Article taken from Agronomist & Arable magazine
Significant savings can be made by paring cultivations to the minimum but correct soil management is key, says Agrovista's national trials coordinator Niall Atkinson The trend towards direct drilling has been gathering pace but many growers still favour cultivation practices that rely on moving vast amounts of soil to create seedbeds. Agrovista's Niall Atkinson says multiple pass systems can cost up to £ 170/ha, while a typical one-pass system will cost just £60/ha, plus a few pounds where drillings need to be rolled. ""We need to question why so many of us are carrying on with what can only be described as recreational cultivations," he says. ""In many cases it is because we have always done it."" Four years of Agrovista trials on heavy clay land at Maidwell, Northamptonshire show no significant difference in OSR or wheat yields between crops sown after deep non-inversion tillage followed by two passes with a tine/disc combination and those sown with a direct drill. ""We also saw other benefits starting to come in, such as improved soil organic matter and improved structure that are associated with direct drilling. There is no scientific evidence to support these observations, but I could certainly see a difference in earthworm populations. In direct-drilled plots numbers were going up quite dramatically."" Those plots also walked much drier after rain. ""There's no doubt that spraying and fertilising applications would have been possible a few days earlier."" Good soil management is the key to success, Mr Atkinson stresses. Soils must be well structured before setting out, sub soiled as necessary in the right conditions. ""Growers need to consider soil condition in the early years of direct drilling when the natural restructuring process is starting up and ask how they can help this process along."" Reducing wheelings is important. ""There are certain lessons from controlled traffic farming we can implement quite easily, particularly reducing traffic at harvest by sticking to tram-lines where possible."" ""Cover crops and companion plants are also important as their roots naturally restructure the soil. Used correctly they can replace mechanical methods?' he advises.
BERSEEM CLOVER
Agrovista is trialling variable rate drilling of berseem clover, a companion plant for OSR that puts down deep and vigorous roots, tar-getting it at poorly structured areas such as headlands and wet, low-lying areas. ""You can see to a line where the berseem clover was included in these areas?' says Mr Atkinson. OSR grown with berseem clover produces an extra 0.3-0.4t/ha of yield on average for a £10/ha investment. On poorly structured areas yields can increase by at least 1.5t/ha, as seen at Agrovista's Croft site in 2013, he notes. ""Cover crops and companion plants will also help raise organic matter?' says Mr Atkinson.”Soils that naturally slump are often said to be unsuitable for direct drilling, but this is often because they have been overworked and are low on organic matter. ""This can be addressed — I strongly believe most farmers could establish crops for less and improve their soil without compromising yield.""
Significant savings can be made by paring cultivations to the minimum but correct soil management is key, says Agrovista's national trials coordinator Niall Atkinson The trend towards direct drilling has been gathering pace but many growers still favour cultivation practices that rely on moving vast amounts of soil to create seedbeds. Agrovista's Niall Atkinson says multiple pass systems can cost up to £ 170/ha, while a typical one-pass system will cost just £60/ha, plus a few pounds where drillings need to be rolled. ""We need to question why so many of us are carrying on with what can only be described as recreational cultivations," he says. ""In many cases it is because we have always done it."" Four years of Agrovista trials on heavy clay land at Maidwell, Northamptonshire show no significant difference in OSR or wheat yields between crops sown after deep non-inversion tillage followed by two passes with a tine/disc combination and those sown with a direct drill. ""We also saw other benefits starting to come in, such as improved soil organic matter and improved structure that are associated with direct drilling. There is no scientific evidence to support these observations, but I could certainly see a difference in earthworm populations. In direct-drilled plots numbers were going up quite dramatically."" Those plots also walked much drier after rain. ""There's no doubt that spraying and fertilising applications would have been possible a few days earlier."" Good soil management is the key to success, Mr Atkinson stresses. Soils must be well structured before setting out, sub soiled as necessary in the right conditions. ""Growers need to consider soil condition in the early years of direct drilling when the natural restructuring process is starting up and ask how they can help this process along."" Reducing wheelings is important. ""There are certain lessons from controlled traffic farming we can implement quite easily, particularly reducing traffic at harvest by sticking to tram-lines where possible."" ""Cover crops and companion plants are also important as their roots naturally restructure the soil. Used correctly they can replace mechanical methods?' he advises.
BERSEEM CLOVER
Agrovista is trialling variable rate drilling of berseem clover, a companion plant for OSR that puts down deep and vigorous roots, tar-getting it at poorly structured areas such as headlands and wet, low-lying areas. ""You can see to a line where the berseem clover was included in these areas?' says Mr Atkinson. OSR grown with berseem clover produces an extra 0.3-0.4t/ha of yield on average for a £10/ha investment. On poorly structured areas yields can increase by at least 1.5t/ha, as seen at Agrovista's Croft site in 2013, he notes. ""Cover crops and companion plants will also help raise organic matter?' says Mr Atkinson.”Soils that naturally slump are often said to be unsuitable for direct drilling, but this is often because they have been overworked and are low on organic matter. ""This can be addressed — I strongly believe most farmers could establish crops for less and improve their soil without compromising yield.""