This also means break crops are fundamental. Fixed price contracts or fixed premiums are preferred - eg Hereward wheat for Warburtons, Bunting peas for Premier Foods.
Roughly 20% of wheat is Group 1 milling, justified by consistently meeting quality to produce highest gross margin. Pulses, where possible, are grown for human consumption or seed to add value.
3164t of sugar beet quota has partially replaced winter beans.

Labour

Conservation

Five-year Entry Level Scheme agreement began March 2006. 4m strips along side watercourses and hedgerow management achieved most points required. Wentzel Partnership is a member of LEAF.

Machinery

The tractors, sprayers and combine are all leased directly through Case New Holland finance either short term (three months) or long term (2-4 years). Velcourt owns the tillage machinery and the majority of the fixed equipment.

Vehicles:

• 1 x Honda CRV
• 1 x Nissan Navarra
• 1 x Escort Van

Tractors:

• 1 x Case Quadtrac stx 490 (490 hp)
• 1 x Case MX195 (193 hp)
• 1 x Case MX335 (330 hp) (Short term hire)
• 1 x Case MX125 with loader (125 hp)
• 1 x Case MX135 (135 hp) - short term
• 1 x Case MX110 (110 hp) - short term
• 1 x Houseman 3000L Air-Ride Sprayer (158 hp)
• 1 x Knight trailed 3800 L Sprayer

Combine:

• New Holland CR980 30' cut Varifeed header.

This represents 1.1 hp/ha. The rubber-tracked tractor is used for primary the majority of secondary cultivations and some of the drilling. The short term hired MX335 is used for the autumn drilling and some secondary cultivation. A 6m Vaderstad Rapid with system disc is used for drilling. Wheeled tractors are mainly used for loading, top dressing and haulage. A farm-modified Tim Howard 7-leg subsoiler with a Stocks seeder and a pneumatic tyre packer-roller is used for establishing OSR.

Grain storage - Wentzel Partnership

There is 5800t of grain storage spread over the three farms. All are bulk "on-floor" stores.
3800t at Vine Farm can be dried using CHC Gas burners and electric fans.
The rest is on concrete floors at New England and Manor Farm.

Author: Robert Harris

Cereals is the fixture for the progressive farmer. It is firmly established as the leading technical event for the arable sector in Europe, providing an ideal platform from which to network and to do business.

This year's event will be held on Wednesday 10 and Thursday 11 June and will feature over 64ha of stands, crop plots, and working demonstrations, together with the HSBC forum programme. There is also the Sprays & Sprayers arena and the Renewables area will form a dedicated "one stop shop" for everything related to renewable energy, biofuel and non-food crops.

Cereals 2009 looks set to build on last year's success, which achieved record exhibitor and visitor numbers – over 380 and 23,900 respectively. More than 80% of exhibitors have already re-booked and a further 11% plan to return – a real testament to the event's success.

Bookmark this page to stay abreast of all the news in the build up to the show.

News, pictures and video from Cereals 2008

Machinery at Cereals 2008