ICM system lifts margins by 7%

14 December 2001




ICM system lifts margins by 7%

Lower input husbandry to

benefit farmer pockets and

the environment was the

focus for the annual Arable

Research Institutes

Association science day.

Louise Impey reports

RESULTS from the second seven-year phase of the Less Intensive Farming and Environment project at IACR-Long Ashton show arable gross margins can be improved by adopting Integrated Crop Management techniques.

Gross margins across a rotation were 7% higher with ICM than a conventional system, even though output was reduced, revealed Dr David Glen at the ARIA science day at IACR Rothamsted.

Input use was much lower, insecticides being down 75%, fungicides 68%, herbicides 42% and nitrogen 28%. Total variable costs were 25% lower and operational costs 15% lower.

Yields across the rotation were 7% lower, acknowledged Dr Glen. "But we still came out with a higher gross margin. And of course there were environmental benefits too."

Winter wheat was one of the best performers, the ICM crop giving a gross margin 25% higher than conventionally grown wheat. "It could have been even higher if the straw had been baled and sold," Dr Glen noted. The weak link was oilseed rape.

ICMSUCCESS

&#8226 7% gross margin boost.

&#8226 Wheat GM 25% higher.

&#8226 Insecticide use down 75%, fungicides 68%, herbicides 42%, nitrogen 28%.

&#8226 Variable costs 25% lower.

&#8226 Operational costs 15% lower.

&#8226 Biological pest control.

&#8226 Easier autumn helped.

On the up – in trials an ICM crop rotation gave a 7% boost to gross margin, explains David Glenn of IACR Long Ashton.


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