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AHDB Cereals & Oilseeds Agronomy 2017Wednesday 15 February 2017

Wiltshire

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Chair’s welcomePhilip Dolbear – Knowledge Exchange Manager (South West), AHDB

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Programme10:00 Registration

10:15 Chair’s welcome Philip Dolbear– Knowledge Exchange Manager (South West), AHDB

10:20 The Velcourt approach to variety selection in the South West Matthew Cobbald – South West

Agronomy Manager, Velcourt

10:50 Integrated pest management Steve Ellis – Entomologist, Manager Pest Evaluation Services,

ADAS

11:20 Refreshment break

11:35 Weed management John Cussans – Agronomy KT Development Manager, NIAB

12:00 Nutrient management David Wilson – Farm Manager, Highgrove Estate

12:30 Panel discussion: the future of future farming

13:00 AHDB Cereals & Oilseeds Knowledge Transfer Update Emily Smith – Knowledge Transfer

Manager, AHDB

13:15 AHDB update Philip Dolbear– Knowledge Exchange Manager (South West), AHDB

13:25 Summary and close

13:30 Lunch

The Velcourt approach to variety selection for the SWMatthew Cobbald – South West Agronomy Manager, Velcourt

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Integrated pest managementSteve Ellis – ADAS

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Crystal ball gazing

• Fewer actives

• More expensive actives

• Threat of resistance

• Environmental concerns

• Legislation

Fewer new products

0

40

80

120

No.

of A

I re

gis

tra

tio

ns

New active ingredient (AI) registations by decade

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% area of arable crops treated with

insecticides

The days of cheap insurance

sprays are over

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

1988 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014

Source: Pesticide Usage Survey Reports for arable crops in Great Britain

Graph produced by Sacha White, ADAS

2016

Peach–potato aphid

Pollen

beetle

Grain aphid

CSFB

Pea &

bean

weevil

Striped flea beetle

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Pyrethroids & their alternatives:

Pollen beetle control in UK

Standard

treatment

Alternative products

Pymetrozine Indoxacarb Thiacloprid

Lamda-

cyhalothrin @

£7.48/ha

£40.86/ha £31.34/ha £19.32/ha

The science of doing nothing

• Most difficult

decision you can

make

• Do you need to

treat?

• Requires 100%

confidence in

available

information

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Thresholds: Outdated, obsolete,

onerous!!

• Most current thresholds

at least 20 years old

• Limited if any scientific

background (10/34 peer

reviewed)

• Too many

• Best information at

present

Assessment methods not user friendly

• Time consuming

• Temperature

dependent

• Elusive quarry

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Entomology/physiology collaboration

• Entomology

– Pest biology

– Assessment methods

– Control options

• Physiology

– Plant number

– Yield parameters

– Crop tolerance e.g. pollen beetle & stem borers

What have the Americans ever done for us?

(Litsinger, 2009)

Insect feeding group Example pests

Tissue consumers Slugs, flea beetles, pea and bean

weevil, pollen beetle, seed weevil

Leaf senescence accelerators Aphids

Stand reducers Slugs, wireworms, leatherjackets,

dipterous stem borers

Photosynthetic rate reducers Aphids (honeydew & sooty moulds),

leaf miners, leaf beetles

Assimilate sappers Aphids, saddle gall midge, orange

wheat blossom midge

Turgor reducers Nematodes, leatherjackets,

wireworms through root damage

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Loss of green leaf area

Insecticides targeted at pollen

beetle

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What should a threshold

scheme consider?

1. How many buds can a beetle destroy?

2. How many excess flowers does an oilseed

rape plant produce?

3. Is it possible to predict the excess flowers per

plant using an easier in-field measure (e.g.

plant population?)

On average a single beetle can

destroy nine buds per plant

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Excess flower number is dependent on

variety

Variety Excess flowers/m2

2008/2009 2009/2010

Castille (OP) 3747 8816

Excalibur (Hybrid) 7019 10760

PR54D03 (Semi dwarf hybrid) 7107 9505

Mean 5958 9694

Excess flower number is inversely

related to plant number

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Pollen beetle threshold varies

with plant number

Insecticide

Untreated

Rumo

Hallmark

Plenum

Biscaya

Validating the new threshold…

Is damage to the main raceme likely to result in

greater yield loss?

Aims & Methods

What about pigeon damage?

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Insecticide experiments

• Five sites over 3 years

• Varying plant populations: 17 to 63 plants/m2

• Thresholds ranged from 11 to 25 pollen

beetles/plant

• Beetle numbers ranged from 0.9 to 4.8 beetles

per plant – Threshold never exceeded.

• No significant impact upon yield

Defoliation treatments

120 seeds/m2 Non defoliation 120 seeds/m2 Defoliated

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Artificial pollen beetle

• Does what it’s

asked

• Can be relied

upon to cause

consistent leaf

damage

• Prune 0%, 50% or

100% buds on

main raceme

Impact of defoliation on yield

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

HM14 RM14 RM15 HM15

Yie

ld (t/

ha)

Defoliated Non Defoliation

* *

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0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

HM14(WOSR)

RM14(WOSR)

HM15(WOSR)

HM15(SOSR)

RM15(WOSR)

BX16(WOSR)

HM16(WOSR)

Yie

ld (t/

ha)

0% Pruning 50% Pruning 100% Pruning

Impact of pruning on yield• No significant

interaction with defoliation.

• No significant interaction with seed rate (exc. HM15 WOSR).

Take home messages

• Pollen beetle numbers rarely exceed threshold.

• Simulated pigeon damaged crops do not incur larger

yield losses from pollen beetle damage.

• Crops with lower plant populations are no more at risk

to pollen beetle damage than crops with high plant

populations

• Severe simulated pigeon damage may not always

reduce yield.

• Pruning all buds from the terminal raceme did not

reduce yield.

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Threshold scheme logic

• The minimum shoot number

required for average UK yield is

400 shoots/m2

• BUT plants typically produce >

1000 shoots/m2 by GS30.

• A number of excess shoots

could therefore be lost to WBF

without affecting yield.

• Shoot number is influenced by

sowing date

Minimum

shoot

number

Excess

shoots

Take home messages

• Reliance on chemicals will decline as uptake of IPM increases

• Days of cheap insecticide treatments are over

• Need to be more confident of when to do nothing

• Physiology input is vital for developing robust thresholds

• Link pests in terms of their effects on the crop

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Thank you

#agronomy17

AHDB Knowledge Transfer: links between research and practice

Emily Smith – Knowledge Transfer Manager, AHDB

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Content

1. The links between research and practice

2. Case study project:• Cover crop review

• Farmer experiences

• MAXI cover crop project

The links between research and practice

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Cover crop reviews

1. Opportunities for cover crops in conventional arable rotations (2014-2015)

Cover crop reviews

1. Opportunities for cover crops in conventional arable rotations (2014-2015)

2. A review of the benefits, optimal crop management practices and knowledge gaps associated with different cover crop species

(2015-2016)

3. Maximising the benefits from cover crops through species selection and crop management (2016-2017)

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Cover crop reviews

1. Opportunities for cover crops in conventional arable rotations (2014-2015)

2. A review of the benefits, optimal crop management practices and knowledge gaps associated with different cover crop species

(2015-2016)

3. Maximising the benefits from cover crops through species selection and crop management (2016-2017)

Maxi-Cover-Crop

• Large plot trials • Standard farm

establishment & destruction methods

• 11 cover crop treatments

• Tramline trials• Cover crop validation

trials

• Cultivation/ destruction validation trials

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The Monitor Farm programme

• 23 England & Wales

• 2 Scotland

Farmer experiences 2015-2016

Available from: https://cereals.ahdb.org.uk/covered

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Farmer experiences 2015 – 2016

Species ID

Tilney White mustard 1

Gaillette Strigosa Oat 2

Kings Winter Cover mix 3

Barracuda Radish 4

Kings cheap EFA mix 5

Tillage Radish 6

DSV Terralife Betamax 7

DSV Terralife Rigol TR 8

DSV Terralife Biomax TR 9

Kings Vitality Mix 10

0

50

100

150

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Cost/

va

lue

(£

/ha

)

Seed £/ha

Total nutrient value £/ha

x4

The links between research and practice

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Thank you

AHDB Update & SummaryPhilip Dolbear – Knowledge Exchange Manager (South West), AHDB

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Sector Objectives

4 Key common priority areas for AHDB

1. Stimulating competitiveness

2. Encouraging productivity

3. Raising demand

4. Driving value from volatility and resilience

C&O Priorities

1. Raise UK Productivity

2. Understand our competitors productivity

3. Lower UK costs of production

4. Improve input cost management

5. Find alternatives to diminishing chemicals

6. Increase Soils productivity

7. Understand better Rotations as a solution

8. Take waste out of supply chains

9. Exports – post BREXIT?

10. Industry data (Defra decline)

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What’s new!

• Field scale trials

• Coordination UK KE delivery – other’s data!

• Influence on direction of R&D

• Engagement with supply chains

• Deriving value from volatility

• Sustainability and soil health

Monitor Farms

?

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Arable Business Groups

Winter

Wheat

Spring

Wheat

Spring

Barley

Forage

Maize

Winter

OSR

Winter

Beans

Winter

Oats

2014 2014 2014 2014 2014 2014 2014

Physical Summary

Total area grown (Hectares) 15.84 23.58 33.2 38.26 13.96 14.84 3.14

Total tonnage produced (Tonnes) 141 156 224 1701 51 67 23

Average yield per hectare (Tonnes) 8.9 6.62 6.75 44.46 3.65 4.49 7.41

Variable Costs

Seeds (£) 65 88 57 173 36 44 159

Fertilizer, manures and composts (£) 109 85 132 153 261 10 73

Sprays and chemicals (£) 210 169 134 43 285 137 92

Sundries (£) 11 11 11 1 1 1 11

Total Variable Costs (£) 395 353 335 371 583 193 335

Fixed Costs

Labour (including family labour cost ) (£) 293 205 205 205 205 205 293

Machinery and power (£) 218 152 152 152 152 152 218

Property costs (£/tonne) 26 26 26 26 26 26 26

Overheads (£) 20 20 20 20 20 20 20

Total Fixed Costs (£/Ha) 556 403 403 403 403 403 556

Total Cost of Production (£/Ha) 951 756 738 774 986 595 892

Example Farm Harvest 2014 Cost of Production

Contact me!

07964 255614

Philip.dolbear@ahdb.org.uk

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Thank you

#agronomy17