Going forward with Oilseed Rape.

Daniel

Member
Given that the neonic ban seems to be finishing off sugar beet as well, to let us import cane sugar from the other side of the world, what break crops are there left to grow profitably?
 

ajd132

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Suffolk
Agree entirely but at what point do you write off? If I grow OSR again unless I have a full field of OSR 6 weeks after drilling the whole field is toast.
Agree, it’s a hard judgement to make. Currently cutting some and it is performing okay. The thick stems make a big difference when you pull them out and open them up
 

moretimeforgolf

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
North Kent, UK
Well I’m going to buck the trend and drill later.
First week of September as long as there’s moisture, direct drilled into baled spring barley stubble. I’d rather lose it to adult damage rather than chase pigeons all winter only for the larvae to demolish it in the spring.
 

ajd132

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Suffolk
Well I’m going to buck the trend and drill later.
First week of September as long as there’s moisture, direct drilled into baled spring barley stubble. I’d rather lose it to adult damage rather than chase pigeons all winter only for the larvae to demolish it in the spring.
That’s been the trend for a while and it’s why I decided to go really early last year because I kept seeing late drilled crops on Twitter and social media failing year after year.
 

moretimeforgolf

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
North Kent, UK
That’s been the trend for a while and it’s why I decided to go really early last year because I kept seeing late drilled crops on Twitter and social media failing year after year.
As always, it’s what works for you and your farm. Geography can make a big difference, whether that be altitude, latitude, inland v coastal or climate. If you find a successful formula then go with it.
 

Hindsight

Member
Location
Lincolnshire
I sympathise with your problems growing brassicas and beet without efficient insecticide. However I question whether many of the insecticides used on farms in the last few decades ever should have received approval, and strongly suspect that as an industry we may well have been better off in the long run if some of them had never been released onto the market. The clock cannot be turned back, and we must either find a way forward or alter the way we farm.


Pyrethroid insecticide discovered at Rothamsted and not patented - given to the world in the 70s as part of the first world deal green revolution. With hindsight should have been a very expensive insecticide so we had to think three times before using. How many times have you heard 'just pop a bit of cyper in as you go through - its cheap enough' and I own up to being a culprit at times.
 

Hindsight

Member
Location
Lincolnshire
That’s fair enough. I’m taking the gamble to put more in because of early harvest. Doubt I could do it in a more normal year

You boys in Suffolk are a full 20 days ahead of us. And you have that lovely friable Hanslope series chalky boulder clay. Try a bit of Denchworth at 100 metres altitude in South Lincolnshire. But best of luck to you while you can. Cheers.
 

Hindsight

Member
Location
Lincolnshire
I have had two goes at drilling kale this spring, both failed due to drought and flea beetle. You just get to the point where you have had enough.
My beet has had two doses of sprayed on environmentally damaging insecticide because the neonic coating was banned. That spray programme has killed more beneficials than the seed coating ever did but it still got enough aphids into it to bring in loads of virus. I am not cheerful about it. I can’t find anything cheerful to say about it. It’s a crock of shite of Michael Gove’s making.
Rant over.

My rant to - have used more insecticide on beet in the past 8 weeks than the previous 25 years. That dick Gove was a prat and is still a prat.
 

DrWazzock

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincolnshire
Well I’m going to buck the trend and drill later.
First week of September as long as there’s moisture, direct drilled into baled spring barley stubble. I’d rather lose it to adult damage rather than chase pigeons all winter only for the larvae to demolish it in the spring.

Last year I read that drilling late reduced larvae numbers in the plant so I drilled last week of august and first week of September last year. I was unlucky with the weather as it was hot and dry for a fortnight and very slow establishment and high adult grazing pressure finished it off. If we had had rain it might have been a different story. I used expensive seed from the merchant as my previous years seed was a semi dwarf which I didn’t want. I blew £2k in a fortnight on expensive seed, something I’m not in a big hurry to repeat. The “fair play” people would be down on me like a ton of bricks if I used a bit from my neighbours shed so in the end you just think stuff’em I am not taking the risk any more. Find some other mug to grow it.
 

Hindsight

Member
Location
Lincolnshire
Given that the neonic ban seems to be finishing off sugar beet as well, to let us import cane sugar from the other side of the world, what break crops are there left to grow profitably?

Very few. UK will produce cereals. With a wheat/oats/barley rotation. Spring cereals as blackgrass break and to spread workload for combine. Without BPS that will be the only viable route. Protein has to compete with imported soya. Vegetable oil - well this thread is about OSR and apart from ajd very few up north will grow it until we can sensibly deal with flea beetle. Just my idle thoughts.
 
I am in the same dilemma as everybody else; how much rapeseed do I try to establish this autumn. We are a plough based system at present and plough down a good dressing of broiler litter. Most of our crops established to some extent last time, but there are a lot of bare and weedy headlands. Sprayed twice for flea beetle last time. However the rape crops are the poorest we have ever grown, and I am minded to cut our acreage this autumn. What are you all doing?

Dropped it in 2012.
Started with it again in 2018 (did really well) and subsequently did 2019 (terrible yield). Dropped it again for harvest 20 and won’t ever go back to it unless the buyers of it come to the table with a proper 50:50 deal to grow it from start to finish. And when I say proper I mean the lot - seed, fert, chems, stubble to stubble, drying etc.
 

robs1

Member
Given that the neonic ban seems to be finishing off sugar beet as well, to let us import cane sugar from the other side of the world, what break crops are there left to grow profitably?
Why not beans or peas ? At least the wheat after gets a boost even if the pulse only breaks even, better than a fallow
 

Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
I'm not sure these refund the seed cost deals are going to temp many to continue ? - the seed is just one of the many costs and if you really want to mitigate risk on that particular cost you FSS, it's probably the easiest crop to do so with

As above it would take a deal where the buyer, breeder or input supplier truly was in it with me and prepared to underwrite ALL the costs if it didn't do what it should to tempt me back
 

DrWazzock

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincolnshire
Given that the neonic ban seems to be finishing off sugar beet as well, to let us import cane sugar from the other side of the world, what break crops are there left to grow profitably?

lupins for protein. But they don’t like a high pH. If the industry got its act together they could replace imported soya. Grew them once. Better than beans. Home fed them but no general market for them yet.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 78 42.9%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 63 34.6%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 16.5%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 5 2.7%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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  • 1
As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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