Mark Ireland
Mark Ireland
Mark Ireland farms with
his father and brother at
Grange Farm, North
Rauceby, Lincs. Sugar beet
and barley are the core
crops on the 1004ha (2481
acres) heathland unit
IT never rains in a dry time – the older generation of farmers are far too fond of quoting that annoying little saying at present to be good for my stress levels.
I wont go as far as to say that we are in a drought yet, but it is extremely dry. We had just 24.8mm (1in) of rain in the eight weeks to last Friday and all of that came over just two days. Crops are under severe stress both on the light heath and to a lesser degree on the heavier clay loam. Although very recoverable at present it will impact badly on yields unless we get regular rain soon.
What a year to be asked to host the Cereals event! Recent springs have been kind to us in terms of rain delivered, but at some stage all good things come to an end. Much will now depend on how the trial crops and plots have been managed as to how well they cope with the dry weather. That said, as soon as we do get a decent rain their appearance will change in a matter of days.
No doubt the uptake of nitrogen in the dry conditions has been very slow. As malting barley growers that raises a question:What will be the effect on grain nitrogen? We have all increased N applications in recent years and this spring it will not be used until much later by the crops. It may be the ideal chance to make full use of strobilurin chemistry in our fungicide programmes and its perceived reduction of grain nitrogen content.
Dry weather always seems to increase pest problems and we have had to treat spring beans for pea and bean weevil. One field of sugar beet following NSA grass is carrying a high level of wireworm and plant population is down to 66,000/ha. Gaucho (imidacloprid) seed-dressing is killing the wireworm, but not before the grub has done for the small plant in the process. *
Last years wheat looks a picture compared with this springs after the recent dry spell, says Mark Ireland. "We are losing tillers already," he comments.