FARMERFOCUS
FARMERFOCUS
Patrick Godwin
Patrick Godwin is farm
manager for the 930ha
(2300 acre) Lee Farm
Partnership, Angmering
Estate, West Sussex. Soils
are chalk-based with
combinable winter and
spring crops occupying
525ha (1300 acres).
SUMMER finally arrived with the longest day. I wish I could agree with the view that such long sunny days and lack of disease pressure in crops will lead to a good harvest.
But I am afraid that without some much needed rain soon, our cereals will give up well before their potential is met. We have only had only 47mm (1.85in) since the beginning of May.
Winter wheats are past flowering and as clean as I have seen for a few years. The strob/triazole mix at flag leaf has given good disease control and the dilemma now is to ear-wash or not to ear-wash.
The T2 fungicide will soon run out of steam but it is tempting to leave out the T3 spray on such clean plants. Rain in the next week will consolidate my current thought that we really should protect the ears further and encourage more grainfill.
However, no rain and the decision will be made for us, as the plants will quickly senesce with or without disease.
Apex oilseed rape has just finished flowering. Such a prolonged flowering period has meant some lower pods are well filled while others are just forming.
As a result, we will probably be forced to use a desiccant to even out the ripening. Spring oilseed rape is growing strongly and starting to flower. "In-conversion to organic" cereals also look well.
The lack of rain has blown any chance of a second cut of grass silage so we will have to take 35ha (86 acres) of Paragon spring wheat as wholecrop silage. That will fill the silage clamps and let some daylight through to the undersown grass clover ley beneath. But, unfortunately, while the silage may feed the cows next winter it will not match the value of the grain lost.
We had our first missive from DEFRA last week, a notice of our sheep quota holding. I am told that defra is Welsh for wake-up. Is the government trying to tell us something? *
Kevin Littleboy
Kevin Littleboy farms 243ha
(600 acres) as Howe
Estates at Howe, Thirsk, N
Yorks. The medium sandy
loam in the Vale of York
supports potatoes, winter
wheat, rape and barley, plus
grass for sheep
THE lack of meetings in the agricultural world was somewhat overcome by a recent HGCA on-line seminar in conjunction with Farming On-line. Sitting at home supping a nice bottle of wine, while being "at" a conference is a very civil way of doing things and one I fully recommend to all.
There was some merriment when an expert suggested that my March/April-sown winter wheat may just be combined by Christmas, if it has vernalised at all, that is. Protecting the Hagberg and protein quality of milling wheat was high on the agenda and there was an interesting discussion over the amount of nitrogen to be applied, be it liquid or solid.
I believe that new high yielding milling wheats need to be treated differently from the conventional varieties like Hereward, however my views were at odds with many. I will let you know who was right or a mug come harvest!
The foot-and-mouth crisis has not only affected animals but driven wedges between farmers themselves. It has divided the countryside, splitting the agricultural industry as a whole.
Claims and counterclaims made by minor pressure groups and organisations have been astounding. Scaremongering, blatant non-factual statements and hype have bred paranoia giving rise to a very frightened industry.
I have been dismayed by people from politicians to farmers who have refused to believe the facts and peddled their own agenda. One lesson is that the powers that be must keep the industry fully informed at all times, even those without access to the internet.
Compulsory reading for all farmers should be DEFRAs mission statement which can be found at www.maff.gov.uk/defra/news/ 2001/010614h.htm
At a time when world wheat consumption will exceed supply for the fourth year running and stocks in the five major exporting countries will drop to 37m tonnes, the lowest for five years, was it necessary to drop the word agriculture?
I can only assume that it wasnt included between environment and food in the departments name because we would end up with an even more unfortunate acronym! *
Stephen Bumstead
Stephen Bumstead farms
148ha (365 acre) from Ouse
Bank Farm, Great Barford,
Beds. He is a first
generation farmer and
council tenant, growing
combinable crops on three
blocks of land. He supports
LEAF and is the FWAG
county treasurer
THE Soil Association has been out spreading their offensive message, slating wholesome, conventionally produced food yet again.
This time it was the turn of the poultry sector. I registered a formal complaint to the NFU and have vowed to the best of my ability to inform the public of the truth regarding organic and conventionally produced foods.
The SAs dictatorial and Fabian doorstep religion irritates and offends me. What is worse is that it misinforms a gullible public producing a state of food safety paranoia. They are an embarrassment to all producers, as well as the organic sector. I can only hope that one day soon these pompous, privileged people will disappear up their own catalytic converted exhaust pipes and fall over the side of their flat world.
In my view, the way forward for the majority of our industry, is the Integrated Farm Management (IFM) route as demonstrated and promoted by LEAF. That ethos is sustainable, achievable and totally endorsed as cutting edge by the more progressive food retailers. Indeed the more intelligent politicians are backing this sensible ethos after visiting demonstration farms and inspecting completed LEAF audits. At Ouse Bank Farm we have embraced this approach for about 10 years and it certainly works for us.
Crops this year, mine especially, are very much the Curates egg – good in parts but bad in others. Unfortunately, I can see more bad than good. They are rather thin and open and the emerging ears are disappointingly small.
The upside is that we can trim doses of fungicide due to much lower disease levels, but we are still pursuing a fairly robust strobilurin programme in the hope of producing quality if not quantity.
What these spring crops really need is regular water throughout their short life. So far, we have been lucky with the just-in-time showers but it is crucial that this weather pattern continues.
With Wimbledon upon us I am quietly confident. We will find out whether I am correct or not in about eight weeks time. *
Andrew Keeler
Andrew Keeler farms with
his parents at Church Farm,
Aylsham, Norfolk. Sugar
beet, potatoes, winter
wheat and premium malting
barley are grown on the
32ha (80 acre) farm
AFTER saying that we needed rain for weeks we finally got some – in the form of a thunderstorm. About 25mm (1in) fell in just under an hour and water was running down the fields and along the road like a river in full flood.
Fortunately, it did not cause any damage to crops or flood any buildings. The clouds then hung around for another 36 hours and deposited a further 50mm (2in) taking the total to 75mm (3in) in under 48 hours.
Much to everyones surprise the ground settled down very quickly after that deluge and I was able to apply an earspray to wheat two days later. A 0.6 litres/ha Folicur (tebuconazole), 0.35 litres/ha Amistar (azoxystrobin) mix plus 5kg/ha of Bitersaltz was applied at low volume and high pressure to give a the ear a good coating. That should keep the ear clean and prevent mycotoxin formation. According to a talk that I attended earlier in the year end-users will soon be monitoring intakes for these, so the sooner we get used to controlling them the better, I believe.
Blight spraying on the potatoes has started, only a week later than last year. A first-spray of Curzate (cymoxanil + mancozeb) was followed 10 days later by Merlin (propamocarb hydrochloride + chlorothalonil) and manganese. They were looking good and growing well before the rain. Now, if the weather stays warm, I am sure that they have the potential to yield well.
I have had to pull wild oats in one field of barley, not because the spray did not work but because parts of the field that were not treated. You could see precisely where the booms were turned off. Wild oats are also present in the wheat and will be pulled when I return from holiday. These patches will be noted, but that presents a dilemma; what to treat next year – this years untreated areas only, or the whole field? *