyres without compromising on manoeuvrability.

Tyres

Sands says the Infinity has a 7.6m turning circle – identical to its short wheelbase 3,000-litre Horizon. The brothers’ machine is shod on Michelin AxioBib VF650/65 R34 tyres and has access to a set of 380/95 R38 row crops.

Spray tank choices for the Infinity have capacities of 5,000 and 6,000 litres, leaving the Horizon range to cater for those seeking a spray tank of 4,000

An AgLeader interface provides GPS functions and auto start-stop of boom sections.

Ed (left) and Oli Smith are pleased with the decision to upgrade to Sands’ Infinity sprayer.

its fully raised or lowered positions.

Sands’ fabricated steel tank has been designed to sit deeper in the chassis, lowering the new sprayer’s centre of gravity below that of the Horizon model.

Fully independent selflevelling hydraulic suspension is claimed to improve ride and stability, with power supplied by an EU Stage 5 compliant Deutz six-cylinder engine developing 242hp.

The switch to Bosch electronics and a Bosch Rexroth hydraulic system is said to have created better integration and control of all components and has seen the introduction of Eco engine management for road and field use.

But perhaps more importantly, the Infinity comes with a traction control system that works only when wheel slip is detected.

Oli says: “As a Horizon customer, we knew the Infinity was coming. And everything we saw during its development answered most of the shortcomings of our Horizon – the new chassis and powertrain really has a lot to offer for our business.

And on top of that, this is a machine that is British-made and local.

“We did consider other well-known European makes on the market and we did think

OLI SMITH

about going up to a bigger capacity spray tank too.

“But larger tanks tend to mean a taller and heavier sprayer. With stability being important for us, we chose to stay with a 6,000-litre tank size.”

With more than 325 hours now on its clock, the brothers’ Infinity has been pushed hard on spray and fertiliser applications since its arrival on-farm earlier this year.

Workload

It is a workload that sees more than 20,000ha covered each season, helped by strategic water points around the area farmed to help reduce downtime. However, a 16,000-litre bowser is planned for next season.

“The less running around we do means more acres sprayed each day,” says Oli. “And with liquid fertiliser to apply too, it’s

The Infinity is available with spray tank capacities of 5,000 and 6,000 litres.

important that we make the most of productivity and field support.

“We have three-inch hoses and 1,000-litres of pump capacity, so fill times are quite short. It’s good to know Sands has considered the needs of operators by including suction pipe storage built into both sides of the sprayer, so we’re never without pipework at any of our fill points. Filter access is practical too and is reached from the rear of the sprayer.”

The Infinity’s weight distribution is noticeable from the seat and it translates into better stability on and off-road, also bringing a big improvement in traction.

Ed says: “This is by far the best bit of kit we’ve ever had on

our hills. It climbs considerably faster than the Horizon and it grips through those steeper areas where the Horizon would struggle to move forward without spinning its wheels. It’s also rock steady.”

He also has praise for the revised boom and its auto height control.

“The 36m boom comprises three 12m sections with six sensors, for positive and negative contour following. We’re both really impressed with its stability and its ability to hug the ground much better than our previous model.”

LED work lights and boom lights are a big improvement, making long days in the cab an enjoyable experience.

“It’s all about the details. We

A side-mounted filling station is a departure from Sands’ traditional rear-fill location.

The fully independent selflevelling hydraulic suspension improves ride and stability.

The less running around we do means more acres sprayed each day

really like the overhead instrument panel. The diesel tank no longer spits back when a high-capacity refuelling pump is used, the AdBlue tank is neatly concealed in a right-hand locker and there’s plenty of storage all around the machine,” says Ed.

Overlaps

Field sizes extend from 2ha up to 46ha, with an average field size of around 10ha, and most are what the brothers describe as awkward shapes.

Oli says: “We opted for Ag Leader for GPS control and, with RTK across the farm, we have continued to minimise our overlaps with auto start-stop on 3m sections across the boom.

“Application is very accurate and although we considered

The Sands Infinity provides integral suction hose storage.

individual nozzle control, we wanted to maintain an element of simplicity too, which is why we’ve stuck with Hypro Duo Reacts for auto nozzle switching, instead of choosing a quad nozzle system.”

Cropping is predominantly winter and spring-sown combinable crops, with sugar beet also in the mix. It sees the farming brothers use a 2m fixed track width, which incorporates 50cm sugar beet rows into a 36m tramline spacing.

“With this new sprayer, we’re confident of improved timings and better productivity across all our crops,” says Oli.

“Long before the sprayer arrived on-farm, we knew it would be the right investment for our farming business and, so far, it has lived up to expectations.”

Machinery and farm technology reporter

Farmers Guardian

Location: Preston or home-based (flexible)

Salary: Competitive

Have you got a passion for agricultural machinery and emerging technology in the farming sector? Do you want to provide great written, video and audio content for some of the leading brands in UK agricultural publishing and events? If so, then this is the job for you.

Farmers Guardian and parent company Agriconnect are on the hunt for a high calibre candidate to work for its machinery and farm technology team across prominent brands such as Farmers Guardian, Arable Farming and Dairy Farmer as well as involvement in thriving events such as LAMMA Show and the British Farming Awards.

With modern agricultural machinery and emerging technology changing the face of contemporary agriculture, the right person would work alongside the Head of Machinery and Farm Technology to produce the best coverage in the sector.

You would play a key role in generating both written and video content for this part of the portfolio, with travel opportunities across the UK and abroad. As part of the team you would have a keen focus on contributing content ideas for Arable Farming, Dairy Farmer and Farmers Guardian.

We offer an excellent package including 25 days holiday increasing to 27 after two years, an extra day off on your birthday, free life assurance, free parking, flexible working, contributory pension scheme and a 35-hour working week.

We believe that creating a culture of diversity will help to maximise everybody’s potential and achieve superior business results. We aim to harness differences to create a productive environment in which everybody feels valued, where their talents are being fully utilised and in which organisational goals are met.

If you are interested in this role please send your CV and a brief cover note to the Head of Machinery and Farm Technology, Toby Whatley, at toby.whatley@agriconnect.com

Closing dates for applications is October 21, 2022.

A Bilberry green-on-green spot spraying system has been working on a Dammann sprayer in the UK and is providing a rapid return on investment by applying plant protection products only to areas of crop that require them. Arable Farming reports.

Dammann sprayer hits the spot

Dyson Farming became the first UK farming operation to buy a commercially available spot spraying system when in 2019 it invested in Bilberry’s weed-seeking cameras fitted to a new Dammann sprayer. In the first season of use a 95% hit rate of green-on-green applications was achieved.

The in-house farming team in Lincolnshire had been challenged to reduce glyphosate and herbicide use across the business and increase accuracy of product applied.

By only applying plant protection products where they are needed, the Bilberry system has helped the farm save up to £20,000 per year, while also providing huge environmental advantages.

Bilberry’s green-on-green retrofittable cameras are placed along the length of the sprayer to scan the crop in front of the nozzles to identify weeds. If detected, the system triggers the appropriate nozzle to provide a dose of product to the exact area that requires it.

Future-proofing

When assistant farm manager Dave Parker came to replace a self-propelled sprayer, he researched how a spot spraying arrangement could help and which sprayers could be fitted with the system at factory build stage.

“We wanted our next sprayer to provide us with the opportunity to reduce overall spend on plant protection products when we did not require blanket coverage. From an environmental point of view, spraying products to plants that do not need them is a waste of valuable resources,” he says.

“I knew there was a spot spraying system on the market as I had seen it in use in Australia.

Green-on-green was in its infancy when we bought the machine, especially in the UK, so Bilberry asked us if we’d like to be involved with future-proofing the cameras.”

The sprayer is based at Nocton, west Lincolnshire, with the farm previously using three Agrifac

self-propelled sprayers to cover 5,000 hectares of cropping, including everything from cereals and oilseed rape through to vining peas, maize, and sugar beet.

The Dammann DT2800S sprayer arrived in February 2020 with Bilberry’s spot spraying camera kit installed. The green-onbrown system had been well proven in other countries, so this was simple to get the set up and working on UK fields, as Mr Parker explains.

“We have been using green-onbrown since the sprayer arrived, which has provided us with some big reductions in glyphosate usage. Some of the best results we have had when using this has been spraying ploughed land after vining peas, which has reduced glyphosate spend by 70%, or more in some cases.

“There has also been a saving when spraying off fields with a lot of weed coverage. The system could be switched on for 95% of the time, but there is still a 5% saving compared to before and over a large area it soon adds up. We do not want to waste these expensive products but put them in the intended place.”

The pandemic meant it was a few months before the system was fully operational and a lot of the early support from Bilberry and Dammann was provided remotely by technicians in France and Germany respectively.

“Dammann helped us through the ordering process and we put a lot of trust in what they were saying and the backup they could provide with such an untried system in the UK.

“The technicians there wanted a lot of input into how the Bilberry system would suit UK conditions and communicate with the sprayer. We try to always spray with one nozzle at a time, but Dammann wanted the option to activate three or five nozzles at once to ensure the weeds or disease would be in the centre of the sprayed area when travelling on rough ground.

“Bilberry remote back up works well. We cannot fault them; they are always on the phone or able to answer a message any time of the day. It was a risk to be the first to run the technology and you need good back up to make it work.”

The farm used the spot spraying system on every field of wheat and barley in spring and Mr Parker estimates a big financial and environmental saving.

“This year we sprayed all the winter wheat and spring barley at our Nocton and Carrington farms with the Dammann and Bilberry combination, which totalled around 5,000ha of crops. I realistically see a saving of £20,000 in herbicide products alone compared with a blanket spray,” says Mr Parker.

“Getting it to work successfully across these farms, we could easily pay for the system in two years. I can also see this technology will be essential for some products in the future as it is putting the plant protection products in the right place. This will be the future of chemical application.

“We are now managing the fields on an almost individual plant basis

Switching between nozzles is automatic and depends on forward speed.

as the technology allows us to treat the crops in this way. There are benefits to increased output, too, as a full 7,000-litre load would cover 70ha before but could now allow up to 100ha as the product is only being applied where it is needed.”

The farm used to spray herbicide and fungicide together, but there is now an extra pass required to apply the fungicide separately. However, despite this additional application,

the reduction in herbicide use is more than worth the extra pass.

Savings

“The savings from having the cameras and the accuracy they operate and hit the target far outweigh the extra trip though the crop,” says Mr Parker.

Ed Ford, technical agronomist at Dyson Farming, says the introduction of the sprayer has allowed for

How does the system work?

rBilberry’s green-on-green camera system uses artificial intelligence algorithms to identify the crop and the weeds from the 12 RGB cameras across its width. The cameras take 16 images per second in real time, which are all fed into an artificial intelligence computer module.

The highly sophisticated camera system can work on

more targeted and efficient use of plant protection products and there is huge potential for this to be linked with mapping technology.

“Currently we must assess what fields we are planning to spray with the system and take an educated guess to the weed coverage. This will give the operator an idea of how much product will be required and avoid having mixed-up product left in the tank. We may have to apply a

wheat, barley and grassland with the operator changing the sensitivity of the cameras to spot weeds of a certain size.

The cameras must learn to identify different crop growth stages, including colour variations, shadowing in different weather conditions.

All are big factors when getting the cameras to spot and spray every weed.

full dose on the final field with one product to ensure we are empty at the end,” he says.

“It is a bit basic in its current form, but there is huge scope for this to improve in the future. I can see data and imagery from drones potentially being fed into the sprayer as well as direct injection. This may allow a split tank set-up with herbicide and fungicide being applied on the same pass by the camera system.”

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Twelve RGB cameras are fitted along the boom of the Dammann sprayer.

Harvest 2022 will be remembered by many for its prolonged period of hot, dry weather, which saw many farmers finish combining weeks ahead of schedule.

But for Keith Challen, farm

director at Belvoir Farming Company, Nottinghamshire, the hot weather posed a different challenge, as plummeting moisture levels led to a rethink with harvest progress.

He says: “We calculated the potential yield loss from combining wheat at excessively low moisture levels and had a bit of a shock.

He reasoned that grain harvested

at 10-11%, rather than closer to 14%, had the potential to amount to loss of about 115 tonnes of wheat from the 800-hectare crop.

“So those numbers influenced our decision to stop combining most afternoons in the very hot weather, rather than just bore on regardless. And delaying harvest was only possible knowing we had the capacity to catch up.”

He says the larger combine the farm decided to invest in for the 2021 harvest has been used to full effect during this year’s dry, hot summer.

“You can cherry-pick

harvesting days with a ripe crop, rather than be pushed into cutting everything at the earliest opportunity.

Risky strategy

“Yes, it could have been seen as a risky strategy if the weather broke, but I would rather put a small amount of heat on a few hundred tonnes then suffer a low grain weight as a result of high temperatures and a very dry crop,” says Mr Challen.

Harvest flexibility has been created from a switch of firepower, which saw a 790hp Fendt Ideal 10T bought to replace a 690hp Case IH 9240. Now with two seasons under its rotors, the Ideal 10T has proved to be a success.

He says: “Our combine capacity is comfortably up by 15%. We have no need to push hard and a consistent 80t/hour is now a comfortable output we can achieve day in, day out. That

includes combine moves which require the header to be removed.

“Importantly, there is very little impact on logistics for drying, storing and handling grain from the extra combine capacity.”

Decision

His decision to opt for the Ideal 10T came as the Case IH 9240 came to the end of its ownership period and a replacement harvester was sought to handle

the 1,100ha combinable crop workload.

Mr Challen says: “As much as I had loved the 9240, its 40-foot header just did not work for us in laid crops and I had already decided our next combine would need to be equipped with a MacDon or similar Draper-style header.

“A demonstration revealed the draper’s ability to harvest more; typically losing only five seeds/ sq.m compared to 15-20 seeds/ sq.m for a conventional header.”

It was a trip to Agritechnica to see combines on display which introduced Mr Challen to the German-built Geringhoff header.

He says: “Having eventually decided on a Fendt Ideal 10T from B&B Tractors, I just needed the matching header. I really liked what I saw in the Geringhoff design with the Truflex Razor knife and integrated air system.”

The TFR 40 measures 12.2 metres, giving just 20cm of tolerance to sit within Belvoir

Farming Company’s 12m controlled traffic farming (CTF) system. The header is assembled in a three-section frame, a three-section reel and a flexible cutterbar.

In addition, an integrated air system delivers a controlled volume of air flowing onto the draper belt, delivered by an air slot immediately behind the knife.

Air system

Geringhoff says this volume of air gently blows light grains and small seeds upwards on the belt, preventing them from bouncing off as they fall from pods or ears.

Mr Challen says: “We grow wheat, beans and spring barley, so we do not get the full benefit of the air system, and I probably would not have need for the flexible razor knife next time, but the draper system is superb.

“Where we have experienced laid crops, the ability to hug the ground and pick up just about everything in its path is exceptional.”

That is not to say the Ideal 10T is lacking and all the work is done by the header. Mr Challen has high praise for the combine’s ability to deliver a clean sample and its IdealDrive joystick steering is much more than a party trick.

He says: “I had experience of joystick steering on loading shovels many years ago. I am surprised it has taken this long for the innovation to come to agriculture.”

He says he would not choose to go back to a steering wheel in a combine, given the adoption of auto-steering.

“A steering wheel and column is a bulky item in a cab and it sits right where you want to see the feed into the elevator housing. It should be adopted by all types of centre-feed harvester, as it is a really useful idea which improves visibility.

“It is also a low effort control system compared to winding a steering wheel from lock to lock. I would love to see this introduced on my Quadtrac.”

Mr Challen says there is a period of adjustment needed, as releasing the joystick sees the steering axle automatically return to the straight-ahead position.

He says: “Where you could over-steer with a steering wheel, the joystick lets the combine snap back into line. But if you want to follow a gentle curve on a headland, you need to hold the joystick in place.”

Mr Challen also has praise for the convenience of straw management, which allows

in-cab change-over from swathing to chopping, when exchanging straw for muck.

He says: “I am pleased with the service and support we get from B&B Tractors. The combine received a few modifications last winter and this year we have had virtually no downtime from reliability issues.

“We have had minor trouble from an AdBlue filter, a missing split pin on a concave sensor and a roller on the header. It has been as good as I could have hoped for in terms of availability.”

He says the next area to address is the unloading auger.

Yield monitor

“We have had 600mm removed from the auger to suit our 12m CTF system and the joint positioning for the folding auger now leaves us with a longer extension than standard. It just needs a stronger clamp force to help keep it tightly closed in work.”

When it comes to logistics, the Belvoir Farming Company uses a pair of tri-axle trailers to transport grain from field to store. One is an HM Hook Lift trailer with a 22t capacity and the other is a hired-in HM tri-axle of similar capacity to match.

Mr Challen says: “We keep trailers on tramlines when unloading and, with regular load-checking on our own weighbridge, I can keep the combine yield monitor updated with actual weights to ensure the data we get is as good as it could be.”

A Geringhoff 12.2m Truflex draper header wins praise for its feed-in and contour-following capabilities.

Combine capacity is comfortably up 15% at the 1,400ha Belvoir Farming Company with the Fendt Ideal 10T.

CLAAS Geared for Growth.

Read the full story

Rory Harrold, North Norfolk, May 2022

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Kiel, Germany, was the location for this year’s Claas International Press Event, where the company unveiled a host of updates to the Lexion. Simon Henley reports.

Raft of Lexion updates

The biggest news for Claas’ UK customers from its latest press event was the plethora of updates to the company’s Lexion combine ranges.

These include the introduction of a new generation cab, which was launched on the Trion combines last year.

The new cab provides increased space with more head and leg room, as well as additional floor space. Storage has been improved by the introduction of cubby holes integrated into the cab interior and the option of a 30-litre cool box. Footrests are also available, for improved seating comfort.

Working visibility has also improved by the introduction of slimmer A-pillars and roof-mounted cantilever mirrors. The new cab design adds additional glass area for improved visibility of the front and sides of the cabin.

Inside, the cab features a high-resolution, 12-inch Cebis monitor, with direct access buttons located on the adjustable control armrest for instant access to the harvester’s threshing and cleaning settings. The armrest also integrates the CMotion multifunction lever, for single-handed operational control.

The cab comes with a new split-level, dual-airflow climate control system, which can warm the operator’s feet while it blows cool air-conditioned air to the upper body and face. Options include Dynamic Steering (which reduces steering wheel input by a claimed 40%), a 360-degree LED lighting package and a multimedia system which includes a

high-output sound system with a subwoofer and gooseneck microphone.

New to the Lexion 8000 Series line-up is the Lexion 8600/8600 TerraTrac model. This is touted by Claas as a high-performance hybrid, which has been developed to slot in between the existing mid-size Lexion 7700 and the high-capacity 8700 model.

Performance

Equipped with a 1.7-metre wide drum and powered by a 549hp Man D26 12.4-litre engine, the 8600 was successfully launched in the USA in 2019.

It has since been evaluated by Claas in Europe, where, the company says, testing and performance comparisons have revealed the new model provides unrivalled efficiency and harvesting performance in this sector of the market.

Moving up the Lexion range,

the existing 8700 and 8800 models both enjoy a power increase, with ratings of 626hp and 700hp respectively. The additional power in the 8800 is provided by the same MAN 16.2-litre D42 engine employed in the range-topping 8900. The 8700 meanwhile, will now use the same threshing system and technology used in the 8800 and 8900 to provide greater output.

To further optimise crop flow, Claas has also announced all Lexion 7000 and 8000 models will now feature a new segmented feed drum between the threshing unit and the rotors. This has been introduced to improve crop distribution and flow to the rotors, particularly in difficult crops and extreme operating conditions.

Another noted development is the debut of a slow retraction feature on the Lexion reversers. Once a clump or restriction is

cleared, the push of a button sees the reversing motor itself reversed so crop can be fed slowly back into the rotors to avoid peak loads.

Additional updates include an increase in grain tank capacity for some Lexion models. Claas has also announced the introduction of an optional pivoting spout, on Lexion combines with 330mm and 420mm unloading augers.

Slope-compensating

For parts of Europe where combinable crops are grown in hilly or mountainous regions, Claas has extended its hillside slope-compensating Montana chassis to the straw walker Lexion 5500 and Hybrid 7700 models.

They join the six existing Trion Montana models, extending the hillside range from 258hp (five-walker) to 549hp (hybrid).

The Claas Lexion 550 straw walker and Claas Lexion 7700 Hybrid (inset) are the latest combines to benefit from the availability of the Claas slopecompensating Montana hillside chassis.

700 Series loaded with

You would be excused for being confused with the model numbering of the new Fendt 700 Series. Named the Generation 7, it is being offered alongside the current Generation 6 and, for now, a proportion of the two ranges share identical bonnet numbering and near identical power outputs.

The new range of five models extends from the 720 to the new 728, with the three lower numbered 700s remaining as a Generation 6 variant.

Power for the new range is now delivered from a newly developed, Fendt-only, AGCO power 7.5-litre, six-cylinder engine. This marks a move away from the Deutz-supplied powerplant of the existing models.

Power output for the range extends from 203hp to 283hp. The new 728 flagship is unique in being offered with a Dynamic

Performance (DP) power increase adding an additional 20hp, pushing the maximum power to 303hp.

Claiming to operate differently

to a conventional boost, DP does not require specific criteria to be reached for the power increase, but monitors the power demand and changes the

peak power accordingly. The 728 operates at a claimed 30.5kg per hp, with a maximum ballast capacity of 15 tonnes.

A redesigned transmission now

Launched recently in Wadenbrunn, Germany, the new 700 Series Gen 7 promises a host

The VisioPlus cab includes an upgraded seat with six configurations and individual user position memory.

next gen upgrades

shares functionality with the larger 900 and 1000 Series including the VarioDrive transmission, which operates as an all-wheel-drive, not a switchable four- and two-wheel drive design.

The VarioDrive concept essentially powers the front and rear axles separately from individual hydraulic motors.

Power distribution

In practice, the design is claimed to offer improved power distribution and a compact turning radius as the front drive can actively pull the front of the vehicle when turning, instead of being fixed in a permanent ratio to the rear.

The new transmission allows an increased top speed of 60kph delivered at 1,450rpm, in addition to the introduction of the Fendt iD concept, again inherited from the larger models. The principle is to direct the machine functionality towards a lower power, high

torque performance with a main engine working range of 1,400-1,700rpm. This, combined with a lower end peak torque, is claimed to offer fuel consumption reductions.

The improvement in manoeuvrability and a steering angle of 52 degrees is also aided by a new cooling system, another concept shared from the 1000 Series. Using a hydraulically-driven cooling fan, the velocity and air flow are not mechanically connected to engine speeds.

This allows the cooling pack to be smaller and operate at varying loads depending on the environment, not engine rpm.

The Gen 7 models have been developed from a completely new chassis with a wheelbase of 2.9 metres. This positions the range 50mm shorter than the existing 800 Series which, despite occupying a similar power range and lacking the FendtONE operating system, is

remaining within the current Fendt product offering. The VarioGrip tyre inflation system, currently found on the 800 Series, has been transferred as an option to the Gen 7. Further upgrades and changes to the Gen 7 include flat-face hydraulic couplings which are claimed to offer improved pressure connection, reduced flow constriction and leak-free connection and removal, reducing oil waste and contamination.

Filtration

Changes to the VisioPlus cab include the option of category 4 filtration, offered for the first time. It is designed to prevent ingress from chemical powders, liquids and vapours. The standard cab set-up offers category 2 filtration.

Visibility to the front and rear has been improved, with the addition of automotive-style, flush-fit cameras linked to the

in-cab terminal. Aligning to the automotive functionality, six seat configurations are now offered, with options including massage functions, multi-stage heating/ cooling and seat position memory for specific users.

Vario Gen 7 models are expected to be available from autumn next year, alongside the existing 700 Gen 6 and the 800 Series. Prices are yet to be announced.

of upgrades and changes. Toby Whatley reports from the event.

The flagship 728 offers a boosted power increase of 303hp and 15t ballast capacity.

The 700 series Gen 7 occupies a power range of 203-303hp.

Flat-face hydraulic couplings allow improved hydraulic flow and reduced oil leakage.

Affordable access to for Ashcroft reports.

For Sean Richards, the ability to move into variable rate drilling with a low-cost drill conversion is a development that makes technology affordable to all.

Mr Richards of Lordswood Farm, Sherston, Wiltshire, says: “We have a first generation six-metre Kverneland Tine Seeder drill that was bought new in 2006. It is a brilliant bit of kit for establishing cereal crops on our farm, in almost any conditions.

“Our preference is to plough and power harrow to keep on top of black-grass control and to create the seedbed quality we want for our mostly heavy clay land,” he says.

“Though there are seams of stone and brash running through many fields, plus heavily shaded areas under trees, for example, that would benefit from a different approach when drilling.”

In recent years the farm has gradually been adopting more precision farming techniques to help improve operational efficiency. GPS auto-steering has been introduced on the farm’s two MF tractors and the combine to maximise efficiency

at any working width. Targeting of fertiliser applications has also been improved using a Kverneland Exacta TL Geospread with auto section control and auto start-stop, which has enabled the farm to make the most of variable rate N, P and K applications.

Applications

Through soil scanning and soil samples taken as part of his Rhiza subscription, Mr Richards has been moving more progressively into variable rate applications.

“We’ve been applying variable

rate P and K for 10 years and variable rate nitrogen for the last two,” he says.

“We’ve also been gathering yield maps over the last seven years too, which has given us a historical picture that highlights progress and efficiency improvements across the farm.”

He says that, perhaps more importantly, the data is also highlighting areas which are underperforming.

“We’ve already pinpointed several areas where variable seed rates are now worth trying – mostly to lift some of the poorer patches we’ve identified. Where we have shaded areas near woodlands or questionable headlands, these areas could ultimately be taken out of crop production and managed differently, if variable seed rates fail to deliver a worthwhile improvement,” he says.

Every change that is made is then monitored by field walking throughout the season.

Until recently, the path to variable seed rate capability has been cost-prohibitive, says Mr Richards.

“The challenge for us was, how do we get into variable rate drilling for sensible money? Until we came across Omnia’s E-Seed conversion, the only other option meant trading in our 16-year-old drill for a newer model with electric drive.”

Swapping the drill was, he says, simply too costly across the 242 hectares of cereals he grows.

Cost

“It’s all about economies of scale. While we do work with a neighbour, which almost doubles our acreage, we would still need a lot of additional work to justify the cost of changing the drill,” he says.

“Besides, there’s nothing wrong with our Tine Seeder. It uses a robust, accurate Accord seed metering unit which is driven by a land wheel. The only drawback is the seed rate you set is the one you get – with this early model and its Mueller control box, there’s no ability to adjust seed rates on the move, let alone have it follow a seed map.”

Preferring manual seed rate control for last year’s crop, Sean Richards opted for three preset rates.

Sean Richards is pleased with the low-cost, variable seed rate conversion for his drill.

variable rate drilling

He says the Omnia E-Seed kit provided a cost-effective option. The conversion kit includes an electric motor to substitute the land wheel drive with an Omnia Connect variable rate controller providing a WiFi network that allows connection to the drill’s electric seed metering drive.

This is managed through Omnia’s iOS-based E-Seed app, using a tablet mounted in the cab. Uploading a variable seed rate map to the app then enables the seed plan to be followed by the drill.

“It cost me £5,000 to buy the kit and fit it onto our drill. There was some fabrication work required to create brackets so the electric motor drive could be correctly located on the drill frame, and that was it.”

Autumn 2021 was Mr Richards’ first season with the E-Seed and to get a better appreciation of the process, he opted for full manual control of the seed rate.

He says: “It takes a little while to trust the tech with any new system. So I spent last autumn

watching and learning from the tractor cab. I had three fixed seed rates in the app, which simply let me change seed rates by tapping buttons, for those areas I felt needed a bit more seed.

Presets

“The drill doesn’t have halfwidth shut off, so it was simply a matter of changing between preset values to increase or decrease seed rates for the full 6m working width.

“We’ve yet to fully scrutinise our yield maps to see if any changes impacted on harvest, though there is scope to improve what we do with our inputs.”

His seeding process is one that sows the headlands either first or last, depending on soil moisture. Then it’s a matter of using GPS to sow all the tramline runs across a field, then filling in the bouts as he works back towards the field gate.

“I can make wide sweeping turns which minimises any soil disturbance. And using my tractor with auto-steer, as soon

as I get near the next A-B line, the auto-steer does the rest and steers the tractor in.”

He says output is around 40 hectares per day, with the drill having now covered more than 324ha since the E-Seed conversion was carried out. Mr Richards says the system has worked well, with 100% reliability as a seed metering drive unit for a variety of crops he has sown.

“Our cultivations strategy is based around black-grass control and our rotation includes oilseed rape, winter

barley and winter wheat. We won’t drill any wheat until October and we’ve learned the hard way that when it gets wet, we stay off the land until spring.”

With renewed confidence for autumn 2022, Mr Richards intends to upload variable seed rate maps when wheat drilling starts in late autumn.

Seeding maps

“I’ve been using Rhiza for variable rate fertiliser maps and the same team will be creating my variable rate seeding maps. These will be emailed straight to my iPad and uploaded into the E-Seed app,” he says.

“Then the iPad is put in the tractor cab where it connects by WiFi to the drill.

“It is quite straightforward to use and easy to see where the next improvements could be found.

“This could be through yield improvement or a reduction with input costs – either way, it won’t take long to recover the cost of the variable rate drill conversion kit.”

It is quite straightforward to use and easy to see where the next improvements could be found SEAN RICHARDS

The first generation Kverneland Tine Seeder uses three rows of tines and mechanical seed metering drive, making it an ideal candidate for conversion.

An E-Seed electric motor has been fitted in place of the land wheel drive.

MATTCulley

We have no guarantees of AN production after the summer order book is completed

Last month, CF Fertilisers announced it would no longer be producing ammonia at its Billingham plant. The announce ment, on top of the recent closure of the Ince factory, comes as a further hammer blow to domestic fertiliser production and to much needed CO2 supply. CF has cited the high UK gas price as the reason for ceasing production of ammonia and stated it will import enough ammonia to fill current orders of AN. But we have no guarantees of levels of production after the summer order book has been completed, leaving yet another extremely uncertain market for growers to contend with this winter and into spring.

We now seem to be in the same place as last October in terms of fertiliser and CO2, but this time with a new government in the mix, which is

About the author

rNFU crops board chairman Matt Culley is a fourth-generation farmer from Hampshire working in partnership with his parents and brother

rThe 720-hectare enterprise produces wheat, barley, oilseed rape, forage maize and rye for anaerobic digestion across varying soil types, from chalk and chalk loam to clay cap. This includes 170ha of owned and rented land and 540ha of contract farming agreements

rThe family also runs a pick-your-own soft fruit and summer vegetables business

yet to get to grips with the situation. The NFU has increased its lobbying in this area – we need the Government to recognise the importance of domestic fertiliser production and our ask is for greater transparency, so growers can plan and prepare to maintain levels of food production and food security.

Competitive

The mix of fertilisers we use has evolved over decades, but the loss of sulphur products from CF Ince and reduced AN production domestically and across Europe will mean changes, at least temporarily, as farmers adapt to use other suitable products. One area where this is especially important is in relation to urea and UAN. Both of these have become more important as an economically competitive source of N and, when used in appropriate conditions, are very good fertilisers in agronomic, and environmental terms.

It is also worth noting that demand for organic manures has undoubtedly increased, but we all know there is a finite supply. This, coupled with increased diesel prices, has led to higher costs of purchase and spreading on-farm, so organic manures cannot be seen as the abundant and cheap replacement for synthetic fertilisers that Defra seems to have thought to be the case.

Now that the dust has settled from this year’s harvest, growers will be assessing the decisions that they made on crop inputs, the effects on yield and quality and how the results can inform cropping plans and input decisions going forward. For me, the focus will not only be on fertiliser

decisions, but also on the establishment techniques that give crops the best possible ability to utilise increasingly expensive inputs. Results from this harvest have shown some differences on the various establishment methods I used for winter wheat – last year’s winter wheat was drilled with three different drills, a disc drill with 16.5cm row spacing and two different tine drills, one with 12.5cm row spacing and the other set at 25cm.

We used all three in a direct drill situation behind forage maize and oats and the tine drills were also used behind cultivated ground. The best results came from the 12.5cm row in the direct drill situation behind forage maize, while the worst yields were seen behind the disc drill direct into oat stubble, although where we cultivated oat stubbles we saw an uplift yield of more than 0.5 tonnes per hectare.

We need the ability to be flexible in different situations for different crops, especially where we use organic manures, which need incorporating before drilling. And we must ensure policy gives flexibility for growers – the drive towards direct drilling and cover cropping will work for some but not all. Sustainable Farming Incentive and future policy asks need to reflect this.

Soil health and raising organic matters are admirable goals but farm businesses must also maintain output while trying to achieve these goals. With input costs as high as they are, any drop off in yield and quality due to the wrong establishment method will have big impacts on profitability, something many growers cannot afford to risk.

Where next for NPK usage?

Economic and environmental drivers continue to put pressure on availabili ty of crop nutrients.

As nitrogen prices remain volatile, in this episode of Crop It Like It’s Hot, Alice Dyer explores what is driving fertiliser markets and what growers can expect for prices going forward.

With many growers looking to utilise organic nitrogen, Alice gets an update on the latest Farming Rules for Water policy for muck spreading and finds out how one farmer is using clover understoreys in his crop nutrition programme. Speakers:

rJames Alexander –Oxfordshire farmer.

rHumphrey Knight – Fertiliser markets analyst at CRU.

rIan Ludgate – NFU environ ment adviser for water quality and ammonia.

More information

JCrop it Like it’s Hot is produced by Arable Farming and CropTec Show. It aims to provide an alternative way of keeping up with agronomy and arable developments.

JMembers of the BASIS register can now receive one CPD point for tuning into the podcast. Listen in to the podcast to find out how.

Social media

J

Twitter:

LinkedIn:

Facebook:

r

JThe show can its-hot-podcast, or you can For more our podcasts@agriconnect.com

Ian Ludgate – NFU environment adviser for water quality and ammonia. Humphrey Knight – fertiliser markets analyst at CRU.

James Alexander –Oxfordshire farmer.

Use of organic manures as an N source is one area of focus in the latest Farming Rules for Water.

BASIS news Courses on getting soils in top condition

As drought has affected wide areas of the south and east of England in recent months, the importance of having soil in good condition has become ever more important.

Two BASIS environmental courses provide much needed insights into the details and practices associated with maintaining and improving soils.

Sound, practical advice for agronomists, farmers and farm managers can be obtained by studying for the BASIS soil and water management certificate.

The extensive syllabus tackles topics including soil erosion, soil health, climate change, soil structure and sustainable crop nutrition. It also deals with the practical aspects of effective soil management, such as producing a drainage plan, devising cultivation systems, assessing soils and irrigation. All the relevant UK legislative issues are covered as well.

The issues addressed are increasingly important for financial and environmental reasons. Soaring fuel prices and machinery costs mean more efficient ways of cultivation are required and it is becoming more

TERESA MEADOWS

widely recognised that a well-structured soil is important for reduced emissions, good drainage and healthy crop growth.

A second BASIS course – quality of soils – aims to provide a deeper insight into how to make farming and production systems more resilient by offering an in-depth understanding of how soil functions as an ecosystem.

The course provides an insight into the relationships between the physical properties, biology and chemical process in soils and how farming practices can affect soil quality – both positively and negatively.

Teresa Meadows, BASIS head of environment, says: “Land

After the drought of 2022, understanding how to manage soil structure will be vital.

managers who focus more on soil structure, monitoring, maintaining and enhancing organic matter, integrating cover crops and green manures, using compost and farmyard manure and altering grazing strategies, for example, are recognising that the benefits can be seen fairly rapidly.”

Examination

Studying for either course typically takes five to six days of training, either as a block or spread over several weeks, followed by an examination lasting two and a half hours.

A BASIS podcast focused on the importance of soil, water and cultivations is now available.

It features David Purdy, a territory business manager with John Deere, independent soil consultant Philip Wright and Glenn Bootman, a territory manager for HEVA.

The discussion highlights the changeable nature of soils across a

season as well as how to examine soil through physical examination and using other information, such as yield maps, to understand where potential problems may occur across a field.

Four key reasons for cultivation are identified. First, to manage previous crop residues, especially in combinable crops; to allow air into soil to provide porosity; to repair any damage that careful examination has identified; and to ensure good soil to seed contact for good crop establishment.

There is consensus on the need to ‘tread lightly’ when it comes to cultivations focusing on minimising axle weight and often minimising depth and intensity of cultivations to protect fragile structure.

BASIS Professional Register members can claim one CPD point for tuning into the podcast, which is available at basis-reg.co.uk/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

MORE ONLINE

The latest news for BASIS and FACTS-qualified farmers and advisers.

PICTURE: JOHN DODGSON

Land managers who focus more on soil structure are recognising that the benefits can be seen fairly rapidly

Fendt