ICM system lifts margins by 7%
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
• 7% gross margin boost.
• Wheat GM 25% higher.
• Insecticide use down 75%, fungicides 68%, herbicides 42%, nitrogen 28%.
• Variable costs 25% lower.
• Operational costs 15% lower.
• Biological pest control.
• 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.