Insight @TillageSoils Traffic issues Case Study Monitor ...

InsightTraffic issues

PracticalCountering Deep Soil Woe

@TillageSoils

Spring 2019

Case study Cost Cutting Kit

Insight A testing time for farmers

Big pictureKill the Till?

AgronomySpring Cropping&

Case Study Monitor farmers

new strategy

LEMKEN agricultural machinery is distinctive, not only because of its blue colour, but above all because of its quality, versatility and robust design, which we deliver through technological leadership. Our more than 1,500 employees worldwide continuously work towards developing solutions that optimally meet the specific needs of each of our customers.

FROM ALPEN INTO THE WIDER WORLD:EVERYTHING YOU NEED FOR PROFESSIONAL ARABLE FARMING.

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Contents

LEMKEN agricultural machinery is distinctive, not only because of its blue colour, but above all because of its quality, versatility and robust design, which we deliver through technological leadership. Our more than 1,500 employees worldwide continuously work towards developing solutions that optimally meet the specific needs of each of our customers.

FROM ALPEN INTO THE WIDER WORLD:EVERYTHING YOU NEED FOR PROFESSIONAL ARABLE FARMING.

Leader 1-5

Soil Matters – opinion and the latest news for growers

Practical 6-13

Countering deep soil woe

Big picture 14-17

Kill the till?

Insight 24-25

A testing time for farmers

Agronomy 26-29

Spring cropping and heavy land

Contents picture kindly supplied by www.farmingphotography.co.uk

Case study 20-23

Cost cutting kit does the job

Insight 30-33

Traffic issues and ‘seasonal’ CTF

Tech Update 34-35

The latest developments in crop establishment

Case study 18-19

Monitor farmers new strategy

Spring 2019 tillagemagazine.net

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Spring 2019 tillagemagazine.net4

LEADERAs another small part of the growers armoury in metaldehyde is to be withdrawn, (see opposite for further details), the gauntlet is down for all growers ensure that they make best use of the available tools at their disposal.

Its easy to carp on about the wrongs and rights of political decisions, but the reality is that, rather like the weather there are some things which we are just stuck with (or without in this case).

In Practical ( page 6 onwards) we tackle the hardy perennial of soil compaction, the hidden yield penalty and have a look at what can be done about it.

Soil health should be at the heart of your farming practice, with this in mind we look at some of the work which the AHDB is doing to support growers and one monitor farmers approach to addressing cultivations costs.

In this edition we look forward to spring with some sensible thinking about the challenges facing heavy land growers (see pages 26-29. We also spend time with a Bedfordshire heavy land grower who has thought long and hard about reducing his fuel use in establishment with an interesting result, see the case study on page 20.

As the days get longer I wish you well for a decent spring.

Andy [email protected]

Tillage Matters

ENVIRONMENTAL LAND MANAGEMENT (ELM) OPPORTUNITIES A new Payment by Results (PBR) scheme, spearheaded by Defra, will be the first Environmental Land Management (ELM) initiative directly funded by the UK and will mean that in future, farmers will be incentivised to earn more money by providing environmental benefits on their land.

Farmers wanting practical guidance on the future of ELM are invited to attend the Energy and Rural Business Show, where Defra’s environmental land management programme manager, Marie Hall, will outline future prospects for farmers in her talk entitled ‘Environmental Land Management – a look at the government’s 25-year plan and the opportunities available’.

To test the new initiative, a new PBR pilot scheme has been given the green light and will take place to trial the ELM system and finetune it for future rollout across the UK.

All the funding for the PBR pilot will come from Defra, with a £540,000 boost to pay farmers according to the environmental outcomes they achieve over the next two years.

The project is paying participating farmers in two areas - Norfolk and Suffolk in the East of England and Wensleydale in Yorkshire - for work that is specifically tailored to the environmental needs of their area. For example, in Norfolk and Suffolk farmers are benefitting from planting nectar plots for bees and other pollinators, while those in Wensleydale are focused on managing species-rich meadows.

Speaking on the new pilot scheme, secretary of state for Defra, Michael Gove, said:

“Under the CAP, agri-environment schemes have been overly bureaucratic and inflexible. This has impeded innovation for farmers who are passionate about the environment and want to see real change.

“The Payment by Results pilot marks a shift in how we think about rewarding farmers for their work. This approach signals how we see the future of farm payments, where farmers deliver public goods for the environment which we all enjoy.”

The Energy and Rural Business Show is free to attend and takes place on February 6 and 7, at the Telford International Centre.

Tillage Matters


‘Think Water’ and ‘Metazachlor matters’ are pesticide stewardship initiatives which aim to limit contamination of drinking water with actives such as metazachlor, propyzamide, and carbetamide.

Growers are urged to stringently manage pesticide applications and adhere to restrictions and measures such as buffer zones and application timings.

“However as well as these initiatives, management of your soils also plays an important role in reducing water pollution,” points out Jess Farrant, agronomist with Hutchinsons.

“For example, the ‘Think Water’ campaign urges growers to manage the use of tramlines, gateways and pathways to reduce compaction.”

“We know that compaction produces a layer of soil within the profile which does not allow for the percolation of water. This means the infiltration of water into the soil takes longer and the volume of surface run-off is increased. This run-off can carry pesticides overland and into water sources, not only causing pollution, but also reducing the efficacy of residual chemistry.”

But growers should not only consider tramlines and other areas of heavy traffic as areas where compaction may be a concern, urges Ms Farrant.

Larger farms, less labour and machinery that lets us work fields all year around, have resulted in a culture of increasing and unnecessary cultivations – all of which lends itself to poor soil structure and health - compaction can be found anywhere in the field.”

WITHDRAWAL OF METALDEHYDE FOR OUTDOOR USE ANNOUNCEDThe Environment Secretary has announced that the application for authorisation for professional and amateur slug pellet products containing metaldehyde has been refused.

The decision to prohibit the use of metaldehyde, follows advice from the UK Expert Committee on Pesticides (ECP) and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) that metaldehyde poses an unacceptable risk to birds and small mammals.

MANAGE SOILS NOW TO PREVENT WATER POLLUTION

“A number of the Hutchinsons Healthy Soils assessments conducted last season found this problem; one assessment carried out at a farm near Alnwick found compaction at 30cm preventing infiltration further through the soil profile. When it rained, the soil above this quickly reached saturation, and run-off was increased.”

“It’s important to note that taking soil samples during the summer when soils are generally dry will not permit a meaningful assessment of soil structure or earthworm populations.”

“The best time to assess the health of your soil is now, during the wetter autumn and winter months as this is when the soils are moist and biologically active, allowing for worm numbers etc to be measured.”

Ignore soil health at your peril says Ms Farrant. “Compaction will increase run-off and decrease rooting ability of crops, increased run-off may result in pesticide residues being found in water and will also decrease the efficacy of residual herbicides.”

Slugs can cause significant damage to plants and crops, particularly potatoes, cereals and oil seed rape. However, there are other ways to mitigate their impact through soil preparation. For example, sowing the seed deeper into the soil may prevent the slugs from reaching them. There are also alternative pesticides containing ferric phosphate which provide effective control of slugs and snails without carrying the same risks to wildlife.

MANAGEMENT OF YOUR SOILS PLAYS AN IMPORTANT PART IN REDUCING WATER POLLUTION JESS FARRANT, AGRONOMIST WITH HUTCHINSONS

COUNTERING DEEP SOIL WOEDeeply compressed soils could be hitting crop yields harder than some growers realise, Andrew Blake discovers.

Minimising the impact of massive modern machinery on soil deserves more attention, according to specialists.

As long ago as the early 1980s Swedish researchers advocated a six-tonne axle weight limit for tractors. Any heavier loading risked driving soil compaction deeper than was economical or even practical to remedy, they warned.

Compaction at any depth hampers plant growth and reduces crop yields in many ways. It hinders root penetration, can stop water filtering into and moving

Practical

within the soil, and leads to unhealthy anaerobic conditions.

“Compaction is a reduction in pore space and typically reduces pore connectivity and continuity,” explains Thomas Keller of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.

“Basically, compaction cuts off all forms of nutrition,” says Steve Townsend of Soil First Farming.


SUBSOILS DAMAGED IN SECONDS CAN TAKE MANY YEARS TO RECOVER, WARNS THOMAS KELLER

Practical


Soil compression interferes with microbiological activity, adds Trantor’s Vic Jordan. “It can also add to the problem of agrochemical leaching.”

Waterlogging caused by compaction enhances the loss of nitrogen as nitrous oxide, notes controlled traffic farming (CTF) advocate Tim Chamen. “Avoiding compaction can reduce these emissions by up to 50%.”

Compaction makes it harder for plant roots to extract water and nutrients from soil. Steve Townsend uses a fork-lift to ease the assessment task.

Practical


DEEP COMPACTION THREATS

Harper Adams University’s Dick Godwin pinpoints several deep compaction threats to soils. They include over-loading harvesters and chaser wagons and taking equipment with high pressure road-going tyres onto fields.

“Another is not recording traffic patterns so that they can be removed by soil loosening operations,” says Prof Godwin.

Removing compaction by mechanical means is expensive and is best done when the soil is relatively dry because this improves shattering at depth. However, this can be partially overcome in more moist soils by using subsoiler tines equipped with wings, and even more so by using shallower tines working ahead of the subsoiler tines, he explains.

“But if it’s deeper than about 16 inches it can be near impossible to remove,” says Dorset farmer Peter Snell.

Subsoil compaction is more important than damage nearer the surface because it lasts a long time. Experiments over 30 years show that subsoils damaged in seconds can take decades to recover, notes Prof Keller.

“Wheel load is the target for avoiding such damage. The important rule is that the stress in the soil should never exceed its strength. For a given soil, the strength is a function of soil moisture.”

A free service developed by researchers (see https://www.terranimo.world) is available to help evaluate compaction risks, he advises.

The weight of a vehicle determines both the degree of compaction and the depth it reaches in the soil profile, says Dr Chamen. “The heavier it is, the deeper the compaction extends.”

SOIL LOOSENING ISN’T A CHEAP EXERCISE, NOTES DICK GODWIN

A GANTRY SYSTEM, WORKING ON SACRIFICIAL SOIL STRIPS, IS THE ‘IDEAL’ ANTI-COMPACTION APPROACH, SAYS TIM CHAMEN.

ALWAYS ADJUST WEIGHTS TO SPECIFIC FIELD OPERATIONS TO MINIMISE COMPACTION, URGES DAVID PURDY

HEAVIER MACHINERY

The weight of the ‘average’ farm tractor has increased dramatically in recent decades.

“Thirty-five years ago it was just 2.5-3 tonnes,” says John Deere’s David Purdy. “In the 80s that had risen to 9 tonnes, and by the 90s when 300hp tractors came in it was 16 tonnes. Nowadays some of the heaviest tractors are in the mid-20 tonnes.”

Wheel loads on combine harvesters have risen from about 1.5 tonnes in 1960 to around 9 tonnes today, and the increase has been quite linear, notes Prof Keller. “That’s an additional tonne every seven years. Tractor wheel loads increased from perhaps 1.5 tonnes in 1960 to 4 tonnes in 2000.

“As a rule of thumb, topsoil stresses are a function of tyre inflation pressure, but subsoil stresses are a function of wheel load, and limiting them can help to avoid compaction at depth.”

Practical


THE IMPACT OF WHEEL LOADS ON SOIL DENSITY

One widely misunderstood aspect of soil compaction is exactly when and where it becomes important, says Mr Purdy. “Our current research is trying to find out at what point the soil’s bulk and resistance ratings start to limit growth.”

Research in the 1990s found that compaction below 40cm (ie that caused by an axle load of 6t – typical of a 250-300hp tractor working moist soil) became permanent even after repeated freezing and thawing, he notes; and axle loads above 10t, for example from combines, definitely hit yields.

Analogue penetrometers commonly used by agronomists can be useful, he acknowledges. But for a true handle on compaction’s impact an electronic type, measuring downwards every 2.5cm using geo-positioning, is required. The machine’s readings are then converted into bulk density measurements which truly identify any problems, their location and depth.

“It’s time-consuming,” he admits, “Soil moisture, temperature and an assessment of the level of

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aggregates smaller than 1cm diameter also need to be taken into account. We’re finding that a bulk density of about 1.5g/cu cm -possibly lower in clay soils - starts to restrict root growth, and at 1.6g/cu cm it’s becoming seriously limiting.”

Despite significant advances in tyre and track technology, the six-tonne axle limit makes sense, he says. “Running heavy machinery on the land should always be approached with caution because of the potentially long-term damage that it can cause.

“The cost of equipment to relieve the damage that we’re putting in can only be met by the big farming companies, and even that’s now becoming questionable.”

“IT BEGS THE QUESTION ‘SHOULD WE LIMIT TRACTORS TO 150-200HP, WITH A TOTAL WEIGHT OF 7-9 TONNES, AND KEEP THE HEAVIER STUFF TO TRAMLINES AND CTF?”

Practical


Steve Townsend

AXLE LOAD CRITICAL

Axle weight is the key, Mr Townsend maintains. “Tracks and low ground pressure tyres are important, but not as important as axle weight. Bridges are rated in tonnes, not psi, because it’s the weight that does the damage. If you drive a 20 tonne tractor over a 10 tonne bridge don’t be surprised your 6 psi tyres land you in the ditch.”

The concept of an axle weight limit has merit, agrees Dr Chamen. “But strictly speaking it should be wheel load because you can have two or four wheels on an axle. That said, the lighter the vehicle the better, though there are practical and cost implications.

“Can one achieve a cost-effective output with a smaller vehicle? Going faster is one option, as proposed by Trantor pioneer Graham Edwards, but this tends to increase the power requirement and may lead to a poorer quality of work.”

Dr Edwards believes that given worldwide increases in conservation agriculture and zero-tillage the time is right for such vehicles.

“I don’t think some major manufacturers have really begun to understand why tractors should be re-designed when the importance of soil health really matters to the world’s farmers who produce food.”

Mr Purdy accepts the need for design changes. “But we are doing lots to support the industry and train customers,” he stresses.

Autonomous vehicles such as DOT (www.seedotrun.com) working longer hours may eventually address the output and cost barriers. But for now a CTF system can reduce or even eliminate (under zero-tillage) the power required to move soil, meaning farmers can employ smaller tractors, says Dr Chamen.

“That’s borne out by practitioners, many of whom have reduced tractor size substantially. The ideal is to make vehicles as light as possible and run on what might be termed sacrificial strips of land.”

Philip Wright

BEST PRACTICES

Accepting the status quo, much can be done to lessen compaction, specialists agree.

“Weight is the number one enemy, and if you don’t manage it you do so at your peril,” says Mr Purdy.

Limiting the number of operational passes and avoiding driving randomly across fields during harvest are clearly helpful, but ensuring tractors are correctly shod and ballasted for specific tasks is vital.

“They need the best tyre technology, the correct amount of weight for the task, and the right balance between front and rear.”

In that respect developments in polymer tyres, allowing their side walls to handle more heat, have been especially useful. Compared with standard tyres, IS types can handle 20% more weight for a given pressure, VS types 40% more, and the latest innovations 60%.

But failing to remove ‘macho’ front weights needed for maximum traction tasks such as ploughing when switching to lighter work such as drilling is an all too common mistake, he adds.

Weight generally governs tyre pressure settings, explains Philip Wright of Wright Resolutions. “More weight implies higher pressures and that, simplistically, increases imposed track ground pressure.

Practical


“Compared to conventional radial tyres those made using modern carcase technologies can handle greater loads at the same pressure - or employ reduced pressures for similar loads.

“I believe tyre selection is the most important consideration when specifying a tractor. Many tyres continue to be ‘under specified’ as a standard, so getting specialist advice always pays.

“I feel the power of modern tractors risks minimising the need for attention to detail – especially for correct ballasting and even linkage hitch geometry.

“An old ‘grey Fergie’ could pull significant loads for its weight provided ballast and the linkage settings were fine-tuned for optimum weight transfer and addition.

“If a modern tractor with, say, 50-100hp more than is actually required, is used, it’s easy to ignore these basics because it will still pull the implement -sometimes in adverse conditions and so risk further damage to the soil.

COUNTERING COMPACTION

Much can be done to reduce soil compaction, maintains Neil Sharman, Trelleborg’s Technical Manager in the UK for agricultural tyres and wheels.

“Taking a larger than necessary machine to do the job more quickly is fine, but unless you ensure the correct tyre choice has been made, damage to the soil can be immense.

“Many farms use the tyres fitted as original equipment to a new tractor not really knowing if it’s the correct one for their application or not.”

The most damaging combination is a heavy tractor or implement on narrow tyres. “This results in visibly small wheelings but high compaction.”

Incorrect tyre pressure can cause serious damage, he adds. Too many operators inflate to 18psi “because it’s what we’ve always used” or “because that’s an average pressure to do all jobs”.

Under-inflated tyres run only on their outside edges

while over-inflated ones run just on the central part, explains Mr Sharman.

“Whatever the size of the tyre, you need to spread the weight evenly across the whole of it. Incorrect pressure leads to the tyre not performing correctly. It needs to run at the correct pressure to allow it to flex enough to stay clean. Failure to keep the tread clean results in a loss of traction and efficiency, and both can cause compaction and damage to the soil.”

Neil Sharman

Water filtering B

Water not filtering A

Tyre pressure affects soil water entry, warns Philip Wright.

For the same axle loadings the water-filled tube in picture A demonstrates a six-fold reduction in infiltration rate caused by an extra 8psi in tyre pressure, compared to the lower pressure outcome in picture B with its empty tubes and more porous structure.

Practical

ON-FARM EXPERIENCES

Tracks and their running gear are far more costly to maintain than tyres, notes Peter Snell. “One concern with tracks has been the uneven distribution of weight along the length of the track with peak loads under idlers and drive wheels. However, technology has improved to reduce this.”

Mr Sharman highlights the difficulty of getting the message across.

“I once spent five hours on a farm sorting out tyre pressures etc. for some new tractors and machinery just delivered. The tractors were an 828 and a 939 Fendt, and I weighed each with various pieces of equipment. I also sorted out the correct ballast and where it needed to go.

“Having got all the information together I found they could use tyre pressures from 12 to 20psi to cover everything from light top work to heavy draft work and transport.

“The customer was pleased and thought the service very worthwhile. But despite carrying out the above and supplying the farm with a full list of pressures for the different jobs I was still asked the age-old question:

‘What would be an average pressure so we didn’t have to keep changing them?’”

Tyre pressures often don’t get adjusted from one job to another, for example changing from grain haulage to Cambridge rolling, admits Mr Snell.

“And we can all sometimes be guilty of not taking off front weights when they aren’t essential for the job in hand. But if a weighbridge isn’t easily available it’s difficult to know your exact axle loading.

“However, when we buy premium tyres the manufacturers will often offer to come out and help.

“The cost of low ground pressure tyres for new trailers can be a shock, and the option to decrease spec to save a few pounds is tempting, but good quality tyres will almost always pay dividends over their life-time.”

Mr Snell says his farm is moving to a “hybrid CTF system” retaining rotational ploughing.

“I’m sure CTF purists will shoot me down, but I think our chalk loams offer some flexibility, and with seed production in our repertoire I believe ploughing still has a place.”



Practical

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SOIL STRUCTURE & CONDITION IMPORTANT

Subsoil compaction in tillage-based agriculture is unavoidable, acknowledges Theodor Friedrich of the Food & Agriculture Organisation; but the soil’s structure and condition as well as wheel loads must be taken into account, he stresses.

“The higher the loads the deeper into the soil reach the compaction occurs. Even if we don’t perceive severe compaction on the surface, a machine’s weight must be supported somewhere in the soil matrix.

“In general tilled soil compacts more easily than untilled, warns Dr Friedrich. “So driving on recently tilled soil has a greater impact on compaction.”

Compaction below about 1m, accumulated through repeated yearly traffic in tillage-based

systems can be hard if not impossible to undo, because at that depth it is beyond the reach of subsoilers, and the biological de-compacting action of roots and earthworms is absent in those systems, he explains.

“Root growth in tillage-based agriculture tends to be concentrated in the tillage horizon, and earthworms tend to disappear as result of tillage.”

The impact of deep compaction on yield is generally ignored in Europe, he notes.

“Only in dry years, such as 2018, when the topsoil dries out and roots cannot reach the moisture in the deeper soil layers do yield penalties occur.

“But the effect of subsoil compaction is visible in the ever-increasing danger of flooding after even light rainfall such as 50-100 mm in 24 hours.”

KILL THE TILL FOR A HEALTHIER SOIL?Agricultural land is cloaked in soil that makes it fit for cultivation and crop establishment. But this essential cover is not finite. In fact, it is highly vulnerable and needs protecting. AHDB asked James Taylor, who’s on the organisation’s Graduate Scheme, to reflect on the organisation’s soil health research and what its findings reveal about land management.

If soil health and preservation are compromised by intensification, the consequences can be catastrophic. A well-documented example is the Great Dust Bowl of the 1930s in the southern plains of America. Failure to implement dryland farming methods, along with the extensive use of deep tillage to cultivate the soil, led to vast degradation and topsoil erosion. The terrain became choked in dust storms that raged for many years. The agricultural industry collapsed. The lessons: healthy soils are paramount for long-term sustainable production, preventing erosion is essential and management practices need to allow rich soil fauna to thrive.

Soils harbour life. Just how much life can be quite surprising: a single tablespoon of soil contains more organisms than the entire human population of earth.

The biodiversity below ground far surpasses the diversity above it by orders of magnitude. This diverse community of life works synergistically to enhance the environment in which they are dependent: the soil. Despite soil fauna amassing a third of all living organisms on the planet, the mysteries surrounding their biology and their importance for healthy soils are only just starting to be unravelled.

Soil fauna engineers the soil world. The organisms enhance soil health significantly and provide rich, fertile soils suitable for crop production. Accordingly, since the dawn of civilisation, human settlements have always been adjacent to areas rich in healthy soils. However, as agriculture has intensified, the importance of soil health has often been overlooked. Modern practices, such as intensive tillage, have tended to neglect the


Big Picture

importance of the soil’s fauna for its overall health, leading to degradation, erosion and loss of this crucial resource.

High amounts of organic matter are a signature of healthy soils – it’s a sign life is thriving. Many soil organisms have the ability to harness the nutrients in organic matter and excrete these in a form that crops can use. Soil fauna’s ability to unlock organic resources for plants to use is exceptionally important for crop development. Earthworms are a prime example, as they decompose and excrete digested organic matter in the casts they leave behind and help distribute nutrients throughout the soil profile.

Alongside this nutritional benefit, earthworms also improve soil structure by loosening and aerating the soil due to their extensive channelling nature. This reduces


EARTHWORMS IMPROVE SOIL STRUCTURE BY LOOSENING AND AERATING THE SOIL DUE TO THEIR EXTENSIVE CHANNELLING NATURE.

compaction and creates channels that aid water flow and can decrease runoff significantly. Charles Darwin, the father of evolution, stressed: “without the work of this humble creature, who knows nothing of the benefits he confers upon mankind, agriculture, as we know it, would be very difficult, if not wholly impossible.”

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Soil physics, chemistry and biology are interlinked and all play a role in maintaining productive agricultural and horticultural systems. While physical and chemical properties of soil are relatively well understood, the same is not necessarily true for soil biology. This is why AHDB has funded a five-year research and knowledge exchange programme that aims to increase understanding of soil biology and develop a toolkit to measure and manage soil health. Further information on the AHDB/BBRO soil biology and soil health research partnership can be found at: ahdb.org.uk/greatsoilsThe web page also includes links to several related PhD projects:• Predicting crop disease from molecular assessment of the distribution

and quantification of soil-borne plant pathogens • High-throughput sequencing to measure changes in soil biology in

response to long-term management practices• Fostering populations of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi through cover

crop choices and soil management

AHDB has a publication that can be used to identify and count the main earthworm groups.

AHDB SOIL HEALTH RESEARCH

Bacteria and fungi, including AMF, have been shown to exude compounds that physically bind soil particles together into micro-aggregates. The hyphal strands of AMF cross-link these micro-aggregates, acting as a glue, helping to further consolidate these aggregates forming macro-aggregates. These macro-aggregates provide soil fauna habitat, while making the soil significantly less prone to erosion and increasing its water retention capacity.

CULTIVATING SOIL HEALTH

Despite the array of benefits soil fauna have for soil health, modern practices can be detrimental for their survival. Tilling is one of the biggest contributors to a decline in soil health, as it directly exposes fauna to predators, harmful UV radiation from the sun, destroys soil aggregates and severely dehydrates the soil and causes potentially huge losses of carbon. Furthermore, it vastly increases erosion rates and causes organic matter losses. Consequently, a growing number of farmers adopt reduced tillage or no-till practices, with the aim of reducing erosion and improving the health of the soil.

No-till, commonly known as direct drilling, zero tillage or conservation tillage, is a practice that involves sowing directly into the residues of the previous crop without any prior topsoil loosening. No-till’s primary attraction is the reduction in production costs, while maintaining or increasing yields, in the right conditions. The environmental benefits of no-till are now being realised too – the lack of soil disturbance leaves the soil environment, in which the fauna have engineered for their survival, intact. This, in turn, reduces erosion due to increased aggregate stability, as well as improving the drainage, meaning less surface runoff. These factors result in the soil having increased organic matter and carbon levels. However there are potential downsides. For example, higher amounts of herbicides may have to be used to control weeds and there may be an increased risk of fungal diseases.

FUNGAL FORAGERS

Nitrogen (N₂) is an essential nutrient for crop development, despite the air being around 70% N₂, plants are unable to access this source directly. Plants ability to obtain N₂ is highly dependent upon N₂-fixing soil fauna. Certain bacteria found in soils, such as rhizobia, can fix N₂ from the atmospheric air and convert this into ammonia (NH3), a source of N₂ that can be readily used by plants. Because of this, plant families, such as the legumes, have evolved a symbiotic relationship with N₂ fixing bacteria. In exchange for NH3, the legumes provide a home in their roots for the bacteria and organic sugars produced by photosynthesis. This relationship improves soil N₂ levels, hence legumes being common in crop rotations, helping to strive towards less reliance on fertilisers.

Phosphorous (P) is an equally important nutrient for plant development. P availability is limited in most soils because it is released very slowly from insoluble phosphates. P is commonly the most limiting factor for plant growth due to its low availability and high demand. However, a branch of soil fungi known as arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) can vastly increase the availability of P for plants.

AMF reside in the soil. When plants roots are colonised by them, structures known as hyphae are formed, which branch extensively throughout the soil like a net. As hyphae are far thinner than root hairs, they can access far smaller pores of soil. They can also pioneer areas far beyond the reach of roots longitudinally and latitudinal in the soil profile, vastly proliferating the area of soil plants can forage.

Similar to N₂ fixing bacteria, there exists a symbiotic relationship, in which AMF transfer captured P to the plant, in return for organic sugars produced by photosynthesis. AMFs symbiotic relationship can convey other benefits to the host plant, such as disease resistance, insect resistance, toxicity resistance and salinity resistance.

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MONITOR FARMERS NEW TILLAGE STRATEGY

On a mission to improve soil health, AHDB Petworth monitor farmer Mark Chandler has been involved in non-inversion tillage for 20 years. Even after all this time, Mark feels it’s essential to try new tillage strategies in a quest to find the best ones for his West Sussex farm.

Mark looks to only move soil when necessary. At present, he is investigating how different levels of cultivation affect his wheat crops. Normally, Mark cultivates behind the combine with a Simba SL600 cultivator, running low disturbance (LD) legs and points. On compacted areas or tramlines before drilling, he usually uses an LD subsoiler and carrier discs. He drills with a Horsch Sprinter drill or an Amazone Cayena LD tined coulter drill.

He questioned whether all this heavy machinery was needed and whether less tillage would save time, money and improve the health of his soil. To investigate, Mark drilled wheat, with disc or tines, on undisturbed plots and cultivated plots. He dug soil pits to let him view the soil structure and make comparisons. He also compared these pits with the un-moved ground in a neighbouring field that generally had very good soil structure.

Mark found that first impressions could be deceiving. Although the cultivated plot looked good visually above ground, it was a far different story below ground – it had in fact been over-cultivated. The top four inches were too fine and held the moisture up, resulting in it sitting wetter. The untilled soil was the opposite – it seemed cosmetically poor from first glance but the soil structure under the surface was far better than the cultivated plots and it had increased water penetration. Although it was too early to judge the crop emergence and establishment, the rooting depth looked good.

Throughout this year, Mark will continue to measure his soil health using seed germination, plant counts and yield as indicators.

AHDB Petworth monitor farmer Mark Chandler usually drills with an Amazone Cayena LD or a Horsch Sprinter after a pass with the Simba SL cultivator.

Case Study


T: 01536 272220, [email protected], www.pottingeruk.co.uk

Seed after seed, perfect placement every time.AEROSEM 3002 ADD

� Combination units. Tine, disc or power harrow. � PCS – Precision Combi Seeding – Integrated precision planting of maize. � DUPLEX – Twin row maize seeding now available � IDS – Intelligent Distribution System – Remotely controlled independent row shut off.

FARM FACTS

TOTAL AREA MANAGED:

1,285HECTARES

(including tenancies, contract farming agreements and

stubble-to-stubble contracting).

ROTATION:SPRING MALTING

BARLEY

OILSEED RAPE

SPRING BEANS

WINTER WHEAT

FARM NAME: MOOR FARM

SOIL TYPES: LOAM OVER WEALD CLAY

WITH SOME SANDY CLAY LOAM

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON MARK’S MONITOR FARM, INCLUDING EVENT DATES,

VISIT: cereals.ahdb.org.uk/petworth

To conclude, soil fauna activities are the key to achieving healthy soils. Disruptive tillage strategies, however, can decimate these important soil engineers and degrade and erode the finite soil resource. Adoption of reduced till or no-till cultivation methods are becoming more prevalent

in supporting soil fauna activity and achieving healthy soils. Healthy soils are paramount for long-term sustainable production and halting the degradation and ultimate loss of the precious soil resource.

Case Study

CUTTING COSTS IN BEDFORDSHIREChris Papworth, Farm Manager at Little Staunton Farms in Bedfordshire has halved his fuel costs since purchasing a 6m Grange Machinery Low Disturbance Toolbar last year. Jane Brooks reports.

He farms 547ha of combinable crops on heavy clay, the farm itself covers 648ha, the remainder is woodland and has been in HLS for the last four years. Chris has to deal with heavy infestations of black-grass, something he feels previous heavy cultivation methods encouraged.

“Cropping on heavy clay is tough going, rotations vary, but are generally wheat, spring barley, oil seed rape and beans. We haven’t grown second wheat for two years, due to black-grass problems however, this year we’ve trying an area with less black-grass, which should be viable.

“2018 cropping is 318ha winter wheat, 106ha oil seed rape, 85ha spring barley and 38ha winter beans.”


INHERITED KIT

Chris has managed the farm for six years, inheriting kit from the previous manager who retired. He works closely with the landowner when buying machinery, having changed the cultivation system during his tenure, but both consider it a worthwhile investment going forward.

“The old kit did a reasonable job, there were downsides, the 3m tined stubble finisher took a lot of horsepower, we also cultivated once or twice after it, which wasn’t cost effective. Where a second pass was needed, often before drilling, we ran a Vaderstad Rexius twin press.”

Grange Machinery demonstrated their Low Disturbance Toolbar to Chris in October 2017, but after harvesting

Case Study

sugar beet later in the month, dry and hard ground conditions meant the old cultivator wasn’t up to the job and ploughing was out of the question.

Chris said “I approached Grange Machinery, after having it on demo, to hire their 6m machine because as the legs go in hydraulically you’re basically forcing the machine into the ground with the weight on the back of the tractor, so it could cultivate the beet ground. It did a great job, I thought this is the way forward and purchased it.”

The 6m model has 12 fixed legs, the depth is variable, although Chris hasn’t gone much over 8 inches, the dry summer caused environmental ground cracking making running at depth unnecessary.


OSR ESTABLISHMENT

“Establishing oil seed rape can be problematic due to flea beetle, so we tried linseed, putting in 23 hectares with the Grange which was successful. If we didn’t have serious black-grass problems I’d use it as a direct drill, but with black-grass, we need to move the soil a little to disturb the top 2 or 3 inches.”

This is where the toolbar comes into its own as well as cutting down on passes, it’s designed to minimise surface disturbance while removing compaction down to 30cm/12inches, keeping black-grass seeds where they are positioned in the soil profile. Any near the surface are encouraged to chit, and flushes can be sprayed off before drilling.

“THE IDEA WAS TO GO AWAY FROM MOVING EVERYTHING, INCREASE YIELDS WHERE POSSIBLE, BUT REDUCE THE COST OF

GROWING THE CROP, BUYING THE GRANGE LOW DISTURBANCE TOOL BAR HAS ENABLED US TO DO THAT.”

CHRIS PAPWORTH

Case Study


SPRING BARLEY INTO THE MIX

Other elements of the Little Staunton Farm regime included introducing spring barley into the rotation before OSR three years ago, to combat black-grass. Barley straw is baled to reduce slug populations.

Chris said, “We baled more wheat this year due to straw prices, but generally bale one in three wheat.

“We’re trying to raise organic levels by introducing cover crops, something else we do with the Grange. We find a low rate of mixed oats, linseed and a bit of oil radish, about 30 -50 kg hectare produces an open canopy, the roots help soil structure and the black-grass grows amongst it.

“We spray off in January, drilling spring barley at the end of February or early March, using the cover crop to encourage black-grass to chit before spraying.

“Originally we used higher rates to supress the black-grass but it kept growing throughout the winter and after spraying off still came in with the spring barley. We put slug pellets on while drilling.”

“This year because the linseed did well, we drilled cover crops in the same way, using the Grange with our Horsch Sprinter 6ST behind for a one-pass drilling system.

“There are various different points, we use the micro wing when pulling our Horsch Sprinter as it gives enough lift and shatter in front of the OSR and the standard wings for general use, it gives great lift and shatter across the total width of the machine without any boiling of the soil. It will be spring barley next year and come spring we’ll drill straight into the same seed bed.”

FUEL SAVINGS

The farm’s drill is a Horsch Sprinter 6ST, with 5-inch Dutch opener points for cereals and one-inch for OSR. The Grange LDT’s versatility impressed Chris with its fuel savings. He also has a Stocks seeder mounted to the Grange LDT, enabling one pass seeding.

“As well as using the Grange alone, we also connect it to our recently purchased Horsch Joker, doing just one pass using about 60 to 65l of fuel an hour, that’s with the legs in at about 8 inches and the discs on the Joker in at around 3 inches.

“Our old 3m heavy cultivator used similar fuel amounts, so effectively we’re covering double the area. I haven’t worked out overall savings yet, but on fuel use alone we’ve halved our establishment costs.”

Chris used the Grange on demo and occasionally since then, main operator Ben Burgoine is a big fan, particularly since the arrival of a 370hp John Deere 8370RT last year enabled its use with the Joker.

“The previous tractor had done high hours, it had enough power for the Grange but not for the cultivator

in tandem, the new model’s extra 50hp handles the work.” Explained Chris.

“Our Combine is a 30ft header Lexion 750, we’re on RTK, semi-controlled traffic and use the same tram lines year-on-year but not every machine works to the same width tramlines. We plough in an emergency, if a field has really bad black-grass we’ll plough to bury it.”

The sprayer is a five-year old 24m 4000l capacity Housham, which Chris hopes to replace with a larger boom with boom control, as they use variable rate seeding and VR nitrogen applications.

Two Agronomists, Ed Schofield of Frontier and Independent Kevin Kelly look after the farm Ed covers two thirds, while Kevin covers the remainder, which was taken back in hand six years ago having been on a FBT. Chris likes it this way he says the more opinions the better and he bounces ideas around them both.

CHRIS HAS SHARED HIS FUEL COSTINGS:

6m Grange LDTRunning the Grange at 8 inches and pulling the joker at 3 inches;65l/hr. of diesel, diesel at 59p litre = £35.40 At 8km, Grange at 6m wide = 6ha/hr.Total cost per Ha = £5.90

Previous 3m tined cultivator Running at 8 inches65l/hr. @59p litre = £35.40At 8km at 3m wide = 3ha/hr.Total cost per Ha = £11.80

Vaderstad RexiusTwin pressRunning at 4 inches45l/hr. @59p litre = £26.55At 9.5km at 5.5m wide = 7.5ha/hr.Total cost per Ha = £3.54

Figures based on diesel costs alone and don’t include the man on the seat or machine running costs (wearing parts etc.).

Chris noted the wearing parts bill should reduce because Grange Machinery parts are better value for money, with about a third less wearing parts on the machine.

Case Study

MACHINE OVERVIEW

Yorkshire based Grange Machinery’s Low Disturbance Toolbar can be used with a trailed implement or as a standalone shallow subsoiler. The unit is also used to loosen headlands or tramlines before fieldwork, or with a drill as a one-pass combination.

Designed to reduce at least one drilling and cultivation pass, a fixed frame mounts on the tractor’s rear linkage and features a choice of rear adjustable hitches are available. These comprise of a Clevis, Link Arm or Ball and Spoon and all are interchangeable. Rear hydraulic, electrical and IsoBus connections operate trailed implements/drill, if required.

A separate frame hydraulically lifts and lowers the cultivator’s low disturbance legs, (working depth 300mm) enabling the rear drawbar to maintain the trailed implement setup at constant height. Legs trip with shearbolt or auto-reset protection and the

Chris Papworth is seen here to the left with main operator Ben Burgoine, who is a big fan of the GRANGE Low Disturbance Toolbar.

front cutting discs aid in keeping minimum surface disturbance. Machine widths are available in 3m, 4m or 6m with six, eight or twelve legs; options include front cutting discs, and a range of point widths.

The operator can hydraulically lift/lower the low disturbance legs in front of the trailed implement, without affecting the trailed setup.

The 6m version has a unique headland turning system; the wings automatically fold using a single hydraulic service (the same as the lift and lower of legs) to a 90-degree position, converting the 6m machine to 3m-centre section for headland turning. It can also be locked at 6m working width if preferred.

Additionally, wings folded or remove for conversion to a wheel-track eradicator for removing tractor compaction when drilling or cultivating later on in the season.


Case Study

A TESTING TIME FOR GROWERS – A DIFFERENT APPROACH?It’s been a trying year for growers trying to manage autumn and spring crops following a very wet winter and spring plus the driest summer on record. Couple this to the fact that ag policy is set to have the environment at its heart, it begs the question what do farmers need to do to remain profitable? Marion King finds out.

AHDB Strategic Farmer Brian Barker chaired the crop establishment discussion panel at the recent Croptec event looking at what farmers might be able to do differently.

“As farmers we need to understand our soils much better. We need to get smarter and challenge our mind set.”

Brian farms 513ha in a family partnership in Suffolk. He grows winter wheat, herbage grass seed, spring linseed, winter barley and spring beans.

“What I have learnt is every year is different and you mustn’t get too hooked up on statistics because there are so many other variables. I’m trying to create a stronger plant through improving soil structure, nutrients and disease management. If we can reduce inputs out of a can as a result then we’ll be reducing our reliance on products and can reduce our costs.”

The panel were asked what they had learnt from this difficult year and what might they do differently.

NO TILL ROTATION

Farm manager Russell McKenzie is fighting black-grass with no-tillage and rotations that avoid second wheats. He manages 995ha of owned and contracted land north of Bedford growing wheat, oil seed rape, winter beans, winter barley, spring barley and spring oats.

“It’s been a tricky season with the volatile weather but our biggest challenge is trying to cut costs – machinery and fertiliser costs are all increasing. Black-grass is our biggest issue so it’s all about improving the soil. We know where the hotspots are. It’s a problem over about 15 to 20% of the land so we have rescheduled later October plantings for those areas.

We spread the rotations out and avoid growing any second wheats. We include OSR one year in every five and we might do two spring barleys in a row in the worse scenarios. If we jump too early back towards wheat and a more traditional rotation, then that’s when problems can start. But two consecutive competitive

Insight


about £53/ha on average across the farm. We employ a gang that work six days a week for three weeks to catch the black-grass between it reaching the top of the crop and seeding. The operation costs about £25,000 to £30,000 but our herbicide use has dropped. Our total cost of black-grass control is £90/ha on winter wheat fields including herbicides and hand rouging compared to £230-£240/ha if we were just relying on chemicals.

If you want to beat black-grass you have to change your system. Soil has a memory it never forgets how it’s worked. We cultivate heavy soils straight behind the combine so we work it dry and we work all our fields in August for spring cropping so they are cultivated dry. We also incorporate straw and sewage sludge – organic matter is building up and our soils are now in a better condition with all these methods.”

BUILDING ORGANIC MATTER

Norfolk farmer Adrian Whitehead, manages 2,500ha around Kings Lynn for Velcourt growing cereals, oil seed rape, beans, sugar beet, potatoes, vining peas and onions. His soils are variable silts which are light to heavy in clay content.

“Organic matter is an issue and my aim is to build organic matter up to make the soils more workable and productive. We are producing 10t/ha of wheat and 4t/ha of oil seed rape but I think we can do even better.

We also practice non-inversion where we can working the soil down to two inches and using Tilso legs to structure the soil profile. This helps deal with black-grass as it prevents seeds being brought up from depth. Where we do plough we do it early and use a progressive subsoiler such as a modified Keeble. We use a DD press ring for the last pass to increase surface area to allow more weathering.”

“It’s too early to see what the effects of the extra organic matter but our non-inversion practice has reduced our diesel use by 10 to 15% because it moves less soil,” he added.

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spring crops can normally get us in a good position.”

“We are moving towards no-till as its techniques are less invasive such as direct drilling and shallow cultivations. Looking after the soil this way means it retains more moisture and we have had less run-off when it rained after the dry summer this year,” he added.

MANUAL APPROACH TO BLACK-GRASS

Lincolnshire grower Andrew Ward is hand roguing to get rid of black-grass. His rotation includes winter and spring wheat, spring barley, spring oats, oil seed rape, sugar beet and grass for haylage across 650ha of owned, tenanted and contracted land. His soils are a mix of very heavy clay to a light sandy soil over limestone.

“We don’t drill any winter wheat until the last week of October, only grow high-tilling winter wheat varieties and use high seed rates to outcompete the black-grass. We hand-rogue the whole farm every year which costs

Hand rogueing – Andrew Ward

‘AS FARMERS WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND OUR SOILS MUCH BETTER’ BRIAN BARKER, AHDB STRATEGIC FARMER, SUFFOLK.

HEAVY LAND SPRING CROPPING – EVEN IN A CHALLENGING SEASONHeavy land with black-grass problems has the potential to generate better margins with spring cereals than winter wheat. Even when spring establishment conditions were as challenging as they were in 2018, says the latest findings from the Agrii black-grass technology centre at Stow Longa in Cambridgeshire. Tillage & Soils found out more.

“Last season was a reality check for many on heavy land using spring cropping to break the black-grass cycle,” Trials manager Steve Corbett stressed. “We calculate the very late, wet spring meant we had nearly 600t/ha more water to deal with at Stow Longa than the previous season. On the heavy boulder clay this seriously got in the way of our drilling plans and put a huge amount of pressure on soil structure. The summer drought may have helped address the structural damage but it certainly didn’t help our spring crop performance either.

“As a result, average yields across our extensive field-scale spring cereal cultivation and cover cropping trials at 4.38t/ha were almost exactly 2t/ha down on 2017. Despite healthier crop prices, average margins were pulled down by particularly poor spring wheat performances, reinforcing our view that, on our ground at least, the choice has to be between spring barley and spring oats.

“At November 2018 values, Sangria barley for

Budweiser brewing, for instance delivered us the best margins at up to £663/ha and contract-grown RPB Elyann oats generated up to £536/ha against a maximum of £94/ha for KWS Cochise wheat.

“Over the years, we’ve found all three spring cereals can be very effective in managing bad black-grass,” said Steve. “Growing them correctly, we typically cut infestations of 300 ears/m2 in winter wheat down to less than 10 ears/m2.

“With the original wheat/wheat/rape rotation at Stow Longa our initial spring cropping work concentrated on wheat. However, issues with its competitiveness – especially when late- sown – not to mention ergot and gout fly, have led us to focus far more on barley and oats in recent years.

“Both these crops have proved much more competitive against black-grass than wheat and deliver better, and most importantly, very much more consistent performance and margins.”


N high spring barley plots

Agronomy


KEYS TO SUCCESS WITH HEAVY LAND ESTABLISHMENT

Trials manager, Steve Corbett insists their establishment needs to be planned and managed with care and, above all, patience to ensure the best performance at the least risk. From his work he identifies a number of agronomic keys to success:

• choosing the right crop and variety;

• setting-up the ground correctly in the autumn;

• drilling by soil condition rather than calendar date

• ensuring minimal soil movement;

• prioritising early nutrition.

Steve Corbett

CHOOSING THE DRILLING SLOT

There were major differences apparent between the performance of the barley sown as planned on March 22 under very challenging conditions and that drilled more than a month later on April 27 into much warmer and altogether better seedbeds.

Averaged across the 11 main soil preparation treatments, the March-sown crop following spring oats the previous year yielded 4.63 t/ha to earn a margin of £388, against the 5.77t/ha and £607/ha of the April sown crop that also followed oats (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Spring Barley after Spring Oats Performance 2018

“These results are complicated by the fact that we switched from the Sangria for all our main sowings to Explorer for the later drilling because of its much faster development ability,” noted Steve Corbett.

PATIENCE HAS A VIRTUE

“As well as the importance of choosing the right variety for the drilling slot, this very nicely underlines the value of patience in spring barley establishment. Conditions in March were far from ideal for our minimum disturbance Sky disc drill, so the seed went into very ‘slotty’ conditions with much more smearing than we like.

“We deliberately left one whole strip for later sowing just to see. And by our next drilling opportunity at the end of April the ground was in a beautiful state as well as much warmer. The crop drilled superbly, the soil flowing well around the coulters without a hint of smearing. Patience is, indeed, a virtue.”

COVER CROPS GIVE MIXED RESULTS

Interestingly too, while the Stow Longa team has struggled to achieve margins from cover cropping that match those from cultivation-based spring cereal establishment strategies over the years, this wasn’t the case with the 2018 March barley drillings. Across all the earlier-drilled ground margins from the five cover crop treatments averaged £576/ha against £572/ha from the cultivation regimes.

This position was reversed with the later-drilled crop – almost certainly due to the much better conditions overall – giving the cultivation regimes a margin advantage of almost £37/ha so that across the entire trial they generated an average margin £12/ha better than the cover cropping.

“Although our work shows cover cropping has little, if any, value in controlling black-grass, these results are beginning to suggest some valuable soil health and structural benefits from the practice,” Steve Corbett observed. “It is important to realise, however, though, that this comes after four years of continuous cover cropping. So it’s clearly no quick fix.

“As well as generating encouraging 2018 barley margins, the cover cropped ground – especially where we have been growing phacelia every year – gave us noticeably better drilling conditions last March.

Soil structure beneath phacelia

Agronomy


SOIL IMPROVEMENTS

“Organic matter testing in May also suggests we could be seeing valuable soil improvements from the best cover cropping regimes,” he added. “As do both aerobic microbial activity and nitrogen mineralisation potential calculated from Solvita soil respiration measurements (Table 2).

“So the slight annual margin deficit we are seeing for biology against metal in soil preparation four years into the trial programme could well represent a worthwhile long-term investment in soil improvement and weather risk management.”

THE ROLE OF PREVIOUS CROPS

Also important in achieving the best results from spring cereals, the 2018 Stow Longa research shows, is previous cropping. Very much poorer yields and margins were recorded for both spring barley and oats following spring oats with substantially better performances following spring beans.

Plough Shallow Tillage

Direct Drilling

Phacelia Black Oat & Radish

Organic matter (%) 4.5 4.4 4.4 5.4 4.9

Microbial biomass (mg/kg) 1284 1702 1988 2340 1922

Potentially mineralisable N (kg/ha) 37 48 54 70 55

Table 2: Stow Longa Soil Health Testing (May 2018)

Spring oats at Stow Longa

Demonstrating soil structure beneath cover cropping

Agronomy


Figure 2: Stow Longa Spring Cereal Performances after Previous Crops

Assessing soil structure under cereals

“Growing a spring cereal after spring oats is asking for trouble in our experience, especially in a cold wet spring like 2018,” noted Steve Corbett. “Without adequate metal at depth, they leave far too much straw to get in the way of establishment and, being shallow rooted, give little soil structuring. Unsurprisingly this is where we see the greatest yield and margin benefits from either a plough in the rotation or a good cover cropping regime.

“In complete contrast, spring beans leave little trash and their deep rooting works wonders for soil structure and drainage. Here we see cultivation regimes delivering substantially better results than cover cropping.

“This reinforces the critical importance of setting-up soils correctly for spring cropping,” he stressed. “This is essential with ground as unforgivingly heavy as that at Stow Longa and where our primary objective in drilling is to place seed with the least possible soil movement so we don’t wake-up the black-grass.

CULTIVATE TO THE SOIL NEEDS

“We take great care in targeting our autumn cultivations to the particular needs of the soil with a traffic light system very similar to the one we always use in our black-grass management. In this case, red means early metal at depth is important to deal with tight soils or wherever we have compaction concerns while green means the least possible working.

“For both black-grass and soil condition we aim to set up the ground with an early cultivation – or a cover crop which we always sow from our Lemken Karat which gives good shallow working for the best start. Then we leave it well alone until the spring when we spray off the cover and weed growth with glyphosate and drill without further cultivation. As well as not waking-up black-grass we want to do everything we can to avoid unnecessary trafficking to minimise soil damage, loss of moisture in a dry spring and, of course, cost.

“With well-planned attention to detail in general and soil condition, in particular, we know spring cropping can be very rewarding financially on Stow Longa’s heavy ground as well as being the best thing we can do to deal with bad black-grass,” he concluded. “Then, once we’ve got black-grass levels down to an acceptable level, we can go back in with a winter wheat that really will earn its keep.”

Agronomy

TRAFFIC ISSUES The majority of growers still do not use ‘Controlled Traffic Farming’ (CTF) techniques, even though they could be among the farmers to benefit most from them. Jonathan Wheeler reports


Paul Newell-Price

cultivations, weeding, spraying and fertilizer applications – would be completed from the wheel tracks.

Where necessary, other operations could be completed using different tracks – and any soil damage repaired - with the CTF system being reinstated as soon as they were complete.

The survey looked at 75 fields across those 49 farms and assessed whether their soils had suffered damage during crop establishment, he told a Soil & Water conference at Harper Adams University.

The vast majority of the fields surveyed were ploughed, and before drilling between 60% and 70% of them had a well-developed tillage pan, which was still evident in some of the fields after crop establishment.

Bulk density measurements of soils deeper in the soil profile indicated that around 70% of the fields also exhibited evidence of deep soil compaction as well.

Soil compaction is a physical problem with very real financial costs, says Paul:

“It can have a significant impact on crop yields

Highlighting the findings of an ADAS survey that compared the state of soils on 49 farms, Paul Newell-Price, an ADAS soil scientist, said that only two of the farms involved in the study used CTF.

He suspects that many farmers feel they would struggle to adhere to the principles because they use so many different machines which operate on different wheel tracks.

But he has a ‘seasonal’ solution – under which those machines that can use the tracks do, and the potential for damage caused by machines not running on the tracks is minimized.

SEASONAL CTF

These systems are already being introduced in countries like the Netherlands.

Under seasonal CTF in-season operations –

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because it causes things like uneven crop development, reduced timeliness and increase fuel use, because compacted soils are harder to work.

“Crops may also face higher weed and disease pressure because they are struggling, and irrigation costs may also rise”.

The fields covered in the survey were growing a range of different annual and perennial crops, including vining peas, brassicas and salad crops:

“Our survey suggested that cultivation was not always matched to soil conditions and that farmers did not carry out visual soil condition checks before starting work”.

CTF offered the potential to avoid such issues, he suggests, and ensure better growing conditions in the ‘bed areas’ between the wheel tracks.

As an example of its successful adoption in horticulture he cited the achievements of Barfoots Ltd, which grows a range of crops on sites in Hampshire and West Sussex:

“They have moved away from a conventional cultivation system with lots of different machines working on different tracks”.

That system meaning that virtually every part of the field received a wheeling at some stage of the crop rotation, and a significant parts of the field received more than one:

“Their new system combines controlled traffic, reduced tillage and cover cropping, and the area of the field trafficked has fallen from over 100% to around 35%”.

‘OUR SURVEY SUGGESTED THAT CULTIVATION WAS NOT ALWAYS MATCHED TO SOIL CONDITIONS AND THAT FARMERS DID NOT CONDUCT SOIL CONDITION CHECKS BEFORE STARTING WORK’

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“Brassicas such as mustard, radish and turnips offer rapid growth, good groundcover and deep rooting, and may offer bio-fumigant potential.

“Legumes such as vetch and clover are good for nitrogen fixation and their rooting helps improve soil structure, but careful establishment is needed.

“Grass and cereal mixes offer good ground cover to counter erosion protection problems”.

They could also be used as a ‘nurse crop’ – to reduce soil erosion risks and to prevent wind blow of bare soils.

But careful planning is required to ensure they don’t act a ‘green bridge’ for pests and diseases affecting similar crops:

“You need to decide what you are trying to do. Are you trying to improve soil structure; improve water management; or manage soil nitrogen better?”

Early establishment was crucial, he adds, citing work completed at the Allerton project’s farm at Loddington, Leicestershire.

This suggested that sowing in early August could achieve six times as much ground cover as crops sown in early September, although results depended on ground conditions at harvest and the season’s conditions.

But other research – particularly that completed by Agrovista and Bayer at Lamport, Northamptonshire – had suggested that cover crops have only a limited ability to reduce black-grass populations:

“Helping make the soil a less hospitable place for black-grass development will help, and combining careful management and cover crops can have a very definite benefit in terms of reducing black-grass populations”.

Dr Paul Lewis

PATIENCE WITH COVER CROPS

Successful cover cropping requires a range of disciplines, key among them being patience, Dr Paul Lewis told the conference.

He feels too many farmers have been scared off them for a variety of reasons, a key one being that they are afraid of the cost and work involved.

Other fears include that they might act as a ‘green bridge’ for pests and diseases between one crop and the next.

Alternatively, they might try them but abandon them too quickly, so they never appreciate the benefits that might accrue from consistent use over several years:

“Take your time with them; figure out what your primary need is and don’t be afraid to experiment.

“Be brave; think novel; experiment; fail and try again; it’s a learning curve”, Dr Lewis, from Harper Adams University’s Crop and Environmental Sciences Department said.

“Soil structure benefits may not accrue until the second or third year, and cover crops need to be rotated as much as any other crop does. There are a lot of decisions to be made.

Keys to success include having a clear idea of what you want to achieve and then choosing the right crop for each situation:

He now leaves the tramlines in the same position each year: “We regard them as sacrificial areas”.

NO-TILL APPROACH OFFERS BENEFITS

NO-TILL crop establishment is helping Tim Ashton, from Soulton Hall, Shropshire, achieve several benefits on his arable farm.

“We have been no-till for five years and can see lower soil density, much better water infiltration and greater earthworm numbers”.

He says the growing soil biology is helping it restructure and become more fertile, to the extent that he has been able to cut nitrogen applications by 15%.

The significant growth in organic matter is also having a benefit, enabling him to reduce chemical usage, and most wheat crops grown after oilseeds don’t need any slug pellets.

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“I had decided to stop growing asparagus on one particular field, but Cranfield disagreed and designed a plan that included regular grass walk ways across the field to slow down the water flow.

“We are now in a four year trial to test all sorts of techniques to help in this aim”, he says, pointing out that there isn’t a single field on the farm left bare over winter. He suspects farmers may not have a choice on this in the future.

NEW SOLUTIONS TO PROTECT SOIL

Even a crop that has a terrible reputation for causing soil erosion can be produced safely if the right precautions are taken.

John Chinn, from Cobrey Farms, Herefordshire, describes asparagus as a ‘habitual environmental offender’, but grows some 850 hectares of the crop.

Cobrey Farms runs some 1,500 hectares, with just over 1,000 of that in Herefordshire and smaller units in Norfolk and Suffolk.

In recent years he has worked with Cranfield University to design production systems that minimize the risks of water run-off and soil removal.

With Cranfield they did a detailed survey of the farms to identify the areas where water run off was causing the most significant problems, and decide how to address them.

The solution was to map the areas where water flow was worst and work on them.

They used a digger to turn those routes into shallow channels which, some of which were lined with geotextile, jute or coconut coia matting, and then sowing them with grass.

This approach ensures that, while the water still runs off, it travels slowly, minimising or eliminating its erosive power and its potential for carrying soil into watercourses.

In addition they have started under sowing the asparagus crops with rye:

“That does an excellent job of retaining water throughout the winter. Where the water does run it is normally clear”.

The rye provides over-winter cover to the asparagus beds and is harvested in the spring before the asparagus starts to grow, with the resulting crop being used in an anaerobic digester.

“We decided we needed to minimize all water run-off and improve soil structure. We were convinced that the problems were solvable”.

They used a similar technique in Suffolk, with a similar aim – to ensure that the water that ran off the land did so at a non-erosive velocity, which they have achieved by making sure the grassed areas slope at the appropriate angle.

Learn more at vaderstad.com

Spirit

Spirit R. The new Spirit R 3mseed drill incorporates manyinnovations, all with ground-breaking technical solutions.It is equipped with latestE-Control and Gatewaycontrol system.

Spirit. Spirit maintainsprecision during drilling athigh speed and is particularlysuited to soils that requiredouble consolidation. Spirit400-900 is available as Seedonly or Combi.

High precision – perfect emergence

‘ANY SUCCESSOR TO THE SINGLE FARM PAYMENT SHOULD BE DEPENDENT ON LAND HAVING A GREEN COVER ON IT OVER THE WINTER’ JOHN CHINN

Insight


The CupWheel Tire, developed by Galileo Wheel, made a big impact in the farming community when it was first unveiled in 2013. Now, following years of close and productive partnership with Mitas followed by Trelleborg, the CupWheel Tire is the subject of heated anticipation and discussion once again as Galileo Wheel expands its partnership network of forward-looking machinery manufacturers, farmers and construction operators.

The CupWheel Tire uniquely combines the advantages of both radial agricultural tires and tracks, delivering a brand-new design concept that maximises efficiency and reduces soil compaction while minimising downtime. “The CupWheel Tire is a new and transformational way of connecting your machine to the soil,” said Avishay Novoplanski, CupWheel inventor and Chief Technology Officer at Galileo Wheel. “For years we have been refining every aspect, every function, to create the apex of tire performance in agriculture and industry. This is a new dimension of traction efficiency and productivity,

THE CUPWHEEL TIRE IS BACK

DEMAND UP 50% FOR IN-HOUSE DRAINAGELincolnshire drainage experts Shelton have reported an increase in demand of over 50% for their hire service, as farmers invest in drainage. The firm also offer a partnership service, where farmers can hire a trencher, plus all associated machinery and a skilled operator. Shelton Director Richard Clark said: “Well drained land can typically benefit from yield improvements of 25-35% and farmers know this. We’ve seen steady growth since we launched, but last year’s wet winter really highlighted any underlying drainage issues. This scheme gives farmers the opportunity to get their drainage done when it suits them and benefit from potential cost savings through using in house labour”.

Farmer James Arguile from Gringley-on-the-Hill used the partnership scheme in November to drain 10

one that will boost results, cut costs, and offer greater user comfort. These are big claims, I’m aware. Galileo Wheel has worked intensively to ensure those big claims are matched by our technology.”

Key Features

• Larger footprint with uniform load distribution

• Better traction for enhanced efficiency and energy savings

• Improved ride comfort and safety

• Increased durability of tread and side walls

• Enhanced lateral stability for improved steering and slope performance

In anticipation of their showing at SIMA 2019, Galileo Wheel have revealed their intentions for the CupWheel Tire’s future. “As a business, we prefer to focus our resources on ensuring our products meet the high standards that farmers and construction operators expect – as they should – of their everyday machinery,” said Rami Einav, Marketing & Sales Director at Galileo Wheel. “As we enter new partnerships, the product development is now progressing at an astonishing rate. For our customers, this will transform everyday operations. For manufacturers, this is a chance to collaborate on ground-breaking new developments that redefine what to expect from their equipment.”

acres of land on his Nottinghamshire farm, which suffered from black-grass. Mr Arguile said: “I had assumed we would hire a drainage contractor, but I met Sheltons at the Midlands Machinery Show and was impressed with their trencher plus I liked the fact that we could carry out the work ourselves. We hired a John Deere tractor, CT150 trencher, gravel cart, backfilling blade and laser from them and Richard spent the first day training us on how to use the equipment and setting falls and gradients etc which was invaluable. It was easy to use and all ran very smoothly, I’m very happy with the work. It has made a decent field into a very good one!”

Tech Update


VADERSTAD LAUNCHES LARGEST HIGH SPEED SMALL SEED PRECISION PLANTERVäderstad has launched the new high-speed precision planter Tempo L 24, which is the largest high-speed precision planter for sugar beet and oilseed rape to date.

Tempo L 24 has 24 row units and 450 to 508mm row spacings. Each seed hopper holds 25 litres and the machine can be equipped for fertiliser metering with a 5000 litre fertiliser hopper.

With patented seed metering using PowerShoot technology, Vaderstad claim the Tempo delivers an unmatched precision at very high speed.

Tempo L 24 went into production in November 2018 with new machines being available for the autumn in the UK.

NEW HORSCH SHUTTLE IMPROVES LOGISTICSHORSCH’s logistics range, which includes the 34m3 Titan chaser bin, has been expanded to include two new lorry-mounted units; the HORSCH Shuttle 10000F for seed and granular fertiliser, and the HORSCH Shuttle 8000L for liquids.

“Keeping high-performance drills and sprayers supplied with inputs is essential to maintaining a high daily work rate. The HORSCH Shuttle improves on-farm logistics, allowing operators to do this easily. The Shuttle is built to the same high standards as all HORSCH machinery and includes proven components from our broad product range,” explains Stephen Burcham, General Manager at HORSCH UK.

Both Shuttle models can be mounted on the rear of a four-wheel-drive lorry. An adaptive connection system allows the Shuttle to be easily attached to a wide range of lorry variants. Built-in fork guides enable the Shuttle to be manoeuvred safely with a fork lift truck.

The Shuttle 10000F features a 10,000-litre hopper and a conveyor belt capable of loading a drill with seed or fertiliser at 2000kg per minute.

Tech Update

‘Tillage & Soils’ is published four times a year and is available on subscription for a cost of £15/year.

Contact FarmSmart Publishing LtdKillington Hall Farm, Killington, Kirkby Lonsdale, Carnforth, LA6 2HAt: 0845 6522 326f: 0845 6522 327tillagemagazine.net

Editor: Andy Newbold - [email protected]: Andy Newbold - [email protected]: Kate Mason - [email protected] sales - [email protected]: Marion King - [email protected] editor: Jane Brooks - [email protected]

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be copied in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, this includes photocopying or on any information storage or retrieval system without the prior consent of the publisher.

We accept no responsibility for unsolicited features or photographs, which will not be returned. By submitting copy, text or pictures to the magazine you are agreeing to their publication either in full or edited.

Preview – in the Summer edition we will be looking forward to harvest and thinking about the lessons learnt from this seasons establishment.

VENTA 1030 HR 1040 SERIES

Ultimate adaptability

KUHN’s new generation pneumatic drill combinationoffers operator-friendly adjustments, ensuring tailoredperformance in any conditions.

Seedbed preparation

• Working depth and levelling bar positionhydraulically adjustable from cab

Seeding

• Electronic seed metering allows wide seed raterange and variable rate capability

• Speed sensing radar ensures accurate placement athigh speeds

• Ultimate seed placement and depth control fromSEEDFLEX disc coulter innovation

Patented design of the drill and power harrow linkagemeans tillage and seeding are independent functions,improving overall machine adaptability. This alsocreates a compact unit and enables uncoupling in less than 10 minutes.

be strong, be KUHNforage harvesting I livestock husbandry I arable I landscape maintenance

www.kuhn.co.uk

Variable rate drilling

Electronic seed metering suited to variablerate applicationsISOBUS-compatible KUHN CCI 1200 universalterminal enables transfer of soil maps fromthird party systemsSplit screen function allows simultaneouscontrol of multiple parameters

Tillage Full page 165x240Venta.qxp_Layout 1 20/12/2018 14:04 Page 1

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