Straw in the swath, auction results 2021

[neilo]

Importing a serious blackgrass problem could be a serious issue for someone who grows a lot of maize.

Previous tenant here sublet a field to a local dairy farmer to grow maize, a couple of years before I arrived, who plastered it in slurry before and reseeded it afterwards. I’m still fighting docks on that field and still struggling to get P&K back up.

 

[lloyd]

Herefordshire straw sales last night
hit a new high WB to £205 an acre .
Edit
Bought by a straw dealer .

 

[lloyd]

What have you done with your WB silverfox?

 

[Scholsey]

Herefordshire straw sales last night
hit a new high WB to £205 an acre .
Edit
Bought by a straw dealer .

and to balance, decent WW averaged 50 in a sale in north herefordshire from fields not quite as handy for lorries.

 

[DRC]

What have you done with your WB silverfox?

Nothing yet. Fields close to the yard will go in the barn. My baling contractor usually buys any spare, by the ton.

 

[lloyd]

and to balance, decent WW averaged 50 in a sale in north herefordshire from fields not quite as handy for lorries.

Not many buyers operate Chinooks.

 

[Scholsey]

Not many buyers operate Chinooks.

a lot still have tractor and trailers and common sense though.

 

[R J]

North herefordshire border Thursday nite .
WW av £83.21

 

[lloyd]

View attachment 972927
North herefordshire border Thursday nite .
WW av £83.21

He's a Worc based auctioneer.
Much of that sale was in a different county.

 

[R J]

He's a Worc based auctioneer.
Much of that sale was in a different county.

You are correct

 

[Clive]

So which would be the most profitable on a typical year?
Selling the straw or selling more carbon credits?

whats a “typical” year ? straw prices swing a lot locally

also would depend upon the seasons carbon price

but the ISO platform let’s you see “what if” senarios to help you decide all that

this year the carbon would be worth more than the straw for us but I’ve not sold carbon on rented and contract farmed land

you also have to consider the nutritional and OM benefit to future yields

straw is seriously undervalued IMO

 

[goodevans]

whats a “typical” year ? straw prices swing a lot locally

also would depend upon the seasons carbon price

but the ISO platform let’s you see “what if” senarios to help you decide all that

this year the carbon would be worth more than the straw for us but I’ve not sold carbon on rented and contract farmed land

you also have to consider the nutritional and OM benefit to future yields

straw is seriously undervalued IMO

I've not really got a grasp of the carbon offsetting and trading values but if we all decide to sell carbon offsets (whatever they are called) will that value fluctuate wildly or the values set in stone (straw)

 

[lloyd]

whats a “typical” year ? straw prices swing a lot locally

also would depend upon the seasons carbon price

but the ISO platform let’s you see “what if” senarios to help you decide all that

this year the carbon would be worth more than the straw for us but I’ve not sold carbon on rented and contract farmed land

you also have to consider the nutritional and OM benefit to future yields

straw is seriously undervalued IMO

You would have to take an average over a set period say 5 years.
I agree that the OM benefit on certain soil types is quite often
undervalued.This might be the year to borrow if your soil indices are reasonable and
chop it next year though.

 

[Clive]

I've not really got a grasp of the carbon offsetting and trading values but if we all decide to sell carbon offsets (whatever they are called) will that value fluctuate wildly or the values set in stone (straw)

carbon market is just like most where price is set by supply vs demand

 

[Werzle]

Reading the article in the fw about carbon off setting payments it said a farmer with 300hectares of arable ground could only expect payments in the region of £3500

 

[Sid]

Reading the article in the fw about carbon off setting payments it said a farmer with 300hectares of arable ground could only expect payments in the region of £3500

Then work out the straw.
2.5t ha, £75/ha =£22,230
And no guy in salmon shirt and mustard trousers taking a cut.

You wanna sell the carbon or straw?

 

[lloyd]

Then work out the straw.
2.5t ha, £75/ha =£22,230
And no guy in salmon shirt and mustard trousers taking a cut.

You wanna sell the carbon or straw?

It's not all about profit though.
Clive might be a responsible and regenerative farming ambassador
for UK agriculture.

 

[Sid]

It's not all about profit though.
Clive might be a responsible and regenerative farming ambassador
for UK agriculture.

At a price

 

[farmerm]

So which would be the most profitable on a typical year?
Selling the straw or selling more carbon credits?

well now, straw is about 40% carbon.... but over the next few year most of the carbon held in that straw will return to the atmosphere regardless if you leave it on the surface or send it for animal bedding... by the logic of the nonsense that is payment for total sequestration not surplus sequestration and storage then there should be a carbon payment available equal in value to the farmer receiving it in bales as it is worth to the farmer leaving it on the field... either way the carbon that ends up locked away for any meaningful time is about the same, ie chuff all.

 

[lloyd]

well now, straw is about 40% carbon.... but over the next few year most of the carbon held in that straw will return to the atmosphere regardless if you leave it on the surface or send it for animal bedding... by the logic of the nonsense that is payment for total sequestration not surplus sequestration and storage then there should be a carbon payment available equal in value to the farmer receiving it in bales as it is worth to the farmer leaving it on the field... either way the carbon that ends up locked away for any meaningful time is about the same, ie chuff all.

What about the process of baling,stacking,loading a lorry
which travels x amount of miles ,unloading the other end etc
as opposed to just pressing a button on a combine and chopping?
Surely the latter is less polluting.
Edit
I get what your saying that the chopped straw has no more carbon
sequestration benefit than using it but it is the process of not removing
it that should be calculated as a reduction in emissions and payed for.