Archive Article: 2001/06/15
Peter Hogg
Peter Hogg farms in
partnership with his brother
at Causey Park Farm, near
Morpeth, Northumberland.
Half the 450ha (1100-acre)
heavyland farm is in crops,
mainly winter wheat, barley
and oilseed rape, plus a few
potatoes
TODAY I filled the sprayer. Or perhaps I should say todays job was to fill the sprayer.
You see, it was like this. Some late-sown wheat had only just reached the T1 spraying stage and had not received a single input. Maybe I could grow it as an organic crop? A quick look at the silly rules of the Soil Association ruled that out, so on went a hefty dollop of nitrogen while I got the sprayer out of the shed.
A crop inspection revealed grass weeds, broad-leaved weeds, diseases and manganese deficiency. Midges were also in abundance. Having acquired the necessary corrective chemicals, I set about doing a Local Environment Risk Assessment for each chemical, or rather pesticide, ie a LERAP.
By now, more than two hours had passed and I hadnt opened a can. But things got worse when I opened the boxes containing the chemicals and discovered they were all in 1ha (2.5 acre) containers, each requiring 30 seconds shaking before removing the cap and foil and pouring the contents into the sprayer – lets say a minutes operation for each.
A tank-full on our sprayer covers 20ha, so that was 20 minutes for the grassweed killer, and the same for the broad-leaved weed killer, growth regulator, fungicide, insecticide and manganese. Finally I added a wetter. A total of 120 cans, taking a further two hours.
After an EU law compulsory rest break, it was back to work. I rinsed each can out three times as instructed, a total of 360 operations, which took a further three hours.
Dark clouds were now appearing on the horizon and the wind seemed to be picking up. A quick call to the local weather station confirmed my fears – rain within a couple of hours. The sprayer is now full and sitting in the yard. And the forecast? Rain, wind, storms and floods.
If the chemicals had been in 10 or 20ha containers, the job would have been done before lunch. Would the pesticide stewardship committee please take note. *
Let me tell you a story. Today I was going to go spraying, says Peter Hogg from Causey Park Farm, near Morpeth, Northumberland.