Sustainable?

[Two Tone]

Yes. Once I plant a winter crop most of my costs are known. Shaving a few £££ off on fungicide rates is marginal. Soon as it's in, I really have to push it to what it's capable of. CoP is lowest where yields are maximised.

Of course, elms may mean maximum profit comes from zero food yield.

Yet we call these inputs variable costs! Always seems that once we have planted a crop, we can see these costs as more like known/“fixed” costs.

My agronomist and I have entered several competitions to try to get the highest wheat margin over fungicide costs. Strangely enough, it is rarely the highest yield that ever wins. But mostly the 2nd or 3rd highest yield that does so out of about 10 entries. The ferts applied are RB209 amounts. The PGR program is a standard type and the trials are fully replicated.

On 3 occasions in 12 years, only the top 3 entrants actually increased their margin at all over a control plot (where no fungicide was used at all)! The rest actually lost money using fungicides on that Warwick site.
But in a particularly wet year, the more you put on, the higher the margin. However, this again has only happened 3 times in 12 years.

In 2019, (2020 cancelled due to Covid-19) the top 3 didn’t use a TO at all.
Obviously, the result can be very swayed but which variety is chosen.

 

[teslacoils]

The degree to which they are variable will depend if you're wearing the "bought and paid for" hat or not. I make no bones about my basic rent / mortgage etc being pretty bloomin high before I've done anything at all! Focuses the mind to have the ballbag on the bank managers' anvil.

I'd presume my fungicide spend was not overly high, and certainly not high per ton of grain. Fanciest thing in the tank will be aviator and only as I've stock to use up.

 

[teslacoils]

T0, T3 are somewhat of a gamble. I'd be happier with a t0. T3 really a consequence of shitty UK summer weather .

 

[Two Tone]

T0, T3 are somewhat of a gamble. I'd be happier with a t0. T3 really a consequence of shitty UK summer weather .

Yes, it so depends on the weather as to the value of both T0 and T3.
However, with regards TO, if you have to go through with a split PGR and maybe some Mn at the equivalent of a T0 timing, it is probably worth putting a fungicide with it anyway, especially if you can see disease. Or, it used to be when we had Chlorothalonil!

I always reckon that if you give T2 a value of 4, T1 would be a value of 2 and T’s 1&3 have a value of 1.
You can’t necessarily say spend in proportion to the value of each T, because what you did on the previous T, will affect the level of disease on the one you are about to spray.

If we get a very cold, wet June, T3 can be very important to prevent Microdochium Nivale (Cold weather Fusarium), which will absolutely decimate yields as it did in 2012. If it is too wet to use row-crop wheels at T3, put plenty of fungicide on it!

 

[teslacoils]

I suggested as I was going through with mineral and pgr at t0, that I may as well put some teb in......got shot down!

Tbh I did it anyway. And a strob.