Archive Article: 2000/03/18
Precision…but is it precise?
BACK in 1996, the HGCA committed about £0.7m in levy cash to an ambitious project on precision farming. At the time, precision was the hot topic. Pinned up on farm office walls around the country were pretty yield maps, generated with GPS combine systems, but no-one had a clear idea of what to do with them. This project aimed to answer their questions.
Four years on, the mists have cleared a little. It seems obvious now – perhaps it didnt then – that what causes much of the variation in field performance is difference in soil type. A patch of clay is likely to yield far better than a drought-prone bit of sand in one corner, for example. Its simple common sense.
And it could be argued that variation due to other problems – such as grazing rabbits, poor drainage, fertiliser striping – is so obvious, that you dont need fancy and expensive gadgetry to tell you about it.
So how could precision farming be useful? Well, if you map the soil variation, fast and accurately, with a GPS system – equipment which can do this is now available – you have data which can then be plugged into your drill and spreader, to adjust inputs such as seed rate and nitrogen. That clay patch might be given more N, the sandy corner less. Of course, you need to work out exactly how seed rates and N should be varied – but practical experience of different soil types, together with existing R&D, should give some guidance.
Will the precision farming project give us more precise answers? With one year to go, we are not hopeful.
The preliminary "practical" guidelines, presented at the Precision Farming event (page 40/41), were little to show for four years and £700,000. Lets hope more useful guidance materialises in the final year.
Hedge row continues
MAFFS phones have been sizzling. Complaints about this seasons changes to the IACS field boundary rules – limiting the margin for claims to 2m – havent stopped. But even though minister Nick Brown agrees that the "two-metre rule" is a nonsense and will hurt the environment, it seems he doesnt have the power to have these altered.
Mr Brown has met with the EU farm commissioner Franz Fischler to put the UK case for protecting our wide hedgerows. But until a decision is made in Brussels, the regulations stand. And the deadline approaches – the new ruling applies from 15 May.
For growers to comply, they may have to remap fields and adjust claimed areas or cut down hedges. This issue must be addressed now. And if the EU doesnt see sense, then Mr Brown and the industry should take matters into their own hands…. This is one bit of Brussels baloney that cant be allowed to cross the Channel.
The Lo down
WEVE been inundated with enquiries about our Lo-Till initiative. Many thanks to all of you who have signed up and registered an interest. This issue we introduce a monthly diary from low till enthusiast and grower Jim Bullock (see page 35); hes promised to spill the beans, warts and all, on how crops are progressing on his Worcestershire farm under his no-plough regime.
Crops has organised a series of regional farmer meetings on Lo-Till this spring. A panel of hands-on experts – including a grower, machinery consultant and soil specialist, will be on hand to answer your questions. See page 41 for dates of the meetings; Jim will be coming to speak at the Cirencester venue. See you there.
Twisting the rules
THE big news this spring is the launch of the new strobilurin, trifloxystrobin. But the birth hasnt been an easy one. Pity the manufacturer, Novartis – this new product has suffered delay after delay in the PSD pipeline. Another few weeks of waiting and the company would have had to suffer the indignity – and loss of earnings – involved through missing the key spring spray market.
The problems didnt stop when the company heard its strob had been approved. Until the certificate is in its hands, the name or details on pricing cannot be officially released. This puts Crops in a quandary. The magazine had to go to print before the certificate arrived. So although the whole industry knows what the new strob is too be called, we cannot print the name without breaching an embargo. True, we can have a bit of fun with wordplay – we all like a twist in the tail – but is it really necessary, PSD?