is there any point in growing spring barley this year?

Not if it means signing up to a contract that will guarentee you a loss based on 5yr average yields.

Do the sums.Take a guess at what price your crop will acheive.There doesnt seem to be much point in my case.

if your using it on farm for feed then there could be if your growin for malting theres not, althought even for feed it could be cheaper to buy it in in the future but still its always best to have some incase it goes silly prices. depends what your other options are, if you have no muck on farm put soem mustard in to get some green back into the soil?

Problem is what else do you do? Cant just grow wheat and rape. Where's the fun in that?

Nothing is going to be silly prices next year.

Just a bit sad that all spring combinables are so uneconomical compared with the horror that is a wheat and rape rotation.

mustard sounds like financial suicide

if you go to the expense of cultivation and sowing, you must plant a harvestable crop, unless your pockets are very deep.

is spring linseed not a goer?

in the latest issue of farmers weekly i think theres an article on alternatives to spring barley, cant remember how linseed faired in the gross margin but i think beans and peas were the best at £300/ha+

sorry just checked its on page 13 of farmers guardian( am i allowed to say that on these forums? ) in the 23 jan edition. if u dont have i can scan in the article. linseed is lowest gross margin at £287/ha though although the article says its up 70% on ast year. ive no experience of it myself dont think weve ever gorwn it

For linseed you are looking at c£100/ac in seed, fert and spray costs (roughly £30 each for seed, fert and spray, plus a contingency). Add £100/ac for "rent". 2 fert passes, scratch & till establishment or DD into subsoiled land, 3 or 4 sprays and combine. Budget on 0.8t/ac. How you account for your SFP is up to you, either way the profit element is nearly lacking.

Spring beans really need ploughing for in my view, and drilling properly. But ironically, costs about the same on a 5yr average to grow as linseed. Budget for double the yield at half the price and a later harvest. Also poorer weed control with no simazine.

Peas technically best payer but highest risk of disaster. Also want better ground that beans or linseed. Peas will also increase your slugs.

All spring sown combinables are poor payers it would seem. Again, depends on your attitude to paying yourself a real rent, wear and tear or paid-for kit, contractors costs, and enjoyment for working for £20 an acre or so. I think it is getting marginal at £287/ha margin to grow any crop - better off with a winter bean / vetch / mustard green manure and getting the land fit for drilling wheat in September again.

TeslaCoils:

For linseed you are looking at c£100/ac in seed, fert and spray costs (roughly £30 each for seed, fert and spray, plus a contingency). Add £100/ac for "rent". 2 fert passes, scratch & till establishment or DD into subsoiled land, 3 or 4 sprays and combine. Budget on 0.8t/ac. How you account for your SFP is up to you, either way the profit element is nearly lacking.

Spring beans really need ploughing for in my view, and drilling properly. But ironically, costs about the same on a 5yr average to grow as linseed. Budget for double the yield at half the price and a later harvest. Also poorer weed control with no simazine.

Peas technically best payer but highest risk of disaster. Also want better ground that beans or linseed. Peas will also increase your slugs.

All spring sown combinables are poor payers it would seem. Again, depends on your attitude to paying yourself a real rent, wear and tear or paid-for kit, contractors costs, and enjoyment for working for £20 an acre or so. I think it is getting marginal at £287/ha margin to grow any crop - better off with a winter bean / vetch / mustard green manure and getting the land fit for drilling wheat in September again.

Trouble is,my rent (interest,insurance,accountancy etc) has to be paid whether I crop this spring or not.So the "rent" has to be paid on a crop of mustard or fallow.It also has to support drawings,which on many smaller farms are the biggest overhead.Fallowing land properly,whether or not you choose to green fallow,also costs money.I guess for many farmers the decision this spring is about picking the alternative which will result in the smallest loss to the business.I really hoped we'd got away from such circumstances for the rest of my farming career.The old philosophy of "the good times are long and golden,and the bad times are equally long and hard" is ringing a bit hollow with me these days.The golden time in my farming career to date lasted no more than a quarter of my rotation.

tc, how do you get to £100 rent?

if you discount the clowns who pay rent with no sfp, real rent is actually negative.

before 2008, rent in arable areas was minus 10 to 20 quid.

think we are back to that.

in any case, as connached said, the "rent" has to be paid whether you work or spend the year in bed.

surley seed cost can be slashed to £10, and forget dessication, so there, i have reduced costs by £35/acre.

use chicken muck to half fert bill also.

We did our Spring Seeds special back on 1 Jan (maybe you missed it due to excessive partying!). All the articles are online but for ease here are the links:

General overview:

http://www.fwi.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/24/119297/Autumn-plantings-cut-spring-crop-area.htm

Spring barley prospects (not good!): http://www.fwi.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/01/119329/Spring-Seeds-Difficult-season-for-spring-barley.htm

 

Spring barley (Scotland) http://www.fwi.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/01/119330/Spring-Seeds-Malting-contract-crucial.htm

 

Linseed: http://www.fwi.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/27/119321/Spring-Seeds-Canadian-error-puts-linseed-into-the-frame.htm

 

Pulses: http://www.fwi.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/28/119323/Spring-seeds-Demand-could-give-pulses-an-edge.htm

 

Canadian red wheat: http://www.fwi.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/02/119342/Spring-Seeds-Red-wheat-packs-a-profit-punch.htm

 

Each of the articles contains a gross margin calculator based on your expected yield and likely selling price (based on average input costs collated from four industry organisations).

Hope that might be of some use.

Regards

Mike

 

Mark's blog entry on long term barley contracts could be useful for this discussion:  http://www.syngenta-crop.co.uk/marks-blog-viewer.aspx?id=26    Obviously open up in a new window and don't navigate away from Farmers Weekly site!!

Edwina

Inapropriate post - text deleted

I guess i'm a bit late on the band waggon

I believe spring barley does have a place, as long as your mindfull of spending as has been posted. most barley nearby is grown for animal feed and plenty of straw.  I realise its not for everyone - those with high levels of difficult grassweeds(blackgrass) etc - because we only have one product to use to kill it. but those with low grass weed levels or none,  the the old chemistry - compitox/capture/ for BLW weed control can be cheap  around £5 - 8 /acre.  plus 1 fungicide, sometimes 2depending on season.  but not much more than £25/acre it could be £12 or less in a low preassure season.

So now we're close to £30/acre -  this is a very rough and cheap example but for small mixed farms who want straw and corn with out breaking the bank.  you could easily spend more or a touch less.  the big costs with inputs being bought, treated seed and plenty of nitrogen. 

 I Realise that malting barley has its premiums(as does straw)  so there is much more to loose - so its slightly easier to justify a much cleaner seed bed and more spend on fungicdes for yeild response/clean crop

 any thoughts ?

  

 Will you be sending review copies of your bread? If so, I will gladly partake in a pita.

I agree, have grown winter barley on my small mixed operation for years, blackgrass took over when we stopped using all the old chemistry - IPU Trifluralin, Crystal worked well but was tricky to get on at the right time.

Grew Spring barley last year, home saved and treated seed from a small bit the previous year, Roundup the stale seed bed, 100 units N, cheap fungicide, hormone weedkiller for the thistles kindly donated by neighbour, 3.3 tonnes per acre and 95 small bales, no slugs, no blackgrass plenty of feed for the pigs.

Am trying to do the same this year - bound to go pear shaped.

 

just sold 2011 crop  300 T for £ 215 per T

where are you dp? variety?

norfolk uk.  it was tipple

yield?

yeild was 2.5 T/AC . normal year yeild would be just over 3 t/ac

What was the nitrogen content? I'm guessing at sub 1.75% given your location.

I grow Quench spring barley here in chalky downland Dorset. 3t/ac this year with Ns of 1.68 - 1.85% & low screenings. Most is forward sold for £185 - 205/t ex farm.

My 2012 Propino is 40% sold at £180 - 190/t.

The GM doesn't look too bad at those prices & yields but some day the supply will excced the demand again & it won't be worth growing. At that point I will ditch it for linseed as its price can now be tied to OSR which it is going to be compared to as a true break crop.

Spring cropping is so very sensitive to weather.