Biog: Russ farms 995ha, spread over 17 miles and five units, between Cambs and Beds. He grows predominantly first wheats (mostly for seed) with winter barley, oilseed rape, spring beans and spring barley. He describes himself as not form a farming family, but as having loved everything about farming since a very young age, starting with a harvest job on a local farm when he was 13. He graduated from Writtle College with a BSc in Agriculture and then took on a trainee manager’s position with Albanwise Farming in Norfolk. Russ is BASIS and FACTS qualified and is a partner in his wife’s family farming business which he jointly manages along with John Sheard Farms. His recent Nuffield Farming scholarship, sponsored by AHDB, investigated how the best no-till practitioners across the world manage to make the system work in both the wettest and driest of conditions which took him to Australia, New Zealand, the Czech Republic, USA, Brazil and Argentina. He is also an AHDB Monitor Farm.
Title: Harvest 2016 and industry innovation It’s been an easy harvest, and whilst some performances have been down. We’ve combined 5,000+ tonnes of grain and not had to dry any of it, which means it’s been a welcome, cheap harvest.
Our breakeven for wheat is £117/t; at market prices of £120-130/t, there’s a bit of margin; at the current November futures price of £116/t, there is none. Added to this, milling wheat supply is strong, because of the large areas of Skyfall and the spec is good. Millers know this and it has dented premiums.
In the immediate future, prices need to rise and the industry needs to continue to innovate.
Farmers talk to each other and it fuels our hunger to learn and to get more from the equipment we are using. In the UK we are living in an innovative environment and seeing lots of farmers trying new ideas without the help of a guide book. We’re seeing this particularly in direct drilling and the use of cover crops.
The innovation that has most benefited my farming operation is the introduction of variable seed rates. My catalyst was the variation I saw in one field drilled at a uniform seed rate, where the soils were heavier, the plant count was too low resulting in a 1.75t/ha yield penalty.
Since we’ve introduced Soilquest variable rate scanning and adapted seed rates to field zones, our yields are higher and more consistent.
However, success can sometimes be hard won. I get frustrated that different implements cannot talk to one another; it is always the fault of the other manufacturer!
Crop varietal development is another innovation worthy of mention. We’ve seen some remarkable yield jumps and improvements in disease packages, particularly in oilseed rape. Plus, traits like pod shatter resistance have delivered valuable risk mitigation, particularly when bad weather hits nearly ripe crops.
R&D is vital for our future and here, large organisations cannot be as nimble as farmers, nor is it easy for them to take the trial and error approach possible on-farm; by the time their projects are planned and budgets agreed, the findings are two years out of date.
Work conducted by organisations like AHDB as very valuable. However, we could learn a lot from Brazil’s agricultural research body, Embrapa, where there is no disconnect between them and farmers; they are right on the pulse of what research is valuable and how its communicated.
Looking to the future, the primary focus for advancing innovation needs to be in the understanding and management of soil health. A lot of brilliant soil scientists have recently retired and it’s a huge loss because we need to build a deeper understanding about our soils.
CropTec 2016 proved particularly timely this year, living up to its rapidly growing reputation as the knowledge exchange event for progressive arable farmers and their advisers.
Following the UK’s decision to leave the EU, the event provided the ideal opportunity for visitors and their suppliers to discuss and explore ways to reduce unit production costs through the adoption of new technology, up-to-date agronomy and best business practice.
“Getting hold of top quality information like that on offer at CropTec is key in the quest to remain competitive and profitable in these uncertain times as farmers prepare for life outside the European Union,” said CropTec’s development director Stephen Howe.
Visitors to the event, which took place on Tuesday 29 and Wednesday 30 November, at East of England Showground, Peterborough, were increasingly constrained by many factors outside their control, he said. These included global supply and demand, currency fluctuations, regulation, climate and especially now, politics.
“Fortunately for the UK economy, our farmers, together with their suppliers, researchers and education sector, are resilient and will find ways to improve factors they can control so that our industry can benefit from a growing world demand for food in the longer term.”
The role that events like CropTec played in this quest for success was highlighted by the overwhelmingly positive feedback from exhibitors and visitors, said Elisabeth Mork-Eidem, group head of events at Briefing Media, which organises CropTec.
“Seeing our visitors taking home great practical advice on how to improve productivity on farm is what CropTec is all about, and that is exactly what we saw again this week.
“2016 saw a further increase in the number and quality of visitors, the amount of learning received and in real business being done. We are very much looking forward to continuing to develop CropTec and provide an even better event in 2017.” Rob King, managing director of CropTec principal sponsor Adama UK, said: “CropTec 2016 was our third year as title sponsor and once again the event was typified by a sense of cautious optimism set against a background of political uncertainty.
“The event focused on providing visitors with cutting-edge technical knowledge and agronomic advice relating to all aspects of arable and root cropping, and it was heartening to see so many enthusiastic visitors contributing to a really vibrant two days.”
The UK’s impending withdrawal from the EU and associated uncertainty regularly came up in conversation, he added.
“We as an industry must make a co-ordinated and determined effort to lobby policymakers to ensure a new “British Agricultural Policy” is tailored to effectively address our industry’s needs and requirements.”
On crop protection, the over-riding message was the need for a consolidated effort for agronomists and growers to consider the threat of fewer crop protection actives.
“With a shortage of new products coming through, and existing chemistries always at risk from regulatory restrictions, key advice was that farmers and agronomists must ensure they formulate treatment programmes which do not place undue pressure on those actives which are already ‘at risk’,” he added.
More than 36 speakers took part in this year’s event and together with over 140 exhibitors and organisations like AHDB, NFU, Defra and the VI helped clarify some of the uncertainty and demonstrated how technical excellence could help improve growers’ competitive edge and profitability.
Most of the seminars were standing room only. The programme focused on four key technical areas affecting profitability – crop establishment, crop nutrition, crop protection and crop breeding, featuring some of the industry’s most acknowledged experts.
Beyond the seminars, exhibitor stands offered visitors the chance to explore a wide range of novel science and innovative technology in an informal atmosphere, creating the ideal forum for visitors, exhibitors and researchers to exchange ideas and experiences.
The knowledge hubs – short, sharp presentations delivering key take-away messages proved popular draws, none more so than the new blackgrass hub that offered the latest advice on aerial scanning, cultivations, cover cropping and chemistry to tackle the weed.
The many messages on Twitter following the event highlighted the value farmers put on the quality of information on offer.
Lincolnshire farmer Andrew Ward tweeted: Congratulations to all the @CropTecShow team for an inspiring show this year. The 4th show and they just keep getting better & better.
Inked farmer said: Great time @CropTecShow today, great #agri tech coming through, proud of #britishfarming
East Midlands producer Walnut Farm tweeted: Good day at #croptec16 getting bigger and better every year
Hertfordshire farmer Andrew Watts tweeted: Excellent curry at @AdamaUK_ another good day at #CropTec16 - this event really growing
Northampton farmer Steve May added: A very interesting day spent @ CropTecShow today of particular interest in the seminars were @flawborough_fms CTF & Bill Angus-hybrid wheat
CropTec returns to the East of England Showground, Peterborough on Wednesday 29 and Thursday 30 November 2017.
YAGRO, a Cambridge-based agritech business, has launched a new technology platform to help farmers control costs and improve profitability.
Yagro connects farms confidentially with their suppliers, enabling them to request quotes and place orders online. The visibility and control offered by Yagro means farmers can make informed purchasing decisions and secure the best deals for their businesses.
Farms in the UK spend over £12bn every year on their inputs(1), with the majority still relying on manual paper-based office systems and phone, fax or email to manage their purchasing. Yagro’s advanced digital technology offers a more streamlined, efficient and faster way of procuring essential farm supplies with less hassle for the busy farm manager.
The Yagro platform is cloud based, accessible anywhere, on any device. In just a few clicks, farmers can send requests to their suppliers, compare quotes and place orders. From their dashboard, they can manage these orders, view expected deliveries, monitor their spend and access powerful analytics and data insight for their business.
Yagro’s launch is timely as farmers face rising labour costs, ever-challenging commodity markets and a weak pound that has fallen almost 20% expected to increase input costs substantially next season(2).
Gareth Davies, CEO of Yagro, said: “Now more than ever farmers are having to focus on their costs, not just on yield, to achieve profitability. The ag supply chain can benefit greatly from better information exchange and automated processes. Over the long term, we estimate we can unlock over 10 percent of costs by harnessing technology to combat these inefficiencies.”
Yagro has been working with a select group of farmers to refine and perfect the technology platform since March 2016. This group includes small family farms, large agribusinesses and contracting operations, representing over £40m of core arable input spend.
Charles Shropshire, MD within G’s Fresh, one of Europe’s leading farming companies, said: “With Yagro, our farm managers have all the information they need at their fingertips and we can be sure we’re getting the best deal on our key inputs. Now we have real time visibility and total control over our spend, I can’t imagine ever going back to our old system.”
Gareth Davies further commented: “This is only the start of where technology can take us. Agtech is booming and we’re excited by the challenge of driving a more efficient, more sustainable agricultural sector.”
General comments about the show
The 2016 CropTec show was our third year as title sponsor and once again the event was typified by a sense of cautious optimism set against a background of political uncertainty.
The event focused on providing visitors with the latest, cutting edge technical knowledge and agronomic advice relating to all aspects of arable and root cropping, and it was heartening to see so many enthusiastic visitors contributing to a really vibrant two days.
Brexit
As an industry, we are facing continuing uncertainty following June’s Brexit vote, with the UK’s impending withdrawal from the EU regularly coming up in conversation.
The agricultural workforce comprises only 1.2% of the UK’s working population, with the arable sector estimated to contribute just a third to agricultural GDP: the government therefore has weightier, vote-winning priorities to consider.
We, as an industry, must make a co-ordinated and determined effort to lobby policymakers to ensure a new “British Agricultural Policy” is tailored to effectively address our industry’s needs and requirements.
Yields
Cropping yields – or rather a lack of yield due to reduced solar radiation in June – was also a hot topic of conversation with a useful series of seminars enabling visitors to share experience and advice learned from this year’s harvest.
Crop protection
The over-riding crop protection message was the need for a consolidated effort for agronomists and growers to consider the threat of fewer crop protection actives.
The short-term future for new chemistries and novel modes of action looks relatively sparse thanks largely to the raising of regulatory hurdles and the need for companies to carefully manage global research and development budgets.
With a shortage of new products coming through, and existing chemistries always at risk from regulatory restrictions, farmers and agronomists must ensure they formulate treatment programmes which do not place undue pressure on those actives which are already “at risk”.
Spray programmes must be designed to prevent an increase in the number and rate of reported resistance incidences: ALS and azole resistance are already hampering the efficacy of a number of key actives, and, unless we act now, these chemistries are likely to become ineffective in a relatively short time.
It is essential to use the whole crop protection toolkit including strong multi-site solutions such as folpet to give added protection to super-curative products.
We must also be very aware of the implications that ongoing cases of water pollution will have on future crop protection armouries. Put simply, if we continue to act irresponsibly, or if we continue to push these matters to the back of our minds, tomorrow’s farmers will be left with a very limited number of crop protection options. Thankfully the industry already shares a number of important stewardship programmes (including Metaldehyde Matters and Get Pelletwise as well as Adama’s Water Aware initiative) which are already helping growers to mitigate risk. It is also why we are working hard behind the scenes to create novel formulations which will make existing actives more efficacious for longer.
But the future of crop protection isn’t just about a reliance on chemistry. As resistance levels rise, and legislative pressures increase, the future of crop protection will shift, and is already shifting, towards an integrated management approach, with spring cropping, rotation and cultivation techniques all playing an equally important role.
