Crop judging

Clive

Staff Member
Moderator
Location
Lichfield
it's usually just a "who can spend the most". competition

when Ive done it I like to ask what's been spent, anyone who doesn't know is automatically discounted points as is anyone who used a contractor and similar for anyone using an agronomist as simply paying the bills doesn't make you a great farmer in my book

or you can just judge it as a beauty competition and dam the cost / viability or who is actulay responsible for how it looks ?
 

ajd132

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Suffolk
it's usually just a "who can spend the most". competition

when Ive done it I like to ask what's been spent, anyone who doesn't know is automatically discounted points as is anyone who used a contractor and similar for anyone using an agronomist as simply paying the bills doesn't make you a great farmer in my book

or you can just judge it as a beauty competition and dam the cost / viability or who is actulay responsible for how it looks ?
I steward on our local one and after a few years i realised that most farms have ’that” field. I can now usually guess which fields or fields we will go to on each farm!
I’ve always through the best crops all look very similar its really hard to judge without knowing what money has been spent on them.
 

snarling bee

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Bedfordshire
I have done farm judging before and whilst driving around was asked to 'look over there to the right at all those trees I have planted' just before a gateway on the left side of the track leading into a field full of wild oats. On spotting the wild oats I was told 'that's not our field'. A year or 2 later I returned to the same farm on a discussion group visit. You can guess which field we went looking at!!

PS the best afternoon tea won!!
 

Brisel

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Midlands
Hard to judge! I've judged whole farms & cover crops before. Whole farms are tricky but start looking around the yards & you can usually find the really tidy ones, usually overstaffed!

The best cover crop was a mustard seed crop grown for seed that I eliminated immediately as a cash crop! The next best was sown before a dry spell and was wall to wall thick & clean. Not difficult.
 

DangerRanger

Member
BASE UK Member
it's usually just a "who can spend the most". competition

when Ive done it I like to ask what's been spent, anyone who doesn't know is automatically discounted points as is anyone who used a contractor and similar for anyone using an agronomist as simply paying the bills doesn't make you a great farmer in my book

or you can just judge it as a beauty competition and dam the cost / viability or who is actulay responsible for how it looks ?
I agree about a beauty competition but the criteria is best and cleanest crop not the most economic or profitable.
 

DangerRanger

Member
BASE UK Member
Been asked to judge some crops next month, probably wheat. A bit apprehensive about it as have never done it before! Any advice please?
I score 1-20 in the following criteria:
1. First impression
2. Weeds (low scores for weeds especially blackgrass)
3. Disease
4. Yield potential (count seedhead and work out plants/m2)
5. Attention to detail (I like to see tidy corners, neat around poles and headland turns to minimise crop damage etc)

And remember the judge is always right.
 

Clive

Staff Member
Moderator
Location
Lichfield
I agree about a beauty competition but the criteria is best and cleanest crop not the most economic or profitable.

true - but I cant get away from my own view thats its a business and not a garden

I once judged in Shropshire and 95% of the farms used the same agronomist and same contractor .......... was rather pointless really !

probably why i avoid it all I guess
 

DangerRanger

Member
BASE UK Member
I’ve learned a lot from crop judging and I always think attention to detail always shows through! And well timed cheaper chemistry at sensible water rates often give better control than expensive chemistry applied in less than ideal conditions and water rates with compromised timings etc. I agree you can start to see a pictures of serviced agronomist and contractors operating in the area. I do however think the attention to detail, neatness and timing really shows through and can make the decisions easy.
 

Spencer

Member
Location
North West
true - but I cant get away from my own view thats its a business and not a garden

I once judged in Shropshire and 95% of the farms used the same agronomist and same contractor .......... was rather pointless really !

probably why i avoid it all I guess
What, Shropshire?
 

CPF

Member
Arable Farmer
When I’ve done it, I’ve taken a tag with me, like you put on your suitcase,
So pull a plant up put a tag on , farmer name on it, then put in your vehicle
And so on .
Then when you do your final score lay them out and you got them all to compare.

Also you can write down on the tag who gives you a brown envelope🤣
 

CPF

Member
Arable Farmer
We struggle now in our farming club to get real farmers to enter just can’t be bothered.
But the ones that enter the most are farm manger’s and contractor’s
If they win looks good on their cv or reporting back to the owner.
 

Will you help clear snow?

  • yes

    Votes: 70 32.0%
  • no

    Votes: 149 68.0%

The London Palladium event “BPR Seminar”

  • 15,043
  • 234
This is our next step following the London rally 🚜

BPR is not just a farming issue, it affects ALL business, it removes incentive to invest for growth

Join us @LondonPalladium on the 16th for beginning of UK business fight back👍

Back
Top