Aviator timelapse video

[JNG]

Sorry been out of the chemical game for a few years, but doesn't the fact that your crop gets a disease perhaps mean that your husbandry is in some way failing?
Perhaps that last few tens of units of N to force the plant may have opened it up to disease?
We seldom see much disease now, healthy plants grow away from it. I just wonder about the economics of chucking high rates of N on a crop, then having to spray 4 times. Does the extra ton or so an acre pay?

Could you give us a quick run down on producing organic wheat, yield expectations etc, I assume no chems at all, are some chem fert allowed eg SOP ? do you use high or low seed rates? what is your assumed production cost/ton?

I am liking the idea of less spend leading to less required spend but alot of work needs to be done on that here for me, traditionally we are fairly high input levels but obviously its not adding up too well at the moment for wheat especially. Septoria the main issue, so need to figure a preventative system where we reduce pressure by having healthier plants by reducing stress (caused by herbicides, too much N etc) before disease season starts April onwards.

 

[Andrew K]

Was with someone the other day who suggested growing wheat with inadequate septoria protection was like venturing into a Thai brothel without a condom!

 

[franklin]

I will be using Avaitor at T2.

Not sure if I am going at 1lt or 1.25lt.

Used it last year and was very good.

 

[warksfarmer]

can we see your breakdown of £120/ac input costs volume barely costs £40 ac just for seed, fert atleast £55 sprays ??

Sorry I think I've confused matters as the £120/acre statement was just that really it should cost 1 tonne of wheat input wise to grow it.

Getting the input cost to £40/tonne was achieved as follows:

Seed £26.70/acre (farm saved, royalty paid and priced at market price on the day out of the shed), cleaned and dressed with the cheapest dressing available.

Fert P & K from compost £20.20/acre
N & S (liquid) £69/acre

Chems:
Herbs £15.66/acre
Fungs £20.15/acre
Others £7.10/acre

Total input spend £158.81/acre.

Sold tonnage dried £3.8t/acre = £41.79/tonne.

Costs taken from last year and off 250ac of one variety (Edgar). I think we need to up the herbicide spend a bit and maybe cut the P & K costs out. Adding cover crops will up the costs though as its a benefit to the following crop but maybe will cut the herb and fert spend so could cancel things out.

A good saving is the seed so we just buy a tonne of new seed and then grow it on ........ Solstice seed was nearly 10 years old when we dropped it and it still pumped out 3.5t at group 1 spec in its last year. Also do you need to spend the £30 or so on the seed dressing? Not sure we do now and we will see what happens with some spring wheat now sown here that had no dressing on it but was cleaned.

 

[Barleycorn]

Could you give us a quick run down on producing organic wheat, yield expectations etc.

We haven't grown wheat for a few years, as I can't find a variety to match the yield of barley, oats, or rye. Modern wheat varieties are bred to be fed like babies, whereas rye will put down roots and scavenge nutrients. I have tried some really old varieties, but the yield just wasnt there, although it was pretty unknown seed from a local thatcher.
We can use some p and k fertilisers, but only if our indices are under 2.
We can get 2 to 2 1/2 tons of rye, and a fantastic amount of straw, which sells well into an organic compost plant for mushrooms.
Spring barley and spring oats yield a little less.
We drill 1 1/2 cwt / acre, except where its undersown then we cut it back to cwt.
As to cost I suppose I ought to work it out, but there are so many variables, such as rotation, slurry and compost. Also some may be taken for wholecrop, and the rest is ground for the cattle.
On a block of purely arable ground away from the main farm we grow about 5 years Lucerne, a couple of arable crops, then back into a red clover ley. Seed comes out of the barn, and we will put on ten tons of compost a year, about £50. This seems to keep our indices up enough, although where we have taken massive silage cuts in the past, we have had potash deficiency and had to spread some potash. Also all the farm gets a cwt of keiserite.

 

[Goffer]

Sorry I think I've confused matters as the £120/acre statement was just that really it should cost 1 tonne of wheat input wise to grow it.

Getting the input cost to £40/tonne was achieved as follows:

Seed £26.70/acre (farm saved, royalty paid and priced at market price on the day out of the shed), cleaned and dressed with the cheapest dressing available.

Fert P & K from compost £20.20/acre
N & S (liquid) £69/acre

Chems:
Herbs £15.66/acre
Fungs £20.15/acre
Others £7.10/acre

Total input spend £158.81/acre.

Sold tonnage dried £3.8t/acre = £41.79/tonne.

Costs taken from last year and off 250ac of one variety (Edgar). I think we need to up the herbicide spend a bit and maybe cut the P & K costs out. Adding cover crops will up the costs though as its a benefit to the following crop but maybe will cut the herb and fert spend so could cancel things out.

A good saving is the seed so we just buy a tonne of new seed and then grow it on ........ Solstice seed was nearly 10 years old when we dropped it and it still pumped out 3.5t at group 1 spec in its last year. Also do you need to spend the £30 or so on the seed dressing? Not sure we do now and we will see what happens with some spring wheat now sown here that had no dressing on it but was cleaned.

we'd really like your fungicide program t 1 so far has cost £18 with pgr included t2 would think be similar

 

[warksfarmer]

we'd really like your fungicide program t 1 so far has cost £18 with pgr included t2 would think be similar

First thing to do is throw the 'T' program out of the window. It was created by supply companies.

3 cheap fungicides (epoxy, teb, prop) will cost you not a lot. Apply one of them every month when you think it's required.

However to be clear we aim for 3.5t/ac of g1 wheat. Anything over that is free. We have got grade 3 soil which has a yield max. Yes it occasionally does just over 4t/ac but likewise it can also do 3t/ac. We are only interested in long term averages though. The UK's average wheat yield is 3t/ac and even in 2013's mega yield year only rose to 3.3t/ac.

 

[Baling Hay]

This is an interesting time lapse, seems fungicides might just do something @warksfarmer

I wonder how a companion crop in there would affect it? Say beans with wheat bit like your peaola?

 

[Chae1]

First thing to do is throw the 'T' program out of the window. It was created by supply companies.

3 cheap fungicides (epoxy, teb, prop) will cost you not a lot. Apply one of them every month when you think it's required.

However to be clear we aim for 3.5t/ac of g1 wheat. Anything over that is free. We have got grade 3 soil which has a yield max. Yes it occasionally does just over 4t/ac but likewise it can also do 3t/ac. We are only interested in long term averages though. The UK's average wheat yield is 3t/ac and even in 2013's mega yield year only rose to 3.3t/ac.

I agree. Can spend all you want but weather will have biggest influence on yield at end of day.