SilliamWhale
Member
Keep it going Andy. Very interesting topic.
Very interesting post, Andy. I have been thinking quite a bit recently about whether it would be good idea to aim for radically lower cost farming system.
First thought was how to transition to this sort of system. Could you just plant some lucerne in your OSR and then immediately start using no fungicides or insecticides and 50% N rates.* If not, which bits need to be adopted first and which aspects need to follow later?
Second thought was if you have managed to reduce your variable costs and well as your fixed costs, what novel things does that allow you to do? I think one benefit is being able to be very flexible about what you're growing. At the moment we cannot afford to not grow a lot of wheat with quite a lot of inputs because we need a high output crop to overcome the significant fixed costs. With very low fixed costs you aren't pressured into growing things like wheat in the same way.
Taking this thought to one extreme I wonder if it would ever work that you only grow a cash crop if you can sign a contract before drilling to guarantee a price that gives an expectation that you will make money if the yield is average / as expected? Would there be a system where it could be rational not to harvest a crop in some years on some fields? Maybe land is too valuable, but then most UK farmers are losing money by planting crops...
*TAG did some trials with 50% N and I think they got pretty much 8 t/ha in a normal cropping situation. Maybe that yield was helped along with fungicides and herbicides though.
James
I think I am a little way down this route of low cost farming. No cultivations, no P, K or lime, seed of the heap with no dressings; all while maintaining average yields. The next challenge is to reduce artificial N, which is where these companion crops are going help. We know that diseases are driven by high levels of Nitrate nitrogen, so along with variety blends, we should be able to reduce fungicide usage. Weeds or all types love soluble nitrogen, so they should also be less aggressive, thereby reducing herbicide usage. Herbicides tie up nutrients in our crops, thereby making them more attractive to insects, so there's potential to reduce insecticides. To get all this to work properly, I think we need to build the soil biology, and get it to the correct bacteria/ fungi ratio, which of course is much easier without the high chemical inputs. The other thing is that modern wheat varieties have been bred for use only in high input systems so there is no way they are going to work in this more natural environment. I can see that in the next few years I may give up wheat altogether and grow triticale, oats, rye, etc which which have not been so intensively bred.
10 to 12% but remember this has to be taken in context. Eg it is in France and some results from organic. We need trials here in conventional to see the effects for us.Great!
Really interesting.
When you say 2% increase in wheat protein, do you mean 10% to 12%, or 10% to 10.02%?