Arable Farming October 2023

SU BARESI & SU PERFORMER Hybrid Rye

SU Baresi and SU Performer are hybrid ryes with flexible end market potential for UK growers. With high-mass dry matter yields and consistently high methane content out of whole crop harvests, both are excellent choices for biogas. SU Baresi has shown stand out gas yield and quality. Both benefit from strong standing power and new genetics give improved brown rust resistance. When you’re after new generation biogas varieties, these are the two to go to.

Ask your merchant about availability or see more at elsoms.com

Talking Agronomy

‘Rotations tweaked as OSR crops succumb to

ENERGY CROPPING

Could forage oats be an AD feedstock option?

Pages 16-17

AGROFORESTRY

Finding a way forward for trees on-farm

Pages 34-36

GRAIN HANDLING

Intercrop cleaning – a degree of separation

Pages 37-39

Innovation in action for progressive arable farmers

November 29-30, 2023

NAEC Stoneleigh, Warwickshire

Learn the benefits of introducing livestock into your arable rotations at

SEMINAR 3 - Connecting bold thinkers in a time of change: Real stories from boots on the ground

You will learn how introducing livestock into your arable rotations can add value to your enterprise. Some of the benefits include:

• Improves soil health

• Helps with weed management without the need for machinery/fertiliser

• Converts the plant biomass into nutrients for the soil

• Improves soil structure and fertility

• Reduces soil erosion and compaction

8

Business

6

Technical

16

28

34

Machinery

37

53

24 46

18

Agri-environment

Environment key to arable farm’s ethos

Why the environment is at the heart of all one Cambs farmer does

22 Technical

Pioneering pulse crops for climate-friendly farming

Could an expansion in pulse cropping help pave the way to net zero?

24

Crop nutrition

Developing a framework for improving N use efficiency

A wide-ranging fertiliser use efficiency trial could revolutionise N use

32 R&D

How septoria modelling is being used in the fight against fungicide resistance

An AHDB-funded project is aiming to deliver better strategies to manage fungicide resistance

46 Combines

Taking steps to secure future capacity

A draper header has provided a performance boost on-farm in Notts

a word from the editor

Contacts

Group Editor – Arable

Teresa Rush 07917 271 989 teresa.rush@arablefarming.com

Senior Arable Technical Specialist

Alice Dyer 07966 445 458 alice.dyer@arablefarming.com

Arable Technical Specialist

Ash Burbidge, 07786 190 188 ashleigh.burbidge@agriconnect.com

Machinery Editor

Toby Whatley 07583 054 831 toby.whatley@arablefarming.com

Head of Creative Services

Gillian Green, 01772 799 417 gillian.green@agriconnect.com

Picture Editor

Marcello Garbagnoli 01772 799 445 marcelllo.garbagnoli@arablefarming.com

Key Accounts Manager

Jane Newton 01948 780 783 jane.newton@arablefarming.com

Key Accounts Manager

Mark Jackson 01322 449 624 mark.jackson@arablefarming.com

Account Manager

Chris Knowles 01772 799 550 chris.knowles@agriconnect.com

Sales Director

Mike Hartley 01772 799 532 mike.hartley@arablefarming.com

Advertising Production

Justine Sumner 01772 799 437 justine.sumner@arablefarming.com

Circulation and subscriptions 0330 333 0056 help@subscribe.farmers-guardian.com

© Agriconnect 2023

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system without the express prior written consent of the publisher.

The contents of Arable Farming are subject to reproduction in information storage and retrieval systems. ISSN 0269-6797

Scorching September eventually reverted to more typical autumn weather, but not before the unseasonably hot, dry weather had delivered a few agronomy challenges in the form of hard-baked soils and burgeoning pest problems. Sadly, cabbage stem ea beetle appeared to have been lying in wait for the sun before taking every opportunity to decimate more than a few oilseed rape crops. To paraphrase the comments of one of our Talking Arable columnists this month, ‘money has already been lost on harvest 2024’ (see p10-11).

While the dry weather meant an easy finish to the 2022/23 harvest, it will be a season many growers will be glad to draw a line under. But as the new season gets underway, it is important to protect the quality of what has lately been harvested and market it effectively (see p6-7). Staying with that grain marketing theme, as Arable Farming went to press, plans for a consultation with industry this autumn over the possible introduction of a digital passport for combinable crops have been confirmed by the project’s Leadership Group. Will it get over the line this time round I wonder? News was also breaking of further progress in bringing forward precision plant breeding techniques in the UK –more on that in the next issue.

Recent travels took me west to Wiltshire and the Agroforestry Show. It is always a pleasure and a privilege to do a farm visit, and this one was no exception. Helen Browning hosted the show at Eastbrook Farm, an organic, mixed farming unit. There was plenty to see, hear and ponder and no shortage of arable farmers keen to explore how trees might fit into their enterprises. It was particularly interesting on one of the farm walks to observe how growers

instinctively applied their agronomy know-how to try and help address some of the challenges the Eastbrook team had encountered as they progressed their tree planting plans; a perfect example of how farmers can benefit from working together when the spurious barriers of farming sector and organic versus conventional are ignored.

That willingness to share experience – good and bad – is very much in evidence in this month’s issue. Read on to find out more about farmers looking for the ‘sweet spot’ where productivity and farming for the environment come together, farmers getting involved in cutting edge research, and farmers simply working out how to farm better. We hope we provide food for thought.

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

by Farmers Guardian, Unit 4, Fulwood Business Park, Caxton Road, Preston, Lancashire, PR2 9NZ.

This year will be a harvest to forget for many growers. Maximising the quality that has been achieved and selling at the best time will be important if value is to be clawed back. Cedric Porter reports.

Identifying grain selling opportunities vital this season

The hot and dry weather at the beginning of September allowed the last of the 2023 harvest to be gathered in, preventing what had become a difficult harvest becoming a disastrous one.

At the end of August, AHDB reported winter wheat yields averaging about eight tonnes per hectare, but with a wide range from 5t/ha to 13t/ha. The figures are based on data collected by consultants RSK ADAS.

The lowest yielding areas were not those that experienced

the most summer rain, but lighter soils that suffered in the June heatwave.

Specific weights, Hagberg falling numbers and protein were average at best, with the lowest specific weights seen in the East and South. Many crops are only just meeting milling specifications, which means there is a lot of lower quality and lower value grain around trying to find a home.

Winter barley fared better, with yields in the range 6.2t/ha to 9t/ha, although specific weights were a little down on the long-term average. Screenings were low and grain nitrogen

and germination were acceptable. Spring barley has been more variable and given a late and wet start to the growing season, harvest was delayed. The later crops were planted, the greater the loss in quality. Spring oats also lagged behind winter ones with poor specific weights. Meanwhile, the mixed weather and cabbage stem flea beetle attacks meant that it was not a good season for oilseed rape, with yields below the long-term average.

More feed wheat

Grain prices are fundamentally driven by world supply and

demand, but the UK’s variable harvest means there are more national issues in play than in other years. Perhaps the most significant is a very large premium for milling wheat, with growers rewarded if they have the quality.

“In the first week of September, North West bread wheat was quoted at £269/tonne,” says Megan Hesketh, senior cereal and oilseed analyst at AHDB.

“That contrasted with £183.50/tonne for domestic feed wheat in East Anglia.”

A year ago, there was a £30/ tonne premium for the best quality milling wheat which was trading at £295/tonne. With more milling wheat not making the grade this year, the volume of feed wheat is higher, putting pressure on prices.

Even more pressure may be heaped on the feed wheat

Monthly feed wheat prices on the London ICE market in £/tonne

market, because of a decline in demand due to reduced pig and poultry production.

In the 12 months to the end of July 2023, 3.247 million tonnes of feed wheat were used by British feed processors, according to the AHDB. That was 6.6% less than the year before and one of the smallest annual usage rates in the last decade. Feed barley use also fell by 12.2% to 1.329 million tonnes.

Meanwhile, strong demand could support an already well-supported milling market. Total UK milling wheat usage was at 6.171 million tonnes in the year to July – up 2.6%. Of that, 84.9% was British grown. That proportion might be lower this season due to lack of supply. However, there might be some support for wheat that does not make the milling grade or is not

wanted by feed producers.

Wheat usage for distilling was at a record 1.048 million tonnes in the year ending July, 4.8% more than the year before as the UK’s bioethanol plants step up production.

Malting barley demand is also strong if growers can make the grade. Usage in the 12 months to the end of July 2023 was 1.970 million tonnes, which was 4.4% more than the year before and is now back above pre-pandemic levels. At the time of writing (September 14) premium malting sells for £62/ tonne more than feed. A year ago, the difference was about £25/tonne.

Export ready

Being export competitive this season will be important if the UK is to disperse a surplus of grain that could be in the region

of one to two million tonnes. There is a need for grain, including feed grain. In its latest world supply and demand report, the US Department of Agriculture said: “World wheat supplies are projected to decline 7.2 million tonnes to 1.055. billion, primarily on lower production for Australia, Canada, Argentina, and the EU, which is only partly offset by an increase for Ukraine. If realised, this would be the first year-toyear decline in global wheat production since 2018/19.

“Despite smaller global supplies, world consumption is nearly unchanged with decreased food, seed, and industrial use mostly offset by increased feed and residual use. Feed and residual use is raised by 1.0 million tons for both China and the EU due to wet weather during harvest that is

expected to result in higher amounts of lower-quality wheat used for feed.”

Overall world grain production projections were down 10 million tonnes in September compared to August at 2.802 billion tonnes, with total stocks down 1.1% to 765.8 million tonnes. That was similar to the figure a year ago, but consumption has risen by a similar percentage to a record 2.804 billion tonnes. A significant volume of stocks is locked away in Chinese stores and not available for world consumption.

Competitive

Analyst CRM Agri suggests that UK grain is becoming more competitive on export markets. It said: “Prices have been weighed by seasonal harvest pressure, and competition on international markets, particularly from Russia. November UK feed wheat continues to trade toward the export competitive end of the pricing spectrum. Prices from November onwards are export competitive, and close to the maximum vs the 10-year range.”

Looking at barley, CRM Agri said: “The discount of feed barley to feed wheat has continued to narrow, in line with the typical seasonal pattern. UK barley production is estimated at about 7-7.2mt, creating an export surplus. Spain’s poor harvest, and weak EU output overall, suggest a ready potential market for UK exports. However, European feed needs will also be provided for by an improved maize harvest.”

In mid-September, November 2023 wheat futures prices on the London ICE market were at £185/tonne. That compared to £261/tonne the year before. May 2024 pricing is showing at £10 uplift, while growers could sell crop from the 2024 harvest in November of that year at £195/tonne.

Strong demand could support an already well-supported milling wheat market.

ALEXWilcox

Alex and Joanna Wilcox live and farm with their three sons at Hill Farm, near Downham Market on the Norfolk County Council Stow Estate. With 240 hectares of Fen silty clay loam, they grow winter milling wheat, winter feed barley, spring malting barley, spring beans and sugar beet.

With the spring beans and late sown spring barley safely harvested, and a performance that can only be described as ranging from acceptable to downright underwhelming, the old green combine is now finally parked up in the open-fronted shed at Poplar Farm.

The quality of the Lynx spring beans looks good, plus there was no need for any drying as they came off the field at 14% moisture. The greenness of the stems, even though glyphosate had been applied for over a fortnight, merely highlights the absolute need for a viable desiccant for this crop since the ridiculous diquat revocation. There are some potential replacement options in carfentrazone and pyrafluthen, but the work needs to be done to gain approvals and hopefully soon.

Due to yet more politically motivated geniuses producing yet more interesting science and the subsequent ban on neonic seed dressings, there is now a huge reduction in the UK oilseed rape area being grown annually and September is a much quieter month agronomically, with time to map out autumn cereal residual programmes and trawl through lots of trials data showing the pros and cons of various actives.

One old stalwart which will be coming back into

many of my programmes this year is triallate, with the classic pre-em herbicide effect of ‘I didn’t realise we had that problem until I stopped using it’ evident on several of my clients’ farms this last season. One grower was determined to reduce his autumn herbicide spend - aren’t we all? - and a decision to move away from triallate to a lower rate prosulfocarb was taken. The result was that the efficacy of the black-grass suppression seemed to have been just about maintained but the spring appearance of various brome species and wild oats all over the farm suddenly illuminated exactly what a great job the old Avadex was doing, albeit completely under the radar. So even if the winter wheat options will centre around the headline products of Proclus (aclonifen) or Luximo (cinmethylin), the rates and choice of their partner products will be equally as influential on how well things perform overall.

Wild oats

As for the wild oats, this seems to be the second year on the trot they have proved a real nuisance. With only a few viable contact options available, the need for effective residual chemistry targeted at this weed must become another major consideration in the herbicide stack decision process or the threat of a spread of target site resistance will rear its ugly head.

Farmer facts

rAlex studied for a National Diploma in agriculture at Moulton College before going onto Nottingham University to complete a BSc Hons degree in agriculture and agronomy

rHe is also a FACTS and BASIS diploma qualified agronomist working for Hutchinsons since 1997, with a significant portfolio of clients covering Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk

This is the second year on the trot wild oats have proved a real nuisance

ALEX WILCOX

The old green machine finally parked up in the shed.

Otto and Bisto checking out the Lynx spring beans in the grain store.

With the price of sugar beet this season set at a viable £40 per tonne adjusted, the decision on fungicides and how many applications has been straightforward as the return on investment is very worthwhile. But what is a worry is how a new star product in its first year of approval has still struggled to control cercospora, which in the right conditions can

be a highly damaging disease. More work needs to be done as the current standard advice is to treat beet diseases at the first sign of infection which again seems a bit ‘horses and gates’. The golden rule that eradicating diseases is always a lot harder and more expensive than preventing infections occurring in the first place always applies.

On a final note, and going all cowboy, at the Hill Farm Ranch old Calamity Claim has reared its ugly head with our spring malting barley being delivered into the Wild Frontier.

Everything was going just dandy, all the samples were spot on with no issues identified, hands were spat on and shaken as the deal was done and the wagons

rolled in and out without so much as a single yee-ha, but don’t you just darn well know it, on the last two wagons we get a total of £1,785 in ‘dee-duck-shuns’, dang nab it.

Watch this space, I am currently getting all saddled up and six shooters holstered for a big showdown at the OK Saddlebow Corral.

Cercospora in the sugar beet.

ROB Beaumont

Rob farms on the Worcestershire/Herefordshire border with his parents and young family, growing combinable and forage crops with a mix of owned, tenanted and contracted land. An agronomist for Edaphos, Rob also hosts AHDB Monitor Farm events.

Autumn has landed with a heatwave. The emerging oilseed rape has been ravaged by flea beetle. Money has been invested - and lost - into harvest 2024 before we have even got going. The decision to replant (as of September 10) is on pause. Half the area at home has now been committed to spring cropping for arable silage. I have yet to decide what the rest will be; something to think about during the winter I suspect.

I know many have already given up on OSR and it’s looking like a beleaguered crop now. We need to find a consistent, non-insecticidal, way of getting crops through the savagery of the beetle attack. Too much of what we’re doing at the moment is purely down to luck and with margins as thin as they are, I don’t think it’s a viable option for us currently.

Farm facts

rFamily farm covering 200 hectares of mainly silty/clay loams, growing combinable and forage crops

rRob is BASIS and FACTS qualified, having also received a post graduate diploma in sustainable agriculture from Harper Adams

rCurrently in the third year of strip till establishment

rFarming operation is focused on reducing inputs and maintaining profitability

rRob is using cover crops and organic manures to build fertility

rUsing integrated pest management practices to reduce pesticide usage

Spring beans were poor this year so have been binned off for the winter option this time. We still have forage maize left to cut, which shouldn’t be too long now. It seems that this year, the most successful crops we have produced will end up in a silage pit. Thank goodness we farm in an area with demand for forage crops. We also grew six acres of sunflowers this summer. They have been a real ray

The demo Claas Tucano 560; a small combine with surprising output capabilities.

of sunshine (pardon the pun) in what has otherwise been a pretty rubbish harvest. I’m glad we took the decision to rip the poorly established beans out and put them in. We have sold enough cut flowers to cover costs and even raise a bit of money for the local primary school. If we manage to push the combine through them and harvest some seed that will be an added bonus. It may be the case that as the climate warms, things like sunflowers may become a viable option for inclusion in the arable rotation. We certainly need some profitable break crops.

Demo combine

In other news, we managed to have a Claas Tucano 560 on demo this harvest. It was a really impressive little combine. Small in size, but given it had a rotor instead of walkers and a 25ft header, some surprising output. Agriculture must be the only industry where someone hands you the keys to a £200,000 machine, does a few laps around the headland with you, and then lets you just get on with it. I’m not sure if I got the maximum out of it but it certainly goes on the contender list to replace our current John Deere. Attention is now starting to turn to autumn planting once again. As an agronomist, my advice in our area would be to wait until October to plant

Money has been investedand lost - into harvest 2024 before we have even got going ROB BEAUMONT

your wheat. As a farmer, I know I’ll be getting itchy after September 25. It’s like having a split personality sometimes. You know the best thing to do is follow the best evidence. October drilling reduces weed pressure, disease pressure and hopefully BYDV. On the other hand, you know if the weather turns to excrement, you won’t get anything in.

If the Government took all the subsidy/ environmental money and invested it into accurate long-range weather forecasting we’d probably boost agricultural productivity tenfold. If there is one thing I have been reminded of this year, it is that nature always has the final say on how our cropping performs. The best-laid plans and timely applications are all moot if sunshine and rain happen in the wrong order.

Fingers crossed the autumn planting campaign is kinder to us than harvest was. I shall be glad when this year has been put to bed.

Growers need a non-insecticidal way of getting OSR through the savagery of CSFB attack.

Sunflowers have been a successful replacement for poorly-established beans.

GEORGE Swann

Iknew it was a bad start to the winter oilseed rape drilling when walking past the washing line in the back garden, where one of my work shirts was drying. In the middle of the back of the shirt sat a cabbage stem flea beetle, seemingly lifeless. However, upon inspection, it was very much alive and as bold as you like. I can confirm that non-bio washing powder on a 30degC wash does not kill them. At the time of writing, I have a lot of WOSR which I’ve been affectionately describing as being at the ‘critical condition’ stage — just emerging, tiny little cotyledon leaves, breaking the surface and coming under Rorke’s Drift levels of CSFB adult attack. Unfortunately, at the beginning of September, we had a combination of very hot days and nights with no rain when

Agronomist facts

JGeorge Swann is an independent agronomist, member of the Arable Alliance and a proud member of the Association of Independent Crop Consultants. He advises across South Yorkshire, north Nottinghamshire and North Lincolnshire. George has a BSc (Hons) in biology, is BASIS and FACTS qualified and has completed the BASIS Advanced Potatoes module. His expertise lies in helping his clients achieve economic maximum output while remaining as sustainable as possible for the future.

many crops were just starting to emerge, with hordes of the little beasties waiting for a feast.

Dry or drying seed beds, in some cases caused by growers needing to remediate harvest damage to fields caused by combines, trailers or balers, added to the problems.

This was very frustrating, as despite keeping the rolls tight behind any cultivation, it was a real struggle to keep any moisture.

There was plenty at four to five inches down, but the top half an inch where the seed was had really dried, causing the rape to stall coming out of the starting blocks.

Drilling

In my last article I wrote about the potential benefits of winter barley for growers wanting to establish oilseed rape and how the early drilling slot in the last few years has seemed to get away well before the usual August bank holiday CSFB invasion.

Again, this largely seems to have been the case and I have to say at the moment my better crops are those following winter barley.

Of course, there is the argument that the earlier drilled crops may be more susceptible to larvae attack with longer for the adults to lay their eggs and potentially more larvae in the plants.

I’m not 100% convinced of this yet, having sampled a range of crops and drilling dates. From what I’ve seen, there wasn’t always good correlation between drilling date and larvae numbers, unless a crop was very, very late drilled, well into September (not without other

potential risks) when I started to see a big drop off in larvae counts.

The main reason I wanted to talk about larvae in the stem is that this is potentially the largest concern for me when growing oilseed rape.

The loss of the crop at establishment may be very frustrating, but the crop not growing away in spring is a huge concern.

Growers need to be aware of thresholds and potential treatment options as well as being prepared to be out in oilseed rape crops at the end of October and early November to assess larvae numbers, either indirectly using adult trapping counts, or by plant assessment methods that assess larval numbers present in plants.

The emphasis on growers and agronomists to be getting accurate larvae assessment numbers as early as possible can’t be overstated, as once the propyzamide-containing products have been applied, this vastly reduces the options to change cropping plans should the worst occur.

The frustration for me when talking to growers having done larvae assessment is that it’s very difficult to forecast the consequences of different  larval numbers on crop performance.

We don’t know that at 12 per plant or above we’re in big trouble but at eight per plant we should be fine.

There are so many other factors at play including drilling date, soil type and stem/size and thickness, with thick stems anecdotally able to tolerate more larvae, and, of course, the coming spring weather, which is also impossible to predict.

The need for early, accurate larvae number assessments can’t be overstated

• New herbicide coming soon

• New mode of action in cereals

• Control of grassweeds and broadleaved weeds

• For more information on Isoflex™ active, please visit www.isoflexactive.co.uk

TALKING AGRONOMY

PHIL Warham

Rotations have been tweaked as OSR crops have succumbed to flea beetle attack

Just a few weeks ago we were all hoping for drier times after a month and a half of deluge and, thankfully, the weather gods were listening.

What had threatened to be a wash-out of a harvest quickly changed for the better. In the end, we were served up a relatively easy finish to the campaign, with everything bar a few beans cleared up by the bank holiday weekend. That is most unusual in this part of the world.

Winter and early drilled spring barleys performed well. Some early cut wheats were disappointing, and overall yields were average or a tad under, which I think is a result given the season. Admittedly it has been an expensive one in terms of inputs, but the return on spend has certainly been justified.

Agronomist facts

Winter beans looked well before harvest, but didn’t perform as well as spring varieties in this area. Perhaps we should reconsider the options and increase the proportion of spring crop, which could also help spread the workload.

Enough ground was cleared early on to get oilseed rape off to a good start. However, anything that was through the ground by early September was hammered by flea beetle during the heatwave in early September and the extreme heat then finished off these crops.

Rotations

Rotations have been tweaked as crops succumbed field by field. Overall, my customers have probably lost 50% of their OSR area. Given that sowings were a third down on last year anyway, the writing is surely on the wall until a solution to flea beetle is found. We all know that oilseed rape is a gambler’s crop; however, if the prize isn’t worth it, the gamble isn’t either.

On a brighter note, we have since received about 25mm of rain, which triggered a substantial and very welcome flush of grass-weeds. Patience will now really pay off – we still need to let as many seeds as possible chit before spraying them off ahead of winter cereals.

Pre-emergence wheat sprays will consist of a mix of aclonifen and flufenacet + DFF, or cinmethylin and pendimethalin on clean land. Avadex (triallate) is a somewhat emotive

subject among customers; given its cost it needs using respectfully. Winter barley will receive a reduced rate of aclonifen and flufenacet plus DFF.

Most growers have chosen their winter wheat varieties for the coming season. Soft wheat premiums have generally not been very exciting, so there seems to be a push towards milling varieties which still offer good premiums, or feed varieties for their better yields.

This season has been very different to last year; wheat disease ratings and standing power scores have been under considerable pressure. However, we must beware of knee-jerk reactions and consider consistency and previous form over several seasons, while limiting the area we put into something new and untried on-farm.

Sugar beet lifting is imminent and expectations are probably as high as I can remember. Crops made great progress through the summer and haven’t looked back.

Despite this, more juggling of rotations may be on the cards following reports that British Sugar and the NFU are again at loggerheads over beet pricing, with the offer for the 2024/25 crop apparently well below the current value of £40/t. Unless this is resolved soon, some growers may have to make some tough cropping decisions.

Maize harvest has started and yields are so far exciting. More about this in next month’s column.

JPhil Warham has been an agronomist with Agrovista for six years. He gained a degree in land and farm management at Harper Adams University and managed farms for several years afterwards. He now advises on combinable crops, cereals, maize and vining peas in Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and into Leicestershire. Key interests include direct drilling and soil health, as well as making farms profitable. In his spare time he is a keen runner and horseman.

DARRYLShailes

The cool, dull summer has had a big effect on beet sugar content

As the season slips from summer to autumn, we’ve had the hottest and sunniest period of weather so far this season. I can’t remember it being so hot in September before, but maybe it has been, and it’s just that the rest of the summer has been so cool and dull, so the contrast is playing tricks with my memory.

The plums are very ripe in the garden though, and have been picked and either made into jam or frozen for later. We’ve also been getting the cider ready from last year’s frozen juice for our own version of a wassail. We’re hoping the cider will help keep the neighbours happy when they’re helping to press this year’s crop. Although it’s looking okay, it is nowhere near the size of last year.

The cool and dull summer has had a big effect on the sugar content in the beet I’ve heard of being lifted, with 14% being quite common from the very earliest lifts, but hopefully that should increase with recent heat and sun. The early lift bonus has helped though, and some growers have decided to

crack on and get some beet lifted, and on with the next crop of wheat.

The recent BBRO meeting I attended discussed different varieties and their disease resistance, although when looking at some of the scores on the Recommended List, they didn’t really reflect what I saw in the trials. So as always, it is important to look at crops.

Beet cyst nematode

It is very interesting that we are seeing significant levels of cercospora in some fields, even though we’ve not really had the weather to trigger the BBRO warning system, apart from the odd spot on the Suffolk coast. There was some discussion around whether the UK cercospora populations may be more adapted to our weather and the model may need adjusting going forward.

Beet cyst nematode was also a point of discussion, as a lot has been seen this season. It is one of the failings of the current ALS-resistant varieties that there is no BCN-tolerant variety yet, especially as field infestations of BCN seem to go hand in hand with weedy beet populations, but hopefully, this will be possible in the next couple of years.

It was good to see so many people attend the Eurofins blight open day, at what was an excellent event this season as the blight populations were higher than we’ve seen in

recent years. There was also a lot of other leaf diseases, including alternaria, but also what looked like botrytis to me.

The main topics of discussion were managing blight with the current chemistry we have in light of the potential loss of mancozeb, and the changing resistance status of blight genotypes in the UK and mainland Europe.

There was a bit of new chemistry on display with the phosphonate group of chemistry looking to break through into the blight market shortly. Phosphonates bring a new mode of truly systemic chemistry that move quickly both to roots and leaves, so will be especially useful when applied early in the crop’s life.

There were several potato breeders at Eurofins and it was very interesting to see the effect of their varieties under full and half programmes and how genetics can help in giving effective blight control.

With all resistance traits, in potatoes or any other crops, it’s important not to use genetics in isolation, but to use an integrated policy that also utilises fungicides to protect and enhance the genetics.

Over-reliance on any one method of control, be that varieties or single-site fungicides, will inevitably lead to resistance being selected for. So we must always protect genetics and use them to enhance control, not as the sole technology. Over and out.

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.

Agronomist facts

Could forage oats be an AD feedstock option?

hat goes into an anaerobic digester determines what comes out, so careful choice of feedstocks is essential. Wholecrop hybrid rye and maize have become established as popular options, but now Suffolk-based plant breeder Bill Angus is hoping to add Everleaf forage oats to that list.

Forage oats are widely grown in North and South America for fodder and Mr Angus was first alerted to them through his links with New Zealand plant breeder Keith Armstrong, with whom he operates a shuttle breeding nursery.

Compared to conventional grain oats, Everleaf forage oats typically produce greater biomass and grow thicker, faster and taller, according to

WMr Angus. With a range of types being tested under UK growing conditions, they could bring agronomic and economic benefits to UK rotations.

“They are good at scavenging residual nitrates and phosphates left in the soil from previous cropping and they are a relatively low cost crop to grow, but they are completely different from a grain oat,” says Mr Angus, who is working with Paul Nickerson and Kent-based independent seed merchant T. Denne and Sons to evaluate the performance of forage oats on-farm and test their suitability for use as an AD feedstock.

Trial

A two-hectare trial has taken place in Kent this season on a farm supplying its own AD plant.

“The forage oats were

planted in late September [2022] at the same time as hybrid rye and triticale and harvested in very early July,” says Andrew Bourne, seeds manager at T. Denne and Sons.

The dry matter, freshweight and gas yield potential of the oats is being assessed and a

double cropping approach, which saw another forage oat planted into the stubble of the original crop in early July, is also being evaluated.

An evaluation and trials site in Yorkshire has also produced encouraging results.

From the work done so far, forage oats will be at the later end of the maturity spectrum for wholecrop cereals, but their performance this season, albeit on a very small scale, has been promising, says Mr Bourne.

Given current uncertainty around maize’s future viability because of an impending ban on use of some seed treatments on maize seed, and the relatively high cost of hybrid rye seed, forage oats could potentially be a useful alternative, he suggests.

“Big AD operators relying on two or three feedstock sources

A familiar crop in the United States, forage oats are being evaluated in the UK for their suitability for use in anaerobic digestion. Teresa Rush reports.

Big AD operators relying on two or three feedstock sources are interested in exploring diversity

ANDREW BOURNE

The dry matter, freshweight and gas yield potential of forage oats for AD is being assessed, as well as a double cropping approach.

are feeling a little bit vulnerable at the moment and are interested in exploring diversity.”

Two varieties from Mr Angus’ Global Oats breeding programme - Everleaf 001 and Everleaf 002 - will complete official National List 2 trials this autumn and once listing is confirmed can be made available commercially. Two varieties for

spring drilling follow in the pipeline.

Excellent standing power is a characteristic of all these varieties, says Mr Angus. In addition to good lodging resistance, forage oats are also resistant to take-all, which means they can be grown as an effective break crop. And, as they are not hybrids and are drilled at seed rates of around 200

seeds/sq.m, seed costs will be cheaper in comparison to hybrid rye or maize, which makes a double cropping approach viable, he maintains.

Autumn drilling means there are no concerns around spring planting on heavier land and, at the other end of the season, forage oats are earlier to harvest than maize, which means

MAXIMISE YOUR SLURRY WITH ULTIMATE PRECISION

BlackBird®: Spreading technology that achieves superior results

You want things to run perfectly in the field? Looking for flow-optimised geometry, outstanding distribution accuracy, minimum contamination and much more? Then, the latest cutting-edge trailing-shoe system BlackBird® by Vogelsang is the answer. Giving you consistent results. Get in touch now for more information: sales.uk@vogelsang.info or 01270 216 600

VOGELSANG – LEADING IN TECHNOLOGY

vogelsang.info

potential problems with soil structure damage can be avoided, adds Mr Bourne. Plans going forward are to boost seed production of Everleaf 001 and 002 and conduct more trials on-farm, with the aim of assessing overall suitability for AD gas production as well as agronomic and economic performance.

Forage oats are good at scavenging residual nitrates and phosphates left in the soil from previous cropping

BILL ANGUS

Bill Angus pictured in July with forage oats (in right hand) and grain oats under evaluation in his Global Oats breeding programme in Suffolk.

For one arable farmer, the environment is at the heart of all he does — even though it has meant changing the way the family farm has been run. Jack Watkins finds out more.

Environment key to arable farm’s ethos

Finding the farming sweet spot is the mantra of Martin Lines, who combines management of his third-generation arable farm, near St Neots, Cambridgeshire, with the chairmanship of the Nature Friendly Farming Network.

“There is a sweet spot for your production and your soil, wherever you farm and whatever the context is,” he says.

“If you try to push output by buying inputs, whether it is fertiliser, sprays or veterinary medicines, your margins shrink.

“You get to the point where you are chasing yourself to pay the bills.

“If you can find your sweet spot, where you are using sunshine and rain and just a small amount of input, you will earn the most amount. That is the place I have sought to find.”

It has been a challenging journey, however for Papley Grove Farm. As well as unlearning a lot of what he was taught at college, he also had to contend with a father whose philosophy differed to his own.

“I attended college in 1989/90 and was offered various scholarships and travelling opportunities, but my father felt I was needed here on the farm.

“He put me into the business as a minor partner, but he held the cheque book until he died in 2018.

“He was an old school arable farmer whose mindset was to drill to the very edge of the field. You would be bashing the hedgerows with the sprayer boom.

“He was brought up with the

post-war attitude of farming every inch and feeding the world. My philosophy is to work with nature and feed people as best I can.”

The succession was gradual as Mr Lines assumed greater management responsibility over the last two decades of his father’s life. A first step was drawing down environmental payments for hedge planting.

Mr Lines says: “We had problems with hare coursers and fly tipping and I sold him the idea of planting them as natural barriers.

Yields

“When I started working as a contractor on an organic farm, and saw that some of their yields were similar to ours, that made me think.

“Then we went into a Higher Level Stewardship scheme and took awkward areas of fields and strips running alongside ditches out of production.

“I spoke to conservationists and began to understand what wildlife

MARTIN LINES

lived in these new habitat areas.”

A revelation came in 2013 when a crop of winter beans was attacked by black bean aphid.

Unable to spray in wet and windy conditions, Mr Lines found that ladybirds and hoverflies which had thrived in the uncut field edges did the job of eating the aphids anyway, meaning a huge saving on insecticide costs and time spent in the cab.

He says: “That was a real eye-opener and got me thinking about how to value habitat as being more than just pretty flowers.”

Mr Lines follows integrated pest management practices, which means controlling pests without using insecticides, but also to some extent living with pests.

“You actually want some aphids and slugs in the landscape because they are the food source for the good guys - predatory controllers such as ladybirds and beetles, which live in your uncultivated margins.

“But some of my fields range

You actually want some aphids and slugs in the landscape because they are the food source for the good guys

Crops such as this heritage wheat are chosen to match the farm’s soils.

IT FEELS IMPOSSIBLE

to keep a lid on the creeping issue of black-grass, especially with a heavy soil like ours.

David Hurn

On Farm Grower

FEATURE ENVIRONMENT

from 20 to 30 hectares and if there is an aphid in the middle, it is going to take a while before something comes for that.

“So, all the evidence shows that putting in-field flower strips within about 100 metres of each other enables them to move through the field more quickly.

“The other thing with insecticides is that they also kill the predators. And the first things to re-establish are the pests not the predators. So, you will soon have to spray again anyway.

“We have just taken on some new land, put in some habitat areas and are monitoring across three years.

“Now my agronomist does not just walk through the field looking for slugs and aphids, he is looking for beetles and ladybirds. He is worried that he is going to miss an aphid and that I am going to blame

Farm facts

rThe farm extends to 165 hectares, 10% of which is left as a non-cultivated habitat areas, and a further 12% planted with herbal leys

rA further 320ha is farmed under a mix of contract, rented and share farming agreements

rSoil is chalky boulder clay with 60% clay content

him, but we have to have the confidence to turn off the sprayer.”

Disease scores

Further measures to cut chemical usage and running costs have included planting more pest and disease resistant varieties. He is, he says, always looking at untreated, rather than treated disease scores snd when he does buy a new vsriety, he will always trial it on a smaller field.

“I also talk to seed breeders to understand where the stock comes from. If it is from a loamy soil area it is not going to thrive on our soil which has a high clay content.

“It is no use if it needs to be fed loads of fungicide. We are now planting some YQ heritage wheat varieties. Last year we got 6.5t/ha, with no inputs. on a second wheat.

“I will use biostimulants to give the crop a nudge, but if I can cut

my overheads and produce that amount, it is profitable.”

The farm has adopted a mix of autumn and spring sowing, depending on weed issues.

Eight years ago, he had a field of winter wheat which had horrendous issues with black-grass.

“I wanted to terminate it, but my father insisted we take it through to harvest. We ended up with a yield of 2.5t/ha.

“We lost a huge yield to black-grass and wasted money treating it. Spring cropping has enabled us to stop wasting money on grass-weed herbicides.

“The only use is a pre-emergence for black-grass and if you have not got on top of it with that, you have lost the battle anyway.

“I have experimented with spring beans, but it is a rather boom or bust crop in this area where the weather is so unpredictable, so my main spring concentration is on barley.”

The target is ending all artificial fertiliser use within five years. Machinery requirements and maintenance costs have been lowered by adopting direct drilling.

“So, we do not always get the highest yields, or have the most in the barn when wheat prices go high, but we will not have the biggest cheques to write when it goes the other way,” says Mr Lines.

“And we know our markets are going to become more unstable. For me sustainability is the key for us going forward.”

A local grazier’s sheep forage on the farm’s herbal leys and cover crops and it has enabled Mr Lines to contemplate opening up a new revenue stream of his own.

“We had a 100 head of cattle until BSE and foot-and-mouth in the 1990s made it uneconomic.

rCropping areas vary, but average yields are: first wheats 10-12t/ha, second wheats 8-9t/ha, spring barley 6-7t/ha, beans 4t/ ha. Largely sold through Camgrain, as well as spot selling

rTwo full-time workers employed on machinery

Use of good cover crop mixes has helped eliminate the need for added P and K applications. Nitrogen use has been halved, he says.

“But I am planning on bringing back a light-footed breed like the Shorthorn for the leys, which will be able to stay outdoors for long as possible.”

With an estimated 30,000 to 40,000 homes going up in the surrounding area, Mr Lines sees direct selling the meat from a farm

whose history is traceable back to the 11th century as a viable option.

His work for the Nature Friendly Farming Network takes up a huge amount of time. He was a founder member of the organisation, which was established in 2017 to give a stronger voice to farmers committed to managing their land for wildlife and the public good.

“Many accused me of being a mouthpiece for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. They have no direct influence but, along with many organisations, they have given some funding to the network because they want to work with farmers,” says Mr Lines.

“We are now recognised as a farming stakeholder across the UK (3,000 farmer members, and 8,000 public members) and we sit at the table of Government meetings.

“I have had the current Farming Minister Mark Spencer here and shown him how food security and a healthy environment go hand

in hand. Farm systems that work with their landscape’s capability is what the future of farming is going to be.”

Mr Lines’ first step towards nature friendly farming was the planting of hedgerows.

Measures to cut costs have included planting more pest and disease resistant varieties.

Natural predators such as ladybirds and hoverflies keep the aphid population down on the beans.

An ambitious new research project is aiming to leverage the potential of pulse crops to help UK agriculture bring about a reduction of 1.5 million tonnes of CO2e per annum – equating to 54% of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction target for the industry.

The four-year, £5.9 million ‘Nitrogen efficient plants for climate smart arable cropping systems’ (NCS) project has two main aims: to increase the proportion of pulse cropping in arable rotations across the UK from 5% to 20% and to substitute up to 50% of imported soya meal used in livestock feed with more climate-friendly homegrown pulses and legumes.

A consortium of 17 UK companies and research institutes is participating in the project, and it is hoped that up to 200 UK farm businesses will also get involved.

PGRO chief executive Roger Vickers, who leads the project, says: “Everyone knows that pulses and legumes have considerable benefits for UK farming systems, but these have never been truly and accurately measured, so their value has been sorely underplayed and their potential to address the climate crisis has gone unrecognised.”

Five steps

There are five main steps within the project encompassing data gathering and capture, soil resilience analysis, pulse and legume feeding trials and practical application of findings.

The James Hutton Institute is leading a data gathering exercise. This will include data collected from farmers who Farm Carbon Toolkit will help to calculate their farm carbon footprint baseline and whose GHG emissions will be tracked throughout the project.

ADAS is heading up work to capture data from historic

Pioneering pulse for climate-friendly

An expansion in pulse cropping could help pave the way to net zero as well as providing benefits on-farm. Teresa Rush reports.

information and new on-farm trials to test the hypothesis that increased pulse cropping can substantially reduce carbon emissions from agriculture. New in-soil nutrient sensors from PBL Technology will be among the technology used in the data capture.

Feeding trials led by McArthur Agriculture will seek to better understand the end use of pulses and legumes in animal feeds, which is the only viable market for the output of an increased UK pulse area, maintains John McArthur managing director of project partner McArthur Agriculture.

He says: “One of the first points of call is to do a literature

review, which is being done at the moment by SRUC, of all the public papers relating to replacement of soybean meal usage with pulses and then also to look at the processing

techniques that may have been used.  And then we’re going to look at processing techniques for enhancing the nutritive value of beans and peas.”

The focus will be on-farm

The NCS project aims to support growers to increase pulse cropping in arable rotations.

Godminster

Farm’s overall aim is to reduce the carbon footprint of our cows’ diet

PETE CHEEK

production

climate-friendly farming

processing techniques and the performance of these will also be assessed in terms of their economic viability and carbon mitigation potential.

Feeding trials

Feeding trials already completed at Godminster Farm in Somerset pave the way for further work to be completed as part of the NCS project, suggests Mr McArthur.

“Godminster Farm is already engaging with the guiding principles of the NCS project by adding beans to its crop rotations for inclusion in its cows’ rations, working towards the replacement of imported soya bean meal in organic dairy,” says Mr McArthur, who has been working with farm manager Pete Cheek since June

2022 on trialling post-harvest processing of beans supplied by Organic Arable.

Mr Cheek says: “Godminster Farm’s overall aim is to reduce the carbon footprint of our cows’ diet and deliver full traceability of all their rations by growing beans here on the farm.

“We roasted the beans with a Mecmar T05 roaster, they were then milled and incorporated into the cows’ diet as part of the parlour feed and in the total mixed ration.

“The next phase of our trial will be to roast the beans we are growing on-farm this year straight from the combine, rather than roasting beans we have bought in; this will allow us to store them safely and increase the amount we are able to add to the rations.”

Central to the NCS project will

be ‘Pulse Pioneers’ - a core group of farmers who will be paid to work with scientists to co-design crop and feeding trials to carry out on their farms. A PulsePEP (performance enhancing platform), led by ADAS has also been launched as part of the NCS project. This is intended to be a hub for the farmer-led community, bringing together those seeking to achieve the best from pulse crops and reduce carbon emissions, as well as providing a forum for discussion on best practice pulse cropping.

Workshop

A recent ‘Pulses of Brilliance’ workshop organised by the British On-Farm Innovation Network (BOFIN) and ADAS brought together farmers and project partners to develop ideas that farmers will take forward in the first year of on-farm trials.

Among the farmers present was John Seed, of Woodend Farm, Gavinton near Duns in the Scottish Borders. With an arable enterprise and 32,000 laying hens, he says his customers are pushing him towards reducing his carbon emissions and improving biodiversity on-farm.

“Our aim at the moment is to replace bought-in soya meal with home-grown beans,” he says.

Home-grown beans currently comprise up to 20% of the poultry ration used on the farm and Mr Seed calculates that he saves £90-£110/t by substituting soya with beans.

“So there is a real incentive,” he says.

However, he wants to understand more about the costs and risks associated with home-grown legumes.

“We are trying to produce as much of our own feed as we can, but it has been difficult to find information,” he adds.

Lincolnshire grower Phil Marris was also at the meeting and is also in search of more information. With just over 300

ROGER VICKERS

arable hectares on mixed soil types between Gainsborough and Scunthorpe he grows beans on his heavier land and has been growing lupins on his lighter soils after what he describes as a ‘disaster crop’ of beans, which was badly hit by drought and frost. He is keen to include pulse crops in the rotation but wants more technical advice, backed by sound science, including feeding information for livestock farmers who are potential end users of pulse crops.

Pulse crops have struggled to cement a place in modern arable farming’s shortened rotations, but with a range of environmental and economic pressures bearing down on agriculture, the time might just be right for them to make a return.

For more information, visit ncsproject.co.uk MORE ONLINE

Project partners

rAgrii, The Allerton Project/ GWCT, ADAS, Kelvin Cave, LC Beef Nutrition, Farm Carbon Toolkit, First Milk, PBL Technology, Wessex Water/YTL Group, AB

Agri, BOFIN, the James Hutton Institute, Cranfield University, McArthur Agriculture, SRUC, Leaf, UKRI/Innovate UK

The value of pulses has been sorely underplayed and their potential to address the climate crisis has gone unrecognised

AHDB’s Strategic Farm North near York is playing host to an exciting new fertiliser efficiency trial which could revolutionise nitrogen use. Emma Penny reports.

Developing a framework for improving N efficiency

ith fertiliser one of the most talked about inputs in terms of cost, efficiency, benefits and environmental impact, making better use of it must surely be a good thing. At last year’s stratospheric cost – despite its undoubted payback in terms of yield improvement - it felt like every kilo counted.

For both financial and environmental reasons, it would be the ‘gold-standard’ of management if nitrogen applied could be exactly what was used by the plant.

Last year, David Blacker achieved 93% nitrogen fertiliser use efficiency on his heavy soils at Church Farm on the northern outskirts of York. Speaking at a recent open day, held as the farm is the AHDB’s Strategic Farm North, David’s brother Clive, who is a farm technology and data specialist, explained more about the result, and the project it is part of.

“If you do one thing as a farmer, I think it should be to calculate your nitrogen use efficiency – NUE,” he said.

Working out nitrogen fertiliser use efficiency - NfUE – is a reasonably straightforward calculation, he explained.

“Work out all the N that has been applied to the crop, as fertiliser and the available N from any manure applied.

“Then calculate all the N removed – so that’s the yield [plus any straw if that is removed and baled, but not if it is chopped in field], and the grain protein.

Most merchants will give you your grain protein figure free of charge if you ask for it when they do sample checks before they buy your grain.”

These two figures – N in, and N out – are used to work out NfUE using a spreadsheet (see panel on p25).

“On one crop here, we knew we had applied 216kgN/ha, had removed 203kgN/ha, and the spreadsheet showed we had 93% NfUE, which I thought was fantastic.”

However, figures from previous years show much lower levels of NfUE – as low as 56% in 2018.

“I was horrified when we worked

it out. But when we looked at the figure for 2019 it went up to 63% after we had thought a bit more about timing and what the crop wanted, rather than just sticking with RB209 recommendations.”

Soil

So it is not as straightforward as it initially appears. He believes that to do it ‘properly’, the soil needs to be taken into account.

“But we really know nothing about the biology of soil,” he says.

While NfUE levels might look brilliant at 93%, sampling soils on the farm to 30cm, 60cm and 90cm had shown that there was 80kgN/ha available in the soil in

March and a retest in July after harvest showed 140kgN/ha available.

“I was horrified that we had so much left in the soil. This year, our spring sampling has shown we have 20-40kgN/ha available which is much less than previous spring levels,” said Mr Blacker.

Many farmers are already monitoring N levels in crops using hand-held spectrometers and applying a varied amount of N depending on the N in the leaf.

“Canopy management is something we are all familiar with, but all the information we gather at present doesn’t solve the question of what happens in the soil.”

The dilemma means he is now working on a new four-year NUE project (NUE Profits), funded by Innovate UK. The project kicked off in April and is in its first year.

“There are issues with pollution which water companies want to solve, plus we know 83% of our liability in terms of carbon comes from N so if we want to achieve net zero, we have to get a grip of NUE.”

The project is looking at new technologies which will help give an understanding of what is in the soil and what is being removed by crops.

The initial steps involve soil testing and Mr Blacker is using Hill Court Farm Research for this. It is able to ‘incubate’ the soil samples as they would be in the field. This means it can calculate the N which may become additionally available through mineralisation, but it won’t tell you when it will mineralise.

Prototype sensors are being

WEvery arable farmer should investigate nitrogen efficiency on-farm, advises Clive Blacker.

used in the field to assess what is happening, with the probes gathering data and sending it off at regular intervals. Nitrate sensors are being used too, in order to see fluctuations throughout the seasons, and will give a reading of availability in the soil every 20 minutes.

Trial plots

The two trial plots at Church Farm also have ‘200 sensors/ sq.m’– meaning the crop itself. This year, it is being monitored using a device from China, which has been calibrated for UK conditions, and will provide spectral information on leaf area, N, P, K and NDVI - how much green or live material there is in the test area.

“We get a lot of readings very quickly,” Mr Blacker said. Yara’s N-Sensor is also being used, calibrated specifically to the test plot which acts as a calibration point for the N-Sensor.

While this project is new, much has already been learned. In April 2019, when the plots were first monitored, the cold, sunny weather meant crops were very deficient in nitrogen as the cold conditions limited uptake rates even though plenty of N was

available. The monitoring approach recommended a total of 180kgN/ha, saving 70kgN/ha compared with the farm’s usual 250kgN/ha application.

“In 2020, we had a very mild but dry spring, so we timed our fertiliser timings around rainfall events as water was a limiting factor to uptake, and we could see N uptake occurring in the plant within six days.

“In spring 2021, we faced a cold dry spell followed by sudden rainfall. We thought we knew

exactly what we needed to do, but we didn’t. It was a lot colder, so when we applied the fertiliser before the rain we were horrified that nothing happened – it took 21 days for the crop to take up N. The only difference we could see was the soil temperature was lower, and we think that if the soil temperature is less than 10 degC, then uptake is significantly reduced; there is a real correlation between that and reduced fertiliser uptake.

“Last year, we didn’t get to the desired level of N in the plant until the flag leaf came out, so we knew we then needed to work out what to do in a dry season. As part of this, we are going to look at foliar N.”

Flexible

The varying conditions have meant being flexible with timings and application levels; this year, the crop received three applications, compared with four last year.

“Our biggest challenge has been getting David to delay applications so the crop gets the right amount at the time it needs it,” Mr Blacker said.

Crop modelling data and satellite weather information is also being used as part of the project, adding to the millions of

Working out NUE

data points being generated, and allowing monitoring of the canopy in each field.

“As the project is just in its first season and we are developing a framework for improving nitrogen efficiency - a ‘FINE’ approachthere is plenty of opportunity for farmers to join us if they are looking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve nitrogen use efficiency.”

Mr Blacker said his key advice is that every arable farmer should investigate nitrogen efficiency.

“It is vital you understand that and use the information to make better decisions. Just the measurement process in its own right had a big impact on our farm, and it only cost us the time of analysis to do it in a basic way.

“If you’re keen to get more technical then please get in touch as we would be more than happy to have more farmers participate in our research going forward.”

Last season the desired level of N in the plant was not achieved until the flag leaf emerged.

A greater understanding of soil biology will help guide improvements in nitrogen efficiency, believes Clive Blacker.

JAgAnalyst, the business Clive Blacker is part of, has an NUE calculator which will evaluate your farm results. Find out more at aganalyst. co.uk/nue-calculator

CropTec takes place on November 29-30 at NAEC, Stoneleigh, a new venue for this year.

Seminars aim to help farmers ‘meet challenges’

Real stories from forward-thinking arable farming businesses are set to feature among the sessions in this year’s CropTec Show seminar programme.

The 2023 show seminars will also include sessions on crop protection, crop nutrition and new markets, as well as a discussion session with three progressive arable farmers.

‘Breaking down access to new markets to cultivate business resilience’ is the focus of the first session which will be chaired by NFU chief economics adviser Rohit Kaushish on day one and vice-president David Exwood on day two.

Changes to Government policy and the high costs of production make this topic particularly pertinent, believes Mr Exwood.

“In a fast-changing world, having more opportunities to

provide new and diverse income streams for farms is vital,” he says.

Mr Kaushish hopes the session will offer clarity on emerging support schemes and environmental markets as well as policy developments.

“Farmers are looking for new diversified income opportunities to manage market risk and uncertainty and are increasingly being approached by project developers in environmental

markets about new potential income streams. There are a lot of questions being asked at the moment on the potential of such markets at farm level; it is therefore a really good time to be exploring these markets in more detail, he says.

Crop nutrition

Past AHDB chair and former NFU president Sir Peter Kendall will chair a session delving into issues around crop nutrition. As agriculture strives to achieve its sustainability goals, this roundtable discussion will see experts explore the importance of low carbon crop nutrition, while looking at the future of fertiliser policy in a changing climate.

Panellists include Mark Tucker, business development and head of agronomy for session sponsor Yara, and independent agronomist David Boulton from Indigro.

“Anyone who has lived through the last 12 months of fertiliser prices will be considering really carefully all available options for plant nutrition in their system. Now is a great time to plan for the future,” says Sir Peter.

“I am looking forward to being part of this year’s CropTec at its new location. The show comes at a great time of year when we have the chance to review our previous harvest and plan for the spring season ahead of us.”

‘Connecting bold thinkers in a time of change: Real stories from boots on the ground’ is a new session, sponsored by Horsch. Former Elveden Estate farms director Andrew Francis, now at Team Ag, hopes the presentations from three innovative farmers will show the diversity of approaches as well as the similarities.

“It is always good to challenge yourself in how you go about doing the day job. Whatever the

It is a really good time to be exploring these [environmental] markets in more detail

ROHIT KAUSHISH

components of your business are, any time is a good time to change,” he says.

Andrew Williams, manager of Home Farms in Nacton, will discuss his experience with robotics on a Suffolk farm producing conventional arable crops and organic vegetables. Robotics and other technologies are being developed at pace, so being prepared to make swift investment decisions is essential, he says.

“These innovations are going to arrive, come what may, so farming businesses need to get to grips with developments coming down the road.”

Jack Smith, farm director for A.G. Wright and Sons in Cambridgeshire, will explore the importance of data in decision making.

“There is a ‘sitting in the office’ answer, which needs to be squared with the ‘standing in a field’ answer,” he says. “It’s about

taking insights from both and coming to a sensible informed decision.”

Crop protection

The final session of the day tackles crop protection and changing regulation, with expert input from agronomists and plant breeders. David Schafer of RAGT will give an overview of breeding research to improve

Sponsors and supporters

levels and durability of varietal resistance for UK farmers. This will include RAGT’s work on barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV) resistant wheat as well as new selection technologies to complement field scoring.

Other speakers include James Bairstow, agronomist and associate director for Strutt & Parker, who will share his expertise on integrated pest management (IPM) and Dave Bench, chief executive of CropLife UK, which represents the plant science industry.

Verity Hyland, event director for CropTec, says: “With the arable sector facing such historic changes, our seminar programme is designed to equip growers with the knowledge

they need to meet the challenges head on and maximise opportunities.

“As before, the CropTec seminar programme will bring the specialist knowledge of scientists, plant breeders, agronomists and policymakers together with the ‘boots on the ground’ expertise of some of the country’s most innovative farmers to create a unique learning opportunity.

“I would encourage anyone with an interest in the sector to come along and be informed and inspired. We look forward to welcoming you to Stoneleigh in November.”

Tickets for CropTec 2023 are free and available now by registering at croptecshow.com

Transforming Innovation

Expanding Horizons

For a resilient agriculture, environment, economy and society

CHAP is driving innovation to support the changing role of the grower – custodians of technology, innovation, diversification, environmental stewardship and more.

• An integrated perspective of agriculture, the environment, economy and society will be key to unlocking true net zero gains; CHAP is here to build those links.

• As one of the Agri-Tech Innovation Centres, CHAP is supported by a wider network of expertise and knowledge within agriculture, combining sector insight and opportunity.

• Breaking down silos to enable the integration of minds, technologies and systems, is a role CHAP is here to play.

chap-solutions.co.uk

JCropTec Show 2023 is supported by sponsors UPL, Anglian Water, Horsch, Yara and Agri-EPI, and partner UKRI.

Farming businesses need to get to grips with developments coming down the road

ANDREW WILLIAMS

Switching to reduced and minimal cultivations from conventional plough-based systems has produced a range of commercial and environmental benefits, a major five-year farm trial has shown. Jonathan Wheeler reports.

Study highlights improvement in farm resilience

The initial five-year Conservation Agriculture and Sustainable Farming Project trial was completed on the Game and Wildlife Conservations Trust’s estate at Loddington, Leicestershire, and on Andy Barr’s farm at Lenham, Kent.

Covering three crop establishment systems across a full five-year rotation on the two farms with their contrasting soil types, the project has captured more than 80,000 data points to evaluate the agronomic, economic and biodynamic implications of sustainable

reduced or direct drill establishment techniques, compared to full tillage.

And the trial has just been extended by a further four years to enable issues raised by the initial findings to be further investigated.

The two farms presented contrasting scenarios, says Belinda Bailey, Syngenta’s sustainable farming manager, who led the work.

Loddington is a heavy land farm, while soil types at Lenham are much lighter.

In addition to Syngenta and GWCT, the other partners are NIAB and the European

Conservation Agriculture Federation (ECAF).

On the trial fields, both farms used their conventional rotations and compared three working systems.

These were ploughing to 15cm-20cm; reduced cultivations to 10cm-15cm and minimal/zero cultivation followed by a direct drill. The reduced and minimal/zero tillage systems used cover crops where appropriate.

A wide range of commercial and environmental aspects were measured during the project.

Ms Bailey says: “We measured the time, fuel costs, productivity and profitability of each system; measured greenhouse gas emissions and did earthworm and bird counts across the three treatments.”

Parameters

“We also measured a wide range of soil health parameters, including organic matter levels, nutrients, soil structure, strength and biological activity.”

At Loddington, the planned rotation for 2018-2022 featured winter wheat, barley and oilseed rape, and spring beans.

But poor weather in 2020 and 2021 meant some fields intended for autumn sowing had to be left until the spring.

At Lenham, over four years

(2019-2022), the rotation was formed around winter wheat and oilseed rape, along with spring barley, beans and peas.

The project produced a range of notable results and observations.

The first being that crop yields across the three systems at Lenham remained exactly the same.

At Loddington, yields under non-inversion and minimal/ zero tillage fell by around 7%, although the two heavily disrupted autumns and reversion to spring sowing might have contributed to this.

On both farms the alternative production systems still out-performed the conventional model.

At Loddington, despite reduced yields, the conventional system produced an average 41% net profit over the five years of the trial.

The reduced tillage model raised that to 42.3%, while the minimal/zero till option raised that still further, to 49.2%.

Belinda Bailey, Sygenta’s sustainable farming manager.

One key difference between the models was their operational costs, which accounted for 24.8% of costs in the conventional model; 24.4% in reduced but only 19.4% in minimal/zero tillage.

At Lenham, profitability rose from 52.8% to 56.2% and 60.5% respectively. Again, reduced operational costs (18.9%; 17.5% and 14.3%) accounted for much of that saving.

Margins

Both new systems produced better margins than the conventional systems, with Loddington seeing gross margins rise by 1% and net profits by 14%, while at Lenham the respective figures were 9% and 16%.

Among the key differences was the use of diesel, which was cut by 44% at Loddington and 45% at Lenham.

At the same time, both estates reported major improvements in work-rate - by 50% at Loddington and 52% at

Lenham. Moving away from conventional cultivations would also have reduced the amount of capital involved, the study suggests.

The research team calculates that going from conventional to non-inversion tillage would cut it by £50/hectare, while moving from conventional to minimum/zero tillage would achieve a £65/ha reduction.

“In effect they cut one tractor from the conventional model’s fleet to replicate the minimal tillage option and dropped a tractor and cultivator to work out the figures for minimal/zero tillage,” Ms Bailey adds.

In addition to the business advantages, the work examined effects on soil health and the wider environment, where some significant improvements are emerging.

Increases in earthworm numbers of 112% were recorded at Lenham, and by 13% at Loddington.

“Consistently, the largest earthworm populations were

found in the non-inversion tillage, with those in the minimal/zero tillage being slightly lower.

“There was a big rise in the populations of sub-surface (endogeic) worms where crop residues had been incorporated,” says Ms Bailey.

Several other factors were improved across both sites, including bird counts, greenhouse gas emissions and the carbon footprint of crops produced.

At both sites greenhouse gas emissions were measured using a Gazmet gas analyser more normally used to measure gas emissions from things like landfill sites.

This showed  a fall of 5t/ha (8%) at Loddington, while at Lenham they fell by 3t/ha (5%). The carbon footprints of each farm fell by 4% and 9% respectively:

Ms Bailey says: “Nitrous oxide levels were slightly higher at Loddington, which is what you might expect from heavier, clay-based soils.

Unfounded

“But the fear that reduced tillage and direct drilling might lead to more compacted soils and higher emissions of this gas298 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide - were unfounded.

“We didn’t see this in our results and our soil structure (VESS) and penetrometer results show we cannot see more compacted soils in these systems.”

Having completed the initial five/four-year term, the project team will move on to further examine some of the main themes from the initial project, while also adding new elements. That will include looking at nitrogen use efficiency (NUE), with new project partner Yara; the use of biostimulants; organic manures; carbon sequestration and the impact

of regenerative techniques as well.

The project has already overcome some significant challenges, says Ms Bailey.

“There were some reservations about trying these techniques at Loddington on heavy land which already faced challenges, including from black-grass.

“But we have achieved some positive results and improved profitability. And we have seen improvements in soil health, and that is in a five-year trial, which in terms of soil health is a relatively short time.

“These are areas which we want to continue to monitor to see if we can record greater changes over a longer time period.”

She is also keen to further examine how the techniques being examined can help improve the industry’s carbon footprint.

Another future adaptation could include substituting the reduced option with a second, different minimal/zero till option.

“We could expand the trial, which would allow us to examine which inputs are really contributing best and delivering results, and how those inputs react together in the field.

“And we might also not run the trial along rigid lines. Instead, we could make the management more flexible and adaptable so we reflect normal farm practices,” Ms Bailey concludes.

The project compared ploughing; reduced cultivation and minimal/ zero cultivation followed by a direct drill.

Earthworm numbers rose by 112% at Lenham and 13% at Loddington.

ARABLE FARMER OF THE YEAR

Our Arable Farmer of the Year finalists are striving to increase e iciencies, exploring new ideas to safeguard their businesses, harnessing their environments and nurturing their soils.

pasture, with a view to grazing the cover crops in future.

Working in a ‘partnership with nature’, the farm grows a wide rotation, including milling wheat, feed and biscuit wheat, oilseed rape, milling oats, marrowfat peas, vining peas and beans.

Forage barley and maize are produced for an anaerobic digestion plant located next door and, currently, 5.5 per cent of the farm is dedicated to wildlife, which will rise to nearly 8 per cent on renewal of their Countryside Stewardship scheme.

Twenty-five years ago, the family was invited to contract farm a neighbouring unit of lighter soil type and, six years ago, Colin tendered and won the right to become a tenant on a further 120ha of high-potential land, bringing their total farmed area to 645ha, with 325ha being original owned land.

The farm used to include a large suckler herd, however, lack of free time and a challenging work-life balance meant Colin disbanded the herd and, currently, a young shepherdess keeps her flock on the 32ha of permanent

Colin focuses on gaining a deeper understanding of soil biology, which he says led to the most rapid changes on-farm.

He says: “This is sometimes at a financial cost. On our heaviest field, we went ‘cold turkey’ overnight and direct drilled.

“This led to a halving of yields for the next two years, in comparison to the three fields directly surrounding it, which then led to cover cropping and ‘apologies’ to the soil in the form of a liquid cocktail of fish hydrolysate, molasses and potassium humate, but also the knowledge that in those first few years a little bit of soil movement helps.

“This taught us the value of soil health and thus started a new chapter of progressive agriculture into minimal soil movement and cover and catch cropping.”

The farm also welcomes 400 disadvantaged school children each year for education visits.

Colin says: “We educate them about where their food comes from in the hope that society in the future will value this basic need.”

XFarming 3,500 hectares in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, Ed Horton runs a hybrid system based on amalgamating ideas from the organic sector and traditional farming methods to create a low-input yet high gross margin system.

Cover crops and direct drilling are utilised as a way of improving soil structure and organic matter levels to reduce erosion and nitrate leaching. A cover crop is included within the rotation any time a field is not growing a cash crop.

Cover crops are terminated by sheep rather than chemicals, allowing Ed to add value to the crop by grazing and aiding a larger flock of sheep on-farm.

Further to integrating livestock into cover crops, Ed also uses sheep grazing as a disease control and growth regulator in cereal crops.

He says: “Every winter-sown cereal crop, including wheat, barley, oats, spelt, rye and triticale, gets grazed hard by mobs of lambs in early spring to remove latent leaf infections.

“As well as removing the need for fungicides, this also acts as a growth regulator, causing plants to root deeper and tiller more prolifically.”

The rotation has been widened to

include 18 different combinable crops to enable the risk to be spread and allow different options to culturally control weeds before planting.

Ed says: “We can change rotations to manage weeds rather than relying on crop chemistry with a limited range of crops. The range of cropping also opens up several new markets to us, allowing us to deal with individuals rather than grain buyers from a middleman.”

As well as using livestock to manage disease and regulate growth, 65 per cent of the farm’s nitrogen and 100 per cent of its phosphorus and potassium requirements are derived from organic manure sourced from two neighbouring dairy units, farmyard manure from the beef herd and slurry from tenanted pig finishing units.

Biodiversity is central to the farm, including a large Mid Tier Countryside Stewardship scheme wrapping around the farming estate, aiming to push for biodiversity net gain.

After 10 years of Higher Tier Stewardship, the farm is seeing real results in the number of farmland birds, such as bullfinches, golden plovers, lapwing, English partridges, as well as insect diversity and improved water quality.

XOn the banks of the River Ancholme in north Lincolnshire, Colin Chappell and his family farm 645 hectares of arable land, adopting a conservation and regenerative farming system.

COLIN CHAPPELL CHAPPELL FARMS, LINCOLNSHIRE

ED HORTON S.S. HORTON AND SONS, GLOUCESTERSHIRE

Category sponsored by

X No synthetic insecticides have been used at the privately owned, 4,000-hectare north west Norfolk estate, Ken Hill farms, for 14 years.

Liquid fertiliser use has also been eliminated and granular fertiliser use has gone from 250 tonnes to just 25t, with the aim of being fertiliser-free by 2025.

Since arriving five years ago at a traditionally managed Norfolk estate, farm manager Nick Padwick has introduced a rewilding project, which extends to 400ha, including 200ha of woodland and 200ha of ex-arable land, which is currently being managed by pigs, ponies and cattle.

Nick says: “A large expanse of fresh water, marsh and arable land is coming to the end of its first Higher Tier fiveyear Countryside Stewardship scheme, which embraces all options that encourage biodiversity above and below the ground.”

After years of heavy machinery use, including ploughs and power harrows, Nick changed the system to no-till, with no seed treatments or fungicides, while focusing on soil biology and testing.

The collected data allows Nick to make informed decisions on which crops to plant and when, and how to enrich the soil without the use of common inputs.

Yield is no longer the focus of the system. Instead, he is concentrating on the sustainability of the soil and the land’s ability to produce crops for future generations.

He says: “The amount of soil life is crucial. The key is understanding what is present in the soil and what the crop needs or is missing, then through a process which may take many years, putting it back to help the soil regenerate and sustain crops with minimal intervention.”

XBradford Farming consists of more than 4,800 hectares, including arable, sheep, wildflowers, residential and commercial property, leisure enterprises, industrial portfolios and rural opportunities.

Farm manager Oliver Scott says: “Through a long-term vision, we are driven by the principle of looking after tomorrow and are committed to responsible and sustainable practices in everything we do.

“Guided by our heart and dedication to the future, regenerative farming was the obvious option for us and we have embraced the challenge of transforming from a traditional, short arable rotation, relying heavily on inputs and tillage, to a more sustainable, regenerative system.”

Bradford Farming has adopted this system by utilising direct drilling and minimum tillage cultivations, incorporating cover cropping and working closely with agroecologists to sap test, reduce artificial fertiliser application and minimise the use of pesticides and sprays.

Oliver says: “We have begun polycropping by growing blended cereal varieties and ascertaining a better understanding of soil and plant nutrients to grow stronger,

more resilient plants which require less spray input.”

The current rotation stretches to nine years to maximise soil nutrition and preserve key elements. The rotation also includes salads, poppies and potatoes, which are grown by local producers.

The opportunity to grow a variety of crops for different markets helps to spread risk and improve land quality.

Utilising resources and skills, Oliver has diversified the farm to growing wildflowers. This allows smaller, less productive areas of land to be harnessed and maintained.

In 2022, Oliver introduced a flock of Romney sheep by entering into a sharefarm agreement with a neighbouring shepherd. The roaming flock grazes cover crops and cereals, which benefits the crops by reducing disease pressure and adding nutrients back to the soil.

He says: “By transitioning to regenerative agriculture, we had to be open and vulnerable. We were aware of the potential of reduced yields, however, we were delighted to maintain wheat yields of 8.5 tonnes/ha following our first harvest.

“This transition has been onerous, full of uncertainty and at times terrifying, but looking back on what we have achieved so far, I am overwhelmed with pride and excited about the future.”

NICK PADWICK KEN HILL FARMS AND ESTATE, NORFOLK

OLIVER SCOTT BRADFORD FARMING LLP, SHROPSHIRE

A mainly AHDB-funded project* hopes to offer growers and agronomists better strategies to manage disease resistance to fungicides. Andrew Blake reports.

How modelling can help in the fight against fungicide resistance

The development of resistance to two or more fungicide modes of action (MoA), for example to SDHIs and azoles in septoria, known as ‘concurrent evolution of resistance’, is challenging, reflects Isabel Corkley a PhD student at Rothamsted Research.

“It introduces trade-offs between widely used management strategies such as restrictions on the maximum number of treatments per crop with a MoA, and alternating or mixing two or more MoAs,” she says. “There’s limited experimental evidence to guide how we should balance these trade-offs.

“I’m using modelling to explore them, for example investigating how splitting the total dose applied

to a crop over two or more treatments, to enable the use of mixtures, affects selection for resistance to an at-risk fungicide, and whether the effect of dose-splitting depends on certain fungicide characteristics such as efficacy and activity levels.

“The aim is to show how best to combine two single-site MoAs

Effects of fungicides on pathogen lifecycle

when there is concurrent evolution of resistance.”

Ms Corkley is using computer models of septoria, representing the effect of fungicides on the pathogen’s life cycle and epidemic growth rates (see chart), to run ‘what-if’ scenarios, testing many possible strategies.

“The results show that the size of the increase in selection for resistance due to dose-splitting could be quite variable because the outcome will be affected by environmental factors as well as the characteristics of the fungicidal MoA.

“However, it’s clear that on average dose-splitting will increase selection for resistance. The variability predicted by the model tallies with what we found in dose-splitting field experiments (AHDB project 21120058) so we need to be cautious before drawing conclusions. Further modelling will add evidence about how the variability in the effect of dose-splitting interacts with the benefits of mixtures and alternation.”

Neil Paveley, technical director at ADAS, believes the modelling

results support practical conclusions from many field experiments.

“IPM to reduce the need for fungicide treatment is the basis for resistance management, because the total dose applied in a season is a key driver of resistance selection,” says Dr Paveley.

“The choice between using mixtures or alternation can be determined mainly by efficacy and practical considerations.

“Limiting total dose to manage resistance can be achieved by limiting the number of treatments or the total dose, and by giving farmers flexibility in how that total dose is split - within any limits on number of treatments on the product label.

“That flexibility in how a total dose is used, as part of an effective mixture strategy, is unlikely to encourage resistance, but it should be limited and justified by clear efficacy or economic benefits.”

Project details

*AHDB project: 21120062

Managing concurrent evolution of resistance to fungicides (PhD)

rSept 2018-Sept 2024

rFunding: £70,500 (AHDB £63,960 + plus a contribution (to be agreed) from the Chadacre Trust. Rothamsted Research receives strategic funding from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council of the United Kingdom

Source: Rothamsted Research

It’s clear that dose splitting will increase selection for resistance

ISABEL CORKLEY

Key model findings

rOverall, the at-risk fungicide’s efficacy level has the greatest effect on selection pressure for resistant strains initially present at low frequencies in the population. The more effective the fungicide the faster the selection for the resistant strain. This is true whether the total dose is applied in full in a single application or split across two

rApplying a lower total dose of the at-risk fungicide reduces selection for the resistant strain – this is a good resistance management strategy provided that sufficient disease control can be maintained

rThe effect of dose-splitting varies depending on how long the fungicide’s activity lasts

rSplitting the dose across multiple applications rather than making a single treatment increases selection for resistance by up to 40%

rThe effect of dose-splitting is less if the period of fungicidal activity is either very short or very long. Most commercially available fungicides have a medium activity length, in the range where the model predicts the greatest increase in selection for resistance as a result of dose-splitting

rEnvironmental factors affecting the half-life of the fungicide concentration on the plant (and therefore the duration of fungicidal activity) will contribute to variability in the dose-splitting effect

rThe results are consistent with evidence from field experiments and show that a high level of variability can be expected when trying to measure the dose-splitting effect in the field

rMinimising the number of applications as far as possible should still be recommended as a resistance management strategy, but choosing a programme that minimises the total dose of the at-risk fungicide (while maintaining an acceptable level of disease control) is likely to be at least as important

rIntegrated Pest Management measures to limit and delay the epidemic as much as possible are important because they reduce reliance on fungicides and contribute to fungicide resistance management. For septoria this includes using varieties with a high Recommended List resistance rating and delaying sowing until later in the autumn to reduce disease pressure

JThe past season has been a reminder of how disease pressure can change rapidly, says Steven Kildea, senior research officer in Teagasc’s Crop Science Department in Ireland.

“We had exceptionally high levels of septoria developing in winter wheat crops in midsummer from what we might have regarded as an initially low base,” says Dr Kildea.

“We rely heavily upon fungicides to provide the protection we need and knowing that they will work when we apply them is critical.

“Key fungicides have been losing their efficacy over two decades because of increasing resistance. Because of this we now apply them mostly as mixtures of different modes of action. However, resistance has continued to develop, although possibly slightly slower.

“With a limited number of fungicides currently available and with differing levels of efficacy and/or resistance to them already present in the septoria population, this research is critical.

“The fact the modelling is supported by real in-field data on resistance management means the work can have an immediate effect on what we do now.”

Modelling backed by field data ‘critical’

PhD student Isabel Corkley is using computer models of septoria to run ‘what-if’ scenarios testing many possible strategies.

Finding a way forward

More than a thousand people braved scorching temperatures to visit the Agroforestry Show in Wiltshire.

Ash Ellwood and Teresa Rush report.

Temperatures hovering around 30degC and strong sunshine provided a perfect illustration of the value of trees in the farmed landscape, with the mix of mature woodland and more recent planting on Eastbrook Farm providing welcome shade for visitors to what was claimed to be the UK’s first ever Agroforestry Show.

Organisers the Soil Association and the Woodland Trust hailed the event as a ‘win win’ for future farming, demonstrating that trees are key to ensuring food production, while tackling climate change and biodiversity loss.

Organic farmer and Soil Association chief executive Helen Browning hosted two days of workshops and talks at Eastbrook

Farm in Wiltshire, examining how agroforestry – combining trees with livestock or crops – can help both arable and pastoral farms to protect livestock, crops, soils, rivers, biodiversity, and climate.

Ms Browning, who has been running an agroforestry project for seven years, said: “The extraordinary number of people here have shown there’s a real thirst for knowledge on agroforestry from both the traditional forestry and farming sectors.

“Farming with trees is clearly going to be a huge part of our futures, and never has that been more evident than this week where we’ve experienced 30degC heat in September.

“If our farms are going to be resilient to face the future with happy and healthy animals and crops that grow well then trees are

Overcoming agroforestry barriers for tenant farmers

JAfter negotiating a rare 15-year Farm Business

Tenancy (FBT) with Cambridge County Council in 2007, first generation farmer Stephen Briggs converted 52 hectares of exhausted arable land into organic agroforestry land. Following discussions about the desired system, conditions were attached to the tenancy to ensure the farm would be easy to re-let to future farmers, Mr Briggs told a ‘Making agroforestry work for tenants’ session.

One of the conditions was around permanence, said Mr Briggs. “We had to sign a

document that said if we were to quit our tenancy, we have to remove the trees and turn it back to arable land.”

The landlord was also concerned about what impacts the trees would have on the tile drainage situated across the arable fields.

“The landlord wanted me to find out if planting trees was going to change the drainage infrastructure. I found some research that demonstrated that the system would not damage the drains and, years later, all the drains are still running fine. Our agroforestry land drains better than our non-

agroforestry land,” he said.

Another requirement outlined within the FBT was that the farm had to remain eligible for Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) support payments, which reduced the number of tree species Mr Briggs could plant as planting timber would have resulted in the land becoming non-agricultural.

“This meant when selecting species, we only had the choice of fruit, nuts, vines or nursery crops. Nut trees were a possibility, but they would have taken too long to get into production.”

In 2009, Mr Briggs planted

4,500 fruit trees across 52ha and over the years he has seen a 25% increase in arable productivity, 200% increase in bumblebees and hoverflies, 10% higher species richness and an eight species increase in endangered birds.

However, with his land becoming more multi-use through multiple projects, Mr Briggs believes it is becoming more difficult for tenant farmers to enter and stack different systems, with uncertain exit procedures and fears of tenancy dilapidation.

Tenant Farmer’s Association chief executive George Dunn

forward for agroforestry

Farming

going to be a big part of that, as well as being very useful for reaching our environmental goals.”

System changes

She went on to call for universally available help for farmers and highlighted the need to change rules so that tenant farmers, in particular, are not stuck in a system that does not allow land use changes.

“We have gone beyond a consensus that trees are a good thing, into the practical detail of how to do it. So, it is no longer about the ‘why’ or ‘whether’ but into the ‘how’ we do it - whether that’s knocking down the barriers such as tenure and policy, or into the specifics of how, together, we crack on with it successfully in a cost-effective way,” she said.

Woodland Trust chief executive Dr Darren Moorcroft hoped visitors had left the show ‘inspired and energised’ by an agroforestry future.

“The UK now needs to reach the tipping point to take us from a really powerful set of early adopters into a mainstream conversation,” he said.

“Our aim was to create a vibrant agroforestry movement that will continue long after the marquees have been taken down. It was encouraging that we had representatives from the UK Government and all three devolved administrations speaking, sharing their common beliefs that agroforestry should have a key role in future policy development.

“It is up to us all to help support this by sharing our practical experiences so that governments from across the UK develop policy frameworks that will adequately support the establishment and maintenance of a wide diversity of agroforestry systems.  This includes the frameworks to support new markets for both the services and products delivered via agroforestry.”

Continues over the page.

told the session there is no requirement for a change of law as in both the Agriculture Act 1986 and Agricultural Tenancies Act 1995, planting of trees is included within the definition of agriculture, giving confidence to tenants looking to adjust their systems.

However, he believed a change in contracts was required.

He said: “There is a laziness that the land agent will use the standard FBT agreement that has been in the drawer for the past 25 years.

“I also get frustrated when tenants are asked to produce business plans and applications

for wonderful things that they want to do, and then they get presented with a standard FBT agreement which seems to bury

everything that they have put into the business plan and why they were selected in the first place.”

A change in mindset was required to achieve a change in contracts, suggested Mr Dunn.

“This also relates to the fact that 85% of new FBTs are for five years, some of them are rolling on a year to year basis, but this does not give anyone the confidence to invest,” he said.

When tenants are nearing the end of their tenancies, Mr Dunn said many faced a ‘fear factor’ of dilapidation, which was particularly relevant to those

thinking of investing capital into agroforestry but being told trees need to be removed on exit.

“We need a better end of tenancy protocol. Looking from Stephen’s perspective it is madness that he is being required to remove the trees that he has put in to develop the system.

“We need to find a way forward so that the valuation professionals can reimagine the place and worth of trees, to ensure they have the right value of them in the farm landscape rather than viewing them as grounds for dilapidations,” said Mr Dunn.

with trees is going to be a huge part of our futures, says Agroforestry Show host farmer Helen Browning.

85% of new FBTs are for five years...this does not give anyone the confidence to invest

GEORGE DUNN

EVENT AGROFORESTRY SHOW

Creating agroforestry systems with production in mind

JA farmer-led session at the show gave visitors an opportunity to hear from farmers who had designed their own agroforestry systems.

South Yorkshire-based Hannah Fraser took over her family farm five years ago with the aim of converting an intensive arable system to an agroforestry-based cereal system, starting with the least productive field on the farm.

Ms Fraser said: “When designing the system we were conscious of the global crises, such as climate change, carbon, water quality, nature and biodiversity loss and the health crisis.

“We believe farms are well placed to address some or all of these problems.”

Keen to remain a full-time arable producer, Ms Fraser wanted to design a system that produced good quality, reliable, and sustainable grain for human consumption.

“Putting trees in was always to improve the environment where the grains are growing,” she said.

Productivity

One of the farm’s worst fields was chosen, with the aim being to improve the productivity of the 20-hectare field which had historically been intensively monocropped, with the result that soil quality was poor.

Ms Fraser adopted an ‘alley crop’ system which comprises six metre wide tree lanes separating 24m strips of cereal crops grown in rotation.

“This looked a good balance between having enough cropping land but still having enough trees in the system to see the benefits,” she said.

In autumn 2021, 12 months before planting the trees, a diverse mix of wildflowers and herbs was established, giving

time for these to fully establish and for the strips to be mown regularly to reduce any weed pressures.

When deciding on which tree species to plant, Ms Fraser wanted to keep the management requirement low and did not have vast amounts of capital to invest, so decided to spread the risk by choosing four tree species: hazel, sweet chestnut, sycamore and alder broad leaf species.

These four species have medium growth rates, with the hazels requiring coppicing every five years and the other three species every 10-15 years, she said.

Once the trees were selected, Ms Fraser planted all 3,500 at low cost by organising volunteer days for the local community, attracting 80 people across four days to help with the planting.

“We knew it was important to get the trees into the correct spacings so we did pay for someone to knock each of the stakes in the ground but at least we knew the stakes were in properly and we had a mark

of where the trees should be planted,” she said.

Mulch was placed around the trees to protect the plants from wet and dry weather and to give the roots space to establish as the surrounding wildflower strip grows aggressively.

“You can select different types of mulch, but we chose woodchip as it decomposes slowly, adds fungi to the soil and keeps moisture within the system,” said Ms Fraser.

The Woodland Trust helped the farm with upfront capital funding for the trees, guards, and seed mix planted under the trees.

“Without funding it would have cost £5.60 per tree but with the funding it cost £2.50 per tree, so I feel like we have done a cost-effective scheme.”

The first harvest is planned for five years’ time and the harvested wood will either be used on-farm as a soil amendment or to create woodchips for further tree planting. After this first harvest, the plan is to harvest

two to three strips across the farm each year.

“We hope we have added benefits having the trees in the farming landscape without adding too much burden or huge cost risk to our farming business,” said Ms Fraser, who added that she was looking forward to analysing additional benefits to the cereal crops as the project progresses.

“We are excited about benefits that we cannot put a figure on, like how it is going to improve our soil health, crop health, crop vigour, and overall yields in the future,” she said.

ragroforestryshow.com

rThe Woodland Trust’s Agroforestry report: www. woodlandtrust.org.uk/ publications/2022/11/ farming-for-the-future

rWoodland and trees in the farmed landscape - final report available at soilassociation.org

Yorkshire farmer Hannah Fraser has adopted an ‘alley crop’ system, similar to the one pictured here at Eastbrook Farm, which comprises tree lanes separating 24m strips of cereal crops grown in rotation. At Eastbrook the paddocks are currently grazed rotationally by dairy youngstock, with the possibility of introducing arable crops in the future.

With more and more farms investigating the benefits of intercropping, ensuring that post-harvest handling equipment will help get the best value from the different crops is a key element of this cropping system. Jane Carley investigates.

Intercrop cleaning, a degree of separation

Intercropping — simultaneously growing more than one cash crop on a given piece of land — is gaining interest for its ability to produce greater yields than can be achieved with

a single crop. Other benefits include making better use of resources, natural suppression of crop threats such as pests and diseases and, where legumes are one of the crops,

A sieve cleaner is one of the most cost effective separator options.

TECHNICAL GRAIN HANDLING

improving nitrogen efficiency.

Many growers are adapting existing machinery and equipment to meet the needs of intercropping, and this is also true of post-harvest processes. While some end uses, such as increasing the protein content of wheat destined for feed by intercropping with beans,

facilitate the use of a mixed crop, for other markets it is necessary to separate the crops.

McArthur Agriculture specialises in grain drying, handling and storage equipment, and sales and technical director Scott McArthur says the company has received many enquiries for systems to process

intercrops in recent years.

He says: “They are generally small acreages of intercrops and may be many different combinations as farmers trial the practice.

“How each fraction is handled can have an impact on whether it meets the required grade for the intended market.”

Mr McArthur suggests that any mix can be separated, but it needs to be done in a cost-efficient manner that fits in with the farm’s grain handling system and gets the best-quality end product.

“The simplest solution is to use a sieve cleaner which separates the crop based on size, while an indent cleaner works based on shape, a gravity table on density and a colour separator on colour, with costs increasing accordingly.

“If you can get the separation you need with a sieve cleaner, this will be the most cost-effective, and it is also the least complex and easiest to source.”

He points out that most farms had a sieve cleaner in their armoury through the 1970s and 1980s, before developments in combine technology meant

that light waste could be blown off grain during harvest. The choice of systems also depends on the market and specification, he adds.

“Consider whether you are cleaning small quantities of high value product or larger quantities, but with less added value.”

Sieve cleaners such as JK Machinery’s VibroMAX can clean large quantities of grain - up to 200 tonnes/hour pre-clean and 45t/hr fine clean - while the smaller VibroCompact can clean up to 16t/hr.

Start small Farmers may be reluctant to invest in expensive machinery while trialling intercrops, Mr McArthur accepts, but he suggests that there are opportunities for a dedicated set-up which can be mounted on a trailer to be moved between sites and shared between a number of farmers.

Farms can also ‘start small’ and move the cleaning operation to a higher capacity system or another building as the scale increases. Looking at the crop combination and

How products and impurities are separated in a sieve cleaner.

A mobile unit shared between several farms is one solution to the challenge of separating different products from an intercrop.

how easy it is to separate is a good start, he advises.

“There is a balance between the cost of the equipment and the value uplift.

“Beans and oats have a large size difference and are easy to separate on a sieve cleaner, producing excellent samples.

“Oats can make the milling specification and you have two premium products from using a simple sieve.

“Peas and oats are more tricky. It might be a clean sample of peas, but any split peas will fall through the same size sieve as the oats.

“There is always the option to use an indent cylinder after the sieve to reach a milling spec or to simply use the oat/pea mix as livestock feed.”

Trials

It can be tricky to know exactly which sieve will suit without trying it, so McArthur Agriculture has set up a trials system where farmers can test their samples to find the right sieve without incurring unnecessary costs.

Harvest or growing conditions can also be a factor, Mr McArthur adds.

“In a wet harvest when there is a lot of trash, it can be hard to get purity of product, and you will need to make some adjustments.

“Similarly, a long drought at flowering can lead to more split peas so you may need to reconsider your approach.”

To find a commercially viable solution, growers need to look for a modular design and a high degree of adjustability, plus a high aspirator specification, he says.

“If you will be growing more intercrops in future, you also need to have this in mind to ensure that your system is adaptable.”

Cambridgeshire farmer David White has been growing intercrops for several years using

1950s cleaning equipment, but is now looking to form a co-operative group of growers to purchase and run cleaning equipment from McArthur Agriculture.

“I grow wheat/bean and oat/ bean intercrops for their different seed sizes and, when carefully harvested, it is possible to get a clean sample,” he says.

“We are hoping to form a cluster group of 20 farms to purchase better cleaning equipment which is eligible for grant funding for growing without nitrogen.”

Cleaning

Mr White is aiming for a good standard of cleaning using three sieve decks: the top (coarse) for beans, middle (medium) for cereals and the bottom for fines.

“The plan is for a system that can easily be moved on its mounting frame using a farm loader and transported on a trailer.

“Cleaning sessions would need managing to ensure that everyone does not want to use the equipment on the same day.”

However, he suggests that as intercropping gains momentum, farmers with 150 tonnes of intercrop will be able to justify purchasing their own system.

“You do have to think about

how it fits into your system — for a large farm or a cluster group operating a good grain store with a high level of automation, it is not too big a job to add a cleaner, whereas with my set-up, I would need to

feed it in with a trailer and use a loader bucket or bags to unload.”

Another benefit of a cluster group, he suggests, is the opportunity for knowledge exchange and support with this novel practice.

A typical small set up — the JK Machinery VibroMax cleaner with Skandia grain handling system.

As its name suggests, the Shelbourne Reynolds stripper header does exactly that – it strips grain from the plant, leaving the straw behind. And more than 30 years since this innovation first appeared on the market, it has yet to make a serious impression on UK cereal growers.

By reducing the volume of crop entering the combine, throughput and productivity could soar. But the concept appeared to create more challenges than the solution it provided, as growers were left head-scratching when it came to dealing with the standing straw left behind.

Fast forward 30 years and advances in drill developments, along with min-till and zero-till techniques, have eased the challenges of dealing with high volumes of trash and standing straw.

So much so, the Suffolk-based engineering firm reckons interest in its stripper header is on the rise again.

For Fred Hilsdon, of Harrowden Farms, near Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, the Shelbourne stripper header provides a flexible harvesting option. It sits alongside a conventional header, enabling both to be used on the farm’s Case IH Axial Flow 8240 combine.

Mr Hilsdon says: “I liked the idea of taking just the grain, and thought it was an ideal solution for harvesting seed crops which could not be desiccated.

Cost effective

“While it might seem a little excessive to have two headers, the cost of a conventional 35ft header and a 32ft stripper header was still less than the price of a MacDon draper for the 8240.

Stripper header offers throughput increase and savings on fuel

“Both headers have their advantages, depending on what we want to do with the straw and subsequent cultivations. The stripper header provides a cost effective way of increasing combine output, while also reducing fuel consumption. And if we are not chopping straw, we do benefit from a fuel saving of about 40%.”

Bought for the 2021 harvest through local dealer Russells, the XCV32 stripper header has completed three seasons for the Hilsdon family and faced an increasing workload this year,

as the farm made the most of its output potential.

Mr Hilsdon says: “We probably cut half our acreage with it this year.

“It has given us the ability to take the grains off long before the straw is ripe, which means harvesting can start about 10 days earlier than if we were to use the conventional header.”

And he believes the earlier harvest could have contributed to header losses being no different to a conventional header.

He says: “We have not yet had to harvest crops which are very ripe, which could make a difference with losses.”

The stripper header uses a rotor equipped with eight rows of keyhole-shaped steel stripping fingers. Like a grass pickup, the

rotor pushes upwards against the crop, enabling the fingers to strip the crop of its grains, with a series of deflectors making sure what is stripped is then collected by an auger and pushed to the combine’s feeder house.

Shelbourne Reynolds says it is a process which sees about 85% of the grain threshed by the header,

Taking only the grain and leaving the straw standing, Shelbourne Reynolds’ stripper header has much to offer those searching for more throughput from their combines. Geoff Ashcroft speaks to a Northamptonshire grower about its benefits to the business.

Fred Hilsdon

The XCV32 has boosted combine output by about 60% at Harrowden Farms.

MACHINERY COMBINES

reducing the volume of material going into the harvester.

According to Harrowden Farms’ combine operator Dave Groome, the biggest benefit is that of combine output.

Mr Groome says: “Forward speed is up from 5kph to 12kph, with throughput boosted by about 60%.

“My best day during last year’s exceptional conditions was 165 acres with the stripper header and 90 acres with the standard header.”

He does say, however, that there are downsides. Mr Groome says: “You cannot see what is being harvested.

“With the enclosed header on the ground, the top canopy produces a bow-wave of crop in front of it, which makes it difficult to gauge what is going on underneath.

“And there is no auto-levelling capability – it is a fairly basic design, which relies on speed to load the combine.”

Mr Hilsdon says that having a combine on tracks provides stability for the wider headers and, with trailers running on tramlines, compaction is managed.

He says: “Controlled traffic does not suit our system, but managed wheelings with the help of good wheel and tyre combinations at correct pressures limits compaction.”

At Harrowden Farms, winter wheat, spring oats, spring barley and spring beans are grown on 700 hectares of mostly Banburyseries heavy clay.

Mr Hilsdon says that wheat and beans are harvested with the conventional header, with straw being chopped and incorporated. The stripper header is currently used to harvest oats and spring barley.

Being FACTS- and BASISqualified, Mr Hilsdon carries out his own agronomy and has seen several benefits from leaving the standing straw behind.

Slug populations

He says: “We have seen a reduction in slug populations in crops following the stripper header, because there is no longer a mat of chaff and straw for them to flourish within.

“The standing straw also holds moisture because it is slowly dying off, but it also provides protection against winds which can easily bake our soils. A short stubble can see soil moisture disappear very quickly in a dry summer.

“We have also noticed an increase in English partridge and skylarks residing among the cover provided by stripped straw.”

The farm makes the most of cover cropping, which is drilled using an eight-metre Horsch

Sprinter with Dutch openers, into a seedbed which has been worked to a depth of 100-150mm using a Vaderstad TopDown equipped with Tilso Sabre tines to incorporate straw and residues.

A John Deere 750A, equipped with Pro Series openers, is used for everything else, including drilling wheat direct into standing straw, and all the spring crops following spraying of over-wintered cover crops.

Mr Hilsdon says the farm has seen an increase in tilth quality where straw has been left standing to naturally weather.

He says: “Soil between the rows

of straw is almost in a microclimate. There is protection for the next crop, and by direct drilling, we are moving very little soil but placing seed into a friable tilth. We now drill earlier in autumn and later in spring.”

Establishment

Making the most of stale seedbeds, with establishment backed up by a robust pre-emergence programme, the farm is keeping black-grass incidence at a manageable level. Drilling is always executed at a slight angle to the previous crop and 32m tramlines are kept in the same location year on year, picked up by the sprayer’s GPS.

He says: “We have a very flexible approach to harvest, cultivations and drilling. And there is even a five-furrow plough in the shed, which can be used on anything from 12-40ha each year, depending on soil type, soil condition and rotation.

“Next year, we will have a more powerful Case IH Axial Flow 9250 for the task, so the stripper should see service on three combines before we will need to replace it.

“The XCV model appeals to a world market where there is a healthy demand for used Shelbourne stripper headers, so its residual value should help ease our way into the next one.”

The stripper header’s rotor is equipped with eight rows of keyhole-shaped, steel stripping fingers which remove the grain and leave the straw behind.

Drilling into standing straw reduces soil movement and restricts weed growth, while preserving moisture.

The enclosed header makes it harder to see what is being harvested.

YOUR HARVEST GAME CHANGER

MF IDEAL | 476-647 HP

FAST-FORWARD YOUR HARVEST BUSINESS

EXCEPTIONAL COMFORT

Ultra-quiet Vision Cab with a fantastic panoramic view

NARROW MACHINE WIDTH: 3.3M

For increased ease of transportation

FASTEST UNLOADING RATE 210 L/SEC

17,100 litre grain tank empties in under 90 seconds

SCAN FOR MORE INFO

The new CLAAS EVION

EVION The new member of the CLAAS combine family. Convenient, flexible and dependable, the range 430 – 410 offers the very best in engineering and technology, ideal for the smaller scale family farm.

claas.co.uk

Taking steps to sec

MacDon headers on both,” he says.

“I believe that a draper header offers significantly better performance than an auger header, and the MacDon is the best solution for us, compared to the other options on the market.”

Tom Hawthorne (left) and operator Ben Hart.

Combines have certainly been put to the test this year. Jane Carley finds out if aftermarket header designs can help in a difficult season.

I

After four seasons with the

n a season where flat crops have largely been the norm rather than the exception, any technology which kept them flowing into the combine came in handy, and MacDon’s draper headers are very comfortable in such conditions,.MacDon FD1 Series FlexDraper header, Tom Hawthorne of Nottinghamshire-based Flawborough Farms ordered the latest FD2 Series for his new 790hp Claas Lexion 8900.

“We went up from one to two 8900s as we have increased the acreage, and I wanted to have

The 12.5-metre header has been specified with three reel sections to match the three-part table – Mr Hawthorne describes the header as ‘frowning’ when it is lifted off the ground. It is connected to the combine via a Flex-Float module, which is an adjustable sprung linkage, allowing it to follow ground contours closely. It works independently of the combine’s auto header height control but is integrated with it and supports up to 97% of the header’s weight, according to MacDon.

On the latest series, Flex-Float is complemented by castor wheels at each end and in the centre of the header, designed to allow the header to flex even more, which gives a consistent stubble height from 2cm to 45cm off the ground.

“You can alter the spring

NEW HOLLAND COMBINE HARVESTERS

Plan ahead choose a New Holland CR, CX -7 & 8 or CH and receive not only an outstanding combine but also superb customer service.

To Ensure the Timing of Your Harvest - Act Now!

pressure from the cab and put the header on the floor if needed to pick up laid crops, and there’s no need to fit lifters for the flat crops. It’s made a huge difference in wet and sticky conditions – on occasion this year, the difference between being able to go or not go,” Mr Hawthorne says.

“I believe that peas could not have been harvested without it this season. It used to be that the header would stop you – now it’s only the combine itself.”

Maintenance

Mr Hawthorne points out that in a difficult year getting the header low enough for flat crops always took its toll on the skids and knives, so headers were often worn out after a couple of seasons.

“But the MacDon is designed to sit on the ground, so you don’t get the wear and tear, maintenance costs are less, and it has a longer lifespan,” he says.

He adds that the wider range of crops grown by the business also means that more varied demands are

PICTURES: IRON HORSE MEDIA

placed on the combine, which the draper header design handles well.

“Barley and oats can be difficult to feed when damp – barley straw gets wrapped around the header, but the belt feed keeps them flowing into the feeder housing.

“And bean pods are low to the floor naturally, so we get considerably fewer losses as the

header picks them all up.”

The ability to work in a wider range of conditions gives an extra couple of hours combining a day, Mr Hawthorne suggests.

He estimates a coverage of 50 hectares per day per machine, although 80ha/day is possible in some crops.

Swapping between crops is

Flawborough Farms has upgraded the header on one of its Claas Lexion 8900 combines to the MacDon FD2 Flexdraper.

The header is designed to sit low to the ground and can pick up flat crops without risking wear and tear.

straightforward, adding side knives and dividers for oilseed rape and setting the stubble height and pressure for the new crop.

“The header is configured for the brand and model of combine that you plan to use it on, and we’ve found that the integration with the Claas is better on the new version.”

It is also slightly wider, at 12.5m, to fit in better with Flawborough Farms’ long-established controlled traffic farming pattern.

“The previous header is fine, but this gives more room for manoeuvre,” says Mr Hawthorne.

Flexibility

Where ruts or wheelings have to be negotiated in poor conditions, the header’s flexibility also helps. While much of the topography itself is level, contour following comes in handy on undulating areas, such as where headlands slope up to drainage ditches, or to ride over blocks of land with stony patches.

Other improvements include a

deeper belt for greater feeding capacity, which Mr Hawthorne says feeds better in OSR and tall crops. The switch from belt drive to hydraulic header drive helps operation in better conditions when the combine is working at higher forward speeds.

Less pressure

Moving from one combine to two has taken the pressure off in a busy season where 2,500ha has been harvested. Efficiency will be even more important next year when the area increases and crop focus shifts to spring barley and wheat.

The working area has also increased to a 16-mile radius of the base near Newark; four-wheel trailers from Shelbourne Reynolds and Cochet make light work of transporting the headers.

“However, much of the new land is in large blocks, which makes the logistics easier,” says Mr Hawthorne.

He acknowledges the FD2’s price premium of almost 50% over Claas’

own header, but points out the minimal parts cost. Local dealer Russells supports MacDon’s UK operation where spares are needed. After five years, the FD1 came in for a draper belt replacement; the most significant cost to date.

“Having two combines means that they will cover fewer acres each. I’ll probably upgrade the FD1 when the older Lexion 8900 goes,” he says.

“I’m confident there will be a good second-hand market for it.”

I believe that peas could not have been harvested without [the draper header] this season

TOM HAWTHORNE

Castor wheels at the rear further support the header and enable flotation.

A deeper draper belt provides increased feeding capacity.

Headers are available for several brands of combines.

Thoresby Farming favours build quality and simplicity over multiple layers of technology when it comes it spray application. Geoff Ashcroft finds out more.

Simplicity key for veg and arable spraying workload

Thoresby Farming’s workload is more veg-biased than cereals across the 2,200 hectares it farms within a 30-mile radius of its base at Perlethorpe, Nottinghamshire.

Most of that area is contract farmed, though 800ha are farmed within the 3,200ha Thoresby Estate. Alongside 130 head of Longhorn cattle and 1,000 sheep, cropping includes potatoes, carrots, onions, maize and sugar beet, while combinable cropping sees winter wheat,

winter beans and winter and spring barley grown on a 36-metre tramline system.

Output

It is a workload that demands the output of two self-propelled sprayers to ensure spray timings are optimal.

“With sprays and liquid fertilisers to apply, we just can’t cover the entire area successfully with one machine – even with a bowser,” says farms manager Will Baker.

“We need to operate a second sprayer, primarily to pick up the

Leading from the front

The AMAZONE FT front tank, you wouldn’t even know it was there

With the AMAZONE UF sprayer, its reputation goes before it. That well-proven formula of induction bowl performance, boom ride and nozzle control coupled with its exceptional build quality and reliability has made the UF what it is today.

When you are looking for increased work rates from a wraparound sprayer combination, there’s adding just extra capacity and then there’s adding AMAZONE convenience and comfort. All that connects the AMAZONE FT to the rear-mounted UF sprayer is just a cable and 2” feed and return pipes. After that technology takes over and you don’t even know a front tank is there.

Simplicity, performance, capacity, AMAZONE.

The perfectly balanced extended capacity Amazone UF Sprayer

A wide selection of nozzle choices is the best technology an operator can have, says operator Simon Reading.

MACHINERY SPRAY APPLICATION

pace with timings, when veg and cereal crops need treating at the same time.”

Having moved progressively over the years from Bateman at 24m up to Agrifac at 36m, the farm recently found itself looking for a suitable replacement. And with feedback from sprayer operator Simon Reading, it settled on a Dammann DT2800 as its machine of choice. After acquiring its first new Dammann sprayer in 2021, an older 6,500-hour 2013 model joined the newer black-liveried sprayer in 2022, although going down the lower-cost trailed sprayer route was considered, says Mr Baker.

“Roots and vegetables in beds dictate the importance of hydraulic track width adjustment, and because of that we stood to lose operational flexibility by choosing a trailed sprayer as our second machine. It was much more beneficial to opt for a used model, offering similar specification,” he says.

Adjustment

Both sprayers have 6,000-litre tanks and 36m booms, and both come equipped with hydraulic wheel track adjustment, both machines meeting the farm’s need for safe road travel at their widest setting, while being able to match up with raised beds at the flick of a switch.

“When there’s a lot to cover, we do have some impressive capacity when using both sprayers,” says

Mr Baker. “I also have a 15,000-litre demount bowser that can be attached to one of our 32ft flatbed potato box trailers, to cope with peak demand.”

However, sprayer operator Simon Reading is less concerned about how many hectares he can spray each day, but more concerned about delivering a high quality job.

“I measure my day by how happy I am when I go home, and not by how many acres I’ve covered,” he says.

“I won’t get swept along by the pressure of what’s in front of me, but focus on doing the job right, by making every application as good as the last.”

Mr Reading spends most of his

spray days treating Thoresby Farming’s vegetable crops. It is a workload which extends across 10 months each year, and sees Mr Reading spend 1,200-1,500 hours in the sprayer seat. Though it’s not always the same seat, as he occasionally cab-hops between the two Dammann self-propelled machines.

“The black machine is where I spend most of my time, but depending on what I’m applying and where, I will jump on the older machine when it’s not being used,” he says. “We do have low ground pressure and row crop wheels for both, and there are times when each sprayer sits on very different wheel and tyre equipment - and that can

influence which model I use.”

Sprayer specifications also differ slightly. The older model carries twin nozzles with auto-switching, across 12 boom sections, where the newer sprayer is equipped with Altek auto-switching quad nozzle bodies, in 18 sections.

“Nozzle switching provides highly effective turn compensation, which is very useful on wider booms,” Mr Reading says. “It also eliminates the need for complex and costly PWM. And both sprayers have a single nozzle end section to manage overlaps.”

He prefers the older model’s cab, though the newer machine’s extra performance and its Eco mode offer greater operational

Two 6,000-litre, 36m Dammann sprayers are used by Thoresby Farming to apply sprays and liquid fertilisers on 2,200 hectares of crops.

Thoresby Farming’s biobed uses a translucent roof to stop rainwater ingress, while acting as a heat source to encourage moisture loss and rapid material decomposition.

The Dammann boom uses a combination of aluminium outer sections with a steel inner section to manage inertia.

ANSWER A FEW SIMPLE QUESTIONS TO

ENTER ROUND

1:

1. What output in l/minute do you get from an 05 3D ninety nozzle operating at 3 bar pressure?

2. If your chemical store has a maximum capacity of 2,000 m3, what should the bunding, as a minimum, be able to hold?

A: +5% B: +10% C: +15% D: +20%

3. Who was the winner of FSOOTY in 2023?

A: Mark Jelley B: Matt Fuller C: Steve May D: Luke Haynes

POINTS FOR ENTERING

MACHINERY SPRAY APPLICATION

efficiency, with fuel consumption sitting around 130-140 litres/day.

“It’s useful to compare and contrast, though there’s not really that much to separate the two sprayers,” he says. “The newer sprayer’s touch-screen terminal is easier to use, though I prefer sitting in the older model’s cab.”

While the Dammann machines might appear basic at first glance, simplicity beats complex technology all day long, maintains Mr Reading.

“There is a manual override function always within easy reach

should the worst ever happen with control systems,” he says. “And it makes you question if, as an industry, we have gone too far with technology?

“Technology won’t replace the ability to understand what you’re doing and it certainly won’t help you do a better job. Nor will advanced technology provide you with any more spray days,” he says.

“As an operator, you learn to set your sprayer to suit a wide range of conditions, using knowledge and experience, to select the right nozzles and pressures for the applications you’re about to make.

“And don’t spray too fast – 12kph is more than enough forward speed. You have to give everything a chance to work properly and to do its job right first time.

“Most of what I spray is high-value veg crops, and we’ve never had an issue from a 50cm spray height with 50cm nozzle spacings,” he says. “Nozzle technology has come a long way in recent years, and changing them regularly is still the most cost effective way to deliver the best results.

“A wide selection of nozzle choices is the best technology you can have. Yes, I have GPS but its use is for boom section control rather than steering. You’ll get away with GPS steering in cereals because there is more tolerance with what you’re applying. It is

much less critical if you’re not 100% on target. But on beds, constant auto correction or a wheel dropping into a soft patch of soil can create all sorts of trouble.”

With a camera under the front right-hand of the cab, Mr Reading gets an in-cab view of the front wheels, helping accurate turn-in to the rows when coming off headlands.

“Some of the vegetable crops I work with are just intense, which demands more concentration and precision as an operator, and that single nozzle on the end section on the boom is essential,” he adds. “I would also like a foam marker, just as an aid to double check the technology.”

Stability

He reckons that Dammann’s combination of steel and aluminium in its boom construction is what contributes to stability for the twin-fold 36m boom.

“The first part of the boom is made of steel, which adds weight where it’s needed to provide stability,” he says. “The outer section is aluminium, which reduces weight and better resists inertia. I’ve never had a sprayer boom sit so well - fore and aft movement is almost invisible.”

When it comes to cleaning spray lines and nozzles, he prefers a high quality wash-out rather than constant rinsing with hundreds of litres of water.

“I can push air through the lines so that everything is empty before starting the wash-out process,” he says. “It gives you a good head start on the dilution of washings, and I always clean my filters during every wash – it’s an easy process that has become good practice.”

His filling area is a drive through, undercover sprayer shed, which he says would benefit from doors on both ends.

The sprayer sits on a bund during filling, which drains though an integral sump to a large capacity biobed, adjacent to the fill area. The biobed is covered with a translucent roof to prevent rainwater ingress, and the roof space also acts as a heat source to encourage moisture loss and rapid decomposition.

“We’ve recently moved away from liquid manganese in IBCs to a bagged product,” he says. “Bags are easier to handle if you need to transport small volumes to outlying blocks of land compared to decanting volumes of liquid, and a sealed bag doesn’t crystalise.”

He has also adopted a different approach with granular products too. “I use electronic scales to precisely measure quantities rather than use a jug or measuring cup – it’s a much more accurate way of getting a precise amount into the induction hopper,” he says. “It’s all about attention to detail,” he concludes.

“I measure my day by how happy I am when I go home, and not by how many acres I’ve covered,” says operator Simon Reading.

Altek quad bodies deliver operational flexibility with sprays and liquid fertiliser applications on the newer sprayer.

Direct injection systems could offer an efficient way of applying products to small areas and protecting sensitive crops or sites. Jane Carley looks at a recent development.

Small-scale protection with high precision

The ongoing threat of restrictions being imposed on the use of crop protection active ingredients means that it is more important than ever to use products wisely. Applications to parts of fields or even target-specific spraying could make a significant contribution to this, but mixing up full or part tanks to spray small areas is inefficient.

Direct injection at the nozzle allows the chemical to be carried separately on the sprayer and mixed with the water as required. Several systems have been on the market over the years, but now Amazone is making the most of

the latest technology to control the induction of plant protection products more precisely.

Amazone’s DirectInject is designed to offer a fast response time for the injection process, and to be completely integrated into the spray liquid circuit and operation of the sprayer.

It consists of an additional 50-litre tank with its own metering system, which is mounted on the sprayer. A mechanical agitator allows undiluted plant protection agents to be used, ensuring that they remain homogeneous.

Pre-mixed spray agent from the main tank, plus the plant protection agent from the DirectInject tank, are carried in separate feed

On the self-propelled Pantera models, the separate tank for the additional product is carried on the platform.

MACHINERY SPRAY APPLICATION

pipes on the boom, using a twin-line system. When the direct feed system is activated, the mixture is applied through the nozzle bodies and nozzles via several injection points in the boom. This also reduces the reaction time from the point of activation, says Amazone. Injection of plant protection agents can be started or stopped during application as required.

Amazone’s DUS pro high-pressure recirculation system enables the spray agent in the spray line to always circulate with the preset pressure, even when the nozzles are closed. Circulation is stopped when the direct feed system is activated, meaning that the spray agent from the spray agent tank is not mixed with the product from the DirectInject tank.

Unused quantities can be returned to the original container of the product after application, which means that the amount of plant protection agent needed does not have to be known before application. Similarly, there is no

need to deal with mixed residual amounts afterwards.

As the system is integrated with the Comfort-Pack control mechanism and the liquid circuit, it can be cleaned automatically and remotely from the tractor cab after application.

As standard, application is initiated at the touch of a button on the in-cab Amatron 4 control, giving a reaction distance of 30 to 50 metres from activation to application.

However, the additional agent can now be accurately metered in advance by using an application map and the GPS ScenarioControl add-on for the Amatron 4 controller, in combination with the AmaTron Twin App.

The route function from GPS ScenarioControl provides an

accurate forecast of which application areas will be passed through next, using the route stored in the scenario and recording of the area already treated. This provides optimum small-scale treatment with high precision.

Application map

Simon Brown, Amazone UK’s managing director, says: “It minimises the time taken for the product to reach the nozzle so that it is immediately available as the sprayer reaches the treatment zone.

“The application map could include information from drone scouting for example, such as the location of weed patches, allowing site-specific herbicide to be applied at the same time as a fungicide spray or, where higher biomass areas in the crop are

mapped, to selectively apply PGR.

“By integrating with mapping data, DirectInject can also be used with vision technology for spot spraying.”

Amazone has pioneered spot spraying on its machines with the 2019 development of AmaSelect individual nozzle control; an option for part-area, site-specific weed treatment based on spot application maps, which integrates with DirectInject via the AmaTron 4 terminal.

The ability to spray part fields could help ensure that chemicals are kept away from environmentally sensitive areas of the field such as watercourses, reducing the buffer zones needed. Individual fields can also be treated with separate products if required.

“By making spraying more

By making spraying more efficient, direct injection could reduce time spent in the field

SIMON BROWN

Application can be initiated at the touch of a button by the operator, using the AmaTron 4 control terminal.

Application can be controlled using a map, with GPS ScenarioControl pinpointing where the application is to be made. This minimises reaction time.

Amazone’s DirectInject offers an integrated system for spot treatment or applications to part-fields, such as selective application of herbicide.

efficient, direct injection could reduce time spent in the field –with good spraying days few and far between, this has management as well as environmental benefits,” says Mr Brown.

“Fewer passes mean less machine and labour costs.”

Versatility

Originally introduced for the Isobus UX 01 trailed sprayers, with AmaSwitch or AmaSelect single nozzle control and DUS pro high pressure recirculation system, DirectInject is now available for the Pantera 4504 and 7004 self-propelled machines, increasing

the versatility of a popular tool for contractors and large farms.

On trailed sprayers, the DirectInject tank is integrated into the storage compartment, offering protection and allowing safe filling. Self-propelled units house the tank on the platform, next to the main tank.

Indigro invited Amazone to present their DirectInject system at their annual NRoSO training events last winter.

Chloe Lockhart, an agronomist at Indigro, says: “There is potential for direct injection of plant protection agents to be useful in a number of applications, such as

Product is metered directly via separate spraylines to the valves.

spot treatment of specific areas in large fields. Where certain products in a tank mix need a larger buffer zone, they could simply be switched off at the

headland, which adds flexibility. It will be interesting to see the system in action.”

DirectInject adds £15,000 to the price of the sprayer.

MATTCulley

As I write this, harvest is over for most of us, and what a relief.

It’s been pretty fraught with few dry days together, and the repeated daily dilemma about what to prioritise.

I’ve had quite a few people tell me they’ve found the past few weeks pretty draining and much more so than last year.

As we have done for the past five years, the NFU Crops board has run a ‘Your Harvest’ campaign on social media to showcase both arable farming, and the link between crops and the food we eat to the public and policymakers.

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

It may be disputed, but this always seems more important for our sector, because the link between farm and consumer is so less direct than in others, and it’s important to try and correct this.

It promotes arable farmers’ positive contributions to food production, the farmed landscape and diverse habitats.

This year there has been a focus on reaching a younger audience via TikTok.

It can be a tricky one to get right, because it’s good to have videos which appeal to those who know very little about farming, and farmers.

There has certainly been plenty of interest and anything which gets people thinking about what’s going on in the fields around them is hopefully a good thing.

The end of harvest has also allowed a bit more time to ponder and reflect on some of the wider things going on in farming policy.

Frustration

Towards the top of that list has been the frustration around the SFI rollout which we’d all been assured would open for applications in August.

Those applications have now opened, but are likely to be staggered due to the need to manage things after IT glitches.

Against the backdrop of cost and cashflow pressures this becomes even more concerning as payments are delayed, although

accelerated payments are being mentioned.

It’s with this in mind that there are calls from the NFU and others, for a pause in BPS reductions.

One slightly strange development over the summer has been the news that, due to Home Office rules, we are going to need photo ID to buy some fertilisers after the start of October, and most importantly, those which contain ammonium nitrate (AN).

I’m sure none of us want fertiliser getting into the wrong hands, but this seems a strange requirement given the existing rules around FIAS and the reality of buying AN — it’s very different to most of the other things on the Home Office list, many of which you could walk into a shop and buy off a shelf.

It’s likely to be a pain for the trade to manage, and us all to ensure we provide ID when we order fertiliser, or certainly before it’s delivered.

We have tried to see if there is a way to avoid farmers having to do this if they are clearly a bona fide farm business or member of an assurance scheme which already audits fertiliser storage and use, but the rules are already in place.

As the weather starts to feel distinctly autumnal, thoughts turn to cultivation and this year I will be doing a bit of ploughing, but I’ll say more about that next month.

It is important to make the link between crops and the food we eat to the public

Kickstart from sugar beet seed treatment

Developed specifically for the UK, Germains Seed Technology's Xbeet enrich 300 sugar beet seed treatment has been shown to consistently deliver yield increases of 1.8%equivalent to 1.35 tonnes per hectare for a 75t/ha grower - in trials and on-farm in comparison with the current market standard.

Germains lead scientist Jordan Long says: “Xbeet enrich 300 seed treatment features an optimised primer that kickstarts germination, combined with a tailored nutrient package

designed to nurture seedling development. This equips crops with the essential resources right from the start, promoting robust and resilient growth.”

Accelerated

Growers using the seed treatment can expect to see accelerated crop establishment, increased plant populations, and enhanced yields from Xbeet enrich 300 compared to its predecessor, Xbeet enrich 200, it is claimed.

MORE ONLINE

For further information on Xbeet enrich 300, visit https://germains.com/ product/xbeet-enrich300/

AD maize variety joins new Descriptive List

JMaize variety LG31207 from Limagrain has been added to the British Society of Plant Breeders 2024 Forage Maize Descriptive Lists on the Very Favourable list.

This list is produced using data from specific trials sites where breeders choose to test later maturing varieties with the highest yield potential and suitable for growers seeking to maximise yields of feedstock for anaerobic digesters.

LG31207 has a dry matter yield of 18.7t DM/ha with good ME yield, good early vigour and good standing

power. The ME yield is an important factor for achieving high biogas yields, says Jeremy Widdowson, BSPB’s variety trials co-ordinator.

There are 11 varieties in total on the Very Favourable DL. These are varieties breeders have nominated as having potential suitability for AD use; however, growers are advised the list may not represent the full range of biogas varieties available for the market.

The BSPB 2024 Forage Maize Descriptive Lists is available to download from the BSPB and NIAB websites.

New testing partnership

JEurofins Agro Testing is now leading the soil, forage and plant pathology laboratory at SRUC (Scotland’s Rural College) and will work in partnership with SAC Consulting (part of SRUC) to strengthen and develop its agricultural testing service across the UK.

Eurofins took over the provision of the relevant lab services on September 1, and the coming months will see the two organisations working together to broaden the services available to farmers throughout the country.

Andrew Shead, managing director of all Eurofins Agricultural Testing Laboratories in the UK, says: “We are excited and committed to working with our new colleagues at SRUC to align all testing activities as soon as possible in order

to provide our customers with the experience of both organisations.

“This development forms the basis of a strong partnership between Eurofins and SRUC, combining SRUC’s great reputation in the Scottish market with Eurofins’ market-leading portfolio of tests. Together we want to contribute to viable, healthy and sustainable farming and growing.”

Vice-principal of commercial (SRUC) and head of SAC Consulting, Andrew Lacey, says:“Eurofins is an established global leader in testing, and this partnership will help to further the great work we are doing at SRUC. Demand for agricultural data and insight is increasing in Scotland, and having the Eurofins name and brand here will increase this further.”

Accelerated crop establishment and increased plant populations are among the benefits claimed for a new sugar beet seed treatment.

The latest Forage Maize Descriptive Lists include a new variety with potential suitability for AD use.

Online series to advance soil management knowledge

The topics available in BASIS’ new ‘Soil Series’ include: Soil assessment and soil management plans; soil biology; soil structure; and soil organic matter. Participants are entitled to two BASIS and two NRoSO CPD points for each course completed. Each course can be studied on a stand-alone basis or combined with others in the series.

Soil assessment and soil management plans is a particularly topical course as the recently published Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) puts an emphasis on the importance of working to improve soil health. The action SAM1 offers a payment of £5.80/hectare and £95 a year for each soil management plan produced, soil assessed and organic matter tested.

This BASIS Classroom course provides an overview

of soil assessment including the chemical, physical and biological attributes of soil and how they interact. Detailed guidance is then provided on assessing soils, including visual assessments and how to calculate erosion risk. All the main factors to consider when drawing up a soil management plan are covered via a step by step guide with a template, along with ways to monitor soils and assess progress against the management plan over time.

The soil biology course goes into greater depth on soil as a living medium comprising a wide range of organisms that can contribute to a healthy soil.

The course discusses the different organisms and their beneficial, or adverse, effect on the potential of the growing crop. Identification of organisms, such as fungi, protozoa and predatory mites, is included. Indicator species for

good or bad are described along with ways to encourage beneficial ones.

Cultivations

The soil structure course examines what a healthy soil should look like, including how to make physical inspections of different soils at different times of year and how to assess soil texture. There is guidance on how to improve aggregate stability. The role of cultivations is discussed, particularly in terms of remedying problems identified, but also the potential for harm at certain times of the year or particular field conditions. The module also describes how structure can be improved through ‘biological cultivations’ such as earthworm and bacterial activity.

The fourth course deals, in detail, with soil organic matter, which is so important to crop and livestock production. The

different types of organic matter are described, along with ways to assess and improve levels. Achieving improvements in soil organic matter will bring many benefits including reduced run-off, better moisture retention, improved soil biology and more.

Each course includes case studies to show how theory is being put into practice by farmers. There are also extensive links to further information such as the AHDB’s soil health scorecard.  BASIS Classroom online e-learning courses allow study at times that are convenient to the user, rather than a fixed time and place.

Full details of how to enrol in these Soil Series courses, as well as many other topics now available in the BASIS Classroom, can be found at basis-classroom.co.uk/courses. Each of the Soil Series courses costs £50+VAT (£45+VAT for BASIS members) and a discount is available when purchasing all four courses in the series.

BASIS’ new Soil Series courses provide learning on soil assessment, biology, structure and organic matter.

REGISTR ATION IS OPEN

OPEN THE GATE TO DIVERSIFIC ATION

E xpe r ie nce the p owe r of innovat ion, inspiration and industry exper tise at the UK’s premier event for farmers, landowners and agri-professionals.

Whether you are seek ing to expand your current rural business or explore Farm Business Innovation is the place to be.

WHY VISIT?

See more than 420 exhibitors across four shows

Diversify your income streams

Network with industry professionals

THIS EVENT RUNS ALONGSIDE: farmbusinessshow.co.uk

15-16 NOV 2023

NEC BIRMINGHAM N V 20

Explore cutting-edge solutions

Get expert industry insights

To register for your free ticket, scan the QR code or visit:

WELCOME TO OUR ARABLE HUB AT THE FUTURE FARMING EXPO!

We’re here to tackle the big problems

Scottish arable farmers face.

Worried about volatile weather?

Seasons changing?

Running low on resources?

Bugs bugging you?

Confused about new rules?

10.15am - 10.45am:

FROM TRIALS TO REALITY

Adam Christie, Managing Director, Scottish Agronomy

How to make the most out of new research on your farm

11.45am - 12.15pm:

NITROGEN USE EFFICIENCY: A METRIC FOR MEASUREMENT?

Clive Blacker

Precision Farming Specialist, AgAnalyst Ltd

Learn about how you can improve your understanding of your nitrogen use and how you can more profitably improve it

October 10-11

P&J LIVE ABERDEEN

1.30pm - 2pm:

IN CONVERSATION WITH:

NEIL WHITE, GREENKNOWE FARM

Neil White and Emma Penny

Conversation between Emma and Neil on how to profit from min tillage and lower emissions

3pm - 3.30pm:

TRACKING ARABLE MARKETS

Charlie Birnie Grainco

What is going to happen next and how to future-proof your business.