Every farm is different and every field has some level of soil variation. Agrii’s SoilQuest Precision
Agronomy offers a service to evaluate, consult, and gather soil and nutrient data to advise on the
specific needs of your individual farm business, whatever the size and budget. The SoilQuest service
goes way beyond producing lots of pretty maps; it provides a tailor made Precision Agronomy package
to help you drive yields, target inputs and maximise efficiency. The backbone of the SoilQuest system is based on the creation of accurate field maps showing soil
variation and nutrient status. These are achieved by measuring electrical conductivity at two depths
using the Veris scanner and then analysing representative soil samples from each soil type zone. The
resulting maps are then combined with accumulated grower and agronomist farm knowledge to divide
fields into separate management zones in order to cost effectively target farm inputs, putting nutrients
where they are needed. “Understanding how soils vary across a farm and within individual fields is crucial for farm businesses
to implement the latest input technology and optimising yields,” points out Precision Agronomy
Manager, Stuart Alexander. “Our scanning service is the most reliable way of characterising
management zones by their actual soil type and nutrient status for the best precision agronomy
decision-making, ultimately leading to improved efficiency on farm.” Visit the SoilQuest stand, number 82, in hall 1 at CropTec 2017 and speak to one of our local Facts
and Soil and Water Qualified Account Managers to find out how we can help you.
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.
