Farmer Focus: Out and about with a run of farm events
© Richard Stanton The return of farm events this year after a two-year absence has been a welcome chance to catch up with people.
June seems to have had plenty of events, with Cereals, Groundswell, AHDB Monitor Farm walks, the local Adas trials open day, and Farm Herefordshire’s Muck, Phosphate and Water day all attended.
Having made the effort to go to these events, it is important that you come away with at least one take-home message.
See also: How home-made compost improves soil health for two farms
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For me, the one common theme was that the most sustainable way of farming (good farming practice), across all sectors, is also the most profitable.
Minimising waste (in every sense of the word) means more return on investment, therefore having a positive effect on the bottom line.
On the farm we have had just enough rainfall, at weekly intervals and of varying amounts, to keep everything ticking along, but like most of the country we are dry.
A June with a higher number of sunshine hours than we have seen in recent years should help with grain fill and provide some much-needed weight in the grain.Â
Crops on the farm are currently looking average to good, with the wheat, barley and beans shaping up as the top performers.
Oilseed rape and spring linseed are somewhere in the middle, and the spring oats are down at the bottom.
Rapeseed crops were hit hard by mealy cabbage aphid. Threshold levels were probably exceeded, but I decided not to treat for it, and it looks like there will be a yield penalty.
Early drilled crops look to have been more affected than the later ones.
Grass weed control in the wheat has been pleasing this year, with residuals doing a fantastic job.
Broadway Star (florasulam + pyroxsulam) in the spring works well on the troublesome fields and was limited to 12m headlands, where history tells us we have less of a problem.
Harvest preparation is now under way, and like many we are expecting the start date to be slightly earlier than average.
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