FARMERFOCUS
FARMERFOCUS
Trevor Horsnell
Trevor Horsnell, a former
Sugar Beet Grower of the
Year, part owns and rents
182ha (450 acres) at
Gorrells Farm, Highwood,
Chelmsford, Essex. Besides
beet, his cropping includes
potatoes and winter wheat,
barley and oilseed rape
FOR the first time in eighteen months fieldwork is up to date. Land work is finished for winter, unless the continuing dry weather tempts me to level off next years beet land or any redrilling becomes necessary.
Spraying is on target, too. Oilseed rape has had its graminicides and a fungicide against phoma, while earlier drilled cereals have been treated with ipu and dff. Later drillings after potatoes and beet are emerging but probably wont require treatment until after Christmas.
However, to say that I have time on my hands would be untrue. For the first time ever on this farm there is no regular labour. Barry, who had been with us for nearly 22 years, has decided, somewhat reluctantly I think, that his future will be more financially rewarding in the building game. In less than two years we have gone from two full-time men to zero. Now, if I cant find anything, I will only have myself to blame.
As yet I am undecided what to do. The upside is that it offers us a chance to give the whole system a hefty shake-up and, perhaps, come up with some radical solutions. At 42-years-old, am I too young to retire? Are there still other farmers out there foolish enough to pay me over £250/ha (£100/acre) rent while I take things easy or perhaps increase my lecturing at the local college. Or should I be looking to join up with other similar sized, like-minded farmers to share machinery and labour?
I should be busy loading-out potatoes and sugar beet at this time of year. But the market for the former is quiet to say the least, and the progress of the latter into the factory is slow. Sugar content at 18% is reasonable and, coupled with what looks like a very large root yield, we could have a near record crop again. But at the current rate of delivery it will be May before we find out.
Everything is on schedule at Gorrells Farm, near Chelmsford, which is just as well as the farm has just lost its last man, says grower Trevor Horsnell.
John Best
John Best farms 320ha from
Acton House Farm,
Pointspass, Co Down.
Wheat, conservation-grade
oats and potatoes are the
main crops on his 220ha of
clay loam arable land
DRILLING is complete and potatoes were all dug back in October. That is a stark contrast to this time last year when only 40% of our cereals were sown and many potatoes stayed in the ground until February.
We planned to start drilling in September but 160mm (6in) of rain in the last two weeks of the month delayed us. Nonetheless, the first drilled wheats look well and will be sprayed in the next ten days weather permitting. Varieties this year are Madrigal, Consort and Claire, all from home-saved seed, starting at 180 seeds/sq m increasing to 300 seeds/sq m by the finish. Next year, seed plots include Charger, Consort and Aardvark, with the hope that Charger will produce an early harvest.
The wet September weather also prevented drilling a small area of Lupins, a crop which yielded 2t/ha (16cwt/acre) last year despite poor weed control. I was keen to try the crop again this year but drilling date is critical. Also, for the first time in twenty years, I have no oilseed rape on the farm. Having dropped winter barley three years ago, establishment of oilseed rape after winter wheat had proved difficult and led to disappointing crops. So it is out for a year, but may return following oats next autumn.
Most of the oats we have drilled are Gerald and Jalna, sown at 250 seeds/sq m. But spring variety Barra is being grown too, in an attempt to improve specific weight. That has gone in at 320 seeds/sq m to allow for higher winterkill. All three varieties are grown to conservation grade specification for a local oat mill.
Seedbeds were slightly fluffier than I would have liked this autumn, especially between the tractor wheelings. Hopefully a modification to my Moore Uni-Drill will improve this.
Probably the best news this month was the arrival of my IACS cheque. However, I have to admit I am very envious of my neighbours who, just 10 miles down the road in the Irish Republic, receive 15% more than I do.
New Farmer Focus writer John Best is pleased to be drilled up, and to have had his IACS cheque at Acton House Farm, near Newry, Co Down.
Ian Brown
Ian Brown is a third
generation tenant on the
156ha (385-acre) Lee Moor
Farm, Rennington, Alnwick,
Northumberland where he
grows winter wheat, barley
and oilseed rape as well as
spring peas
RECENT cold weather suggests winter is upon us, and the woodchip heating system is proving a timely innovation on the farm. The next few years will see us finding ways to reduce the cost of the raw material, ultimately by growing the wood ourselves and chipping it when dry enough, or by finding a source of recycled material. I note the manufacturers say that the boiler can burn peat or wheat, an issue of price sensitivity no doubt, but rather close to the bone at present.
Our wheat from last harvest is now committed, and we have managed to get it away for feed at nothing less than £75/t. The shed should be clear by March at the latest. There is of course a Celtic power at work in this price, as there was with the football last week. The Scottish feed market draws heavily from the North of England leading to anything up to a £5/t bonus for wheat of good specific weight.
The farm is looking nicely green and even now I am being asked to consider various options to sell the 2000 harvest. But the prices talked about make it seem more like a give away.
There is much activity in certain quarters setting up frameworks for handing out money, European or otherwise, on agri-environment and socio-economic schemes. While the amounts involved at present are relatively small, if modulation comes into force, and at some point I think it will, this is where much of the agricultural budget will be directed.
If you dont know the rules when that happens, it will be hard to play the game. Those with a bit of innovation and some understanding about who to speak to will be ahead in this dash for cash. A one-stop-shop in each rural area where advice, grants and mentoring can be dispensed is needed. I am fighting for them to be set up in the North East and I would encourage others in different regions to push at the same door.
When modulation comes, and it will, those in the know will get the most, warns Northumberland grower Ian Brown. More rural advice is needed, he says.
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
A VISIT to the Agritechnica machinery show in Hanover a fortnight ago brought home to me just how much farmers in the UK suffer from being outside the single currency.
Not only does the German farmer pay up to 30% less than we do for comparable machinery, but his area aid and commodity prices are higher. Added to that, there is some "scheme" by which it is possible to charge VAT on sales and keep the proceeds. Admittedly it is not possible to reclaim VAT on inputs, but any viable business should benefit from such a system.
Our efforts to cut costs by changing cultivation systems and taking on more land pale into insignificance when compared to the gains our political leaders could make for us by taking the "right" decisions.
Looking around the show, if you were not into precision farming or reduced cultivation then you were out of it. One or two well known cultivation machinery manufacturers seem to have completely lost all sense of direction. Their vast stands showed every conceivable system of placing a wheat seed 40mm (1.5in) underground. One wonders who buys some of the kit and how much it cost to develop. Why dont they come out to the farm and find out what is really needed?
Our wheat crops have emerged reasonably well, with the exception of about 2ha (5 acres) which has been waterlogged since the end of September. It is land that was disced but, with the benefit of hindsight, would have been better no-till drilled without any pre-cultivation.
One benefit of a wet autumn when using stale seed-bed techniques is that most weeds and volunteers germinate and are sprayed off before drilling. Consequently, weed control is going to be less of a problem. Many fields will only need a low dose of ipu to keep the remaining blackgrass under control. An aphicide will not be needed either, as the non-plough policy should have left a thriving population of ground beetles and money spiders.
The Agritechnica event in Hanover turned out to be a real eye-opener for Worcs grower Jim Bullock.