FARMERFOCUS
FARMERFOCUS
John Best
John Best farms 320ha
(791 acres) from Acton House
Farm, Pointspass, Co Down.
Wheat, conservation-grade
oats and potatoes are main
crops on his 220ha (544 acres)
of clay loam arable land
CROPS were bounding ahead last month and looked destined for T1 in early April. But instead of a dose of fungicide and pgr they were checked and cleaned up by a dose of cold weather and some sharp night frosts.
Wheat and oat crops have all received 75kg/ha (60 units/acre) of liquid urea and now wheat has been sprayed with 0.7 litres/ha of Opus (epoxiconazole) plus 0.5 litres/ha of Amistar (azoxystrobin). Druid (amidosulfuron) was added where cleavers are a problem.
While eyespot is not evident at present, past experience suggests the Opus/Amistar, targeted mainly at septoria, will give some protection.
Scirocco spring beans are just emerging having been drilled at 185kg/ha (1.5cwt/acre) in great conditions at the end of March. Weed control was 2 litres/ha of Gesatop (simazine) but we will have to go back for a wild oat problem in one field.
A few days stone gathering brought our fieldwork up to date and a tractor and fertiliser spreader has been kept busy contract spreading bulk fertiliser stored on the farm for Fane Valley.
My application for the Countryside Management Scheme has finally been processed, having spent two months with the Environment and Heritage Service. I believe it is essential to be in the scheme to recoup as much modulated aid payment as possible. We are contracted in the scheme for five years and I feel there are many worthwhile features which will benefit the environment in it.
However, the scheme will barely return payments lost even at the present modulation levels and as the rate increases Countryside Management alone will not give farmers adequate opportunity to recover these payments.
Also, as the whole farm has to be included in a contract, the area payment limit of 60ha (148 acres) seems harsh. Initiatives by the Ulster Farmers Union to look at Land Management Contract arrangements in both France and Wales are to be welcomed. Hopefully they may result in a more equitable system benefiting both agriculture and the environment here. *