Harvest 09: Depressing in Cornwall
Jon Bond still has two thirds of his cereals left to cut at Trerule Farm, Trerulefoot, Saltash, Cornwall.
“The weather has been really bad. It’s not as wet as last year but it’s just as depressing.”
The 140ha (350 acres) of winter wheat and oats were really starting to suffer, he said.
“Lots of it was late drilled, but it needs cutting now. The wheat is sprouting and I haven’t dared look at the oats – they are starting to go down.”
The winter barley yielded 6.2-6.8t/ha (2.5-2.75t/acre), while the spring barley, drilled into patchy winter barley averaged just over 4.9tha (2t/acre).
Oilseed rape, drilled in October, yielded surprisingly well, at 3.7t/ha (1.5t/acre).
Although Mr Bond had ploughed some fields ready for winter rape, they were now too wet to drill.
“With prices where they are now, we need things to be going well, not against us.
“The spring triticale has sprouted and gone as flat as a pancake. It’s not a pretty picture, and the longer it goes on the more the price seems to go down.”
Crop: Spring barley
Yield: >4.9t/ha (2t/acre)
Crop: Oilseed rape
Area: 22ha (55 acres)
Yield: 3.7t/ha (1.5t/acre)
Crop: Winter barley
Area: 20ha (50 acres)
Yield: 6.2-6.8t/ha (2.5-2.75t/acre)
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Duxford winter wheat is an HGCA Recommended List 2009/10 variety with very high UK treated yields and a maximum 9 rating for resistance to lodging with and without PGR. Combined with the highest second wheat yield and a balanced disease resistance profile, Duxford will continue to help UK growers meet the challenge of producing more grain profitably. Go to the Syngenta Seeds website |
