Farming Nick Green

Combines are on standby

IN the next month arable crops will morph from a luscious green into a swaying sea of golden yellow in the case of cereals and the delightful beige of oilseed rape. At that point you’ll see farmers tramping around fields taking grain from the plant and testing the moisture content by biting a few grains. If they think it’s dry enough, a sample will be officially moisture checked using a proper piece of kit and a decision made whether harvest should start or not. Just 9% moisture for oilseed rape and 15% moisture for cereals means magic day and the combine wheels start turning.

Gone are the days of the farmer sat on an uncomfortable combine seat surrounded by a swirl of dust. These days, the driver is cocooned in an air conditioned cab, computer at his finger tips for monitoring every process of harvesting whilst listening to his favourite music.

Fields can be gobbled up in no time and over 100 acres cut in a single day. Once the corn has been cut it is taken to the grain store more often than not via a weighbridge to establish the yield of a particular field or per acre. If it’s a good yield it will be talked about in the pub.

With NICK

GREEN If “average”, he probably “forgot to put it across the weighbridge” if asked what his yields were like. In all seriousness, it’s important to know what the yield of a crop is so the economics of growing it can be calculated. The input costs per acre need to be added together and divided by the yield per acre to work out how much the crop is worth either as feed or cash crop. The crops we see growing around us can be used for many purposes. Animal feed, biscuit and bread making and cooking oil to name but a few. One crop in particular has a very wide range of uses. As well as those already mentioned, barley is used to make beer, whisky, Horlicks, Ovaltine and even Maltesers. An area of barley about the size of two doormats produces enough for 265 37 gramme packs. Does this mean Maltesers qualify as one of our “five a day”?

Nick Green is Farms Director for Alvis Bros Ltd based at Lye Cross Farm. He is responsible for the farming and estate business and is passionate about British food and farming. As well as the business, he is involved with a number of local and national farming charities.

We are now stockists of ASPEN Fuels

l Ready mixed for 2 stroke engines l Burns cleaner than ordinary fuel l Virtually free from sulphur, benzene and solvents making it less harmful than regular petrol, therefore breathing much cleaner air when working with power tools l Better for engines, longer storage staying fresh for years therefore easier starting l Reduced toxic emissions so better for the environment