How Beds grower optimises second and third wheat yields

A focus on appropriate cultivations, seed-bed nutrition and targeted use of seed treatments is helping farm manager Chris Papworth optimise yields of an increasing area of second and third wheat crops.

Like many growers in the area around Little Staughton, on the Beds/Cambs border, Chris has seen the risk associated with growing oilseed rape increase sharply over the past decade.

Pest challenges

Difficulty controlling pests like cabbage stem flea beetle (CSFB) has been the greatest challenge and the constant battle against slugs and pigeons was also a factor.

These pressures have seen average yields drop from 4t/ha to about 3t/ha over that period, leaving crop profitability on a knife edge and forcing the business to cease growing OSR in 2023.

Winter beans is the other break crop in Crown Farm’s rotation, but variable performance and poor profitability in unpredictable seasons has seen its share of the 650ha of combinable crops fall over recent seasons.

“We’re struggling to get a steady and sustainable income from our traditional break crops, so the decision was made to increase our winter wheat area.

“If you can grow milling wheats well and the market premiums are reasonable, the outcome at the end of the season is much more attractive to us as a business,” explains Chris.

Meticulous approach

This has resulted in more second and third wheat crops being grown, and these do require a meticulous approach to certain aspects of crop establishment and management, compared to the farm’s first wheats.

Overall cultivation policy has evolved with flexibility key in dealing with increasingly unpredictable cropping seasons on the farm’s mostly medium and heavy clay soils.

Ploughing is generally deployed ahead of spring malting barley, as the crop’s yield performance tends to be higher after full inversion, and it offers a chance to reset and bury any grassweed seeds.

Investment in a 6m Horsch Avatar has enabled the farm to direct drill into stubbles when conditions suit a disc drill but this is being swapped for a 12m version this year to increase capacity and take advantage of optimum autumn drilling windows.

There is also the option of a min-till approach, with a 6m Horsch Joker disc harrow to incorporate crop residue, stimulate a weed flush, and prepare a stale seedbed ahead of drilling.

Busting soil compaction

Avoiding any root-limiting compaction is important in any crop, but particularly second and third cereals, where it can exacerbate the effects of soil-borne root disease take-all.

Primary infection occurs in the autumn, with secondary spread in the spring having the potential to significantly damage roots and reduce plants’ ability to utilise water or nitrogen.

Chris says rotational mole ploughing – typically 1 in 5 years – helps improve drainage and soil structure, aiding root development.

In between, a 6m Grange Close Coupled Toolbar with low disturbance subsoiler legs helps take out any compaction ahead of the drill. Depth is dictated by soil profile inspections post-harvest, but legs are typically run at 8-10in depth.

Grange Toolbar © Certis Belchim

“Our approach is to only move as much soil as necessary and decisions are taken on a field by field, season by season basis,” he explains.

Variety choice

Variety choice is an important component of successful second or subsequent wheats and although Nabim Group 1 milling wheat Skyfall does have weaknesses, such as susceptibility to yellow rust, it performs well as a second or subsequent wheat.

Skyfall wheat © Certis Belchim

With blackgrass an issue at Crown Farm, the variety’s wide drilling window allows it to be drilled late to maximise the effectiveness of stale seedbeds in fields where seed return is high.

“It seems to cope with environmental extremes quite well and we’ve seen that this spring. It’s been very dry and when other varieties on the farm looked stressed, Skyfall looked strong throughout,” he notes.

Digestate use

With good early nutrition key for second and third wheat success, Chris has recently started applying digestate to stubbles ahead of drilling, incorporating with the Horsch Joker when conditions dictate.

Analysis of the digestate shows useful amounts of nitrogen, but more importantly plenty of fresh phosphate and potassium, which are essential in the development of healthy and resilient root systems.

“We’ve had second and third wheats yield almost as well as first wheats where it’s been applied. It speeds up establishment and keeps plants in much better condition through the winter and into the spring.

“If the weather delays first nitrogen applications, you’d usually see second and third wheats go backwards, but with some digestate that’s not the case,” says Chris.

With supply of the AD by-product limited and the proximity to housing of some fields preventing digestate use, it isn’t possible to treat the entire second and third wheat area.

This has led Chris to plan trials with some starter fertilisers for 2025-26 to see if some form of early nutrition can be used in all situations.

“You do lose some yield without that early boost, so hopefully we can find a solution that works just as well as the digestate,” he adds.

Take-all seed treatment

The final management tool that helps the farm maximise performance of second and third wheats is Latitude (silthiofam) seed treatment which controls soil-borne take-all: the most damaging disease threat to second and third wheats.

Chris is comfortable not using a seed treatment where digestate is used to promote rooting or there is no field history of the disease, but Latitude remains an important part of the programme elsewhere.

“It would be a brave decision not to use it, to insure against take-all infection, and we have not seen any issues in crops where it has been used in recent years,” he adds.

Treated seed © Certis Belchim

Online tool

Long-term trials by Latitude manufacturer Certis Belchim have shown a consistent benefit, with the average yield response in second wheats drilled into a moderate take-all risk being a healthy 0.55t/ha.

Its vast efficacy dataset has been used to create the online Cost Benefit Calculator tool, which allows growers to enter an expected grain value, seed rate, and Latitude treatment cost from their seed supplier.

It then provides an expected return on investment in £/ha from drilling Latitude treated winter wheat or winter barley seed.