FARMERFOCUS
FARMERFOCUS
Ian Crawford
Ian Crawford farms 570ha
(1425 acres) of rented
ground from Ashley Hall,
Altrincham, Cheshire,
growing crisping and
pre-pack potatoes, milling
wheat, oilseed rape and
beans. He also owns and
manages 2000ha (5000
acres) of mainly arable
land in Australia
RAIN is falling in Western Australia and everybody is smiling.
Last season was the driest in living memory out there, but this season has started well with gentle rain every few days. However, it is a long way to harvest so no getting our hopes up too soon.
Back in the UK I have never seen the farms in such a mess. Two of our driest potato fields have large lakes of water in the middle and we have had to plant crops around them, something we have never had to do before. If ever there is going to be a good year for potatoes then this should be it. All the factors – late season, reduced area, late planting – point to better potato prices across Europe. It is now or never, because we all need it.
We used liquid fertiliser on our potatoes for the first time and I am a little nervous having gone 100% down this route. Perhaps we should have been more cautious and done on-farm trials first. But I fell for the promise of better yields and the fact that magnesium, sulphur and even herbicide could be added at the same time. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, as they say.
We have a court summons from the British Potato Council for the delayed payment of the levy on the area we did not harvest last year. That is despite sending them another cheque when we managed to dig a further 4ha (10 acres) a fortnight ago. They seem reluctant to listen to growers and are determined to make an example out of me. Maybe a little dialogue would help?
This morning I had a call from Australia to say seven kangaroos were grazing on our lupins. Should we shoot them? As they are something of a novelty to us Poms I said no. With hindsight that might have been a little naive; the neighbours roos will recognise our farm as a safe haven and before we know it there will be 70 not seven! *
"What! Kangaroos in the lupins?" Farming in the UK and Australia is proving quite a contrast for Cheshire-based grower Ian Crawford.
Jim Bullock
Jim Bullock farms 283ha
(700 acres) in partnership
with his parents and brother
at Mill Farm, Guarlford,
Malvern, Worcs. Two-thirds
is rented or contract farmed,
the rest owned. Cropping is
winter wheat, winter oilseed
rape and winter beans
FOR the first time since the weather broke last September, I can say we have managed to catch up.
Most wheat has gone from growth stage 31/32 to GS 39 in a matter of a fortnight and then up to ear in just over a week. The rapid growth meant T1 and T2 sprays were applied just two weeks apart, with a spray programme based on Twist (trifloxystrobin), Landmark (epoxiconazole + kresoxim-methyl) and Opus (epoxiconazole).
Having never really got on with liquid urea to boost grain protein – application and scorch being the problem – a further 40kg/ha (34 units/acre) of solid ammonium nitrate was applied at flag leaf emergence, taking the total to 212kg/ha (170 units/acre). With a lower yield potential, estimated at 7.5t/ha (3t/acre), that should be enough to ensure milling quality.
Beans have all been sprayed for pea and bean weevil and treated for weeds where necessary. For once, the Basagran (bentazone) has worked a treat. Hopefully, one good fungicide in a week or so will see them through to harvest. As for oilseed rape, the next job will be to desiccate with glyphosate.
Planning next years cropping is proving a bit of a headache because last years cropping plan went out of the window. The aim is to simplify still further, blocking areas to aid spraying and harvest. Barley and possibly even oats may be introduced to lengthen the rotation.
The oilseed rape establishment plots we set up last autumn are proving most interesting. They have reached a stage where it is impossible to distinguish between the various systems, leading me to conclude that it is possible to get away with fewer cultivations if you can drill early. However, if reduced cultivations are used, slug pellets are as important as the seed.
Another benefit of lo-till establishment seems to be that it provides an ideal environment for nesting skylarks. The birds appear to prefer the fields with large amounts of surface trash. *
Wheats at Mill Farm have had late nitrogen to boost protein despite lower yield potential, says Worcs grower Jim Bullock.
Ian Piggott
Ian Pigott farms 690ha
(1700 acres) of owned,
rented, share-farmed and
contract-farmed land in
partnership with his father
from Thrales End,
Harpenden, Herts. Wheat,
oilseed rape, spring barley,
beans and peas are the main
crops on the flinty,
medium clay soils
FINE weather last week weakened new crop commodity markets as traders anticipated better yields.
But at our local "grain group", all agree that if we are to have any crop to combine, we need regular rain until harvest to compensate for such poor root establishment.
Trying to be positive, if we do have a very dry run up to harvest, it may at least save us some money in steel. Most of the farm will need to be subsoiled because soils have slumped during the dreadful winter. Dry weather would do some of the work for us, helping crack the ground to depth.
Never before have we had such diversity of growth stages as this spring. Wheat growth stages in crops sown after the October rain now appear more influenced by soil condition at drilling than sowing date. T2 sprays in forward wheat have followed just days after T1 applications in backward crops.
The aim is to enhance yield on the best wheat and limit damage on the worst. We sprayed the former with 0.7 litres/ha of Amistar (azoxystrobin) plus either Opus (epoxiconazole) or Foil (fluquinconazole + prochloraz), both at 0.5 litres/ha. The latter may get a dribble of Sphere (trifloxystrobin + cyproconazole) when the time comes.
Election day will have come and gone by the time you read this. The plight of the livestock industry has become yesterdays news at the expense of "tax cut" and "asylum seeker" manifestos and newspaper hacks, having read an article or two on foot-and-mouth, have become overnight authorities on the state of UK agriculture, CAP and every rural issue going.
For example, I read this morning that UK taxpayers are rewarded for paying billions in agricultural subsidies with a wrecked countryside and one of the worst diets in the industrialised world. Now it seems it is the farmers fault that people dont get enough exercise and eat too much junk food! *
"And when youve finished this T1 spray, I reckon that forward wheat will be ready for a T2," says Ian Piggott (left) in Herts.
John Jeffrey
John Jeffrey runs two
tenanted farms in
partnership with his father
from Kersknowe, near Kelso
in the Scottish Borders.
Two-thirds of the 730ha
(1800 acres) is arable,
growing seed potatoes, oilseed rape, wheat and
winter and spring barley
A MONTH ago I did not think I would be saying this, but we really could do with some rain.
May was the driest month here for over four years and allowed us to catch up with delayed spring work. Now, a little, and I stress a little, rain would be greatly appreciated.
From the roadside all crops seem to have filled-in well, but on closer inspection all are on the thin side. Certainly, and unfortunately, there will be no bumper crops this year. Potatoes have come through evenly thanks to the warm, dry planting conditions. Our most critical time is tuber initiation and as long as it stays warm for the first half of June then plenty of tubers should be set. When this issue of FW hits your doormat, no doubt all other newspapers will be covered with the cheesy grin of Mr Blair as we face another four years of Labour government. One of the new regimes first acts will be to kiss goodbye to British agriculture. That has always been on his not-so-hidden agenda, I believe, but foot-and mouth has brought it to the top.
We farmers will have to pay for the huge cost of the disease even though the blame for its introduction must fall on Mr Blairs government. If stringent controls had been placed on meat imports then F&M would never have entered this country. Producing food to the highest welfare and hygiene standards, which British farmers continually do, costs money and that cannot be ignored. All imports of foreign meat that do not meet our exacting standards should be banned. Prices would rise accordingly to reward our efforts.
If, Mr Blair, you decide not to take this option then tell us. We will forget about all our safety standards and also produce the cheapest food possible. But that too comes at a cost – health.
The choice is yours, Mr Blair. All I ask is a touch of honesty and to tell us which it is to be. *
No doubt all your other papers will have Tony Blair on the front page today, says Borders grower John Jeffrey.