Farmer Focus: Better-than-average yields with 27% less N

Harvest 2022 is complete and never before have we managed to do it within the month of August.

Quite frankly, the weather has made harvest an enjoyable and relatively stress-free process, although it has brought different challenges.

Cutting wheat at 6am was a new experience. The morning slot was the best time for acceptable grain moisture, maintaining straw quality and lessening the fire risk.

See also: How Yorkshire grower reduced risk with regenerative system

About the author

Jack Hopkins

Arable Farmer Focus writer

Jack Hopkins is farm manager on a 730ha AHDB Monitor Farm in north Herefordshire on predominantly silty clay loam soils. Cropping includes wheat, barley, oilseed rape, spring oats and peas, plus grassland that supports a flock of 1,000 ewes and 25 pedigree Hereford cattle.

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Our wheat finished by yielding slightly higher than the farm’s long-term average at 8.8t/ha, which overall we are happy with considering the year, but it would be nice if it had done a bit better.

One of the positives that we have taken from it is that we have bettered the farm average but reduced the soil-applied nitrogen use by 27%.

However, from watching the yield meter on the combine I do think it would have been the year to put the nitrogen on – if it could be bought at the right money.

Any overlap or short run running into a headland tramline did cause the yield meter to jump significantly.

This theory was confirmed to us in some very basic tramline trials we carried out, with the high-input trial yielding 0.6t/ha more than this year’s farm standard.

After the hot dry spell, a heavy shower and a night of steady rain allowed us to progress with cover crop/forage crop planting.

These are up in row now and have been emerged for a fortnight longer than last year, which should mean more biomass.

The more favourable conditions also encouraged us to start planting OSR. A total of 80ha has been spread over a planting period of 10 days.

This will hopefully make the most of moisture we have had and some that we are forecast to get.

In addition, it will hopefully spread the risk of a cabbage stem flea beetle attack by having the crop at several different stages.

Harvest was completed with the winter beans and spring linseed. Our local contractor cut the linseed with their straw walker machine. To our amazement, it cut very well. I still think the secret is to not grow too much.