Won't be long now to the iresposible use of liquid sunshine .

[Deerefarmer]

Lots of very unpredictable rain!

I fully agree with your last statement.

Weather would be a challenge
I've a neighbor who grows about 25 acres of osr for his biodiesel setup ,that's what got me thinking as he swaths it

 

[Hindsight]

Can this thread be split for southerners and northerners?

define southerners and northerners, and the also allow for altitude.

 

[Brisel]

Just curious as I know very little about your climate, this probably sounds like an ignorant question, but what keeps you guys from swath drying slow drying crops to eliminate a glyphosate application?
Shouldn't we save herbicides for weed control?

Cost and time. We have good headers with variable position cutterbars so cutting direct is easier. Swathing became less common here when glyphosate came off patent and header technology improved. The time element is due to the need for ground preparation for the following crop. We harvest July to September. Sowing is August to October mostly.

 

[quattro]

Maybe glythosate is what gives whisky a good kick

 

[Badshot]

Let us know how this works out for you.

I definitely will.

 

[Chae1]

Maybe glythosate is what gives whisky a good kick

Must be worrying for whisky industry if a wider ban was put on glyphosate use.


What would happen to all the maturing casks of whisky made from malt from glyphosate treated spring barley?

My uncle who we share a combine with never uses glyphosate and gets on fine, grows about 400 acres of spring barley. So its not essential.

 

[quattro]

Must be worrying for whisky industry if a wider ban was put on glyphosate use.


What would happen to all the maturing casks of whisky made from malt from glyphosate treated spring barley?

My uncle who we share a combine with never uses glyphosate and gets on fine, grows about 400 acres of spring barley. So its not essential.

Makes it easier with them accepting a higher moisture content

 

[Sandy]

Must be worrying for whisky industry if a wider ban was put on glyphosate use.


What would happen to all the maturing casks of whisky made from malt from glyphosate treated spring barley?

My uncle who we share a combine with never uses glyphosate and gets on fine, grows about 400 acres of spring barley. So its not essential.

Certain malting contracts stipulate no pre harvest use if we get to use it this year, they will all want it for next year we managed before, just use it after for couch grass.

 

[Lincsman]

Try farming in Scotland without round up

Was no farming done there before 1970?

 

[Chae1]

Certain malting contracts stipulate no pre harvest use if we get to use it this year, they will all want it for next year we managed before, just use it after for couch grass.

I hardly used any last year due to drought and the fact crops just died. Combine driver wasn't happy!

There was a fair bit of secondary growth after it did finally rain and glyphosate would have kept it down/less green.

 

[quattro]

Was no farming done there before 1970?

I would imagine so just same as down there and there would be a lot less applications done up here

 

[Happy]

Certain malting contracts stipulate no pre harvest use if we get to use it this year, they will all want it for next year we managed before, just use it after for couch grass.

I would think the whisky would be more detrimental to ones health than any glyphosate use on the barley

Given the maltsters prefer to buy it natural to dry themselves I find the biggest benefit of glyphosate use the drying up of any greens which are the main source of any hotspots prior to uplift which can be a fortnight after harvesting.

No glyphosate and it would all need to go through the dryer.

 

[DanniAgro]

Was no farming done there before 1970?

I farmed before 1970, and it was totally different, in almost every way,to the farming I do now.

 

[John Slejpner]

Spot on.
In the north it is only used once per year and everyone using it in these parts accept that it needs at least a fortnight if not more to get the harvest desiccant effect up here.

Rather bemusing therefore that the holier-than-thou attitude around it’s use is taken by those further south using it multiple times per year on the same piece on land creating stale seedbeds taking out repeated flushes of blackgrass etc.

Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats.
It's all going on here.

It is a fact that glyphosate is turning up in bread and especially breakfast cereals at rates and frequencies which, by the time they are reported in the press and social media, are described as "alarming" etc. This is the Threat.
It is a fact that kids eat a disproportionate amount of breakfast cereal and it is a fact that children are more vulnerable to toxins than adults.
This is a Serious Threat.

It is (IMO) a huge Weakness to think that the above threat cannot be mitigated because of a few quid in drying charges / upsetting our friends in the North or whatever else.
The NFU stance - we trust the science that says everything is ok, no shut up and don't rock the boat - is laughable / contemptible / misguided / ...mostly though IMO it is just pathetically Weak.

There is an Opportunity to get ahead of this dangerous narrative by being proactive and coming up with a Solution or even Solutions.
Example.
Weetabix at Burton Latimer have a growers club within 50 miles from where they like to source, for a few quid over base feed, any nice sample of numerous group 3/4 wheats. Protein and hagberg are not high priorities. They could get any amount of guaranteed dessicant free wheat they want for minimal effort and negligable cost. So in this case i am disagreeing with Tesla - if they want it, it can be sorted. In this easy example.

Bread wheat in general. Well fortunately thanks to the Opportunity provided by wheat breeders, there is a good selection of varieties available such that more Gp1 is grown than is needed in the UK.
If bread mills put a proper premium of their tight spec, they can all but guarantee they can buy any amount they need of 12.5%+ protein, good hagberg, dessicant free etc etc. No problem. Wet harvest and hagbergs under threat? We will cut it wet and dry it. We have this technology and the miller is going to pay for it with his £25 offer over feed. Which amounts to increasing the cost of a loaf of bread by the square root of flute all.

The fact that cereal grains are usually sold at huge markups (due to legitimate processing costs such as milling) is a Strength that can be exploited in this situation, resolving this problem.
Premium over base price buys the crop getting cut and dried properly. End of. The already high markup hides this from the consumer - consumption should not be affected.
Some growers cant or wont and that is ok - they should grow high yielding gp 4. Most wheat goes for animal feed anyway. But those who can , will - if paid to do so.

Northern Growers might want to consider the threat to their crop growing posed by a complete banning of pre-harvest roundup. Just saying.
There might not be the same pressure on he malting / brewing industry on account of kids (supposedly) not consuming these products anyway.
There might be market opportunities from quality craft beer brewers etc getting ahead of the curve.
The health risk posed by whisky is always going to be dominated by the 40% alcohol.

And finally...proactive HC wheat growers would like to point out to millers that zinc levels in flour, for example, could almost certainly be enhanced, pending a few bob and a bit of research.
And you millers won't get that level of service down the docks either.

 

[snipe]

Just curious as I know very little about your climate, this probably sounds like an ignorant question, but what keeps you guys from swath drying slow drying crops to eliminate a glyphosate application?
Shouldn't we save herbicides for weed control?

We are in a very changeable climate, if a swath of rape gets wet it can take days/ weeks to dry out and starts to grow in the bottom. Standing crops that have been sprayed with glyphosate can dry out much faster.

 

[Strungup52]

Interested to read maltsters in Britain will even consider Barley having had pre-harvest glypho.
Here in Western Canada that has been a no-no for quite a few years if grown on any kind of contract. That, lower yields and the fact they won’t pay for it is why Malt Barley acres are dropping year on year.
But here, we never did pre-harvest glypho on malt and now grow a feed variety - higher yields, no maltsters playing silly b’s on doubtful germs and getting the runaround on delivery.

 

[Deerefarmer]

We are in a very changeable climate, if a swath of rape gets wet it can take days/ weeks to dry out and starts to grow in the bottom. Standing crops that have been sprayed with glyphosate can dry out much faster.

I can understand that, my question would be,considering all the hype against glyphosate and the fact that the nanny system called the E.u is so quick to ban all but breathing wouldn't it make sense to be proactively engaged in reducing chemical usage and staying a step ahead of the game? Just my 2 cents on the matter

 

[ajd132]

Glyphosate certainly makes harvest easier, however we grow all HC crops and whatever the customer wants, the customer gets. (I will be spraying off the odd field with bad blackgrass or brome, however we mostly seem to be on top of these issues so hopefully none of that in the future)

 

[Clive]

Excellent rant. Now to suggest that many direct drillers could reduce their roundup usage by adopting the plough. I mean, it's only a bit of extra cost. They probably just don't have the skill to properly operate one of the oldest bits of agricultural kit. But then, they are only doing it to save money......like I am with dessicating. Save on drying, save on fuel, save on sanity.

Just the flip side.

Ironically I’ve halved my use of glyphosate since going no till vs what I used when we ploughed or mintilled

 

[Clive]

We farm in Shropshire, never use glyphosate on Barley or wheat only osr and thinking is that necessary. We all need to be showing more responsibility if we are going to keep some chemicals.

Haven’t used glyphosate on osr for a few years now (Staffordshire) - it’s not been a problem

I swear it often cost yield, we want plants green as long as possible surely