May 2020 Farming Monthly National

INSIDE: Cereals 2020: One month to go until 1st online show page 32

Farming

MONTHLY National

May 2020

Also in this issue...

News

| Three inspiring farmers win the use of New Holland machines for a year page 06

Drought resistant crops for the future Also inside this month..

Developing drought-resistant crops is a key strategy for farmland adaptation to climate change and will help to improve global food security page 14

Grey squirrel control p90

Silage best practice for AD plants p50

Adapt potato herbicide strategies p78

PLUS: Arable | Silage| Grain | Livestock | Forestry | Machinery | Energy | ATV | Motors

CONTENTS May 2020

FEATURES 12

26

10 Feature Scientists find the ideal home for solitary bees..plus: Bees serve Hadlow Estate

14 Security

44

59 Pig & Poultry

54

68 Livestock

Bayer launches global Care4Pigs grant

62 Muck & Slurry

Mitigaing butterfat depression at turnout

75 Root Crops

Test slurry for invisible value

Marketing campaign to help shift spuds

Quad bike? Invest in security measures

22 Arable Micronutrients more important than ever for resilient spring crops

REGULARS

32 Cereals Looking ahead to the Cereals Show Online plus: Latest news

42 Grass & Silage Extra care advised for first cut silage

54 Buildings CE Marking and Euro Code post Brexit

04 | Farming Monthly | May 2020

06 News Use of New Holland machines won

16 On Topic Drought resistant crops for the future

52 Energy German Renewable Energy Law turns 20

82 Machinery Latest machinery news

92 ATV ATV news...covered.

94 Motors Latest motors news

www.farmingmonthly.co.uk

75

Agriculture. Covered.

EDITOR Andrew Poulton editor@farmingmonthly.com

Drought resistant crops for the future

p16

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Whilst every attempt is made to ensure accuracy, the opinions expressed in the magazine are not necessarily those of the Editor or publication. The Editor also reserves the right to alter or edit material as required and no responsibility is accepted for inaccuracies.

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ISSN 2044-0190 (print) ISSN 2044-0200 (digital)

May 2020 | Farming Monthly | 05

| News

Three inspiring farmers win the use of New Holland machines for a year The three winners of the “Up to Speed” scheme run by New Holland and The Prince’s Countryside Fund have been announced. Donald MacSween, Rob David, and Abbi Mason have each won the use of a New Holland machine for a year – a Telehandler, a T6 tractor, and a Boomer 40 compact tractor. he scheme provides cuttingedge machinery to young people, new entrants, or those who will make a difference in their local community but would otherwise not have access to this type of farm machinery.

The Prince’s Countryside Fund, a charity set up in 2010 to improve the prospects for those living and working in farming and rural communities, entered into a partnership with New Holland, a major British tractor manufacturer with a largescale production facility for T6 & T7 tractors in Basildon, in early 2020. The first year of the Up to Speed scheme saw nearly 50 Farmers apply from all across the UK. This year, the winners were: Donald Macsween, from the Isle of Lewis, swapped his job with the local authority to become a crofter and has built up his crofting business to be a full-time job. He has 500 laying hens, 150 breeding ewes, Gloucester Old Spot pigs and some Highland cows. He said: “I have been dreaming of a telehandler for a few years but I haven’t been able to afford one.

This will make such a difference to me and my neighbours, we can now be much more efficient and safer in the work that we do. I currently have a 40-year-old tractor, so I will have to get up to speed with how technology has improved!”

Rob David, 22, is from South Wales and has won the use of a T6 tractor. He set up his business with just handful of ewes whilst studying for his A-levels, persuading his teachers to buy his meat boxes. Over the past five years his business has grown, and Rob now sells directly to pubs, restaurants and local supermarkets. He said: “The use of the tractor over the forthcoming year will enable me to take on

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more and bigger blocks of land further from home, allowing me to hopefully to expand my flock and reach my business targets.”

Abbi Mason, who runs Big Meadow, a Community Supported Agriculture venture in Gower, Wales, has won the use of a Boomer 40 compact tractor. She said: “We are in our first year of operation, aiming to provide 50 households with a weekly organic veg share from July this year. Having access to the Boomer will give us the best possible start, enabling us to cultivate the beds exactly when we need to for optimum soil health. We will be hosting twice weekly volunteer days as well as working with local primary schools, youth and community groups to provide educational field days - exploring the value and importance of locally grown food."

Mark Crosby, New Holland UK&ROI Marketing Manager said: “The selection process has been very tough as we received so many applications from a lot of enthusiastic and talented individuals. We are extremely proud and pleased to lend our machines to Donald, Rob and Abbi. Their passion for their businesses really showed during the process, as well as their great capabilities as self-starters. We hope they will be able to make the most out of our machines, helping their business grow and succeed, while also supporting their local communities. We, at New Holland, are very keen on championing our winners as industry ambassadors, and are proud to back local production with one of our British built tractors as a prize.”

Claire Saunders, Executive Director of The Prince’s Countryside Fund said: “We are delighted to be working in partnership with New Holland, to provide these three inspiring farmers, Donald, Rob and Abbi, with such tremendous machines,

which I have no doubt will help get their businesses ‘Up to Speed’.”

The Fund and New Holland plan

to run the “Up to Speed” scheme again in early 2021. Find out more www.princescountrysidefund.org.uk

Don Mcsween

Rob David

Abi Mason

06 | Farming Monthly | May 2020

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| News

Farmers and suppliers join forces to thank NHS A group of farmers and equipment manufacturers have joined forces to thank the NHS and farming industry in the largest and most cutting-edge way possible. hris Hartley and Lee Clarke at Trimble Agriculture came up with the idea of spraying the messages onto a farmer’s airfield near York. Using the latest precision technology, they mapped out the 34m-high lettering and uploaded it to the tractor’s management screen, which then linked to the sprayer controls. “We do this in farming all the time – creating exclusion zones on fields so that we don’t spray unnecessary areas, saving money and benefiting the environment,” explains Mr Hartley.

The sprayer nozzles shut off to create the giant lettering in water – first thanking the NHS and, once dried, a second version thanking farmers for feeding the nation during the Covid19 pandemic.

“We wanted to get together to say thank you to the NHS and to farmers – we had the idea on Tuesday night and by Wednesday our local friends and farming community had made it happen,” says Mr Hartley. “The results are quite spectacular and could probably have been seen from outer space.”

Further details: Mr Clarke mapped the airfield boundary and exclusion zones using Trimble Ag software, uploading it to the GFX-750/ NAV-900 controls on a John Deere 6215R tractor, supplied by Poskitt’s carrots and driven by Roger Venton.

The instructions were then fed via ISO bus

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controls to the Horsch Leeb sprayer, which used automatic section control to shut off the required nozzles to create the lettering. The airfield was kindly provided by Mr & Mrs Steven

Beckett, Rufforth and Steve Butler from Agrovista operated the drone.

For more information visit agriculture.trimble.com/UK

May 2020 | Farming Monthly | 07

| News

Lantra Wales sets up a new online 'Wales Skills Matching Service" to support rural and land-based businesses during Coronavirus Are you a farming or horticultural business which relies on bringing in extra labour at busy times? Or are you desperately seeking work on a farm or at a horticultural premises? If you fall into either category, the coronavirus pandemic and current lockdown regulations could seriously limit your chances of finding the match you need. rom AI technicians to sheep shearers and from farm contractors to fruit and vegetable pickers – almost every sector of Welsh agriculture and horticulture faces the risk of labour shortages as Covid 19 takes its toll on life and livelihoods in rural areas.

To meet this need, Lantra Wales has set up a new online bilingual skills matching service.

Fully funded, the service, which can be accessed from Lantra's website will put businesses in direct touch with potential employees who have the relevant skills and experience they need.

Lantra staff will manually filter applications by matching up key skills of workers with those required by businesses, making it easy for both employers and employees to find appropriate matches.

Sarah Lewis, deputy director of Lantra Wales said today: "During the Covid 19 pandemic, it is vital that we ensure key rural and land-based businesses, particularly those with animal welfare obligations, are helped to access key workers in order to continue operating.

"Any member of a farming family or employee of the business who falls ill or has to self-isolate, could create a serious labour shortfall, which means many essential routine tasks could not be carried out.

"This could create serious animal health and welfare issues and have a detrimental effect on the business."

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The UK Government's recent announcement that employees currently available through 'furlough' arrangements - which means they will at some stage be able to return to their 'prepandemic' posts - are free to work elsewhere in the interim period.

"This newly available workforce could be helpful to any businesses currently facing a labour shortage as there could be many unemployed and furloughed individuals; volunteer workers who are unable to operate and students not currently in education, all seeking work."

There are two application forms on Lantra's website, one for individuals looking for employment and another for businesses looking for labour.

"The application forms are straightforward and easy to complete, but if anyone does not have access to the online system, or needs assistance with completing the forms, they can receive guidance by calling the Farming Connect Service Centre on 08456 000 813," said Sarah.

All parties are asked to provide contact details, including home address, a telephone number and if they have one, an email contact and will be asked to tick a box consenting Lantra to process their information.

"Individuals looking for work will need to set out what skills set they have, what tasks they are prepared to do, if they are looking for parttime or full-time work, how far they are prepared to travel to find work and if they are willing to re-locate if accommodation can be

provided.

"Businesses looking for additional labour will need to identify the skills set required to carry out the tasks, the number of hours of work required, remuneration and if any training is available."

Once a form is completed and submitted, an email is automatically generated and sent to the applicant as confirmation of their online offer of work or application form. Both parties are notified if a potential match is made, at which stage they are asked if they are happy for their contact details to be forwarded as appropriate so that telephone interviews can be arranged.

The Wales Skills Matching Service is free to use and is not intended to operate like a recruitment consultancy. All parties matched will be required to adhere to the appropriate rules on social distancing within the workplace while these are in force. A link to the latest guidance from Public Health Wales will be included on Lantra's Wales Skills Matching web page.

"This is Lantra's way of helping our sector to meet skills gaps that may emerge during the ongoing crisis by helping connect those individuals who have the skills required to appropriate businesses in need of support at this challenging time."

For further information on the new service, contact wales@lantra.co.uk or call 01982 552646

Benchmarking farm performance New benchmarking tools have been created to help farmers improve their profitability by comparing their performance against other businesses in the sector. he tools use information collected by the annual Scottish Farm Business Survey, which measures the performance of the main farm types found in Scotland.

Published on the Farm Advisory Service (FAS) website, the Whole Farm Benchmarks and Enterprise Gross Margins tools allow farmers to check how their business compares to other dairy, specialist beef, mixed cattle and sheep, specialist sheep, specialist cereals, general cropping or mixed farms.

By comparing their performance against national performance levels, they can then identify opportunities for improvement.

The Farm Business Survey is carried out by SAC Consulting – part of Scotland’s Rural

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College (SRUC), and is funded by the Scottish Government’s Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services (RESAS) team.

It is completed with the assistance of cooperating farmers who give up their time on a voluntary basis and allow access to sensitive farm business records.

Kev Bevan, Principal Consultant at SAC Consulting, said: “Looking for opportunities to lift profitability has never been more important given the uncertainties created by Covid-19 and Brexit, but any search depends on knowing how well your farm is currently performing.

“The latest whole farm and enterprise costings from the Scottish Farm Business Survey for 2018/19 have been created to help you check your performance and are available in a user-friendly form on the FAS website.”

While gross margins are useful tools for improving farm performance, farmers are also advised to establish ‘current performance’ based on several years, in order to allow for factors such as the weather in a particular year.

For more information visit: www.fas.scot

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| News

From farmer to pharma - what is the potential for cannabis?

Agri-TechE webinar looks at the opportunities for UK farmers. annabis and hemp are two products of a wonder-crop, Cannabis sativa, grown commercially across nearly 50 thousand hectares in the EU. The crop grows very well in the UK but farmers here are struggling to break into the market, for legislative reasons amongst others.

"Growing cannabis commercially in the UK is currently difficult, but far from impossible," comments George McBride, CEO of Hanway Associates, who will be discussing the topic further in the upcoming online event 'From Farmer to Pharma – a Teaser of Things to Come' hosted by AgriTechE on 14th May. For a single plant, Cannabis sativa offers many assets: its fibres provide extremely resilient materials; its seeds and stem are nutritious; and its leaves contain a medically important extract, called CBD, or cannabidiol (canna-bidiol).

George continues: "Since the legalisation of medical cannabis in 2018, excitement has grown for

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this nascent sector. Now is the perfect time to take a look at how UK farmers can take advantage and make the most out of the new opportunity that growing hemp and cannabis offer."

Hanway Associates is supporting the development of medical cannabis facilities in the UK with its recently launched initiative – Crop17 – in association with Savills. George says: "The Hanway team is very excited to connect with the members of AgriTechE for this event."

Dr Belinda Clarke, director of Agri-TechE, says there is considerable interest within its membership in this versatile crop but there is uncertainty over legal issues and the route to market.

One of the issues is that Cannabis sativa is known by many names, depending upon which parts of the plant are taken, and how they are used.

The CBD extract is becoming well established as a treatment for seizures, chronic pain and various other ills, and is also a common ingredient in wellness and lifestyle products. THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol) is the name of a much less abundant

extract that has psychoactive properties and is a class-B controlled drug in the UK. Finally, hemp is the term for a cannabis crop grown for its fibres, for material usage or consumption, where extracts are generally present only at very low levels.

The conflation of Hemp and CBD and THC is a misunderstanding that filters through the general public and has ended up being captured in UK and EU law. The effect is a legal landscape that is "confusing, contradictory and illogical," which harms market stability, consumer confidence, and simply makes it harder to produce and process the crop.

Navigating this landscape, and exchanging thoughts on hemp and cannabis in general, is the focus of the upcoming webinar on May 14th.

This event, titled 'From Farmer to Pharma – A Teaser of Things to Come', replaces a previously organised conference of the same name. Innovation gains even more importance in the time of Coronavirus, and Agri-TechE is focused on finding ways to keep its members talking and sharing ideas.

Attendance is free of charge and further details can be found on the Agri-TechE website: agritech-e.co.uk

Time is running out for SAF applications FUW reminds farmers Farmers across Wales are being reminded not to delay filling out their SAF applications, by the Farmers' Union of Wales. he call comes after Rural Payments Wales (RPW) has reported a reduction in forms submitted compared to this time last year.

FUW Pembrokeshire County Executive Officer Rebecca Voyle said: "RPW has seen a reduction of around 20% in the number of SAF applications submitted when compared to this time last year.

"We therefore encourage and remind members that it would be beneficial if SAF forms were submitted early, where possible.

This will help the Customer Contact Centre manage the workload and prevent them from being inundated with telephone and RPW Online enquiries close to the SAF deadline."

Those who are unable to submit

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a fully completed SAF or any SAF Supporting Documents before the 15 June deadline should inform RPW via RPW Online or the Customer Contact Centre.

Applications under the Force Majeure / Exceptional Circumstances provision must be made within 15 working days of the final date the individual business knew they would be unable to submit their SAF and/or Supporting Documents by the deadline.

Furthermore, the FUW is reminding its members that county staff are here to help and ready to take the stress of filling the form away from you.

The FUW provides this service exclusively to all paid-up members as part of their membership package, which has proved invaluable for thousands of

members over the years - saving them time and a aperworkheadache.

FUW Membership and Operations Manager Caryl Roberts said: "The SAF completion process is probably the single most important form completion exercise being carried out by Welsh farmers since 2004, and the financial repercussions of errors on the forms are severe. Our staff are not only well trained but very well practised in dealing with the complex application process."

Since the Welsh Government mandated that all applications should be done online, the FUW is focused on providing the best possible service to its members.

"I encourage our members to contact their local office as soon as possible to book an appointment if they need help in

filling out the form," added Caryl Roberts.

"We therefore encourage and remind members that it would be beneficial if SAF forms were submitted early, where possible. This will help the Customer Contact Centre manage the workload and prevent them from being inundated with telephone and RPW Online enquiries close to the SAF deadline”

May 2020 | Farming Monthly | 09

| Feature

Scientists find the ideal home for solitary bees A study supported by the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) has identified the most desirable nesting sites for the UK’s declining population of solitary bees and recommended simple measures to support them. s their name suggests, solitary bees do not live in colonies like bumblebees and honey bees, with some species preferring to nest in the ground. While their foraging behaviour and preferences have been studied, little has been known about the type of sites they prefer to nest in, until now.

Britain has almost 250 species of solitary bee, but population numbers have declined over the last decade. Many of them are important pollinators for crops like apples, pears and strawberries. The study, by University of Sussex PhD student Rachel Nichols, supported by the GWCT, set out to determine whether nesting habitats for groundnesting solitary bees could be created as small plots on the edge of farmland to aid the

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declining population, and whether or not the bees would move in.

Across Europe, agri-environment schemes (AES) have been developed to encourage wildlife friendly farming by providing landowners with financial support for conservation. Creating suitable habitats on farmland has not yet been included in any AES but could be introduced to help support the number and diversity of ground-nesting solitary bees.

At 19 locations across four Hampshire farms, Rachel compared small plots scraped bare using machinery, sprayed with herbicide, or left undisturbed. The locations were chosen by finding compacted ground (such as vehicle routes at the edges of fields) with a slight slope and on the south side of hedgerows or trees.

The plots were surveyed once a month from

April to July 2019. The greatest number of bee nests were found on the scraped plots.

Professor John Holland, Head of Farmland Ecology at the GWCT, said: “The study found that the bees preferred to nest in the plots that had been scraped bare. These scrapes can be quickly and cheaply made with farming machinery on the uncropped strips at the edges of field. Being simple and low cost to create, they could easily be included in any country’s agri-environment scheme to increase potential nesting sites for solitary bees and wasps and help support these useful pollinators.”

A summary of the report is available at: www.gwct.org.uk/farming/research/pollinators/ bare-ground-on-farmland-provides-nestinghabitat-for-ground-nesting-solitary-bees

AdrenaDorsata - Will George

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| Feature

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May 2020 | Farming Monthly | 11

| Feature

Holidaying bees help the fruit orchards bloom at Hadlow Estate More than 680,000 bees are on a unique spring break at the Hadlow Estate in Kent, to help it get the very best from its fruit orchards. s part of a managed pollination scheme described as a five-star working holiday for the bees, they're spending their time foraging 80 hectares of sumptuous apple and pear orchards at Hadlow Place Farm, which is located between Golden Green and Tudeley.

Crucial to the success of the annual harvest is the cross pollination of the flowers on the trees, and this is where the bees have a very important role to play in helping to generate thousands of tonnes of fruit each year.

Beekeeper Sergio Pignagnoli brings 34 of his hives to the farm and places them around the orchards, before the bees get to work. The project has been running for many years.

Kate Teacher, of the Hadlow Estate, said: "Bees and orchards have been working together for hundreds of years and we have continued that tradition by bringing a bee farmer here each year. We really do rely on them as without the bees our yields of fruit would be much lower - the native wild population of bees and other insects would not be enough to ensure a high quality, sustainable crop."

The bees spend around two weeks pollinating the pear trees and then their hives are moved on to the apple orchards for four weeks. The fruit is sold immediately in major supermarkets and to food and drink producers, while some goes into on-site cold stores to provide supplies throughout the autumn and winter months. In a good year, the farm can produce up to 25 million pieces of fruit for sale.

The hives are brought to the farm as part of a

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national scheme led by the Bee Farmers' Association, which matches growers with professional beekeepers who are able to meet their needs.

As Sergio Pignagnoli explains, it benefits his bees just as much as it does the orchards. He said: "It really is like a five-star holiday for the bees as there is such an abundance of good quality, fresh pollen and nectar for them to forage. This in turn helps them to feed their young which then expands and strengthens the colony. Each hive will have around 20,000 bees inside it when it arrives at the farm. By the time I collect them, that number will have doubled."

Kate Teacher continued: "I have been lucky enough to watch Sergio checking on the hives and his bees, and it is fascinating to see the care and understanding he has for them. It really does go to show how the cycle of nature and how the production of food from farming carries on, despite everything we are facing at this time, and people are working hard to make it happen. That is something very special indeed."

There are now plans to have a number of beehives located at the farm throughout the year. Kate is also hoping to be able to sell some of the honey produced, on behalf of Sergio.

Kate added: "Due to the lockdown it is harder for Sergio to sell his honey to customers so we are hoping to be able to sell this delicious and natural product here locally."

We are all being encouraged to download the new 'beescount' app and join the World Bee Count, which aims to help us understand why bee numbers are declining. To find out how to take part, visit https://beescount.org

Beekeeper Sergio Pignagnoli

Honey bee with ‘pollen basket’ on Gala apple blossom at Hadlow Place Farm

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May 2020 | Farming Monthly | 13

| Security

Quad bike owners urged to invest in security measures – after thieves thwarted in North Yorkshire

Two quad bikes were recovered within hours of their thefts from North Yorkshire today – thanks to vehicle trackers.

ust before 2am today, Thursday 30 April 2020, a farmer in a rural area between Harrogate and Otley was woken by a notification from their tracker service – and heard the sound of quads being driven away.

They contacted police. At around the same time, North Yorkshire Police also received a call from the tracker service about stolen quads.

The two stolen quad bikes, both red and black Hondas, were tracked heading towards Bradford, and officers immediately passed the details to West Yorkshire Police colleagues.

At 2.50am, guided by the vehicle tracker, officers located one of the stolen quads abandoned in the Bolton Woods area of Bradford.

A few hours later, the second stolen quad was also found, in the Yeadon area.

Both have now been returned to their rightful owner.

Officers from North Yorkshire Police's Rural Taskforce are investigating the theft of both quads, and enquiries are ongoing.

Anyone with information about the thefts is asked to contact North Yorkshire Police on 101, quoting reference 12200071719 – or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Police said last night's incident highlighted the importance of good quality quad bike security measures – particularly vehicle trackers.

Inspector Matt Hagen, of North Yorkshire Police's Rural Taskforce, said: "Unfortunately, quad bikes in remote, rural areas are often

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targeted by thieves.

"Quite apart from its monetary value, the loss of a quad can have a really significant impact on a farm or other rural business – particularly in these difficult times, when farmers really cannot afford any further disruption.

"The good news is security measures, in particular vehicle trackers, can be extremely effective.

In this case, we have managed to recover two stolen quad bikes the very same night they were stolen, thanks to trackers."

In light of the latest thefts, people who own quad bikes are urged to check the security of their vehicles: • Park as close to your premises as possible, ideally in a locked outbuilding with CCTV and security lighting, preferably out of sight from nearby roads.

• Remove keys when not in use, and do not leave them near the quad.

• Fit a GPS tracking device.

• Secure with wheel clamps and/or locking posts, and consider an alarm.

• Mark or customise your quad so it is easily identifiable.

• Keep a record of all vehicles, including photographs and serial numbers.

Insp Hagen added: "With the Coronavirus restrictions in place, far fewer people are making journeys, which can make suspicious activity – like unusual vehicle movements through rural areas late at night – stand out even more.

"Police patrols in rural areas have not stopped, so if you see or hear anything suspicious, don't hesitate to call us, and we can respond immediately if needed, as we did

14 | Farming Monthly | May 2020

last night.

"If a crime is in progress, or someone suspected of a crime is nearby – call 999. If you don't need an emergency response, please

report anything suspicious to us using the 101 phone number. Any piece of information could help us build up a picture and bring criminals to justice."

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| Security

Rural police patrols after livestock worth thousands of pounds stolen Police are stepping up action to prevent livestock thefts - after a number of incidents in rural North Yorkshire. nspector Matt Hagen of North Yorkshire Police's Rural Taskforce said: "Farmers are doing their best to make a living and keep food on our tables in these difficult times so having livestock stolen is the last thing they need."

Officers are offering crime prevention advice to North Yorkshire farmers, urging people to report suspicious activity in the countryside, and are keeping up regular patrols in rural areas.

According to NFU Mutual, £2.5m worth of farm animals were stolen nationwide in 2018 making it the most costly crime for farmers behind the theft of agricultural vehicles and farm machinery.

Criminals may be stealing livestock to illegally slaughter it, prompting concerns about animal cruelty, and that the meat could be entering the human food chain. In some cases, livestock theft may be linked to organised crime gangs.

Farmers in North Yorkshire are urged to: • ensure your stock is clearly marked, and

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records are kept up-to-date, • consider investing in a high-tech marking system, • where possible, graze livestock in fields away from roads, • check stock regularly – and vary feeding and check-up times, • join a Rural Watch scheme to share information about rural crime in your area, • report any suspicious activity to North Yorkshire Police, via 101, and ask neighbours to do the same, • dial 999 immediately if a crime is in progress – do not approach the suspects yourself.

The call for increased vigilance follows a number of livestock thefts from North Yorkshire farms, particularly in the Hambleton and Ryedale areas.

Between 20 and 27 April 2020, nine ewes and 53 lambs - Texels and Mules, with a value of about £6,500 - were stolen from a field east of Thirsk.

Overnight from 22 to 23 April, a female goat, worth about £100, was stolen from a field near Pickering.

89 ewes, including 69 Swaledales, were stolen from a field near Leeming Bar, some time around Tuesday 24 March 2020. The farmer discovered that a padlock securing the field had been broken.

Earlier this year, 88 piglets were stolen from a farm near Helmsley. It is not known exactly when the theft occurred, but it may have been between 6 and 28 February 2020. At that age the pigs would have been worth about £3,800 in total. The theft was discovered during a count in April.

Insp Hagen added: "Livestock theft can be devastating for farmers and their businesses, as well as causing unnecessary suffering to animals. If you think you have been a victim, or you have any information about who is committing these crimes, please call us. We take all reports extremely seriously as we work to keep these criminals away from North Yorkshire's farms."

If a crime is in progress, or someone suspected of a crime is nearby, call 999. If you don't need an emergency response, call 101.

May 2020 | Farming Monthly | 15

| On Topic

Drought res crops for th

Dr Cate Williams: IBERS, Aberystwyth U

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| On Topic

sistant he future niversity.

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May 2020 | Farming Monthly | 17

| On Topic limate change is a defining issue that has far-reaching consequences for all life on planet earth. One result of climate change is the occurrence of extreme weather (heatwaves, drought and flooding) and changes in temperature and precipitation patterns. As a result, the frequency and severity of drought, heatwaves and flooding are predicted to increase and pose a direct threat to food security across the globe.

There are two approaches to addressing climate change:

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adaptation (coping with the effects of climate change) and mitigation (reducing the factors contributing to climate change).

Within the agricultural industry, a variety of interventions are being explored to cope with the effects of climate change and to also mitigate future contributions. Selective breeding of crops, and indeed animals, is an essential part of the adaptive response. Resistance to drought (and associated conditions such as heatwaves) and flooding are the most common climate-related traits for which crop varieties are bred, with the view to coping in extreme weather and improving global food security.

Mechanisms of drought resistance In general, plants have a wide range of adaptive mechanisms to cope with drought conditions, with different species and cultivars displaying different responses. Many different drought tolerance and avoidance strategies come together to give a drought-resistant plant.

Drought avoidance strategies aim to minimise the effects of drought mostly through reducing water loss, for example, changing the number of stomata and/or the size of these openings. Stomata are microscopic pores mainly found on leaves that allow for

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| On Topic gas exchange, reducing the number or closing them can also reduce the chance of water loss.

Other traits include increasing levels of cuticle wax, rolling of leaves to reduce the overall surface area or changing leaf orientation, all of which work to prevent water loss.

On the other hand, drought tolerance refers more to how the plant copes with the effects of drought, particularly on a cellular level. Often this involves the production of hormones and chemical compounds that balance the movement of water in and out of the cell and maintain a healthy cell membrane (figure 1).

Also known as ‘osmotic adjustment’ a plant can control the flux of water through the concentration of solutes inside the cell down to minuscule levels (figure 1). This helps to maintain the correct amount of pressure inside the cell and a healthy cell membrane, which in turn keeps plant tissue healthy and avoids necrosis (often seen as ‘browning’).

Another function of these hormones and chemicals that are released in response to stress is in detoxification, as the plant goes through stress (drought or otherwise) toxic compounds can build up, it is, therefore, essential that these toxins are discarded. This also helps to maintain a stable environment for enzymes and molecules that play a role in essential metabolic processes and contribute to plant health, growth and development.

What is arguably the key physical attribute in drought resistance is root length and depth.

Roots are essential in growth, development and performance due to their instrumental role in water and nutrient uptake. The root system is flexible and dynamic which allows plants to respond to drought by promoting root growth and development. Whilst root depth and density are key players in drought resistance, the hydraulic capacity of the roots (i.e. their ability to extract water) is equally as important. Root structure is heavily influenced by environmental conditions but there is also some genetic basis for the trait.

Enhanced root structures can also play a role in mitigating flooding.

Deep and well-

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developed root structures allow for enhanced infiltration by water - through gaps created by the plant roots rather than flowing over the surface. Plant roots also contribute to the physical structure of soil which may reduce flooding potential. Soil compaction is also important in root development and flood mitigation, as high levels of compaction restrict root growth and reduce the water holding capacity of the soil. This limits the supply of water to the plant itself and may also contribute to the risk of flooding.

It is important to note, that each plant species is different and even cultivars within species will show different adaptive mechanisms to drought – using all, none or some of the above strategies. However, these adaptations have a strong genetic basis making drought resistance an attractive candidate for genetic manipulation and selective breeding programmes. Hundreds of genes involved in drought resistance have been identified and it is agreed that the ‘resistant’ phenotype is controlled by many, small-effect genes that control a huge variety of different responses.

Case Studies Grass The most utilised grass cultivar in the UK is ryegrass, as it is highly productive and wellsuited to the local climate and farming systems.

Perennial ryegrass (PRG) is perhaps the most popular as it is versatile persistent and long-lived. Whilst PRG boasts good cold tolerance, it is not as well equipped to handle arid conditions.

Research comparing PRG varieties from many different countries has identified differences in genes linked to drought resistance. For example, a cultivar from Norway displayed 7x higher shoot matter than the control PRG after extended drought conditions, resulting in high yields as well as resistance to drought. North African ryegrass has also been evaluated due to its deep rootedness; however, further research found a reduction in summer productivity. This is likely an effective adaptation to arid African summers, but it may hamper performance in the UK. Spanish cultivars, on the other hand, appear to maintain summer yields whilst displaying droughtresistant characteristics, so may be a better option for crossing with domestic varieties. Whilst many genes have been identified and manipulated in PRG with success, looking to strains from arid countries may hold further answers.

Crossing varieties with others that display desired levels of drought resistance whilst maintaining yield may be preferable to targeted genetic manipulation.

The SuperGraSS project carried out at IBERS in Aberystwyth University found that a PRG x fescue hybrid (Festuca pratensis) produced stronger roots that were better able to penetrate compacted soil, when compared to PRG (Lolium perenne). Such root structures have the potential to increase soil porosity, water holding capacity and may contribute to reducing flood risk as a result. When compared to a standard PRG variety, the Festulolium sp. reduced run off by 51% and by 43% when compared to meadow fescue. The SUREROOT project now aims to build upon this work and explore the effects of drought as well as flooding. A recent experiment supports and develops upon this result, finding that following drought stress, tetraploid PRG populations (and a small number of Festulolium and Festuca sp.), were able to develop more shoot and root dry matter than diploid populations.

The onset of drought-related symptoms was also delayed, and the plants recovered better once drought conditions were relieved. Such research tentatively suggests that tetraploid PRG may be better equipped to deal with drought than diploid varieties Barley Barley is another important UK crop, predominantly planted in spring and ready for harvest in summer, although in some cases it is planted in late autumn. The yield of spring barley can be affected by drought conditions in both spring (seedling stage) and summer (flowering stage) as it is poorly adapted to life in arid climates. As such, the improvement of productivity under drought conditions is important – particularly at the seedling stage when the plant is most sensitive.

Research suggests that in barley the movement of gas through the stomata and levels of chemicals (sodium and potassium) inside cells are more important than root length and the density of stomata in the leaves.

Interestingly, this evidence indicates that barley relies more on osmotic adjustment at a cellular level than larger changes in morphology like root length. Such adaptations fall into the category of drought tolerance and may guide future breeding strategies.

Several genes involved in drought resistance in barley have been identified and explored.

One key gene is HVA1, which shows a linear relationship with drought response – the more highly expressed the HVA1 gene is, the better the drought resistance of the plant. Another promising candidate is the HvP5CS1 gene, variations of which are associated with good drought resistance. Both genes may serve as useful DNA markers for genome-assisted breeding projects.

Oats Another predominantly spring crop, oats are a key crop around the world. Oats are versatile and perform well on a variety of soils, including ones of marginal quality, however, they are sensitive to arid climates. Whilst the current temperate climate of the UK suits oats as a crop, this may well change in the future.

Research from Aberystwyth university using new

May 2020 | Farming Monthly | 19

| On Topic

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| On Topic sequencing technologies suggests that closing of the stomata and antioxidant action are key adaptations for oats under drought stress. In the drought-resistant cultivar, these mechanisms were activated rapidly, before the effects of drought were able to cause damage, suggesting that drought-resistant oats practice drought avoidance, rather than tolerance.

The oat cultivars Brusher, Tarahumara and Paisley have shown good drought resistance properties in studies in Iran, whilst the cultivar Patones has also shown promise. Such tests may form the basis of new breeding schemes or arable producers may begin to see these cultivars appearing in seed catalogues. As the Llafyr Ni (Our Cereals) group works to test 10 rare Welsh oat varieties in a bid to improve seed diversity, there may also be an opportunity to test for drought responses. The project aims to revisit old Welsh oat landraces for cultivars that may be well suited to our changing climate.

Current progress Outside of the UK, progress has been made using new genetically engineered droughtresistant crops. For example, in the USA the first commercialised drought-tolerant maize (MON87460, produced by Monsanto) was planted by over 2,000 farmers on over 50,000 hectares (ha). This cultivar uses genes taken from the bacteria Bacillus subtilis and E. coli that offer enhanced cell stability and allow plants to maintain cellular functions under drought stress.

In 2018, the government of Indonesia approved the use of a drought-resistant sugar cane variety (NXI-4T, Nusantara Plantation Research).

Containing the bacterial betA gene; this variety can make advanced osmotic adjustments to cells and acclimates very well in drought conditions. Other drought-resistant varieties of maize, sugar cane, wheat and rice are being used in field trials across the globe in Argentina, Brazil, India, South Africa and Uganda. In Europe, Spain leads the way with regards to planting transgenic crops, particularly insectresistant maize (Bt maize). Following detailed analysis of field trials and progress in other countries, there is a good chance that such varieties will become available in the UK in the future, as the climate changes and demand becomes large enough.

Reducing drought risk through management Whilst progress is being made towards drought-resistant crops, we are yet to see these cultivars appear in the seed catalogues and recommended lists. Until such a time, there are still a variety of changes that may be made to management practices to address drought and indeed, flooding.

Sowing and harvest dates may be altered to cope with warmer springs and higher temperatures – for example, sowing earlier and

harvesting later could help to compensate for drought-related losses. Changing crop schedules and introducing a multiple cropping system (growing two or more crops in the same field, for example, salads) may help to make the most of extended growing seasons. Also known as ‘succession planting’ this method can help boost production through a variety of methods, planting different crops in succession, the same crop in succession or at different maturity dates.

Farmers may also consider switching from spring to winter cereal production when rainfall is more reliable.

Managing water is also important in dealing with drought. Building winter water storage reservoirs can help farmers cope with reduced availability and reliability of summer rivers.

Investing in new technologies to improve water and energy efficiency can also help mitigate the effects of drought, although this is less applicable for the UK which sees around 33.7 inches of rainfall every year. For farmers in the UK, upgrading drainage systems to cope with higher rainfall intensities and prevent flooding may be more applicable. Taking advantage of periods of heavy rainfall by harvesting rainwater and water recycling are also popular sustainable practices.

One key management consideration involves carefully matching species and cultivars to the local environment. Testing soils on the farm and establishing key aspects such as pH, texture, fertility, drainage, moisture content, organic matter content and nutrient status will allow landowners to make informed decisions when selecting crops and to get the most out of their land.

Summary Certainly, a great deal of progress has been made in our understanding of drought resistance in crops – many genes have been identified in a variety of different species. It is expected that the application of next generation sequencing technologies will boost this research and result in the delivery of new cultivars to industry. Key crops in the UK such as grasses (especially PRG), barley and oats have been extensively researched and progress is steady but sure.

As research continues to develop and translates into industry there are also management changes that may be made on-farm to mitigate the effects of drought. For example, recycling water, harvesting rain, sowing earlier and harvesting or moving to winter crops are particularly relevant for the UK. Adapting management practices in addition to improving cultivars is a vital step towards coping with the effects of climate change and ensuring food security for the future.

Background: This project has received funding through the Welsh Government Rural Communities - Rural Development Programme 2014-2020, which is funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the Welsh Government.

The Farming Connect Knowledge Transfer Programme and Advisory Service is delivered by Menter a Busnes on behalf of Welsh Government. Lantra Wales leads on the delivery of the Farming Connect Lifelong Learning and Development Programme.

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May 2020 | Farming Monthly | 21

| Arable

Micronutrients are more important than ever for resilient spring crops A robust micronutrient management programme is vital for spring crops, but this year it's even more important than usual. ollowing a miserable winter and dry beginning to spring, micronutrients will play a vital role in ensuring a resilient spring cereal crop – especially as recent data has shown high rates of deficiency.

"We've seen more drilling of spring cereals this year to replace winter cereals," says Natalie Wood, Country Arable Agronomist at Yara.

"Many farmers are feeling pressure to achieve results in a tighter timeframe. Micronutrient applications can help to do so – make sure you take action for the best chance at driving resilient crop growth."

Common deficiencies Every year, Yara Analytical Services (YAS) receives many tissue samples from across the country for analysis. In 2019, several deficiencies were found in spring crops – with spring barley notably deficient in the majority of samples. "Magnesium (Mg) seems to be a common deficiency, especially in spring barley," says Natalie. "Last year, 76% of samples were deficient and well below guideline levels."

Magnesium deficiency can be destructive.

As an important component of chlorophyll, crops cannot photosynthesise without it. In turn, this will lead to less efficient energy conversion – and ultimately weaker yields. "For a simple analogy, magnesium-deficient crops are like a faulty solar panel," says Natalie. "On the surface everything might look fine, but the hidden mechanism is not functioning – you're not getting the energy conversion that actually produces growth and yield."

Other nutrients had an even poorer showing.

The same data set revealed yet higher levels of boron (B) deficiency, with spring barley showing deficiencies in 80% of samples. Spring wheat had the most striking results – a shocking 100% of samples showed deficiency

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in boron.

"I'm surprised by the lack of boron," says Natalie. "Boron is required for pollination, flowering, and most importantly grain set.

Unless your boron levels are right, your yield will suffer. The costs of applying boron are very low whereas the cost of not applying it could be very high."

Knowledge is power What's the best way to get ahead this spring? Knowing your circumstances. Tissue testing is the most sure-fire way to know exactly what is going on with your crop – at least at the time of sampling – and thus knowing which nutrients to rectify with specific products.

Nutrient requirements can change over time.

Even a robust nutrient management programme, if targeting the wrong nutrients, cannot address a hidden problem, and ultimately becomes an unnecessary expenditure. "Be attentive and diligent," says Natalie. "Spring crops can move through their growth stages very quickly. You don't want to miss a key timing. Testing removes a lot of risk and sets you on the right course."

Even without your own data, there are other useful sources – such as the YAS statistics cited previously. "Making use of national data can be a valuable aid," says Natalie. "While not a substitute for acquiring your own data, it can be a helpful guide. For example, Mg and B are clearly in need of extra attention utilising the data from last year, so using products to cover those deficiencies is a safe bet."

Getting ahead With spring crops often making rapid progress through growth stages depending on conditions, it's essential to get the right applications on at the right time. This should be timed as the crop extends, which will coincide with fungicide timings. Natalie also offers some extra advice for the particularly problematic

Natalie Wood

nutrients identified by last year's data: "Magnesium's key timing would be the T1 fungicide timing. For boron, it's a little more complex. Ideally, we would want to split applications. Trials have shown this results in higher yields. If possible, apply 0.5L/ha at T1 and 0.5L/ha at T2. If you're only able to make one application though, don't worry. Apply the full 1.0L/ha in T1."

Farmers are under a great deal of pressure – more so than usual. At this stage, it's easy to overlook some of the small things. "Be careful not to underestimate the importance of micronutrients for your spring crops. Deficiency can directly impact your crop, with financial implications from loss of yield. Don't let deficiencies undermine your hard work. Stay vigilant and apply wisely this spring to drive optimum results."

Stay informed this spring. For more information on micronutrient products, please visit www.yara.co.uk/crop-nutrition

Rothamsted study looking to harvest combine data to tackle field-edge yield declines Rothamsted scientists are assessing whether flower-rich margins, hedgerows or tree lines are helping improve yield and asking farmers to help by sending them GPS data collected at harvest. n return for their help, the Institute will provide farmers with an easy to interpret summary of the findings, with tips on how they might increase production.

The data will be integral to a study linking the biodiversity found just beyond the field with variations in yield within it Dr Helen Metcalfe, who is collating the data, said different types of field boundaries could help to reduce the yield decline at field edges.

“Have you ever wondered what the true benefit of hedgerows, treelines or flower rich margins are on your crop yield?

“By linking the yield monitor data collected

by GPS enabled combine harvesters with the

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22 | Farming Monthly | May 2020

presence of different landscape features, we will try to determine whether yield decline towards the edge of fields is associated with certain types of boundaries.

“Likewise, we will also identify whether features known to support pollinators and other beneficial wildlife are having a positive effect on yield in the nearest parts of the crop.

“We’d be really grateful it if any farmers with yield monitor data from their combines would share it with us.”

The EcoStack project is hoping that information on the location, quality and quantity of landscape features such as hedgerows or wildflowers linked to yield maps will give the clearest indication yet on the benefit of on-farm biodiversity.

Data from any sort of crop, from any part of the UK will be useful, she added, stressing that no farmer data will be shared beyond this project.

“We won’t publish maps or use them in presentations without prior consent, and the way the data will be pooled and processed before publication means nothing identifiable will be detectable from it.”

More information on how to take part, including simple instructions on how to download combine data, can be obtained from https://www.ecostackh2020.eu/2020/04/01/yeld-monitor/ or by emailing helen.metcalfe@rothamsted.ac.uk

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| Feature

Contact your nearest dealer: Agratech NW Ltd Unit 8 Dale Mill Burnley Road East Lancashire BB4 9HU 01706 211399 www.agratech.co.uk

Michael Tait

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May 2020 | Farming Monthly | 23

| Arable

Now is the time to establish summer cover for soil health The next few weeks are the ideal time to establish a summer cover crop mix on uncropped land requiring improvements to soil structure and health after last winter. hort-duration summer cover crops, such as the new seed mixes available from Hutchinsons (see below), typically feature sun-loving species, such as phacelia and C4 plant Japanese reed millet, that will grow rapidly given warmer spring conditions and adequate moisture.

“Summer cover shouldn’t be sown too early as it increases the risk of some species going to seed, so early to mid- May is the ideal

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timing,” Lincolnshire-based agronomist Alice Cannon says.

Phacelia and white mustard are two species to watch closely to ensure they don’t go to seed, but millet can also become quite woody if left in the ground too long, which means it will take longer to break down. This can all be managed through careful choice of drilling date and termination timing, she notes.

Hutchinsons bioagriecologist Ed Brown says summer cover crop mixes should typically deliver their main soil health benefits within 8-12

weeks, after which time they can be terminated to allow a timely entry for the following crop.

He advises growers to establish summer cover properly, as they would with any spring crop. If drainage work needs to be carried out during this period, the cover should be allowed to establish first so that it carries vehicles and equipment better, avoiding further soil damage.

If, following a close inspection, it is deemed that remedial subsoiling is needed, this can be carried out either before drilling the cover or later on after it is destroyed. Timing of this

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| Arable

Tailor-made cover crop solution Mr Brown has worked with a team of Hutchinsons colleagues representing a range of soil types, cropping and agronomic situations, to develop five bespoke cover crop mixes, including two short-term spring/summer catch crop mixes alongside three options for overwinter cover.

Mixes are based mainly on species of legumes, brassicas and forbes [non-woody herbaceous, broadleaf plants] with known management and proven effectiveness in UK conditions. should be when soil conditions allow for shattering, not smearing, he advises.

Mr Brown notes that many of the waterlogging issues seen last winter were due to relatively shallow surface compaction, so growers must carefully assess soils when they are moist enough to check there is a genuine need for later remedial work.

Indeed, some surface issues may be alleviated by the “conditioning effect” of growing a summer cover crop anyway.

Following the recent spell of dry weather Miss Cannon cautions growers not to confuse dry soils with compacted ones, so any assessments must be done when there is sufficient soil moisture.

Indeed, given the lack of rain during April, Miss Cannon questions how effective spring cropping will be and suggests growers with land still to drill may be better focussing on next season by waiting for moisture to establish summer covers instead, to help create the seedbeds that first wheats need to maximise potential next harvest.

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Moisture conservation for autumn drilling is a potential benefit from summer cover, as cover crop roots draw moisture from deeper in the soil profile, as well as boosting organic matter close to the surface, which improves moisture levels for following crop germination in the autumn, she explains.

Diversity benefits Mixes based on a diverse range of species can be more effective than those featuring just one or two and helps mitigate potential “green bridge” issues for pests and disease, Mr Brown says.

Furthermore, having different root and canopy characteristics spreads risk and delivers wider benefits to soil structure improvement, nutrient capture, and provides a varied diet for soil biology.

Species with dense, vigorous roots, such as linseed and millet, provide excellent soil conditioning, while others, particularly legumes, are good at improving nutrition. For example, burseem clover is an effective nitrogen-fixer, while buckwheat is able to scavenge

There are six-way and three-way mixes phosphorus he crop notes. available forwell, catch options, while the overwinter mixes each feature eight different species.

Growers planning to graze summer cover with livestock should be aware that buckwheat has been associated with causing photosensitivity in some breeds of sheep and cattle, however Mr Brown believes the risk is negligible providing the species makes up only a small proportion of the total mix.

Miss Cannon concludes by urging growers to tailor summer cover crops carefully to individual field requirements and use them as part of a strategic approach to managing and improving soil health across the whole farm over multiple years. This approach includes crop choice, cultivations and the strategic use of stewardship on unprofitable land that is regularly difficult to crop.

“Cover crops are not going to sort out soils on their own, but they can play a very important role.”

May 2020 | Farming Monthly | 25

| Arable

Don't let a dry April slow crop growth Soil nutrition matters more than ever. here is a saying that many farmers will be familiar with: wet soils make crops lazy. As you would expect, this is not a scientific fact, but there is some truth to it. Following record levels of rainfall over winter, we have recently been confronted with an especially dry March and April. Soil moisture is suddenly a huge problem for many farmers dealing with their spring crops. How is this possible so soon after a prolonged period of wet weather?

The truth is that heavy rainfall causes shallow root systems. Deep roots die in anaerobic conditions. As an industry, the weather often

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catches us by surprise. However, if you look at the data, current conditions are actually in line with expectations – it's merely our attitude that might require shifting.

Past trends – why do April droughts catch us by surprise?

We have a common misconception that April is a fairly wet month with consistent rainfall, and drought would be a rarity. The data, however, does not correspond with this theory. Looking at past weather patterns, April has been 28% drier in recent years compared to figures pre 2000. This trend continues even further. Over the last 100 years, April and March are often the driest months in the year. These dry conditions

surprise us every time, but the data indicates that it is a problem we can anticipate and overcome.

What we can take from this is just how critical moisture retention is, even after a wet winter. The focus always has to be on strong soils and root systems. In recent years, particularly since the turn of the century, our N recommendations have taken this into account.

We have promoted higher application rates at an earlier time in order to build up crop canopies, resulting in larger root systems below the ground.

We're now faced with the threat of drought, the severity of which will determine how much

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| Arable

crops suffer. To an extent, we have to take some of it on the chin. If, after getting out with a spade and checking your situation, there is enough moisture to keep your crop going, it's a good idea to investigate foliar nutrition products. A robust plan that uses micronutrients and all the right products in your armoury can keep crops going until rainfall arrives.

Looking at nutrition – where do we go from here?

Strategic use of the right products can bring us through this difficult period. Micronutrients need micro amounts. Foliar products can generally be used throughout the whole crop.

For macronutrients, particularly nitrogen and potassium, large amounts will be required via the soil.

In terms of nitrogen for spring barley for

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example, we at Yara have run tests across a wide range of application rates to find the sweet spot – from 0kg/ha up to an excessive 240kg/ha. We have mapped and correlated to determine that yield results are the strongest return on investment at 161kg/ha. That might seem ridiculously specific – and you certainly can't guarantee reaching that number precisely – but it's a good target to aim for. In our wheat trials, looking back at the dry spring of 2017, the optimum N rate then was 215 kg N/ha.

There was also some evidence in that year that keeping 40 kg N/ha for a GS39 application was beneficial.

The weather may catch us off-guard but the data – and tools to move forward – are at your disposal. Don't overlook them. In the shortterm, start thinking about how you can keep your crop moving along. In the long-term, seek

out useful data or those with knowledge in that area. There is no reason we should be unprepared.

We have a common misconception that April is a fairly wet month with consistent rainfall, and drought would be a rarity. The data, however, does not correspond with this theory. Looking at past weather patterns, April has been 28% drier in recent years compared to figures pre 2000 Stay informed and keep your crops growing this spring. For more information, please visit www.yara.co.uk/crop-nutrition

May 2020 | Farming Monthly | 27

| Arable

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| Arable

Unsustainable soil erosion in parts of UK New research demonstrates unsustainable levels of soil erosion in the UK. he study examined more than 1,500 existing records and found 16% relating to arable (crop-growing) land showed erosion above “tolerable” levels – meaning rates of soil loss are significantly greater than new soil formation.

This may not reflect the national picture, as the study has highlighted that existing studies are frequently biased towards places which have eroded in the past.

However, the findings still show that erosion can occur at problematic levels under a range of conditions, meaning soil resources are at risk in the medium to long term.

“Unsustainable rates of erosion reduce soil fertility and can have devastating environmental impacts downstream in waterways,” said lead author Dr Pia Benaud, of the University of Exeter.

“If we don’t manage it properly in the UK and around the world, it will affect our ability to feed our growing population.

“Soil run-off also leads to significant extra sediment in waterways, increasing the damage to ecology and risk of flooding downstream.”

Land management affects erosion rates. For

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example, leaving fields bare, ploughing up and down a hill (instead of across it) or growing arable crops on steep slopes raise the risk of erosion during heavy rain.

Soil types and local geography also affect erosion rates, though erosion is shown to occur on any soil that is intensively farmed, especially when rainfall is extreme.

“Current UK legislation, particularly existing farm subsidies, pay for land to be managed in a way that leads to unsustainable erosion, with public funding,” Dr Benaud said.

“We argue that this should be addressed as a matter of urgency by policymakers, with soil protection at the heart of forthcoming environmental land management schemes.”

Despite raising concerns about UK erosion above the “tolerable” rate of one metric tonne per hectare per year, the study says erosion rates in the UK are relatively low compared to the rest of Europe, demonstrating that erosion is a serious global problem.

The highest UK erosion rate found was more than 140 tonnes per hectare per year – recorded on a single field in West Sussex in the early 1990s.

“Analysing existing research, as we have

done here, it is difficult to define what constitutes a soil erosion ‘problem’, and to know how serious an issue this is in the UK,” said Professor Richard Brazier, a co-author on the paper and Director of Exeter Centre for Environmental Resilience, Water and Waste.

“What is clear, however, is that soil erosion rates of the order reported will lead to serious impacts on soil productivity if left unchecked.

“More information is needed to fill the gaps in understanding; the open access geodatabase and interactive web-map published alongside this paper offer a platform for the development and sharing of soil erosion research, which will hopefully allow for the formulation of effective policy and better protection of our soil, which is so critical to food production and genuine ecosystem services such as carbon storage.”

To access the database, visit www.tinyurl.com/SoilErosionMap or https://github.com/piabenaud/SoilErosionMap The research was funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

The study, published in the journal Geoderma, is entitled: “National-scale geodata describe widespread accelerated soil erosion.”

Rothamsted study looking to harvest combine data to tackle field-edge yield declines Rothamsted scientists are assessing whether flower-rich margins, hedgerows or tree lines are helping improve yield and asking farmers to help by sending them GPS data collected at harvest. n return for their help, the Institute will provide farmers with an easy to interpret summary of the findings, with tips on how they might increase production.

The data will be integral to a study linking the biodiversity found just beyond the field with variations in yield within it Dr Helen Metcalfe, who is collating the data, said different types of field boundaries could help to reduce the yield decline at field edges.

“Have you ever wondered what the true benefit of hedgerows, treelines or flower rich margins are on your crop yield?

I

The EcoStack project is hoping that information on the location, quality and quantity of landscape features such as hedgerows or wildflowers linked to yield maps will give the clearest indication yet on the benefit of on-farm biodiversity “By linking the yield monitor data collected

by GPS enabled combine harvesters with the presence of different landscape features, we will try to determine whether yield decline towards the edge of fields is associated with

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certain types of boundaries.

“Likewise, we will also identify whether features known to support pollinators and other beneficial wildlife are having a positive effect on yield in the nearest parts of the crop.

“We’d be really grateful it if any farmers with yield monitor data from their combines would share it with us.”

The EcoStack project is hoping that information on the location, quality and quantity of landscape features such as hedgerows or wildflowers linked to yield maps will give the clearest indication yet on the benefit of on-farm biodiversity.

Data from any sort of crop, from any part of the UK will be useful, she added, stressing that no farmer data will be shared beyond this project.

“We won’t publish maps or use them in presentations without prior consent, and the way the data will be pooled and processed before publication means nothing identifiable will be detectable from it.”

More information on how to take part, including simple instructions on how to download combine data, can be obtained from https://www.ecostackh2020.eu/2020/04/01/yeld-monitor/ or by emailing helen.metcalfe@rothamsted.ac.uk

May 2020 | Farming Monthly | 29

| Arable

Farmers have been seeing higher yields and reduced weed burdens for a second year after growing crops side by side in an Innovative Farmers field lab The on-farm trials have been led by two farmers who wanted to investigate whether growing plant teams - known as intercropping or companion cropping - could be an effective method of reducing weed, pest and lodging problems, as well as boosting soil health. hrough the Innovative Farmers network, the farmers came together with researchers at the Organic Research Centre to test the impacts of growing linseed alongside oats, peas with oilseed rape and oats, and wheat and beans.

Results from the trials have been varied but positive for the farmers, who will be sharing their knowledge and results through an intercropping “Virtual Field Day” webinar. This is being hosted by Agricology for any interested farmer at 11:30am on Thursday 7 May. Triallist James Hares intercropped wheat and beans at his organic farm in Oxfordshire. He said: “On our farm we’re growing beans as a crop for our cattle feed but we needed to find a way to reduce the weed burden in the crop. We had a very disastrous bean crop the year prior to trying intercropping, only harvesting a third of the field that we planted. Something had to be done and we decided we should grow something to replace those weeds. It has worked quite well – we have really reduced our weed burden and by fiddling around with the seedrates we’ve been able to improve our bean yields this year compared to last. I am keen to keep trying different seed rates to maximise bean yields whilst maintaining control over the weeds. We don’t see bigger trials on heavy land like ours, so to find anything out we have to do it ourselves – you have to be prepared to move with what the results are telling you.”

Kate Pressland, Innovative Farmers

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Programme Manager, said: “This field lab has been fascinating and exemplifies why farmerled research is so valuable. The group have worked really well together helping to develop the, sometimes complex, results into encouraging solutions that should have a positive impact on their businesses in the future. By sharing the insights they have gained whilst working closely alongside scientists, their research should encourage confidence in other farmers interested in practical ways to increase the sustainability of their crops.”

Key results: • Intercropping wheat and beans cut weed biomass by 74%: The results of this trial were consistent with last year with a much lower weed biomass in the intercrop versus the monocrop - 73% in year one and 74% in year two. Owing to the excessive weed burden the farmer destroyed the monocrop beans to prevent the wild oats going to seed.

•Optimising the seed rates when intercropping boosted the combined yield: The combined, intercropped wheat and bean yield was higher in this year of the trial compared to last. The farmer saw a combined yield of 2.5tonnes/ha this year, compared to a combined yield of 1.7tonnes per hectare in year one. This is thought to be a result of lowering the wheat seed rate and increasing the bean seed rate, which in year one was 175kg/ha wheat and 125kg/ha beans and in year two was changed to 100kg/ha wheat and 200kg/ha beans.

• Intercropping wheat with beans may improve wheat quality: Lab tests show that the

intercropped wheat protein content was 10.94 compared to 10.67 in the monocrop sample.

The HFN (Hagberg Falling Number) value, which rates the suitability of wheat for bread making, of the intercrop sample was 411 compared to 384 in the monocrop sample. A of replicates in the trial means it is not possible to determine whether this result is chance but does indicate the need for further research to investigate if improved wheat quality could be another benefit of intercropping.

•Oats boosted the linseed yield by 17-19%.

Linseed yields were higher when intercropped with oats, in comparison to the linseed monocrop.

• Peas may facilitate oilseed rape growth: Although both OSR treatment areas did not make it through to harvest, pre-harvest monitoring suggested that intercropping OSR with peas could boost the plants nutrient levels, as they were sufficient despite no artificial fertiliser being applied. Further research is needed to investigate this possibility.

• Intercropping peas with OSR provided an insurance crop for when the latter failed due to pest burden.

The trial is now continuing for a third year and any farmer interested in getting involved can find out more by contacting info@innovativefarmers.org.

Results and updates on this trial and others happening around the country is available open source at www.innovativefarmers.org, where any farmer can also join the network for free.

More detail on the results of this field lab can be accessed on the field lab portal.

Joined up approach needed to protect future of oilseed rape in Britain The NFU is seeking urgent discussions with Defra about the future of oilseed rape (OSR) in Britain. OSR is a key ingredient for many products, from rapeseed oil and margarines to mayonnaise to salad dressings, making it a valuable crop for Britain. t is also an important break crop in the UK’s arable rotation with many benefits including helping to increase organic matter in soils, alongside providing a key source of sustenance for pollinators. However, the ban of neonicotinoids has meant growers can no longer control cabbage stem flea beetle populations, which are decimating the OSR crop across the country.

The NFU is calling for Defra to work with industry on the urgent development of an effective alternative to neonics and to provide support for OSR growers until this is achieved.

NFU combinable crops board chairman Matt Culley said: “The country is going through an incredibly turbulent time at the moment and

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British farmers are doing all they can to get on with the day job and keeping shelves and fridges full.

“But I’m hearing from oilseed rape growers across the country that the risk of losing the crop is becoming too great, and many plan to stop planting it at all.

“Without government support, we could see domestic production dry up which would leave us with no choice but to import these products from other countries – countries which may still be using the very neonics which are banned here.

“A more joined up approach from Defra and the farming industry is needed if we are to find a way to protect the future of OSR, and more specifically, to protect it from cabbage stem flea beetle.

“In his first address as Prime Minister, Boris Johnson highlighted that the government would support and encourage the development of new plant breeding techniques, which would be a significant step forward for farmers in building resilience into their crops.

“Farmers need to know that short term financial support will be available to mitigate the risks of growing OSR, but it is absolutely crucial that a long term, sustainable solution is found as quickly as possible and the government needs to put as much resource as can be spared into finding it.”

www.farmingmonthly.co.uk

| Arable

Formulation key to weed control success in spring barley With a record 1 million ha of spring barely planted this year and rain forecast for the beginning of May, growers will be under pressure to control weeds in a narrow window of opportunity, so herbicide formulation could make all the difference. e’ve grown 30% more spring barley than usual mainly because we couldn’t drill our winter wheat last autumn in the wet conditions,” explains Colin Woodward, farm manager and crop consultant at Great Tew Estate in Oxfordshire.

“We usually grow spring cereals purely to help combat blackgrass, but this season has been so challenging weather wise that we’ve had to plant 60% of our crops as spring cereals to fill this gap,” he says.

“Not being able to drill the spring barley until the first half of April has meant the dry conditions have had an impact on establishment, and because all our spring crops were planted at the same time, our spring workload is going to be condensed and a lot higher than usual.”

Colin adds that because of this, the spraying programme will be a challenge.

“The spring barley will run through the growth stages very quickly now that the crop has had some rain and the temperatures are

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rising. As we need to target our broad leaf weed (BLW) control at GS30 we will have a very short window to get this applied to the crop.

“To make this as efficient as possible and reduce travelling we tank mix an SU herbicide with a fungicide and PGR,” he says.

Adam Espir, SU expert at FMC, explains that product formulation could be key to success when using this tank mix as it could help save time.

“Our SU’s such as AllyMax, Jubilee & Harmony M, are all formulated as an SX which means they are a true solution, rather than suspension, meaning they are much easier to wash out and will tank mix better,” he says.

“Tests carried out with a 1000L farm sprayer showed that sprayer washout with SX formulation takes quarter of the time, 30 minutes compared to two hours, and uses less than 20% water compared to non-SX formulation, which could be vital this year when time is so precious.”

Adam adds that growers should also consider planning their spray route carefully to avoid having to wash out as often.

“Spray fields in blocks wherever possible concentring on spring cereals first then washing out with AllClear Extra, before moving onto broad leaved crops such as brassicas or legumes,” he says.

“There’s no doubt that it’s been an unusual season so far, so managing weed control programmes effectively to ensure you have enough time to get round will be key and SX formulation can help with this,” concludes Adam.

The broccoli crop associated with beans reduces fertiliser use by 30% The Diverfarming project has managed to reduce fertiliser use in the broccoli crop by associating it with beans in one of the experimental fields in Murcia. ncreasing the profits of the agricultural community requires a reduction in the external inputs when growing, and therefore the health of the soil where the crop is grown is an essential aspect. If the soil contains enough organic material and the necessary nutrients so that the crops grow and the harvest is productive, then the costs of external resources such as fertilisers will be better.

Under this premise, the team of the European Diverfarming project which manages the experimental plot ‘AsociaHortus’ in Cartagena, financed by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, has achieved a 30% reduction in fertiliser use by introducing beans into broccoli monocropping. As a result of the association of crops they have reduced the application of fertilisers and have improved the soil quality in terms of nutrients and organic matter, maintaining the same production of broccoli and contributing an extra harvest of beans.

Diverfarming seeks a change in paradigm in European agriculture which, from the combination of crop diversification and sustainable management practices, will give economic security to the agricultural

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community and will benefit the environment, having an influence on climate change. This experimental field, located in Murcia and headed up by the researcher Virginia Sánchez Navarro at the Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena, joins the other 25 experimental plots in six European countries in which European crop diversification is being trialled.

Diversifications of horticultural products with legumes are being studied in this field with reductions in fertilisers. Monocropping of the vegetable is compared with the mixture of the vegetable with legumes or intercropping alleys of the vegetable and legumes. The results have been positive in both the summer and the winter cycles. In the summer, the combination of melon with cowpea increased the melon production by between 34 and 70%, with a 30% reduction in fertiliser and an increase in organic matter and soil nutrients. Now, similar results have been found with the broccoli production, which although it remains stable in comparison with monocropping, has achieved a 30% reduction in fertilisers in the associated crops, as well as providing an extra crop of cowpea and improving soil health.

With these results, the efficacy of the association of horticultural products with legumes is clear, both at the level of production

and reducing costs, as well as in the battle against soil degradation and looking after its health.

Diverfarming is a project financed by the Horizon 2020 Programme of the European Commission, within the challenge of “Food Security, Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry, Marine, Maritime and Inland Water Research and the Bioeconomy”, which counts on the participation of the Universities of Cartagena and Córdoba (Spain), Tuscia (Italy), Exeter and Portsmouth (United Kingdom), Wageningen (Netherlands), Trier (Germany), Pecs (Hungary) and ETH Zurich (Switzerland), the research centres Consiglio per la ricerca in agricoltura e l'analisi dell'economia agraria (Italy), the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (Spain) and the Natural Resources Institute LUKE (Finland), the agrarian organisation ASAJA, and the companies Casalasco and Barilla (Italy), Arento, LogísticaDFM and Industrias David (Spain), Nieuw Bromo Van Tilburg and Ekoboerdeij de Lingehof (Netherlands), Weingut Dr. Frey (Germany), Nedel-Market KFT and Gere (Hungary) and Paavolan Kotijuustola and Polven Juustola (Finland).

More information at ucc@uco.es

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| Cereals

Drive efficiencies with precision farming at Cereals LIVE Farmers are continually striving to improve efficiencies and precision technology provides the means to do so, which is why Cereals LIVE is showcasing the very latest advances. rom data analysis and variable rate applications to the internet of things, this area is taking agriculture to whole new levels, says event director Alli McEntyre. “It is presenting solutions and improvements which were previously thought the realms of science fiction.

The advances we are seeing in precision farming may seem futuristic, but not only are they happening now, they are commercially available,” she adds.

“Some of the industry’s leading experts in this area are going to be presenting online at Cereals LIVE on 10-11 June, sorting fact from fiction and giving the low-down on just how far science has advanced.”

The wealth of precision technology both on offer and in development is driving arable farming into the future, says Ms McEntyre.

“Keeping abreast of the latest innovations can allow farmers to spearhead technology while also helping improve their own efficiencies in a world that is constantly pushing for greater sustainability.”

Remote in-field monitoring The Covid-19 crisis has led to an upsurge in

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demand for precision equipment like remote field monitoring, according to Gottfried Pessl at Metos – the UK arm of Pessl Instruments.

“Every trip to the field costs time and money, but during the coronavirus outbreak it may be impossible to check on all crops,” he says.

“Remote field monitoring systems allow farmers and agronomists to reduce field visits to when they are really necessary.

“Installing Internet of Things (IoT) technology on farms will help farmers and their agronomists to identify problems immediately, without needing to visit the field. In some cases, it may even provide greater accuracy than a visual inspection can reveal.”

Weather monitoring Keeping ahead of the weather is a constant challenge for farmers, but innovations in precision technology are allowing for ultra-local weather measurements, helping growers to carefully manage field operations. Sencrop’s latest acquisition, Visio-Green, connects over 10,000 farmers to its weather data platform.

On-farm weather stations - which measure rainfall, temperature, air humidity, windspeed and leaf wetness - report directly to an app with local weather data 24/7, helping farmers to

optimise field management. The data can also be shared within a network, allowing for a broader picture or localised information from other areas.

Drone apps Being at the cutting edge of precision technology is often perceived to be expensive, but it doesn’t have to have a massive price tag.

The latest development from DroneAg, Skippy Scout, aims to make farming more efficient and on a lower budget.

Designed to aid crop walking, the new app can be downloaded, connected to a drone and be fully operational in five minutes. “The drone will fly to set points in a field and take high resolution photos that are sent straight to the user’s phone – it’s faster than walking and you can check for weeds and disease, share pictures with your agronomist and identify problem areas,” explains Jack Wrangham at DroneAg. “Our future plans are to build another level of automation, where the drone can be flown with even less human intervention and can help increase efficiency, reduce chemical loss and improve yield eating factors.”

Machinery From app-based innovations to mechanical

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||Cereals Arable

weeding, precision farming is as much about new technology as it is about improving established practices. “Vision guidance for interrow cultivation is quite well established,” says Nick Tillett at Tillett and Hague Technology. “But using the same system, we developed withinrow weeding, and the next level is to identify and treat the weed with spot chemical application.”

Identifying weeds for this involves developing algorithms using geometry, planting patterns, positions, shapes, size and illumination.

Additionally, applying product requires specialist nozzles positioned about 10cm apart. “It’s very promising technology, but the downside is that it’s relatively expensive,” he explains. “It’s not quite there commercially but we’re trying to make technology more cost-effective.”

Growers might be familiar with camera based mechanical weeding, but what about magnetic spraying technology? Again, it’s not new technology but MagGrow has optimised this precision application to reduce pesticide and water usage, and minimise spray drift by magnetically treating liquid pesticide and fertiliser. “It has financial and environmental benefits,” explains Brian Gorham at MagGrow.

The firm will be showing off its latest kit in the Innovation and Tech demo ring – new to this year’s event.

Environmental benefits Environmental preservation and chemical longevity are significant drivers of precision farming technology – including accurate spray applications.

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Amazone’s AmaSelect range aims to minimise spray drift, reduce overlap and target spot applications. “We are looking at sustainable and responsible spraying techniques, to cut the volume [of liquid] used, have an environmental advantage and keep products in the armoury for longer,” explains the firm’s Simon Brown.

Using AmaSelect Row, growers can band spray rows and avoid bare ground in between.

Nozzle spacing can be reduced to 25cm on the boom, allowing for band application on crops with a 75cm row spacing.

Uneven spraying on headlands can lead to wastage but CurveControl allows for even application as it reduces the volume of spray in the slower boom end and increases it to the fast turning end, while keeping the droplet sizes the same by automatically altering the nozzles.

For target spraying, AmaSelect Spot uses a weed map to switch on or off individual spray nozzles to hit the weeds.

Data The wealth of data collated on farm has grown exponentially in recent years – so much so, that keeping up with it can be a challenge. Joining up different data sets is key to getting valuable insights which can be streamed into decision support, says Matthew Smith from Agrimetrics – who will be speaking in the DIT Innovation and Tech theatre webinar.

Having an accessible marketplace to link different software is all part of this - which is exactly what Agrimetrics has done. “The support the farming community needs depends on the ability to bring together data from multiple providers and make it ready for analysis and decision support.”

Luke Halsey, CEO at Farm491, agrees that software interoperability and data aggregation is key. “As a farmer you want to know where you are performing well and where you can improve.”

Enabling different software packages to communicate with one another opens up far greater opportunities, he adds. “Within five years this will be common-place and the more data you have the more refined you can be – moving to lower inputs and regenerative agriculture.”

For the first time ever, the Cereals Event is going online to support the industry amid the Covid-19 pandemic, with existing exhibitors and sponsors involved for free as their fees roll over to 2021. Cereals LIVE 2020 will be held online on 10-11 June 2020. For more information and to register visit www.cerealsevent.co.uk

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| Grain

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www.farmingmonthly.co.uk

| Cereals

Continuous mixed flow grain driers from Perry of Oakley Ltd Perry of Oakley Ltd are the UK’s most experienced manufacturer of materials handling & drying equipment.

anaging Director, David Perry, said “It is imperative that our British farmers are able to continue to support this country through these uncertain times, as a company we aim to support them every way we can with the help of our trusted dealer network. From new installations, upgrading systems and carrying out servicing work, Perry will ensure we have the staff available to support our customers, while continuing to maintain social distancing.”

To this end, Perry of Oakley Ltd., the UK’s most experienced manufacturer of materials handling & drying equipment, have remained open, operational and are still helping their customers with essential maintenance, repairs and new installation works, in preparation for harvest 2020, despite the impact of Covid-19.

A significant part of the Perry equipment range is their driers.

The drier range consists of two continuous mixed flow grain driers; the top spec Savannah and the entry level Mistral.

The Savannah Series driers have Perry’s own advanced PLC panel, which is designed and programmed in house, and the auto control, which uses both the exhaust air temperature and hot grain temperature to give advanced control of the drier, to maintain a consistent moisture content of the discharged grain.

The Mistral series drier is

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controlled via a hard-wired control panel, though this is easily upgradable to the Perry PLC touch screen control panel.

The fans on both driers are controlled by an inverter, so there is the potential to save power and crop lift off by running the fans at reduced speed. The unique crop set up page within the control panel, automatically selects the initial fan speed best suited to the crop.

To promote consistent movement of the grain down the grain column, even in very wet conditions, all Savannah Series Driers are fitted with our pneumatically controlled Shutter discharge. As standard, the Mistral range of driers are fitted with Perry’s proven roller discharge (shutter discharge is optional).

Perry have set in place dedicated aftersales care, including a technical support line to provide a first point of call for all technical enquiries on any Perry machine.

The key features of the Savannah & Mistral range, provide a truly commercial specification grain drier for use on farms and commercial grain stores.

Perry of Oakley Ltd. also manufacture a full range of 8tph – 1000tph handling equipment including chain & flight conveyors, belt & bucket elevators, augers & screw conveyors, aspirator precleaners, belt conveyors & much more!

If you require any information on how Perry of Oakley Ltd. can support your grain handling and

storage needs please contact Perry on 01404 890300 or sales@perryofoakley.co.uk. Our

offices and factory are operating as normal.

May 2020 | Farming Monthly | 35

| Cereals

An international competition to better count ears by image analysis Data Scientists, hackers and scientists from around the world are invited to join forces to solve a new challenge! The challenge is to create a robust and accurate model capable of detecting wheat head from field images. This algorithm would have a broad impact for phenotyping research as well as practical benefits for wheat farmers in all countries. With a prize money of $15,000, this global challenge is co-organized in France by the UMT CAPTE (INRAEe - Arvalis - HIPHEN). gricultural research around the world has been using sensors for several years now to observe plants, such as wheat, at key moments in their development. Some important parameters are still measured manually, such as counting the number of head, which is a long and tedious task.

Better counting of head by image analysis Overlapping head, variation in appearance according to maturity and genotype, the presence or absence of barbs, head

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orientation, or wind are all factors that make it difficult to count wheat head from digital images. A robust and accurate model capable of performing this task would be of great interest to phenotyping research and to producers around the world (assessing ear density, health and maturity). Work in this direction has already been carried out by deep learning, notably by Arvalis, but with too little data to have a generic model.

Call for global intelligence To address this, an international data science competition, the Global Wheat Head Challenge

Counting wheat head by image analysis remains a major unresolved challenge to date Credit: Etienne David - Arvalis

hosted by the Kaggle.com platform, is being launched on May 4, 2020, with a $15,000 prize to be shared* by the 3 most successful teams.

A dataset of more than 190,000 wheat heads is made available to participants by the international consortium Global Wheat Dataset**. They will have to produce a sufficiently robust algorithm, tested on another dataset at the end of the challenge. This algorithm will be available in open source.

The award ceremony is scheduled for 28 August at the CVPPP conference in Glasgow (UK).

Reference genes are identified that are useful for genetic improvement in wheat University of Cordoba Professor Miguel Aguilar participated in a published article on reference genes in the study of wheat meiosis, the process in which reproductive cells are generated. heat feeds the world. According to the FAO, wheat is one of the world’s main crops, both in terms of extent and production, as well as being one of the main sources of carbohydrates and vegetable protein in the human diet. The quest for genetic improvement in wheat, leading to varieties that are more resistant to issues brought about by climate change or certain pests, responds to the need to keep feeding people.

Genetic improvement programs can span decades and entail studying genetic mechanisms of wheat in order to better understand them and hence accomplish more effective research in this field. In this context, a research team made up of Professor Miguel Aguilar, from the Department of Botany, Ecology and Plant Physiology at the University of Cordoba, along with José Garrido and Pilar Prieto, both researchers at the Institute for Sustainable Agriculture (abbreviated to IAS – CSIC in Spanish), was able to further our knowledge of these procedures. They published the set of reliable reference genes in wheat meiosis.

Meiosis is the division process that generates gametes or reproductive cells.

During meiosis, chromosome association and genetic recombination occur. These are vital processes for a plant’s fertility. Reference genes or normalizing genes are genes whose expression does not change during the biological processes under study. So, these

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kinds of genes work as a constant in order to be sure that any change of expression observed in other genes can be significantly correlated with the studied process.

The absence of validated reference genes that can be used to study wheat meiosis is what led this team to seek the set of genes that can provide precise measurements of the expression of other genes during the process of meiosis in durum wheat, used to make pasta, and common wheat, used to make bread. This discovery will be useful for future scientific research focused on the genetic improvement of wheat.

Using the recently sequenced and assembled complete wheat genome as a basis, the research team used the quantitative PCR technique (used to amplify DNA sequences) to test and analyze the stability of certain genes and likewise determine how many are needed for the results to be reliable. The reference genes obtained were duplicated or were part of a gene family, so the real challenge for the team was to identify the specific members that can be used as reference genes in gene expression during meiosis. Lastly, two new genes were identified: cyclic phosphodiesterase-like gene and salt tolerant protein gene.

This set of genes helps us to understant how meiosis works and how we can manipulate it, which could revolutionize agriculture, since it would allow for manipulating chromosome associations and using genes from other species in wheat. All this to continue the job of

feeding the world.

Garrido, J., Aguilar, M. & Prieto, P. Identification and validation of reference genes for RT-qPCR normalization in wheat meiosis.

Sci Rep 10, 2726 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-59580-5

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| Cereals

Opportunity to hold back key disease in late-planted wheat Growers have a valuable opportunity to keep a lid on the UK’s major winter wheat disease of Septoria tritici and protect yield in this season’s late-planted crops, says a leading ADAS expert. But new ADAS research has underlined the importance of not squandering this by applying fungicides too late. ccording to ADAS principal research scientist, Jonathan Blake, although early-drilled crops are at increased pressure from Septoria tritici, later sowings are more likely to see reduced Septoria tritici pressure, due to carrying less infection out of the winter.

That should make it easier to stay on top of the disease with the correct, preventative fungicide strategy, he says. In addition, shortened intervals between upper leaf emergence, as late crops grow rapidly to catch up, could help them ‘outgrow’ Septoria in the crop base, he suggests.

“Rapid leaf emergence is likely to help crops escape disease progress,” says Mr Blake. “We are likely to end up with crops that require more protectant than curative disease control, because disease won’t have established so much.”

Although Septoria in late crops cannot be ruled out, Mr Blake believes it puts growers in a much stronger position to curb its spread up the top three yield-building leaves, but it will be important that fungicides are applied on time.

Highlighting this, glasshouse research by ADAS for Syngenta comparing different SDHI + azole fungicides last year, showed much better Septoria tritici control where treatments were applied preventatively, seven days before leaves were infected with the disease, than where treatments were applied curatively, seven days after. This was still evident some seven weeks after application, with the greatest

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preventative control of the experiment’s Septoria tritici population coming from the SDHI + azole fungicide, Elatus Era. However, while Septoria tritici pressure may be low in this year’s late-planted crops, Mr Blake says there is good evidence that yellow rust could be more problematical – especially since a fair proportion could have been planted with a susceptible variety.

Mr Blake says: “There is evidence that wheat plants become more resistant to yellow rust as more leaves emerge. A later-planted crop will have fewer leaves, so if disease resistance increases with leaf emergence, fewer leaves equals less resistance.”

Syngenta disease control specialist, David Ranner, agrees and says because late-planted crops only have a short growing season, they go through growth stages more quickly, producing fewer leaves on each stem.

“This not only makes it important to be alert to yellow rust,” says Mr Ranner, “it also makes it important to check crop growth stages regularly, so that fungicides are applied on time. Late application automatically puts fungicides in a more curative situation, and we saw clearly in the ADAS research that SDHI + azole fungicides performed best when applied preventatively.

“It is well worth considering using Elatus Era in fungicide programmes once this season. It is very strong on yellow rust and the ADAS work showed it was long-lasting against the Septoria population in the experiment.”

Because late-planted wheat only has a short growing season, it goes through growth stages quick, says David Ranner of Syngenta, so it is important to check crops regularly to ensure fungicides are applied on time

Growers have a good opportunity to keep this season’s later-planted winter wheat crops clean from Septoria tritici with a timely, preventative fungicide strategy, says Jonathan Blake of ADAS, but will need to be alert to heightened risks from yellow rust infection

May 2020 | Farming Monthly | 37

| Grain

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| Cereals

Get Ready for Harvest!

Busy farmers are starting to prepare for this year’s harvest during difficult times, but Gibbons Agricultural is on hand to help. he Plug&Cool range of grain storage equipment has always been designed with busy farmers in mind. Our products are easy to use, extremely reliable and will save farmers time and money post-harvest” – said Gibbons Agricultural Sales Manager, Matthew Gibbons.

The Multi-Zone Control Panel has been particularly popular already, as it allows users the independent control of any number of grain fans in up to four zones of their grain heap. This results in huge amounts of saved time and energy, as the panel will automatically turn on fans in hotter areas of the heap, leaving those in cooler zones switched off.

Unlike costly modular systems, users only need to purchase a single panel. It can be easily set up, with no need for an electrician, and it is even completely mobile - allowing users to move it between grain stores as needed over the years.

The panel will feature in Gibbons’ ‘virtual

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exhibition’ video – which they announced would come to their popular YouTube channel after the postponement of Cereals 2020.

Gibbons’ best-selling grain fans, durable pedestals and user-friendly Airspears® will also be showcased in the video.

Eager to make the virtual exhibition as useful as possible for would-be-visitors, they have asked viewers to email their questions to

marketing@gibbonsgroup.co.uk, so they can be included in the final video. And, if you send them a video of yourself asking them the question, they’ll even send you a freebie!

You’ll be able to view the virtual exhibition video at youtube.com/GibbonsGroup. To speak to a member of the Gibbons Agricultural team today, you can reach them on 01621 868 138 or email agricultural@gibbonsgroup.co.uk.

May 2020 | Farming Monthly | 39

| Cereals

Wet and dry causes concern for wheat potential Extended wet and dry periods causes concern for wheat potential For David Hoyles, farms director at GH Hoyles, Long Sutton in Lincolnshire, winter wheats are coming into the spring looking promising, despite a mix of planting dates as a consequence of the very wet weather. owever he is concerned that the recent prolonged spell of dry weather may impact further on the later drilled crops that have struggled with poor establishment.

Drilling started well, with winter wheat planted after vining peas around October 10, he points out. “However, the constant wet weather delayed lifting the sugar beet, so, as a result, the last of the wheat to be drilled went into cold, waterlogged soil in February.”

“Our soils are mainly Wisbech series alluvial Grade 1 silt, and the soil structure suffered with the continuous rain and may now become worse as conditions have now become very dry.”

“As a result the roots, which had little stimulus for growing when it was so wet, may now find it difficult to penetrate and scavenge for water and nutrients.”

“Whilst the crops are not looking too bad now, our results will be very dependent on what the weather does as we go on through spring and into summer, particularly with the latedrilled crops.”

“If they do not have a chance to develop their rooting system and we have a drought, it could be a perfect storm.”

If that happens, he is concerned that there may be up to a 15% hit on yields, which last year averaged 10.4 t/ha across the farm.

“However, it is early days yet and we do not know how the rest of the season will develop.”

But he is giving the late-drilled wheat its best chance, by protecting and nurturing it as much as possible.

Nutrition strategy and fertiliser applications are fine-tuned, and very much dependent on the previous crop and how much N is left in the soil, he points out. “Soil Mineral N (SMN) core samples are taken to estimate available nitrate and ammonium, after the winter rainfall and previous cropping.”

“As we grow a wide range of crops, we apply different strategies. For example, wheat

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following vining peas or kale typically receives 160 kg/ha N, whereas after sugar beet we find it needs 240 kg/ha.”

His herbicide strategy is also targeted according to the particular conditions and weed burden of each field. “Our main weeds are potato volunteers, small nettle, cleaver and some polygonums.”

“We use a pre-emergence spray at drilling, and then have a tidy up at T1; our usual spend on herbicide is around £50-£60 per hectare.”

“This year, we found some early signs of yellow rust in the backward wheat. It was not yet ready for T0, so we applied tebuconazole to get on top of it.”

Moving on to discuss variety choice, David says: “I am looking for a variety that performs on my soil type from looking at trials.”

“If it is high yielding and soft, then that helps due to potential price premiums. Other characteristics like maturity, orange wheat blossom midge (OWBM) resistance and lodging, play an important role in my decision making.”

Having previously grown LG Skyscraper very successfully as a seed crop, the choice had been clear for the well-established enterprise.

Weetabix, is an important market in the area and the variety is now on the company’s approved list.

“I like LG Skyscraper and it has performed well for us in the past, otherwise I wouldn’t have grown it again!”

LG Skyscraper performed well in the 2018 drought, averaging yields of 13.4 t/ha.

Comparing it to other wheats on the farm in 2018, Graham yielded 13.4 t/ha, Frieston 12.19 t/ha and LG Jigsaw 13.15 t/ha.

LG Skyscraper also produced an acceptable yield in the saturated soils of 2019 of 11.6 t/ha.

In 2019, Graham reached 10.63 t/ha, Graduate 10.54 t/ha and Frieston 9.96 t/ha – this was partly because a Frieston field was knocked by a hail storm just before harvest and lost a lot of yield, and also went flat, he explains.

When choosing a variety, David looks at

Septoria and fusarium scores. “We can have quite big issues with them both, being our biggest potential yield robbers.”

He notes that as a tall variety, LG Skyscraper needs an application of a robust PGR. “We have found it to stand up fairly well to relative drought and flooding but two years ago, strong winds in July caused some problems in the seed crop.”

Looking at this year’s crop, the LG Skyscraper winter wheat planted after vining peas around October 10, reached Growth Stage (GS) 30 during the last week of March, and received its T0 and PGR. “The autumn planted fields are showing potential for a relatively good crop this year, so fingers crossed we get through this dry period relatively unscathed,” says David.

Farm facts: Total farm area: 700 ha over four farms, mostly on reclaimed land, going down to 2 m below sea-level Area dedicated to LG Skyscraper: 105 ha Drilling dates: From October 10, until February 7 Seed rate: Average 280-300 per sq. m but variation between 250-400 per sq. m, depending on timing and conditions Soil: Wisbech series alluvial Grade 1 silt Rotations: Wheat grown one in seven years.

Other crops include potatoes, beetroot, sugar beet, vining peas, beans, leeks, kale and mustard for seed, for Colman’s Fertiliser: N applications between 160 kg/ha and 240 kg/ha Preemergence: Choice of active ingredient depends on the weed burden in each particular field Postemergence: Tidy up at T0 10 year average annual rainfall: 610 mm

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| Cereals

Growing optimism for Aussie grain farmers Opening rains boost traditional Anzac Day start to grain seeding season in South Australia. South Australia’s grain country is set for seeding around the traditional Anzac Day start date with farmers seeing the best season opening rains in several years. arly pasture, canola and legume seeding already has been happening across the state over the past few weeks and there is cautious optimism about weather bureau reports forecasting a better year for rain.

However, COVID19 and national demand is forcing farmers to focus more on forward planning to ensure important fertiliser and chemical supplies arrive on properties.

“The state is starting the year with reasonable moisture levels and some good rain for most of the state,” Grain Producers SA chairman Wade Dabinett said.

“It’s still definitely patchy and some areas are as dry as chips but generally entering this season we’re starting with more subsoil moisture.

“The Riverland was one of the hardest hit last year, some struggled to get 50mm for the year, they’ve already had 100mm this year.”

Research by Rabobank released this week showed optimism among farmers about a favourable season but this had been tempered by concerns imported chemicals and fertiliser supplies may be restricted by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Rabobank warnings have not affected early supplies for planting in South Australia, Dabinett said.

But Dabinett, who farms at Parilla in the state’s Murray Mallee, is already ordering inputs needed once crops grow, saying the state needed to plan earlier as demand increased.

He warned of a double whammy for rising

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demand.

Drought-stricken Eastern states have this year experienced good opening rains and were coming back on line to soak up stock – while some suppliers relied on imported products that could be disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

He said Australian fertiliser and chemical supply companies had moved to carrying lower levels of stock in Australia than in the past as businesses consolidated or changed their business models.

Now there was more demand it was taking longer for stock to arrive, Dabinett said, but he believed there was enough supply for farms.

“The East Coast farmers have been in drought two, three, four years and all of a sudden they are coming back in, input (fertiliser and chemicals) is being diverted out of SA and back up the East Coast,” Dabinett said.

“Coronavirus probably comes in over the top of that event and there are disruptions to the supply chain.”

To date, Dabinett said South Australian farmers had managed to access important inputs but planning and ordering had been brought forward a few months.

Farmers had to order earlier and possibly accept alternatives to preferred products.

Dabinett said some suppliers made their own product in Australia and had more control of supply but others purely relied on imports.

Rabobank agricultural analyst Wes Lefroy said the bank’s research indicated adequate supplies of agricultural inputs – including urea and agrochemicals – would be available in

most instances.

And in cases where there were supply shortages, alternatives or workaround strategies could be adopted including using more precision agriculture practices, such as plant and soil testing and variable rate application.

“While global farm input supply chains are operating at near-full capacity, the risk of interruption still remains high,” Lefroy said.

“The source of this interruption may be at production, or moving the product by road or at the port.”

Lefroy said Australian growers have generally been able to access adequate stocks to begin seeding but imports of the nitrogen product urea for winter and spring application is causing concern.

“We are now heading into the key importing period for urea in Australia,” Lefroy said.

“On average, 60 per cent of our yearly imports of urea arrive on Australian shores during the April to July window. And Australia typically imports 90 per cent of its total urea requirements, so we are heavily reliant on global supply chains.”

To date, Lefroy said, production and logistics were operating with little interruption in Qatar and Saudi Arabia – Australia’s two largest sources for urea imports.

“And, in a scenario where supply was interrupted from the Middle East, sufficient alternative urea would be available from China, Indonesia and Malaysia – with whom we also have a strong trading history,” he said.

May 2020 | Farming Monthly | 41

| Grass & Silage

Nitrate contamination of silage

Extra care advised for this year’s first cut silage Forage experts have warned that weather conditions over recent weeks could bring multiple challenges to silagemaking which may need to be addressed this spring. eft unchecked, these could not only seriously reduce silage quality but may also generate gases in silage which endanger human and animal health.

The challenges stem from the unusually hot, dry spell across much of the country through April which saw many farmers spreading high volumes of slurry on to grassland in a short space of time. Because conditions remained generally dry, little of the nutrition from this slurry will have been taken up immediately by the growing plant.

However, the onset of warm, wet weather over the past few days will have encouraged a sudden uptake of nitrates and a spike in grass growth.

The high nitrate levels which accumulate in the grass have several implications, according to independent silage specialist, Dr David Davies of Silage Solutions.

He says: “Nitrates act as a buffer and will prevent the required drop in silage pH. While this means there will be a poor fermentation, it also leads to a more sinister side-effect which can threaten animal and even human health.

“The poor fermentation results in a slow pH decline and the nitrates in the grass can then be converted to nitrogen dioxide,” he says.

“This is a brown gas which can occasionally be seen as a clamp is being filled or may occur shortly after sheeting. It will roll downwards as it’s heavier than air, and persist for a day or more. (See video.)

“The problem with this gas is that it is converted to nitric acid when it comes into contact with water, which can cause serious, permanent damage when breathed into the lungs.”

This damage, known colloquially as silo gas disease, can be fatal in humans and animals and is the explanation for the rare loss of whole sheds of livestock housed adjacent to silage clamps.

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If the gas is seen at or soon after silage making, his advice is to move away from the clamp.

He says: “Remove any livestock from immediately adjoining housing and seek medical assistance if exposure is suspected in anyone working on the farm.”

However, measures can be taken to significantly cut the risk and he advises farmers to send grass samples to be analysed for nitrates and crude protein before they make their silage.

“Crude protein above 18% could imply a problem and if nitrate is above 0.25% in the freshweight, I would strongly recommend waiting before cutting,” he says.

“However, nitrates between 0.15% and 0.25% could still be problematic for fermentation,” he continues. “This is not only because they raise the buffering capacity of forage but also because high nitrate is biologically linked with low grass sugar – the substrate needed for fermentation.

“I’d therefore recommend using a highstrength chemical additive, proven to inhibit growth of clostridia and enterobacteria, rather than a bacterial inoculant and just hoping for a good fermentation.

“By killing these harmful bacteria, which are likely to be abundant on swards which had slurry applied that had not ‘washed-in’, you reduce the risk of undesirable fermentation and you will make far better silage,” he says.

Furthermore, silage without either enterobacteria or clostridia will be far more palatable and better for animal health and performance.

Andy Strzelecki, technical director for forage preservation specialists, Kelvin Cave Ltd advises on the use of the silage preservative, Safesil Challenge, in this situation.

He says: “This product has been developed for use on low dry matter forages and contains the correct levels of sodium nitrite to eliminate

undesirable bacteria. The additional ingredients, sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate, are also proven to eliminate the activity of yeasts and moulds without compromising silage fermentation.”

Independent nutritionist, Pete Kelly, concurs with the use of a high-strength preservative and explains why nitrates are so harmful to animal health.

He says: “If cattle consume high nitrate silage it can affect their ability to circulate oxygen and lead to under-performance.

“Furthermore, elevated levels of nitrate in the silage when fed can also upset rumen fermentation. This results in high rumen ammonia concentrations making dung very loose, increasing milk urea nitrogen and potentially compromising fertility.

“This can be seriously exacerbated by feeding alongside urea-treated cereals. So, if in doubt this year, consider all aspects of the ration before treating any forage or cereal grains with urea. As a rule of thumb, the total nitrate intake/cow/day should be less than 150g.”

Meanwhile, he says the potentially high levels of clostridia and enterobacteria expected with this year’s first cut silage can have further implications for animal health.

“These bacteria will lead to a poor, butyric silage, which won’t give the best animal performance,” he says.

“Many of my nutrition clients started preserving their silage with Safesil in 2012 when grassland was highly contaminated by flooding, and they haven’t stopped using it since,” he says.

For more information about forage preservation, please contact Kelvin Cave Ltd on 01458 252281 or your area manager. See https://kelvincave.com/our-business/contactus/your-local-contact/

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| Grass & Silage

Outstanding new grass and clover varieties offer timely boost to forage-based farming Two new high performance varieties that are commercially available for the first time in 2020 significantly enhance the top selling grass and clover mixtures supplied by forage seed specialist Germinal GB. he latest Aber High Sugar Grass AberBann and the new medium leaf white clover AberSwan, both bred at the Institute of Biological Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS) Aberystwyth University, are the new stand-out inclusions that will give livestock farmers greater potential for homegrown forage production.

“Continuing progress in forage breeding is essential if we are to build greater long term sustainability into our livestock farming systems and that’s currently more important than ever,” says Ben Wixey, National Agricultural Sales Manager for Germinal GB. “With the short term disruption in the food supply chains and the longer term prospect of reduced direct farm support, livestock farmers will need better and better varieties to underpin their forage-based systems. Providing continually improving varieties, and the required knowledge to grow and utilise them effectively, is a big part of our commitment to UK farming.

“AberBann adds to our comprehensive Aber

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High Sugar Grass range of top-ranking ryegrasses on the Recommended Grass and Clover List. The combination of high dry matter yields and exceptional quality means significantly more energy per hectare for producing milk or meat. In addition, the variety excels in all the important agronomic traits (ground cover, persistency, disease resistance) that ensure the leys perform in the field.

“AberSwan is the latest product of a legume breeding programme at IBERS that includes performance under animal grazing as part of its white clover selection protocol. This is a medium-large leaf variety that has demonstrated outstanding persistency when cut and grazed, out-yielding all other white clovers in the third harvest year. It is a strong addition to the range of Aber white clovers and now features in our AberDairy Clover Blend for cutting and grazing mixtures.”

AberBann and AberSwan were planned as the showcase varieties in Germinal’s Royal Welsh Grassland and Grassland & Muck demonstrations, now cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

AberBann is a late heading diploid perennial ryegrass, combining a high grazing yield with outstanding quality (Grazing D-value of 77.8).

No other perennial ryegrass on the 2019/20 Recommended Grass and Clover List (RGCL) is higher than AberBann’s 109% for ME Yield/ha, and this superior energy yield ranks it 12% higher than the average of all other late diploids on the current list. In official trials, AberBann shows consistently high dry matter yields throughout, with a particularly strong main season performance with 113% of controls for early summer grazing and 106% of controls for late summer grazing.

AberSwan is a medium-large leaf-size variety with an impressive total clover yield at 109% of the mean of all varieties on the RGCL and shows its persistency with this rising to 119% of the mean by the third harvest year.

Both new varieties will be marketed exclusively worldwide by Germinal and feature in Germinal GB’s Aber High Sugar Grass mixtures for the 2020 season.

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| Grass | Grain & Silage

Film and Film wrapping system achieves high quality silage Since the introduction of machinery that uses film instead of net wrap over 10 years ago, Baletite has produced thousands of high quality silage bales for farmers worldwide. Increasingly, farmers and contractors in the UK are now taking advantage of this system. aletite forms part of the film and film wrapping system that sees farmers and contractors achieving benefits including ease of working, greater bale density, cost savings from less spoilage in the bale and higher output from their livestock.

Independent tests carried out on Baletite have shown that the 3 extra layers of protection around the circumference of the bale, and bale edge protection, produces a more compact, stable bale with up to 5cm less bale diameter, meaning significantly less oxygen inside the bale. Less oxygen means the amount of

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spoilage losses in the bale is reduced and improves fermentation. Baletite also allows easier handling and storing of bales, as they are less likely to sag in storage.

When it comes to feed out, the process is managed easier and more efficiently, with either mechanical or manual bale opening, as no fodder becomes enmeshed. Therefore, there are significantly less losses to the high quality feed. Both Baletite, and SilotitePro can be recycled together which means no time is wasted separating waste for collection.

As previous in-field testing has shown, the farmer gained an average of 7.35kg dry matter per bale using the F&F system. This means a

gain of 86.73 MJ ME per bale and can lead to an extra 15 litres of milk or an increase of 1.9kg of live weight gain.

Using Baletite and SilotitePro together gives the ultimate in bale protection, with SilotitePro’s longer 2000m length, more bales can be made per reel. This also means time savings through less reel changes and enhanced crop quality with an optimised film structure. SilotitePro has unique sleeve packaging that protects the reel before use and helps towards a more efficient wrapping process For more information go to www.baletite.com

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| Grass | Grain & Silage

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May 2020 | Farming Monthly | 45

| Grass & Silage

Good aftercut fertiliser management essential in 2020 Careful management of aftercut fertiliser applications will be essential in building vital stocks of high quality forage to provide insulation against market volatility and uncertainty in 2020, says Dr. George Fisher of CF Fertilisers. he problem is this needs to be achieved following a very wet winter that will undoubtedly have reduced availability of nutrients in the soil and, now ironically, many producers have endured a lengthy period of low rainfall,” he points out.

“P and K levels shouldn’t be affected too much – P and K do not move much in the soil and supplies should be adequate if you’ve used FYM and slurry in previous years.

“But N and S move readily through the soil and the high rainfall over the winter could have reduced these and placed what is available lower in the profile than usual.

“This is likely to be compounded by small plants with limited root growth so whatever N or S is there is unlikely to be easily accessed.”

Hopefully most people will have got some N on their land before first cut but aftercut applications will be essential to ensure grassland does not ‘run out of puff’ as the season develops, he says.

“Simply adding a bit of additional fertiliser over your normal practice or relying solely on FYM and slurry won’t work - you need to be prepared to increase N and S levels by 25 – 30% above their usual levels to get the best results.

“If you would normally put 50 - 60kg N/ha and 15 - 20kg SO3/ha on after your first cut you

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need to be thinking of increasing these to around 70 - 80kg/ha and 20 - 30kg/ha respectively.

“Equally, if your third cut usually gets 40 50kg N/ha, this needs to be 50 - 60kg N/ha – it’s these sort of levels we’re talking about.”

Producers should also be mindful of weather conditions, particularly the prospect of land drying out as the season progresses, and pay particular attention to timing of applications, he advises.

“The longer the time that elapses between when you cut your silage and when you get back in with the fertiliser, the greater the loss in terms of yield and quality.

“Delaying application for second cut fertiliser, for example, will lose you 370kg/ha of fresh grass every day, so over two weeks that could be as much as 1.0t/ha of dry matter.

“With every 1.0t DM of grass silage at 11.5 MJ ME containing enough energy to produce 1490kg of milk which at 29ppl is worth £430, that translates into a saving of 0.7t of concentrate which at £230/t equals £165.”

A range of options for applying N and S exist, but Dr. Fisher believes the best approach lies with true granular compounds.

“The problem is that blends are physical mixes that can separate out in the bag and hopper leading to inaccurate applications – some areas get too much of one or both elements, whilst others get less than they need.

“In true granular compounds, every granule contains every nutrient so the spread is much more even with the result that up to 14 times more landing sites for key nutrients are possible than with blends.

“If you’ve used FYM and slurries and Ps and Ks are good, something like SingleTop (27N+12SO3) would be an ideal choice whereas if they need a bit of maintenance CropMaster Sulphur (27-4-4+7SO3) or KayNitro Sulphur (25-0-13+7SO3) would be better options.

“If you haven’t used FYM or slurry but Ps and Ks are still high then SingleTop is still a good option but if you’re looking at more frequent cutting then Multicut Sulphur (23-4-13 +7SO3) would suit best.”

CF Fertilisers has now launched an online silage healthcheck providing specific advice on managing aftercut applications and product decisions.

By answering a simple series of questions, producers can receive information and specific recommendations for maximising grass production in their own individual farm situation.

The CF Fertilisers silage healthcheck is available to all grassland producers by visiting www.cffertilisers.co.uk

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| Grass & Silage

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| Grass & Silage

Image: Mark Crossland

Teagle and Berti: Better together In 2001 Teagle formed a partnership with Italian family-owned business Berti Machinery. Berti has an international reputation for manufacturing a comprehensive range of mulchers for a wide variety of applications. he Berti range of mulchers complemented the range of Toppers manufactured by Teagle. Year-on-year this successful partnership has enjoyed exponential growth aligned with market demand for this range of products. It would appear many of the agricultural sectors now purchase a mulcher to work alongside a topper for 'environmental applications'. As tractor horsepower has increased and environmental controls expanded operators have been purchasing wider, heavy-duty machines enabling larger material to be mulched as 'quickly as possible'.

Heavy-duty hammers are now requested with

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almost every Teagle mulcher, front or rear mounting also a growing trend. Mulchers now provide a significant contribution to the Teagle UK business.

The X-Pro (pictured) has been designed for optimum manoeuvrability with its compact double skin chassis incorporating Strenx performance steel for durability and longevity.

Suitable for tractors up to 250HP, X-Pro features a 219mm x 12.5mm high capacity Mega Rotor with HD "M" Hammer Flails each weighing in at 2.2Kgs capable of mulching a wide variety of vegetation from grass to pruning's of 10cms. Supplied as standard with 1000RPM heavy duty drive line, Walterscheid PTO shaft, protected by a freewheel in the

gearbox and five automatically tensioned vee belts. Hydraulic side shift is standard specification for the X-Pro which also features, height adjustable, large diameter rear roller, Hardox wear resistant skids, and adjustable rear discharge hood. An innovative weight alleviation system for smooth adaption to ground contours is also available as an option.

These words from Mark Crossland in Somerset are a testament to the flails quality and performance: "This 285 Xpro has been amazing! Definitely recommend - fence posts, cricket balls,... haven't found anything it can't handle. Easily swap from front to back without need for tools - less time in the workshop and more time out working."

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| Grass & Silage

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May 2020 | Farming Monthly | 49

| Grass & Silage

Best practice for making silage for AD plants For crop-fed AD plants, quality of feedstock is the key to efficient biogas production throughout the year. Tim Elsome, General Manager of FM BioEnergy, explains the importance of creating good silage to ensure you get the highest gas output from your feedstock. etween 25-40% of dry matter is estimated to be lost in silage clamps, with up to a third of these losses due to poor practices when the clamp is being unloaded. It therefore makes sense to adopt best practice at all stages of the ensiling process.

We’ve highlighted the top eight areas where dry matter losses can be prevented and provided our top tips for best practice at each stage; from harvesting the crop to removing feedstock from the clamp and feeding the digester.

• Harvest period As well as choosing a crop and variety that has been shown to produce good biogas yields, the crop should be cut at the ideal stage of growth so that energy content is maximised in order to optimise the dry matter yield.

For a typical maize crop, this will be when the whole plant dry matter is between 32-36%.

Harvesting earlier will sacrifice yield potential and greener crops will lose more fluid in the clamp. Later harvested crops with more fibre content may be less digestible subsequently in the digester. If in doubt, it is better to harvest a little early rather than too late.

• Chop length Maize for use in AD plants is generally chopped smaller than for forage use; 4-6 mm is optimal. The largest possible surface area is

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best for biogas production, as it aids rapid bacterial breakdown in the digester. However, shorter chop lengths can lead to difficulties in clamping and compaction, and operators need to achieve a balance.

Chop length will also depend on crop maturity. For maize, the suitability of the chop length can be tested by squeezing a handful of the harvested crop. If a lot of moisture runs out, you should delay harvest or increase the chop length. However, if the material does not stay compressed after squeezing, you should shorten the chop length.

• Silage additives Silage additives help to ensure effective fermentation and also act as an insurance policy against spoilage in the clamp, such as yeast and mould formation. If possible, use a biological additive such as Silasil Energy XD, which is easy to apply and specially formulated for use on silage for bioenergy production, rather than for livestock feed.

Silasil Energy XD is supplied as a freezedried product which is mixed with water on site and then dosed at very low rates at the point of harvest. Low rate applications mean less time spent carrying water and refilling the tank, allowing more hectares to be harvested each day.

Biological additives boost the population of beneficial bacteria in the clamp, helping to begin fermentation rapidly and achieve the

optimum pH as quickly as possible. They also help prevent the growth of spoilage moulds and ensure silage remains in good condition.

• Timely filling To prevent dry matter loss due to aerobic bacteria feeding on the plant sap, it is important to create anaerobic conditions as quickly as possible, aiming to be completed within three days. Minimising the time between harvesting the crop and filling the clamp is therefore critical.

Match harvest rate to the speed at which the clamp can be filled and compacted, and space out trailer deliveries to allow timely spreading of material.

To ensure safety when emptying the clamp, avoid making it more than 4m high and never fill above the specified design level.

• Compaction Poor compaction slows the fermentation process and increases spoilage. It is important to ensure good compaction across the whole clamp, but particularly at the side walls. A useful target for clamp density is 700-750 kg of fresh material per m3, which typically equates to 230-250 kg of dry matter per m3, depending on the dry matter at harvest.

Silage with higher dry matter requires greater compaction, but conversely can often be more difficult to compact. Pay particular attention when compacting as poor compaction and consolidation is one of the most common

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| Grass & Silage

reasons for yeast and mycotoxin formation, particularly with high dry matter crops.

Compact the clamp systematically in layers of 15-20 cm, with at least one tractor dedicated to compacting the clamp while another spreads the material. Ensure there are no dents in the surface as this may prevent the sheeting from forming a close seal, resulting in detrimental air pockets. Avoid extra packing at the end of the day as this is unlikely to have an effect on the clamp and may be counterproductive.

To achieve consistent results, consider using dedicated silage compaction equipment. As a rule of thumb, rolling machinery should weigh a quarter of the weight of the maize delivered to the clamp each hour.

• Sheeting As soon as the clamp has been filled, it should be covered immediately to create the anaerobic conditions necessary for fermentation and to prevent further aerobic losses.

Dedicated oxygen barrier films are increasingly common and should be protected from damage and the elements with heavier sheeting. Make sure that side walls are also sheeted and ensure adequate overlap (at least 1m) on the floor, where sheets meet, and around the top of the clamp.

Protect plastic sheeting with a woven sheet which is well weighted down, not only to ensure that it stays in place, but also to help avoid losses from the top of the clamp. Weights should be placed in parallel lines to the clamp face and spaced one to two metres apart (depending on clamp size). To ensure continued protection on opening, peel back the

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sheeting from one weighted tier to the next as required.

• Opening the clamp The first consideration when opening the clamp must be the safety of workers and others. Do not dig under the clamp face, as this can lead to the clamp caving in, with potentially fatal consequences for staff and damage to machinery.

Do not be tempted to open the clamp too soon. Normally, at least eight weeks is required from covering to opening, although using a silage additive such as Silasil Energy XD will accelerate the fermentation process, allowing the clamp to be opened in as little as two weeks.

Do not leave the sheet hanging over the front of the clamp as this can encourage mould growth. Roll the sheet back on top of the clamp and weight the front edge well. Discard any poor-quality material from the shoulders and front of the clamp, as this is often the cause of instability in the digester.

• Removal of material from the clamp Keep the cut face tight and clean, and try to ‘shave’ silage from the exposed face where possible. Using the right tools will make this much easier. A shear grab will provide a cleaner, more even face than other options, but the knives must be well-maintained as blunt knives can undermine the clamp face allowing in air, particularly with drier silage. For high volumes, consider investing in a dedicated silage defacer or scraper.

Do not make the face any bigger than you need to as exposed silage can lose a significant portion of its dry matter once

exposed to the air. The usually quoted figure is to progress into the clamp at no less than 1m per week in cold weather, and at a minimum rate of 1.5 to 2m per week in warmer conditions.

Exposing the clamp to the air will allow any yeast and mould contained within to respire and cause secondary losses, evidenced by increased silage temperature. An increase of 10°C, which is not uncommon, will causes losses of 3% per day. Silasil Energy XD prevents this through the production of acetic acid which inhibits yeast and mould growth.

Finally, only take what you need and feed it into the digester immediately. Don’t be tempted to pull down two days’ worth of material and leave it in a heap where exposure to the air will begin to break it down, resulting in lost biomass. Remove any spoil or spillages from the area to avoid contaminating good feedstock.

Although it is impossible to foresee every event, such as a change in the weather at harvesting, good planning and attention to detail will help you mitigate the impact of such disruption. Small potential losses of dry matter at each stage can quickly build up into a significant reduction in biogas output; but by following best practice at every stage of harvesting, ensiling and feeding, you can be sure that you are maximising the potential biogas generation from your feedstock.

For a free assessment of your silage health, information on Silasil Energy XD, or for advice on making silage for biogas production, contact: Call +44 (0)330 678 0981 or Email info@fmbioenergy.co.uk

May 2020 | Farming Monthly | 51

| Energy

Successful German Renewable Energy Law turns 20 years old Biogas pioneer WELTEC BIOPOWER plays key role in success story. he introduction of the German Renewable Energies Act (EEG) on 1 April 2000 marked the start of the expansion of renewable energies in Germany.

The law postulates two fundamental principles: Firstly, in the grid, power from regenerative sources is given priority over conventional power. Secondly, the feed-in tariffs determined by the legislator for the supply of renewable energies establishes investment security for the market actors.

The developments of the past 20 years confirm the success of the EEG: Since the law went into force, the share of renewable energies in the gross power consumption in Germany has continually increased, from 6.2 percent in 2000 to 42.1 percent in 2019.

Accordingly, 244 billion kWh are generated from solar energy, wind, water and biomass.

Bioenergy accounts for 11 percent of this figure. In the field of heat generation, renewable energies account for a share of 39 percent, some 34 percent of which are based on bioenergy.

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“In Germany, regenerative energies are the power source Number One, and the whole world has come to view the EEG as an effective instrument for the systematic, publicly approved expansion“, underlines Jens Albartus, Director of the German biogas plan manufacturer WELTEC BIOPOWER. He goes on: “Moreover, the law and its adaptations to new market conditions have constantly brought about new technologies that have become an indispensable element of many profitable energy plants.”

Innovation, in particular, is the driver of the global expansion of renewable energies, in which German companies play a key role.

Since it was founded back in 2001, WELTEC advanced from a pioneer in the biogas industry to a key actor in the energy reform. With its sustainable technologies and basic values, the biogas specialist is successful around the globe and makes an important contribution to environmental protection.

For instance, the company‘s success is evident from its exports, which are above the industry average: Over the years, the company has planned and set up more than 300 plants in

25 countries on five continents. Moreover, WELTEC has invested more than €100 million in its own biogas plants throughout Germany.

The developments of the past 20 year confirm the success of the EEG “To perpetuate the success story and secure jobs in this industry, we must now increasingly turn our attention to the existing anaerobic digestion plants in Germany and urgently find smart follow-up solutions, especially for those whose 20-year EEG subsidisation will end in the coming years“, says Jens Albartus.

“The effort is surely worth it, as biogas does not depend on wind and sunshine and therefore constitutes a key pillar in the renewable energy mix. Moreover, biomethane – i.e. refined biogas – serves as an important, carbon-neutral and sustainable fuel in the traffic reform“, explains Jens Albartus and adds: “To engage in research that culminates in innovations that also benefit the development of international projects, we need a strong German market.“

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| Energy

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| Buildings

CE marking and Eurocode post Brexit update At the end of January the UK left the European Union and, in the process, many questions were raised about the future regulatory regime for manufacturers and suppliers. Of direct relevance to steelwork fabricators and agricultural building suppliers is the future of CE marking or whatever replaces it. elated to CE marking are the many standards, such as the Eurocodes, that engineers use to design buildings and other structures. In truth, with negotiations between the UK and EU on the future trading relationship still in their early stages, nobody knows all of the details of the new arrangements or their implications for manufacturers, but some aspects are now becoming clearer and the general direction at least seems to be set. The aim of this article is to highlight the key changes and, equally important, those elements of the process that are not changing, for the time being in any case.

Overview of CE marking CE marking is a compulsory requirement for most construction products, including steel frames and other building elements, governed by the Construction Products Regulation (CPR). The scope of the CPR is broad and covers all construction products manufactured by some kind of process within a factory environment and then placed on the market for incorporation into the permanent works. It does not cover items made using traditional craft methods or bespoke specialist items not manufactured by a regular process, but almost everything else is within scope. CE marking is

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simply a declaration by the manufacturer that a product complies with the CPR and its supporting product standards. The aim is to provide transparency and assurance to clients and specifiers regarding the performance of a product in terms of key criteria such as resistance to fire. Sadly, as demonstrated by the tragic events at Grenfell Tower, the CE mark says nothing about the suitability of a product for a particular application.

In theory, the CE mark is applied to the product at the end of the production process and before it leaves the factory gate, although in practice it is quite likely that the mark and corresponding performance information will be contained in the accompanying documentation or on the packaging. The CE mark applies to the product as it exists when it leaves the factory gate, or technically speaking when it is placed on the market. It is, therefore, a declaration by the manufacturer relating to the product as sold, not necessarily as used. The end users can do whatever they wish to the products once they take possession of them, but the manufacturer will no longer be responsible for the performance of the product.

Products must be CE marked to either a harmonised standard (hEN) or European Technical Assessment (ETA). For fabricated structural steelwork, the appropriate

harmonised standard is BS EN 1090-1. This document contains the high level requirements for CE marking along with the means of assessment for each of the requirements. These requirements will form the basis of the Factory Production Control (FPC) document against which the steelwork fabricator is audited.

BS EN 1090-1 references BS EN 1090-2, the execution standard, on issues such as fabrication tolerances and welding, although not all of the requirements given in this latter standard are relevant for CE marking (e.g. erection tolerances).

The impact of Brexit The big question going forward is what Brexit means for CE marking in the UK. In the short term, at least until the end of the year, the answer is nothing at all. This is because the UK is now in a ‘transition period’ during which it has agreed to continue to comply with all EU regulations including the CPR. This means that for the time being at least UK manufacturers may still apply CE marks to their products and will need to by law if they wish to sell them in the UK or EU. After the end of the transition period, EU regulations will no longer apply in the UK, although continuing compliance is likely for a while for the following reasons:

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| Buildings

Manufacturers selling goods to the EU Time needed to introduce replacement UK regulations The terms agreed as part of a trade deal The first point is straightforward; anyone wishing to sell into the EU single market needs to comply with EU rules. This is an indelible red line from an EU perspective. The second point is a practical reality. There simply aren’t enough lawyers in Whitehall to replace half a century of EU regulations in 11 months. In the short term, therefore, it is likely that many EU regulations will be incorporated into UK law while the government decides, which to keep and which to replace. Even where EU laws are replaced, there is an expectation that the new domestic regulations will be familiar in many respects (for a number of practical reasons).

The last point is anyone’s guess at the moment. Both sides are talking tough as one might expect at the start of trade negotiations, but there is plenty of room for compromise over the coming months.

One thing that seems certain is the current CE mark will be replaced by the UKCA (UK Conformity Assessed) mark at the start of 2021 for goods placed on the UK market only, although manufacturers will still be able to apply the current CE mark for a limited time and will need to do so if they export to the EU. The UKCA mark is likely to be very similar to the current CE mark in many respects, but there are some key points to note:

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• The UKCA mark will only be recognised in the UK, so firms wishing to export will need to obtain a CE mark as they do at present.

Importantly, CE marks can only be issued by Notified Bodies and such bodies must be established within the EU. Now that the UK has left the EU, its approval bodies have lost their Notified Body status and can no longer issue CE marks. Fortunately, most have made arrangements with Notified Bodies within the EU to enable continuity of service. In most instances the CE certificate will be transferred automatically to the new Notified Body, but manufacturers should confirm that this is the case.

• In this post Brexit world, the former notified bodies in the UK are known as UK Approved Bodies and they will have responsibility for the new UKCA marks. The rules relating to the UKCA marking process will need to be determined by the UK Government, but it is unlikely that manufacturers will notice much difference in terms of audits and documentation.

• The UK declaration of conformity will replace the EU declaration of conformity and the declaration will be made in respect of the new UKCA marking regulations rather than the CPR. The assessment will be carried out against a ‘designated standard’ instead of a ‘harmonised standard’, but in the case of structural steelwork this is likely to be

• BS EN 1090-1, possibly with a new front cover and logo.

• It is anticipated that there will be an implementation period during which the current CE mark and new UKCA mark will both be acceptable for products placed on the UK market. However, this will be limited in duration, meaning that all products will eventually need to carry the UKCA mark.

Codes and standards post Brexit Since 2010, the official structural design standards in the UK have been the Eurocodes (the old British Standards were withdrawn in March 2010). These have the status of British Standards in the UK, e.g. BS EN 1993-1-1. This will remain the case unless replacement British Standards are introduced. At present the British Standards Institution has no plans to do this. Indeed the UK remains a member of CEN (the European standards body) and is currently playing an active role in the development of the next generation of Eurocodes. These revised standards are unlikely to be introduced until 2025 and RIDBA will provide further guidance nearer the time. The agricultural buildings standard BS 5502-22:2013 was confirmed for another 5 years last year (as part of the regular review process) and no changes are expected to this standard for the foreseeable future.

Dr Martin Heywood RIDBA Technical Consultant

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| Buildings

Farmplus: Building it right Farmplus has thirty years’ experience in the design and supply of timber framed farm buildings and animal shelters.

riven by the simple principle of creating a healthy environment and that ventilation is not the volume of air in a building, but critically it is the rate of air exchange, simply clean air in and stale air out - Farmplus design and build to these principles.

Animals left to nature always try to find shelter in the basic form, they use hedges, walls & natural hollows to get out of or reduce the impact of the winds. Likewise, they will use trees for shade from the sun and shelter from rain.

When we look at buildings we should aim to replicate these basic principles of nature wherever possible. Remembering that animals want in the basic form shelter from the wind, rain, shade from the sun, and plenty of fresh air.

Ideally giving animals a shelter wall to be able

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to lie behind with a decent gap above for air to pass over. All air movements need to be above animal height so as not to create a draft.

Depending on the height of the wall, the gap above will often need some form of wind break material to reduce wind speed on bad days.

The best and cheapest form of ventilation is and always will be natural ventilation using the stack effect with sufficient gaps at the low eaves and open ridges. No fans using electricity, no moving parts & nothing to breakdown, so no ongoing expense.

In very high rainfall areas, special ventilated ridge capping’s can be supplied. For most situations, the best ridge treatment is still, simple upturned flashing, for these will make the outside air lift over the ridge of the roof. The base of any upstand should always be at a minimum 50mm (2� inch) back from the top edge of the

roof sheet, so any water/rainfall that hits the inside of the upright flashing can then drip of the heal and drain away down the roof sheet.

Animals left to nature always try to find shelter in the basic form, they use hedges, walls & natural hollows to get out of or reduce the impact of the winds. Likewise, they will use trees for shade from the sun and shelter from rain.

May 2020 | Farming Monthly | 57

| Buildings

Reduce stress with shaded insulation Poultry and egg producers who are renovating or building new housing should consider using insulated ceiling boards with a dark face to reduce stress in the flock and improve the shed environment. nsulated buildings are far more energy efficient, reducing electricity bills and providing a more even temperature without hotspots. This, in turn, benefits flock health and welfare, says Tom Verhaest, agricultural specialist at Recticel Insulation. Traditional forms of insulation can be tricky to install – but all-in-one Lumix panels are thin and light, reducing the weight of the roof construction and making them easy to clean.

In addition, unlike other insulation types, the panels have facings which are resistant to ammonia, which can destabilise standard insulation boards.

However, many insulation boards have a

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white reflective facing, which – while beneficial in many sheds - causes an unnatural glare in buildings lit by natural daylight, which can stress animals that see in a different spectrum to humans. Research has shown that different coloured lighting produces different reactions among chickens: Red lighting can make them more aggressive, while green light is calming.

In addition, birds see the light produced from fluorescent bulbs as a flickering bar-code with dark stripes – LED lights are far better, says Mr Verhaest.

So when it comes to creating the perfect environment for your flock, providing an even temperature and kind light will go a long way to reducing stress and the resulting effects including feather pecking and gut upsets.

This is where the dark face of the Lumix boards comes into play. When installed on the ceiling of poultry houses which allow the ingress of natural light, it absorbs rather than reflects the light, preventing the unnatural glare caused by white-faced sheets. “This creates a more comfortable environment for the birds – and also deters birds and pests from nesting under the roof.”

Although the British Pig & Poultry Fair 2020 has been cancelled due to Covid-19, producers can still get advice from Recticel’s agricultural insulation experts, says Mr Verhaest. “If you want to optimise your next housing project and find out what high performing insulation can do for animal welfare and energy efficiencies, we can help.”

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| Pig & Poultry

How to apply for a Care4Pigs grant Submissions for the Care4Pigs grant will be welcomed from farmers and farm staff, practicing vets, as well as researchers and graduate students in veterinary medicine, agricultural or animal sciences.

Bayer launches global Care4Pigs grant to advance pig wellbeing Bayer Animal Health has launched a global Care4Pigs grant initiative, with a total value of €30,000, which aims to help the industry turn innovative ideas for advancing pig wellbeing into a reality. nsuring the wellbeing of animals is of growing emphasis for livestock professionals across the world.

So, in collaboration with the Farm Animal Welfare Education Centre (FAWEC) and the Korean Association of Swine Veterinarians (KASV), the Care4Pigs initiative is offering three candidates the chance of receiving €10,000 each to support innovative projects aimed at enhancing pig wellbeing.

Wellbeing is a prerequisite for good animal health, and enhancements that benefit the animals ultimately benefit the farm productivity.

Importantly, innovations and advancements in this area are a continuous process and require the long-term commitment of livestock professionals.

Almut Hoffmann, head of farm animal products marketing at Bayer Animal Health, says that livestock professionals are creative innovators who work to overcome various challenges to keep animals healthy and well cared for.

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“We see remarkable and forward thinking work on pig operations around the globe and we’re pleased to extend our support and collaborative knowledge through Care4Pigs to further benefit pig wellbeing.”

The Care4Pigs initiative aims to support and drive farm level innovations developed by farmers, farm staff and vets, as well as researchers and graduate students, who are working to enhance pig wellbeing in innovative and practical ways.

Octavio Orlovsky Eckhardt, head of swine species marketing at Bayer Animal Health, explains that the Care4Pigs judging panel will be looking for submissions that demonstrate an innovative approach and measurable benefit on pig wellbeing.

“Each project’s on-farm practicality and applicability through different systems and production conditions will also be considered during the judging process, as well as its economic viability,” he says.

Submitted projects need to demonstrate innovative, practice-oriented ways to improve pig wellbeing at farm level; they must also be either already underway or planned to start by early 2021.

Grant applications must be submitted by 30 June 2020 at www.Care4Pigs.com and should include a completed submission form and project proposal.

Visit www.Care4Pigs.com to find out more about the grant and to apply.

Grant application submissions should include: • A completed submission form • A project proposal and description This should include clear objectives for the project and logistical details, including the proposed utilisation of the grant, or milestones/results of an already ongoing project Entries will be judged by a panel of independent animal well-being experts from academia, alongside representatives of the Farm Animal Welfare Education Centre (FAWEC) of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), the Korean Association of Swine Veterinarians (KASV) and Bayer Animal Health, based on their: • Innovative approach • Impact on pig wellbeing • On-farm practicality • Applicability through different systems and productions conditions • Added value to farming operations

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| Pig & Poultry

Culling and carcass removal key to containing African Swine Fever, model shows While countries like Denmark are building walls to prevent the spread of African Swine Fever, a new mathematical model has identified two effective tactics. team of scientists in Scotland and Spain has reported that culling and fast removal of animal carcasses are critical for the eradication of the disease.

Professor Andy White and his Heriot-Watt University mathematics research team worked with the SaBio group of the Spanish Game Resources Institute (IREC), UCLM & CSIC (Ciudad Real, Spain) to develop the new model.

African Swine Fever is a highly infectious virus that causes severe, usually fatal disease in domestic pigs and wild boar. There is no treatment or vaccine.

African Swine Fever is not a threat to humans, but the virus can have a profound socioeconomic impact on areas with outbreaks.

Wild boar are free-ranging and can carry and spread ASF. Professor Andy White said: "African Swine Fever can rapidly devastate pig populations,

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there are outbreaks in China, Poland, Belgium and the Baltic states at the moment. In China, it has wiped out around 40% of the country's pig population.

"Wild boar transmit the disease and their numbers are on the rise in Europe. There are several populations in the UK and here too numbers are increasing.

"Our mathematical model was used to understand the different ways that the virus could be transmitted.

"To match the data, we showed that infection needed to occur in three ways. Through contact between susceptible and infected wild boar, through contact between susceptible wild boar and infected carcasses and via individuals that survive the initial infection, but succumb to the disease after several months.

"Our new model also considered biosecurity measures that can help mitigate the spread of an outbreak.

"A combination of culling and the removal of infected carcasses is the most effective way to

eradicate the virus without also eradicating the host population.

"It is important to act quickly: early implementation of these measures will reduce infection levels while maintaining a higher host population density. In some cases, this could prevent the virus from establishing in a wild boar population."

The model also suggests that it may be easier to control ASF in warmer climates.

"Higher temperatures lead to faster degradation of infected carcasses, which also reduces the severity of an outbreak."

In some regions, wild boar are supplementary fed to increase their density.

The model suggests this should be avoided when ASF is a threat, as it leads to a more pronounced epidemic outbreak and persistence of the disease in the long-term.

The scientists reported the findings of their new model in Scientific Reports (https://rdcu.be/b3nRW)

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| Pig & Poultry

University trial demonstrates the benefits of non-synthetic, natural Oregano Essential Oil in pullet rearing Feeding oregano essential oil (OEO) to pullets during rearing can help to improve flock uniformity, reproductive fitness and feed efficiency, according to research undertaken at North Carolina State University in the USA. earing healthy, high quality pullets with a diverse and wellpopulated gut microbiome is important for lifetime performance. The complex gut microbiome of poultry species plays a crucial role in digestion, nutrient absorption and immune function. Early establishment of a diverse microbiome population assists with intestinal crypt and villi development, two important intestinal structures associated with feed digestion and nutrient absorption.

North Carolina State University researcher, Dr Ken Anderson, undertook a trial at the Piedmont Research Station in conjunction with feed additive manufacturer Anpario, to determine the effect of supplementing OregoStim Powder (a source of 100% natural OEO) in pullet feed throughout rearing on pullet performance and body confirmation.

Dekalb White chicks from day-old were allocated to one of two groups; either a control

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group with no additive in the feed, or a treatment group offered feed supplemented with 300g of Orego-Stim per tonne of feed.

“The results of the trial showed that OEO supplementation had a positive effect on pullet reproductive fitness, specifically in body development with increased shank length and a higher rear quarter percentage”, explained Dr Anderson. “Additionally, whilst body weight did not differ between treatment groups as birds were grown to breed guidelines, flock body weight uniformity was less variable in pullets supplemented with OEO”, he added. The trial also demonstrated optimised feed efficiency in pullets offered OEO in the diet, resulting in an improved FCR. Improved flock uniformity and reproductive fitness at the start of lay in pullets fed OregoStim is expected to result in more consistent egg sizes and improved lifetime performance.

“North Carolina State University is currently undertaking a trial working in conjunction with Anpario to determine to what extent managing

early gut health with Orego-Stim has on laying performance” states Dr Anderson.

“High quality pullets are those which are both robust and resilient, and a high quality flock is one in which all the pullets are uniform in weight and achieve breed targets for body weight,” explained Dr Emma Lund, Anpario’s technical support coordinator.

“Meeting breed standards for body weight supports optimum skeletal and muscular development which is associated with improved performance during early lay. Issues which arise during the rearing phase can impact a birds’ overall lifetime performance and ultimately producer profitability,” said Dr Lund.

Orego-Stim is a 100% natural source of oregano essential oil, which has a proven, broad-spectrum antimicrobial effect as a result of its unique composition and the presence of non-synthetic compounds such as carvacrol, ρcymene and thymol.

He rang the farm manager and was able to talk through the re-programming necessary to isolate this fan and allow normal ventilation until the issue was solved. It turned out that the motor driving the mechanical chimney baffle below the fan was not functioning causing the temperature to rise. This was later solved by an engineer.

“With the introduction of Dicam 2, more of these sorts of problems will be able to be solved remotely,” he said. “Beyond the current human risks with coronavirus, there could be considerable benefits for herd biosecurity.”

Since 2008 ARM Buildings has fitted data loggers as standard equipment to all its new pig houses.

Hi-tech beats lockdown in a piggery Remote monitoring of piggeries has proved to be a big advantage in these days of lockdown and social distancing. It enabled a ventilation problem on a Midlands farm to be solved without a visit. he environment in a 2,500-pig finishing house was well controlled but the temperature in a one room of 250 pigs fluctuated every two days, giving a cause for concern as the weather warmed up. This was identified by Tim Miller, environment specialist with ARM Buildings, from his home in Hereford. Through the Dicam system, linked to the Barn Report Pro data retrieval, he was able to diagnose the cause.

“To ensure all fans are used evenly, the system rotates their use every two days and I could see that one particular fan was causing the problem,” said Tim.

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| Muck & Slurry The Tramspread Isobus flow meter package costing ÂŁ3,740 is one of the most accurate methods of measuring slurry application.

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| Muck & Slurry

Test slurry for invisible value Using a slurry testing kit and flow meter can save farmers up to £265 per hectare in fertilisers. “If you don’t know the nutrient value of your slurry and the rate it is being spread at then the financial savings and crop benefits are guess work,” says Terry Baker from slurry specialists Tramspread. nitrogen meter such as the Agros Nova Mk3 can test slurry and manure for plant available nitrogen (N) in just five minutes. “These kits only cost £425 and offer farmers a lab test accurate reading of kilos of plant available N per cubic metre,” says Mr Baker. Once aware of the nutrient value, farmers can begin to calculate the volume of slurry required for the crop and use a flow meter to spread accurately.

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“Slurry is one of the most undervalued resources farmers have” The Tramspread Isobus flow meter package costing £3,740 is one of the most accurate methods of measuring slurry application. It connects a flow meter to the tractor’s GPS and can be used to adjust the application rate from the cab. “Combining field maps, choosing the application rate and

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recording the amount of slurry applied will give the operator an accurate report of the amount of slurry applied per hectare,” says Mr Baker. When this technology is coupled with accurately tested slurry it also offers farmers a way to measure the cost benefit of slurry application to the farm.

The data in AHDB’s RB209 nutrient management guide helps to illustrate the savings available by testing slurry and applying it accurately. “Calculating the available nitrogen, phosphate and potash (N, P and K) of slurry can save significant sums of money.

ADAS soil scientist John Williams has used the RB209 guide to equate this to between £215 and £265/ha, based on a season’s application of 95m3/ha of cattle slurry,” says Mr Baker.

“Slurry is one of the most undervalued resources farmers have. If stored, tested and applied carefully with attention to nutrient value, slurry offers significant savings and environmental benefits,” concludes Mr Baker.

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| Muck & Slurry

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| Muck & Slurry

Storth scrapes up a bargain The wait is over, it is 1st May and the launch of Storth’s “Out of Season Automatic Scraper Offer”. s a farmer’s son I spent many years with a squeegee moving cow muck from A-B, a thankless task that inevitably resulted in the young steers splattering me with shit before my 3-mile bike to the school bus. Thankfully automatic scrapers were installed and 2 months later I headed for Harper Adams University. To this day those scrapers still work, day in day out and I believe they have surpassed my cycling miles by some way and no doubt cost a lot less to run than I ever did.

The other memory etched on my brain from my farm days was Dad’s enthusiasm for the summer months. It was inevitable that rolling, fertiliser spreading, ploughing, seeding & silage time took priority through those warmer long days. Then all of a sudden, as if by surprise, the autumn was in sight and it was a case of holy shit the cows need to come back in, we have got concrete to lay, cubicles to mend, scrapers to install and service.

It is with this in mind that Storth

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have launched an early “Out of Season Automatic Scraper Offer”.

They want to encourage customers to look at their scraper and slurry management systems nice and early, make plans and prepare. Unfortunately, time and time again customers make last minute decisions based on equipment availability when cow comfort, quality and after sales support should be the focus. Often

or not the last thing left on the supermarket shelf isn’t the best or our first choice, we have all heard phrases such as “the early bird catches the worm …..”

Storth’s offer is pretty straight forward. There’s no jackets; gilets, caps; bobble hats; gift giveaways …. No frills, just crisp, concise, pure and simple finance!!

Buy May pay November 2020, 3 years 0% finance

Buy June pay November 2020, 2 years 0% finance Buy July pay November 2020, 1 year 0% finance For further details please contact Storth on 01524 781900 or sales@storthmachinery.co.uk

May 2020 | Farming Monthly | 65

| Muck & Slurry

Bauer slurry management and application solutions With a range of slurry handling and management solutions from pumps to the largest land application tankers, Bauer is well-placed to meet the needs of livestock farms and contractors alike. t one end of the scale, the Bauer S300 screw-type separator is now available in both fixed installation and mobile ‘plug and play’ formats, both capable of separating up to 15cu m of slurry an hour into liquid and solid fractions, with dry matter content of the solids at about 32%.

“Separation in this way can have a significant impact on storage capacity requirements and management of slurry as a resource,” said Adrian Tindall, Area Manager at Bauer UK & Ireland.

“The liquid fraction can be applied from a lagoon through a dirty water irrigator and the solids stored and spread separately to grazing or conservation grass, or to crop stubbles as and when required.

“Either way, like all our separators, the S300 enables producers to manage their storage requirements more effectively and make best use of the nutrients and other beneficial characteristics in the solid and liquid fractions.”

Slurry in-flow to the S300 separator is regulated by an automatic pressure control system to ensure consistent results and, as with all Bauer slurry separators, adjustable weighted discharge doors provide resistance to help the wear-resistant stainless steel screw squeeze liquid through long-life screens available in a choice of sizes.

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The S300 Plug & Play version is a selfcontained mobile package that incorporates a pump, an automatic control panel and a compact steel frame with pallet tines slots so that it can easily be used across two or more locations on one farm or shared by two individual farms.

At the other end of the slurry management scale, Bauer UK & Ireland has been the official sales and service support operation for Bauer specialist slurry application systems designed for Claas Xerion tractors.

Previously sold under the SGT name but now fully incorporated into the Bauer slurry and digestate tanker range, the products include an innovative slurry loading system carried on the front of the Xerion, a 16cu m capacity deckmounted tank, and semi-mounted tanks up to 30,000-litres capacity towed from a deckmounted coupling that results in favourable

weight transfer to the powerful four-wheel drive tractor.

Soon after acquiring SGT, Bauer applied its expertise in poly-tank production – a hand-laid polyester laminate manufacturing process used for its range of tractor-towed tankers up to 26,000-litre capacity – to produce the 16cu m unit for the forward control Xerion S-Trac.

This lighter-weight solution allowed an increase in capacity over the previous steel version, while producing a direct-mounting frame for the front-mounted pump unit enables operators to save 1000kg by replacing the tractor’s front three-point linkage.

The Bauer filling pump unit is available with a 10in remote docking system to take a load on board from a nurse tank, a 10in stone-trap box and a 9000- or 12,000-litres/min pump – the larger capacity option is offered for 24m to 36m slurry dribble booms.

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| Muck & Slurry

Hi-Spec introduce new Trailing Shoe Hi-Spec Engineering has introduced their own design of trailing shoe to complement their vacuum tanker range. The Hi-Spec trailing shoe is available in working widths of 6.0, 7.5 and 9.0 metres. he Hi-Spec trailing shoe features a robust chassis mounted mast.

This chassis mounted mast ensures that the tanker and shoe are perfectly balanced and that the shoe is properly supported to the tanker. The axle is also moved rearwards to support the trailing shoe weight.

The Hi-Spec trailing shoe features a number of unique features. The 7.5m and 9.0m trailing shoes feature double folding to reduce the overall height for transportation. This double folding ensures that the trailing shoe will not exceed the height of a standard Hi-Spec 2600 tanker. There is also the ability to use both fill

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points and splashplate at the rear without any modifications.

The 9.0m trailing shoe also features a unique hydraulic self-levelling system, whereby each arm of the trailing shoe will lift as it passes over a side incline. This ensures that the shoe continues to work perfectly over the incline without excess pressure being applied to the outer boots.

The Hi-Spec trailing shoe features hardened trailing shoes that gently part the grass sideways and allows the slurry to be placed onto the ground via a specialised rubber boot. The grass covering will then prevent valuable nutrients from escaping and the placement of the slurry to the

roots ensures a reduced grazing turn-around.

The Hi-Spec trailing shoe can also be used as a dribble bar if needed without any contact with the ground.

Hi-Spec are using the Vogelsang Exacut as a distributor to distribute the slurry evenly to the hoses. A unique stonetrap on the rear of the shoe allows the tanker to be filled tanker manually, or use the splashplate by just changing a spool at the rear of the tractor.

The Hi-Spec trailing shoe is galvanised as standard and features an independent LED lighting bar for safe travel on the road between farm and field.

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| Livestock

Mitigating butterfat depression at turnout Rumen function is paramount to protecting butterfats during spring grazing. s dairy producers begin to turn out herds for spring grazing, optimising rumen function is essential to mitigate butterfat depression. According to Dr Richard Kirkland, Global Technical Manager for Volac Wilmar Feed Ingredients, there are two key factors that contribute to the dip in butterfat production that is so common at turnout.

“First off, cows go from having a controlled ration that has been balanced for nutrients such as fibre and starch, to having a sudden change in diet nutrient composition. This alone will give the rumen a shock, which goes on to impact cow performance,” says Dr Kirkland. “At the same time, the new growth of grass they will be grazing in early spring, is also high in sugar and oil but low in fibre.”

Low fibre / high sugar grass is more rapidly fermentable, compromising rumen pH and passing through the digestive tract more quickly.

This combined with the high oil levels can lead to an increased risk of acidosis and significant milk fat depression.

“A great way to counteract this reaction is to buffer feed with a high fibre feed source in conjunction with an appropriate rumen-protected fat supplement. This is going to slow down

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digestive flow and help optimise rumen conditions,” says Dr Kirkland.

While high fibre ingredients such as straw can help slow down the flow of feed through the digestive system and raise the rumen pH, they also fill the rumen with low feed quality bulk that will reduce energy intake and milk protein.

Digestible fibre sources such as sugar beet pulp, citrus pulp and soya bean hulls are excellent feed sources to include in the concentrate to create a better balance in the rumen.

“Rumen-protected fat supplements provide a dense energy source while also supporting rumen function,” explains Dr Kirkland. “If energy requirements are instead met through rapidly fermentable carbohydrates such as wheat in the form of concentrate, the risk of acidosis will be further increased in grazing cows.”

Fat is more than a dense energy source According to Dr Kirkland, individual fatty acids impact cow performance by partitioning nutrients to different areas of performance.

Therefore, fatty acids should be selected depending on the stage of lactation, individual farm challenges and requirements to maximise returns from specific milk contracts.

For spring calving cows in early lactation, the challenge is to manage body condition score to aid in the effort to get the cow back in calf. As a

general rule, each one-unit loss in condition will reduce conception rates by 10%. During this early lactation period, C18:1 (oleic acid) is the key fatty acid to deliver to the small intestine for absorption as the latest research demonstrates its effect on insulin status, increasing partitioning of energy and nutrients to improve body condition and to improve development of eggs.

For cows in the post-peak period of lactation, supplementing with products containing high levels of C16:0 (palmitic acid) will increase partitioning of nutrients to milk, which in turn will improve milk fat production.

While targeting these specific fatty acid requirements is not feasible in a year-round calving system, a multi-purpose fat supplement like Mega-Max with a research-proven ratio of C16:0 and C18:1 is an effective way to meet the nutritional needs of the entire herd at all stages of lactation.

“By understanding the impact of specific fatty acids at different stages of lactation, fat supplementation can be used to optimise herd performance while also serving as an essential, dense energy source,” concludes Dr Kirkland.

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| Livestock

Competition law change a lifeline for dairy farmers A change in competition law that will help prevent potentially thousands of litres of milk a day going to waste is a vital lifeline for dairy farmers, a leading Midlands agricultural lawyer has said.

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ural expert Iain Morrison has praised the government’s decision to suspend certain competition rules and allow farmers to essentially work together during the coronavirus

pandemic.

The shut down of restaurants and cafes has seen demand for milk from commercial premises fall away, despite a surging need for bottles for people self-isolating or working from home.

Mr Morrison, partner and head of rural and agricultural affairs at law firm mfg solicitors, said famers had been pouring milk away despite earlier shortages in the supermarkets.

He said: “With the UK producing around 40 million litres of milk every day, there have been stories of farmers waiting for lorries to turn up to take their fresh milk away and then being told they aren’t coming.

“All of this has been because certain customers in the restaurant, café and pub sectors have had to shut during the lockdown

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and even though people still need milk and the supermarkets have had plenty of demand for it, they’ve not been able to sell it on.

“The temporary suspension of some of our competition laws means farmers and dairies can collaborate, share staff, suppliers and logistics and cut their costs while they work to keep the nation nourished. It also means they can more easily make use of their milk in other products such as cheese.”

Mr Morrison, a past President of the Worcestershire Law Society, said the changes were essential for keeping farmers in business.

He added: “This is a vital lifeline during unprecedented times and should be welcomed.

Competition laws are there to protect the consumer but at a time like this the message is very much about working together in the national interest and collaborating, not competing.”

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| Livestock

British farmer support from Volac Farmers in Great Britain buying Volacmanufactured calf milk replacer can claim two free bags of product with every pallet purchased during May, June and July 2020. he British family-owned company has asked its merchant partner distributors to support this free product offer as a practical way of supporting local calf rearers during the ongoing coronavirus crisis.

“We hope that this industry support initiative will help to relieve some of the financial pressure farmers are currently under at this unprecedented time for the country. What’s more, at a time when the British public is being urged to support British farmers by buying locally-sourced food, we’d also like to support our farmer customers with a saving on their investment in Volac calf milk formulas made from milk produced on British dairy farms,” explains product manager Samantha Sampson.

“This early summer free product offer is intended to help those customers – who might be facing difficult decisions at the moment surrounding their youngstock rearing – to continue feeding their preferred calf milk formula of choice.”

Volac says that its product supply chain remains fully operational but urges farmers not to stockpile to challenge this already pressurised situation.

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RABDF's interim survey results highlight true scale of dairy losses More than 1 million litres of milk have been discarded since the start of the coronavirus outbreak, with some milk still struggling to find a home, figures from an industry survey have shown. nterim data from the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers (RABDF) survey found the amount of milk discarded between 6 April to 20th April to be a little over 1 million litres, which is in line with the figures produced by AHDB and Dairy Uk. The survey, which has been running for a week, is being completed by farmers receiving a reduced value or having to discard milk, including sheep and goat milk, as a direct result of restrictions brought in to control COVID-19.

The first batch of results have been collated to feed into Defra to highlight the scale of the problem affecting the UK dairy industry.

Currently, the worst affected counties with milk either receiving a reduced value or being discarded are Dorset (2.38 million litres (ml)); Staffordshire (2.17 ml); Kent (1.42 ml), and County Antrim (1.2ml).

Although the amount of milk being affected seems to have dropped since 20 April, there are still some farmers receiving a reduced price and occasionally, milk being discarded.

RABDF will continue to monitor this volume as more information becomes available when

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farmers receive their monthly milk statements next month.

The data is being processed for government and it is imperative farmers affected continue to fill in the survey.

RABDF chairman Peter Alvis said: "We continue to monitor the situation regarding the loss in value and all milk being discarded.

There are about 2m litres of milk a day, that have not found a home in the retail market.

What our survey shows is the negative impact it is having on those farmers most severely affected."

He added: "It is imperative farmers continue submitting their information about the volume and value of milk lost so we can keep Defra informed of the size of the challenge this sector faces.

"We request DEFRA considers the seriousness of the situation and supports these farmers with a hardship payment. Any data we can continue feeding into Defra will only go to help this industry's cause," Mr Alvis said.

Farmers affected can fill out the survey at rabdf.co.uk/survey

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| Livestock Volac hopes its early summer free calf milk replacer offer will be welcome support for farmers in Great Britain who are keen to continue feeding calves their preferred Volac-manufactured product of choice.

Disease? Not On My Farm! encourages famers to connect socially

James Robinson

Farmers and the agricultural industry are known for their resilience in the face of adversity. Never has this attribute been more keenly tested as they use their key worker status to continue feeding the nation by producing milk, meat and produce while reaching out and supporting each other online.

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everley Taylor, dairy marketing manager at MSD Animal Health, explains how the initiatives, Disease? Not On My Farm! and Project Lamb are encouraging farmers to stay

connected.

“With restrictions of movement in place, many farmers are using social media to maintain a connection to their peers and the wider world. Technology is an increasingly valuable tool and social media platforms can ensure that farmers feel united and valued.

Many organisations are taking to social media to show solidarity and bring some much-

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needed positivity to the conversation.

“We’re encouraging farmers to share their positive experiences, and ideas for how they and the wider rural community are staying safe, as well as providing an opportunity to engage with others in the same situation,” says Beverley.

Organic producer and Disease? Not On My Farm! Ambassador, James Robinson, explains the positive benefits of maintaining a profile on social media; “It remains ‘business as usual’ for all farmers, particularly, during this busy spring season. With every community affected, I’ve found its been helpful to share what’s been happening at Strickley Farm. There is a sense

of satisfaction seeing feedback from so many different people. It’s reassuring to know that farmers are making a valuable difference.”

“Alongside the tremendous efforts of the NHS and other key workers, the agricultural sector is making an enormous contribution to the country, ensuring shelves remain stocked with quality British farmed produce. It’s only right that their efforts are championed. We want to participate in showing our thanks during this crucial time,” concludes Beverley.

Farmers can visit Facebook and Twitter @notonmyfarm and @ProjectLAMBUK to join the conversation using #feedthenation

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| Livestock

Better beef with Breedr Ian Sturmer – gives the farmer’s view of the Breedr vision.

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turmer Farms has been described as is an exciting example of how the beef sector as a whole could reshape itself to reduce income volatility and better produce what the market

wants.

Father-and-son team Ian and Michael have built a profitable beef finishing system by finding a way to operate at scale and having a deep understanding of what the consumer wants. The Sturmers have built up contract farming agreements with six farms, which has given them the scale to finish almost 6,000 dairy-bred steers each year. Ian Sturmer explains how the farm is using Breedr to achieve its vision.

When I came back from university, I sat down with my father, Michael, who was running

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a 650-head beef finishing unit and we took a long, hard look at what we were doing and where the industry was going.

Consistency of product was a major issue.

We were buying animals each week at market that were a variety of breeds, ages, sizes, and from different production methods. Trying to finish them and produce consistent meat-eating quality for the consumer wasn’t particularly easy.

Researching the market But then we thought, what does the consumer want? What does the market want?

What does the whole supply chain want? So, we did some research and even got a team of London chefs down to the farm.

The chefs were struggling to buy British beef that delivered a consistent eating experience.

They wanted to be able to put the same steak

on the plate week-in week-out and to know what that animal had eaten, its medication and where it had been its whole life.

The supermarkets also wanted traceability – antibiotic usage, or lack thereof, was really important – but also slightly smaller animals to fit in vacuum-packed packaging.

We then spoke to the abattoirs and inconsistent carcass size and traceability was a big issue for them. This led us to the conclusion that, to design a good product we need to work with the whole supply chain right from the birth all the way through. So, we could deliver a traceable product and control the consistency and the quality of the meat through the breeding, feeding and management of the animals.

Dairy beef model As we had a history of working with the dairy

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| Livestock sector, we went down an integrated dairy-beef model. Taking calves from dairy farms, rearing them for four months to about 180kg then moving them to a dedicated growing farm, until 450 kilos, before putting them into the main finishing farm for a further 90 days.

Our main farm was on a tenancy, so to scale the operation we needed to work with other farmers. We found farmers and families that were being squeezed on profitability by some of the current farming models. They had sons and daughters coming back into the business and were looking for a system or a way of farming that would give a bit more strategy and structure.

We developed a contract rearing model, which offered them a management fee per head of cattle - and they didn’t need to purchase or market the animals.

They would grow their own silage – grass or maize – and we would pay on its quality. We supplied the rest of the concentrate food, milling and processing to supplement the forage on these farms.

Feeding has always been important. We monitor every pen daily, looking at food intake, manure, health; measuring weight gain and looking at feed conversion.

We run our own logistics, so animals are moved by us and we keep them in social groups of about 40-45 for as long as possible to reduce stress. Stress creates lines of gristle and tougher meat post-slaughter, so good animal welfare has all-round benefits.

This enabled us to standardise welfare and quality of stock – the idea was, if we took any animal off any farm then, hopefully, they would be consistent.

We developed a franchised farming type system that still used the network of traditional farming practices in the UK that we liked, but also enabled us to have the economies of scale and the consistency of product.

Networking with arable farmers Over the last four years we have built up a network of six farms, producing 6,000 animals a year. We also work with arable farms, trading muck and manure for straw. This enables us to spread manure over a larger acreage and they are growing forage crops – maize or grass – to help diversify their rotation.

Collaboration between the dairy and arable sectors is helping to improve consistency in beef.

Working with Breedr We first met Breedr at the Cattle Breeder’s Conference last year [2019], when they were starting out, but wanted the product to be more mature before we rolled it out across our network, so we have just been using it for a few months.

With Breedr we have become aware of the importance of breeding. We can breed animals that use less food and grow more. That really excited us, that potential has a real benefit, we knew we could use that to drive forward.

In Sussex, we now realise that part of the problem is that there are so many different varieties of breed and the variety in the quality of the bulls within a breed is staggering. It was more through chance that the black and white steers that we’re already using actually have exceptionally good meat quality, because of the inherent marbling in it.

So, with the support of Breedr, we are now considering selecting the semen for the dairy farmers to improve growth rate and performance and meat quality.

We are able to actually choose a beef bull to go across to the dairy herd that has good meat quality to drive consistency. Keeping the

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marbling, but improving on it by looking at other traits as well – TB resistance, pneumonia resistance – and better feed conversion and growth rates. That has really rolled forward with Breedr. We are able to manage and analyse which bulls are doing better than others. We will be able to analyse their performance and that of the sires of the dairy-beef that is coming out of these dairy herds to follow through on the meat quality as well.

This is going to be a real big driver, enabling us to keep improving beef quality and consistency using production methods informed by this data. With Breedr we are able to have a more powerful complete supply chain analysis, from the dairy farm right the way through to consumption.

Data follows the animal Now we are using Breedr, the dairy farmer records the sire on the calf’s passport. The barcode is scanned into the Breedr programme and logged against the ear tag.

We pair up the ear tags with the electronic identity (EID) ear tags at the first weigh. By weighing at various intervals, Breedr creates a record of live weight gain across the animal’s whole life.

We can then report against those sires, pull out the top ten and say ‘these top ten sires had much better growth rates across all six farms’ and gain a commercial analysis of the genetics of these top performers. This is going to be very powerful.

Breedr will also enable analysis of health over the lifetime. For example, we can see which sires have better health to help drive lower antibiotic usage across the farm network – this is going to be a huge benefit.

These are real on-farm benefits and powerful reporting that we can gain with Breedr.

Using Breedr All the on-farm managers carry a phone at all times anyway and this is used to record information, such as medication, that can immediately be inputted into Breedr. We are using Tru-Test so from next year, when the EID system is updated, every time an animal goes through the weighing facility its weight will be automatically recorded and saved in Breedr.

At the moment we are pairing the visual ear tag with the stick reader and it bleeps and records it.

Then you can do the reporting in the office on the dashboard, looking at it on the desktop, and run a report of the analysis.

Having a cloud-based system is very useful on a multi-farm operation – everyone can be working on their own tablet or phone, using their own Breedr login, and the weights all synchronise and update to our main profile so it links and merges together. Using Breedr, there is no exporting of spreadsheets or having to pass round USB sticks and things like that.

Certainly, the ease of use on-farm is the portability. The cloud-based system is really paramount when you’ve got multiple farms, as you need multiple live sets of data that can be added to simultaneously.

Improving meat eating quality Meat is a luxury product and we need to be making sure of the consistent quality and sustainability of these products, to the highest standards.

It really concerns me that if we aren’t measuring it how can we improve it? The UK is one of the last countries, that I’m aware, of that hasn’t got an eating quality standard. All of the top exporting and meat-consuming nations are growing their meat in one way or another, based on a meat quality standard. This means if you want to buy a container of beef from

these countries, you are able to pay for that and get a fairly high guarantee that the shipment will be of consistent quality.

The issue for the UK is that we don’t quite know what genetics we should be using and what production systems we can try to promote, to create a more consistent quality product. Not just for the consumption within the UK but also if we want to drive an export market.

We have some of the best welfare standards in the world - which is paramount and we need to uphold and improve them with traceability – but, at the end of the day, you don’t eat welfare standards, you eat a product.

If, by working with the abattoirs and consumers, we can analyse what bulls had more tender beef and higher marbling and better quality then we could feed that back into each sire. Then we can run meat quality analysis against the performance analysis, and drill down to see what genetics we should be using within the supply chain.

The EUROP grid is embedded in our beef production, and it has served its purpose, but something needs to change and there is potential to change. We have the ability to either add an extra layer, or change the EUROP system.

We need to realign the grading system and also the payment system to try to promote quality and consistency. Obviously this would be a change for the processing industry, and the whole beef supply chain, but it would improve efficiencies and sustainability with the industry and make sure we are promoting sustainable production systems. Such a system could financially incentivise farmers to achieve a meat-eating quality standard.

It will be a big change to the sector, but if we are going to have a vibrant beef sector in the UK and take advantage of the many export opportunities, I think it’s of paramount importance that we try.

The Breedr vision It’s still early days for us with Breedr. It will take 18 months for us to produce an animal to become part of Breedr’s business model. At the moment were building up the information in the system and using that will drive better returns for us and our farmers.

We’ve been using Breedr for a couple of months now. I’ve certainly enjoyed working with Ian and James, it’s nice to share their positivity towards the sector and their want to drive it forward.

They’ve been open to our constructive criticisms to make sure that any small issues, if there are, can be improved and to work with all of our farmers to make sure it works for everyone on farm. Everybody runs different farming systems and so everybody has difference requests. They’ve been very accommodating with making sure it does work for us.

Various companies are trying to develop that on-farm recording ability. But Breedr’s whole supply chain approach, which uses the data to improve production through to market and a better-return of value, I certainly haven’t seen that end-to-end linked-up approach anywhere else.

I’m very excited about Breedr’s vision. If we can harness this data then all farmers in the network will see returns for that information, not only to make better on-farm decisions but also to unlock value at the end.

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| Livestock

Levy boards pitch in with beef campaign to aid carcase balance A major £1.2 million national consumer campaign encouraging consumers to “Make It” with beef is being launched by AHDB, Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) and Hybu Cig Cymru (HCC). unning for 12 weeks with TV, video on demand, radio and social media, it aims to inspire consumers to create restaurantstyle meals in the comfort of their own home, using a variety of high-quality hindquarter cuts.

The campaign will be supported with ‘how to’ videos and cooking tips, and influencerdriven content. It builds on a social media push launched earlier in April by the three levy boards.

It aims to reach 85 per cent of UK households and deliver a three-to-one return on investment, well above the industry average.

The move is a joint response to carcase

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balance challenges faced by the beef supply chain in the wake of Covid-19, which has seen a surge in demand for beef mince in supermarkets. Meanwhile some more expensive cuts, more commonly favoured in restaurants, have seen demand plummet as the lockdown has taken hold.

To meet the demand for mince, processors are having to mince higher value hindquarter and steak cuts, which leads to a drop in the overall retail value of the carcase and a subsequent drop in potential returns back to beef farmers.

A joint statement from the levy boards said: “This is a unique joint effort by AHDB, QMS and HCC which we hope will drive an uptake in

steak and roasting joint sales in the run up to barbecue season. It’s a fantastic opportunity for everyone to get involved and create some amazing dishes in their own kitchens.”

The campaign is being funded from the £3.5 million fund of AHDB red meat levies ringfenced for collaborative projects which is managed by the three GB meat levy bodies – AHDB, HCC and QMS. The ring-fenced fund is an interim arrangement while a long-term solution is sought on the issue of levies being collected at point of slaughter in England for animals which have been reared in Scotland or Wales.

FUW welcomes TB testing derogation for youngstock The decision by Welsh Government to exempt cattle under 180 days of age from routine or targeted surveillance bovine TB testing in unrestricted herds has been welcomed by the Farmers' Union of Wales as a pragmatic approach to the current pandemic. nder the derogation, movement restrictions will not be placed on OTF herds if cattle under 180 days are left untested because the vet has judged that testing cannot be conducted in line with current COVID-19 social distancing guidelines.

FUW Senior Policy Officer Dr Hazel Wright, said: "The FUW is pleased that the Welsh Government has listened to our concerns about undertaking TB testing of youngstock during

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the pandemic. We continue to stress that many of our farmer members are in the covid-19 high risk category due to their age and it is therefore important that the rules around TB testing do not risk the health of our key workers producing food during this pandemic.

"It is extremely difficult to maintain social distancing rules when testing young calves for bovine TB and this derogation is therefore extremely welcome. It will come as a huge relief to those farmers facing the conflict of adhering to TB rules whilst also trying to adhere to social

distancing rules and protect themselves and their family from illness."

The temporary exemption will be kept under regular review while the social distancing measures related to the COVID-19 outbreak are in force and applies retrospectively from the 23rd of March 2020 until further notice.

"Many within the livestock sector have been placed under immense financial and emotional pressure and derogations which prioritise farmer health and well-being must be welcomed," added Dr Wright.

New alkalised heifer rearing ration offers opportunity to improve youngstock performance New practical on-farm trial work suggests replacement dairy heifers can be reared highly effectively on an alkalised energy-dense compound feed offering some farmers an opportunity to improve animal performance. randomised study looking at the performance of 48 weaned pedigree Holstein heifer calves on a farm in North Yorkshire suggests that the utilisation of a new alkaline concentrate significantly increased daily liveweight gain when compared with a standard proprietary heifer rearing nut.

Calves on the trial were weaned and grouped into pens of four at 12 weeks of age.

In total six groups of four heifers were assigned to each of two feed treatments: a standard heifer developer compound feed or an alkalised cake. Ad lib straw and water were available to both groups.

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Trial co-ordinator Hannah Booth from FiveF Alka says the results highlight the benefit of feeding an alkaline diet to valuable replacement heifers that are the future of the dairy herd.

“Reducing the rumen acid load that these young animals have to deal with is just as important as it is for adult milking cows. The alkalinity of the diet also influences post-ruminal fermentation in the intestines, which produces a lesser effect on the calf’s pH homeostasis, in turn promoting better performance,” she says.

Calves fed the alkalised compound feed nut gained, on average, 0.8kg per day whereas those on the standard rearing nut only achieved 0.68kg per day. Calves fed the alkalised nut also had significantly higher faecal

pH scores (7.1 v 6.9).

Farmers interested in alkalisation of heifer rearing diets should contact FiveF Alka for more information. The company will also be able to provide details of local feed companies able to manufacture alkalised diets.

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| Grassland | Root Crops & Muck

Marketing campaign in store to help shift spuds The stocks of potatoes held by growers at the end of March totalled 1.19 million tonnes according to an Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) estimate. his is 20 per cent higher than the same point last season and five per cent above the five-year average. Drawdown, the rate at which potatoes are delivered from store, was two per cent down on average between January and March.

David Eudall, Head of Arable Market Specialists at AHDB, said: “These figures are from the end of March, so they only include one week of the ‘lockdown effect’. But the big impact on the sector has been the way the coronavirus pandemic has changed consumer demand.

“From 23 March, the industry saw wholesale closures of fish and chip shops and other foodservice outlets. There are reports of some chip shops reopening across Great Britain, but sales are likely to be significantly reduced.”

AHDB will be publishing further in-depth reports into the processing and chipping sectors on 7 May, once more data has been analysed.

AHDB response and support While growers have been hit by the near-total closure of the foodservice sector, sales of fresh and frozen potatoes in supermarkets rose 28 per cent in March, ahead of overall food and drink growth for the period.

Dr Rob Clayton, Potatoes Strategy Director at AHDB, said that the specialist nature of the potatoes used for each part of the market meant some growers could suffer large financial losses.

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“With one or two exceptions, a different set of varieties is used to make chips in restaurants from the ones consumers are used to seeing on supermarket shelves. If you’ve got a shed full of potatoes that were meant for making French fries, you might currently be unsure whether a year’s worth of work to grow and store them will amount to anything – it’s a stressful situation.

“The wider industry has been meeting to work through what can be done at pace, we hear that supermarkets are taste testing different varieties for example. But this will only apply to a small proportion of what’s in stock.”

Meanwhile, AHDB has released plans for an extended consumer marketing campaign, and a portal to help put the growers and wholesale buyers of potatoes in touch.

“Our lovepotatoes.co.uk website has been sharing recipes and ‘how-to’ tips with consumers since 2015. In that time we’ve had over five million likes and shares over social media channels, and seven million page visits.

And we can see that ramping up recently, with a 54 per cent daily increase since the start of March,” said Nicola Dodd, Marketing Manager at AHDB. “A recent post on how to store potatoes at home was liked and shared over 10,000 times on Facebook and Instagram as people looked at ways of keeping lockdown stockpiles fresh.

Our campaign is based on reminding consumers of the versatility and value of potatoes, and how they can be incorporated in

many dishes, both traditional and contemporary.”

AHDB is increasing consumer marketing activity for the year ahead, with a lockdown boost through social media, advertising, promotion via catch-up TV and activity within retail outlets.

A trade portal will be launched next week where wholesale potato buyers and merchants can post requirements for potatoes, and growers can post available stocks.

“The supply and demand profile of our normally well-established market is changing very fast,” said Rob Clayton. “With one part using stocks quicker than normal, and one with a surplus, the portal should help ensure consumers are able to find top-quality potatoes, which is what we all want.”

Some growers, including Jonathan Papworth and Greg Bliss of Fen Edge Farming, have donated potatoes that were destined for fish and chip shops to food banks. FareShare, a charity that coordinates the supply of food banks, can now take appropriate bagged potatoes. Growers can contact FareShare on foodoffers@fareshare.org.uk.

AHDB has a Coronavirus: advice and support for farmers’ webpage, where all of the latest market information, government advice and support for each of its six sectors can be found. The webpage can be found at: https://ahdb.org.uk/coronavirus

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| Root Crops

During Germinal GB’s field trials programme, Triumph swede was shown to produce as much as 120,000MJ/ha of energy from its bulbs, with retained leaf material contributing up to 1t/ha of crude protein.

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| Root Crops

Modern swedes offer nutricious out-wintering option UK field trials with the new generation swede variety Triumph have demonstrated its value as a cost effective outwintering option for livestock farmers. n studies carried out by forage seed specialist Germinal GB during 2018 and 2019, crops monitored on farms in England, Wales and Scotland recorded bulb yields of 9tDM/ha with high levels of leaf retention resulting in significant additional crude protein.

With average growing costs calculated at £385/ha, Germinal believes the cost of dry matter from the swedes to be in the region of 4p/kg, creating opportunities for livestock farmers to build greater sustainability into their production systems.

“From the results we’ve seen with Triumph, there’s no doubt that swedes offer a cheap and

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simple out-wintering option that has the potential to reduce costs of production in both cattle and sheep sectors in the UK,” says Germinal GB’s Ben Wixey.

“Whilst the bulb is the primary feed source from swedes, contributing as much as 120,000MJ/ha of energy, we’ve been impressed with ability of the variety Triumph to retain its leaves through into the grazing period. From measurements taken during our programme of field trials, we estimate the retained leaf material to provide around 1t/ha of crude protein to grazing livestock, which is a significant bonus.”

The optimum drilling window for swedes is between the middle of May and the end of June

for most UK farmers, with crops typically being ready to graze within about 25 weeks.

“With a block grazing approach, five hectares of Triumph swede could be expected to support around 400 in-lamb ewes, or 75 bulling heifers, for up to 100 days,” adds Ben Wixey. “That’s creating a huge opportunity to reduce bought-in feeds and lower the cost of production significantly.”

Further information on establishing and managing swedes for out-wintering is available at Germinal GB’s Knowledge Hub at https://germinal.co.uk/knowledgehub/brassica-growers-guide/

Spud Squad helps families get creative during the lockdown National potato supplier Branston and its superhero ‘Spud Squad’ team is providing fun activities and delicious potato-based recipes to help families across the UK get creative with their spuds during their time at home. ach summer the Spud Squad travel across the country to bring spud-themed fun to kids at agricultural shows and countryside days out. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, and the inevitable cancellation of this year’s events, Branston has decided to adapt and transfer its potato- based activities online to the Seasonal Spuds website.

There will be games, challenges and mini craft projects available for children of all ages designed to inspire investigation and creativity as well as a range of free downloadable activities. A new Spud Squad section will feature on the website, where a selection of fun new tasks will be released every week during the lockdown.

Extra recipes and a range of healthy and exciting home-cooked meals will also be available to help parents create new dishes using basic store cupboard ingredients and leftovers, as well as inspiring kids to get involved in the kitchen.

Jackie Baker, communications manager at Branston said: “Due to the coronavirus pandemic our Spud Squad team aren’t able to attend the shows this summer, so we’ve adapted some of our favourite hands-on activities and developed a selection of new ones into online resources on our Seasonal Spuds website. While families are at home and looking for exciting things to do, this is a great opportunity to have some fun and learn a bit about food, farming and nutrition.

“We also have some recipe ideas for parents who might be struggling to create new dishes with the ingredients they have, and we want to encourage children to help out with the cooking too.

“We can’t wait to see everyone’s ideas and

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creations, which they can share with us on social media by tagging Seasonal Spuds and using our dedicated hashtags. Look out for our Spud Squad social media competitions too.”

To encourage families to get creative with their potatoes, Seasonal Spuds has launched new activities and recipe ideas on its website.

Families can share their recipes and potato creations by uploading images to social media, tagging @seasonalspuds and using the hashtags #spudsquad and #toptatietips.

Seasonal Spuds is a consumer initiative by national potato supplier Branston, to champion the health benefits, versatility and affordability of potatoes, as well as inspire consumers with delicious recipes, competitions and

information, which is hosted on its dedicated website and social media channels.

To find the Spud Squad, activities and recipes, please visit: https://www.seasonalspuds.com/kids-activities.

Join the conversation on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram and follow @seasonalspuds

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| Root Crops

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| Root Crops

Adapt potato herbicide strategies to suit dry conditions Managing weed control programmes will take on added importance this year as continued dry weather in most areas hampers the activity of residual herbicides. lack of soil moisture will also slow the emergence of many key problem weeds until later in the season, although some may grow from depth earlier, unimpeded by a dry and disrupted herbicide layer.

Growers are going to have to choose a robust post-emergence herbicide to tackle the weeds when they emerge, says Craig Chisholm, field technical manager for Corteva Agriscience.

"Under normal conditions, starting with a clean field then tackling any late germination is usually the path forward," Craig said.

"But this season, where a solely post-emergence strategy will be required, growers should wait for active weed growth for the best possible results."

While the primary concern over the presence of weeds in potato crops is one of yield, it can also increase blight risk through sheltering leaves or contributing to a more favourable microclimate.

Later in the season, larger weeds can have a serious effect at harvest time. Left unchecked, the largest weeds can get entangled in machinery and slow operations down.

Titus, containing the active

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ingredient rimsulfuron, has been valuable herbicide in the armoury for potato growers, particularly in dry seasons when pre-emergence activity will be negatively affected.

Titus may be used alone with a wetter to provide post-emergence activity across all potato varieties, excluding seed crops.

In fields where growers have failed to get a pre-emergence application on, or conditions have been too dry, a mixture of Titus plus metribuzin and a wetter will broaden the weed spectrum. Care should be taken to check that the variety is tolerant of metribuzin before adding to the mixture.

Craig said: "Titus has consistently demonstrated that it delivers robust control of charlock, cleavers, chickweed, hemp-nettle, small nettle and volunteer oilseed rape. It is also active on polygonums and will supress couch grass.

"Being a sulfonylurea herbicide Titus will work most effectively against small actively growing weeds, so application should target weeds at cotyledon four-leaf stage and before the crop reaches 15cm, to minimise weed shading.

"It is suitable for use on all potato varieties except seed crops and is compatible with metribuzin products. It should always be used with an adjuvant."

May 2020 | Farming Monthly | 79

| Root Crops

Allium approval for Minecto One A new label approval for the innovative Syngenta insecticide, Minecto One, now gives allium growers of bulb and salad onions, garlic and shallots an important option for effective thrip control. inecto One has proven extremely valuable in recent seasons, for control of chewing pests in brassicas, including caterpillars and cabbage root fly, along with carrot fly in specified root crops and pea moth in vining and podded peas. Well timed applications have also shown useful incidental control of a range of aphid species in approved crops.

The new approval in alliums enables one application of up to 310 g/ha, timed at the first sign of attack, from the second true leaf growth stage, up to full leaf senescence. There is a 14 day pre-harvest interval.

Syngenta Technical Manager, Dr Max Newbert, highlighted thrips (Thrips tabaci) have become an increasing issue for onion growers over recent seasons, during prolonged dry periods causing stressed susceptible crops.

From May the pests can invade crops and go through several generations over the summer in conducive conditions; egg to adult can take as little as 15 days.

“An effective early start to the thrip control programme can help to minimise risks for the season,” he advised. “But growers’ options have been limited in recent years. Minecto One will prove an extremely welcome option to quickly target large populations of thrips

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migrating into the crop.”

Importantly, Minecto One controls both the adult thrips directly feeding on the treated crop, as well as any hatched larvae feeding in the leaf. It will be especially useful where efficacy of other knock-down insecticides has been seen to be reduced in previous seasons.

For highest levels of efficacy in allium crops, Dr Newbert advocates application with sufficient water volume to achieve good coverage of the leaf area, but avoiding excess run off on waxy surfaces. Minecto One’s xylem systemicity will help to target thrip sucking pests, as well as achieving better spreading and penetration into crops.

Dr Newbert reported Syngenta application trials in alliums have shown water volume, using a coarse nozzle and forward speeds of around 10 km/hr are most effective to target pests in the crop crown. Adjuvants, such as a high % methylated rapeseed oil, have been shown to help spreading and penetration into the crown.

The maximum total dose for Minecto One for alliums is specified as 310 grammes of product per hectare per year. As an anti-resistance measure, the label states any land treated with Minecto One at the maximum total dose must not be treated with any other cyantraniliprole containing products in the same calendar year,

Thrips on onions

he pointed out.

“Creating a new mode of action for this crop and pest, it’s essential to protect the ai, especially with resistance to spinosad and pyrethroid insecticides already having been observed in thrip populations,” Dr Newbert advised.

Utilising good irrigation scheduling to avoid crop moisture stress and alternating treatment modes of action using available products, he believes effective thrip control can still be achieved.

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| Root Crops

Tong introduce their next generation All-Electric E-TIP box tipper Tong Engineering has announced the latest addition to its recent series of new product developments, with the launch of a new, all-electric box tipper; the E-TIP. he next generation E-TIP box tipper is built upon a patentpending design which features an innovatively designed cropretaining lid for the gentlest handling, alongside an energyefficient all-electric drive system.

“We are very proud to offer a complete range of box handling solutions to growers and processors worldwide, all of which are designed to ensure the gentlest handling and dependable performance across a variety of applications, throughput requirements and budgets,” says Edward Tong, Managing Director at Tong Engineering. “We are delighted to launch the new flagship E-TIP box tipper which delivers on our promise of the gentlest handling and combines this with the latest allelectric drive technology for an exceptionally advanced machine.”

“What sets our new E-TIP box tipper apart is the way that the box is cradled throughout the tipping process, with a uniquely designed conveyor-belt lid,” says Edward. “This ensures boxes are securely and gently rotated, without any friction or scuffing to crop. The sliding

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action of the lid ensures gentle transfer of crop from the box to the machine’s forward conveyor, as well as ensuring seamless upward ejection of empty boxes for continuous operation and maximum performance.”

The E-TIP box tipper replaces traditional forward pivot-tipping hydraulics with a boxrotating design, powered by Tong’s Blue Inverter Technology all-electric direct-drive motors. “The fact that the new E-TIP is 100% electric-driven means that running costs are kept extremely low,” says Edward. “In addition, the advanced yet simple design of the new ETIP means that maintenance is not only minimal, but very quick and easy. The clean, food-grade construction of the machine ensures its suitability in all tipping applications, including high-care food processing environments.”

Optimum safety is also a key feature of the new tipper’s design, with the machine requiring much less forklift movement than traditional box tippers, resulting in a safer working environment. The more continuous loading and unloading process, coupled with fully automatic PLC controlled tipping, results in a high

throughput box tipping process, which can be specified to suit a variety of box sizes, depending on requirements.

“This year, we are celebrating 90 years in business, and over time we have developed our range of handling equipment to continuously offer the most advanced solutions,” says Edward. “Since our first box tipper left the Tong production line in the 1960s, the key principles of the box tipping process have remained the same, with the gentlest handling and maximum efficiency at the forefront of design. The new ETIP box tipper upholds these fundamental principles and incorporates the latest in electrical drive systems to create our most efficient box tipper yet.”

For more information on Tong's latest range of handling equipment visit www.tongengineering.com.

May 2020 | Farming Monthly | 81

Pirtek Cambridge Tel: 01223 835222 Pirtek Derby Tel: 01332 205000 Pirtek Harlow Tel: 01279 427300

Pirtek Luton Pirtek Penrith Pirtek Preston

Tel: 01582 597050 Tel: 01768 210055 Tel: 01772 620111

| Machinery

Extreme weather conditions highlight the importance of operating a robust crop establishment system The extremes of weather which have affected all parts of the UK this season have highlighted the need for farming businesses to operate a robust crop establishment system that is capable of delivering excellent results under all conditions, according to Suffolk arable farmer and agricultural engineer Jeff Claydon. his season has been extremely challenging for any establishment system and many farmers who relied on conventional or min-till methods were unable to drill the area of autumn- and spring-sown crops that they had planned,” states Jeff, who farms 325 hectares at Wickhambrook near Newmarket and is Chief Executive of Claydon Yield-oMeter, which developed the patented Opti-Till® System.

“At the start of the year when I was travelling around the country to visit customers, I saw countless examples of soils in poor condition, probably from being over-worked or using inappropriate machinery at the wrong time.

Some fields were waterlogged, slumped and capped, worm activity was minimal, those crops which had been drilled were stressed and even weeds refused to grow in some areas. Elsewhere, vital topsoil which had taken millions of years to form had washed off fields into ditches, streams and rivers, causing pollution and crop loss.

“The situation has been exacerbated because soils which could not be drilled in the autumn remained waterlogged over the winter, the wettest since national records began in 1910, but then dried out completely due to the lack of rain this spring. This resulted in lessthan-ideal establishment conditions, poor germination and less effective weed control, which will ultimately reduce crop performance.

The shortfall in plantings combined with belowaverage yields could mean that the UK will have to rely on imports to meet end-user requirements later in the year.

“This scenario has obviously struck a chord with farmers, because the enquiries that we have received in recent weeks indicate that many have decided to re-evaluate their approach and are looking to adopt a more efficient, resilient system for the future.”

A SYSTEM WITH SIGNIFICANT BENEFITS Since inventing and pioneering the strip seeding concept in 2002, Jeff has spent 18 years perfecting the Claydon Opti-Till® System.

A fast, efficient, flexible, holistic method of establishing any crop which can be air sown, it delivers consistently high yields more efficiently, at much lower cost, together with less agronomic and financial risk, but provides significant economic, ecological and environmental benefits.

“The very heavy Hanslope Series chalky boulder clay soil on the Claydon farm is one of the most difficult in the country to manage,” Jeff states. “When wet it can become impossibly sticky, unfriendly and slow to drain, when dry it sets as hard as concrete. In both cases it is impossible to work, so all field operations must be carried out within a very narrow window of opportunity when conditions are exactly right.

In the 52 years that I have been involved in farming I have tried every crop establishment system, under all conditions; it was their shortcomings that led me to develop a better

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solution, Claydon Opti-Till®.

“This autumn we established all 280 hectares of winter wheat, beans and oilseed rape that were planned in just 70 hours using this system. After harvest we had plenty of time to carry out an effective stubble management programme with a 15m-wide Claydon Straw Harrow and 6m TerraStar. All our winter wheat was in the ground by 31 October and the autumn establishment programme was completed on 19 November when the last of the winter beans went in using our 6m Hybrid T6c drill. Despite the atrocious weather at the time they established well and even the headlands now look exceptional.

“Wider crop rotations, combined with a 50:50 split between wheat and break cropping, have helped to spread the workload. This gave us plenty of time and opportunities to control volunteers and weeds using the Straw Harrow to encourage multiple flushes, any remaining green material being killed off with a single application of glyphosate pre-drilling in November. This left the fields clean but with a shallow layer of surface tilth which provided ideal conditions over the winter and going into spring, so we were able to drill the remaining 46 hectares of spring crops directly into this perfect growing environment during the last week of March.

“Our customers throughout the UK and overseas have also reported that Opti-Till® works reliably, even in the far-from-perfect conditions we have all experienced this season.

It greatly improves timeliness, reduces establishment costs by up to 80%, creates wellstructured, supportive soils, encourages high worm populations, promotes biodiversity and ensures excellent drainage. This results in sustainable, high yields, greater resilience to extreme weather events, numerous environmental benefits and improved profitability.”

SUSTAINABILITY IS THE KEY The key is the Claydon Hybrid drill’s patented, leading tine, which remains stable

and works at an even depth, even in variable soil conditions. Adjustable from 0mm to up to 150mm for establishing deep-rooting crops like oilseed rape, it lifts and aerates the soil, creating fissures, alleviating localised compaction, improving drainage and providing space for strong rooting structures to develop.

The leading tine is followed by a separate seeding tine which places seed within a band in soil which has just been lifted and loosened.

Drilling seed in bands provides an ideal environment for worms to thrive. This is essential because their action benefits soil health in so many ways. Most worm burrows and capillaries are left undisturbed, so worm numbers are safeguarded, which aids drainage and water movement through the soil profile throughout the growing season. Plant roots are also left largely undisturbed which adds to the soil biota and improves its structure, organic matter depletion is minimised due to nominal soil disturbance, while moisture and nitrogen are preserved.

The friable tilth created by the drill’s leading tine allows fast, strong rooting. Emergence is rapid and unhindered due to the excellent soil structure, while the soil can also absorb heavy rainfall without capping. Because the seed is sown in bands crops utilise more of the growing area, maximising moisture and nutrient take-up. The fact that seed is spread across the working area of the seeding share allows more air and light into the crop, which improves photosynthesis as the plant grows.

“With more extremes of weather, profit margins under severe pressure and labour in short supply it has never been more important to operate the right crop establishment system,” Jeff states. “This means one which can operate effectively in all conditions, minimises weather risk and provides sufficient capacity to exploit weather windows, allowing crops to be drilled at the right time and in the right conditions to produce high yields and generate sustainable financial returns.”

May 2020 | Farming Monthly | 83

| Machinery

Haith Group and Grimme UK & Ireland announce strategic partnership Two of the most respected and well-known agricultural machinery manufacturers have announced a strategic collaboration for the UK and Ireland. aith Group, which manufactures vegetable handling equipment, and in-field root crop and vegetable machinery specialist GRIMME, which is best known for its planting and harvesting innovations are joining forces in the UK and Ireland to increase their respective product offerings.

The new relationship is designed to benefit UK and Irish farmers, who will now be able to buy complete solutions from either company's sales team.

The agreement will see the sales teams of both companies being trained on the others product range and will give customers of both companies easy access to the innovative market leading solutions offered by both Haith and GRIMME. GRIMME customers may, for example, wish to add a Haith Supa-Wash washer or market leading Rota-Tip box tippler into a GRIMME finance and service plan, whereas a Haith customer could take advantage of having a GRIMME Cleanloader to work alongside a Haith mobile washer.

"Today's announcement is a game-changer for UK and Irish farmers," says Duane Hill, Sales

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Director for Haith Group. "The strategic collaboration sees two of the biggest manufacturers in the sector coming together to offer the most comprehensive product range available. We've never been in competition with GRIMME, rather their product range complements ours and makes this arrangement a perfect fit."

GRIMME UK Ltd.'s managing director, Patrick Graf Grote adds: "Before now, farmers looking for a complete solution to their needs would have to talk to more than one different company.

Now, they can talk to Haith's team or ours and have access to the full spectrum of root crop and vegetable harvesting and handling machinery.

We believe this agreement with Haith Group, means we are now able to offer the most comprehensive range of machinery in the UK and Ireland."

Discussions about a closer working relationship began at British Potato 2019 after Duane and Patrick realised that both companies had similar goals and the same desire to give their UK and Irish customers the very best products and service in the potato and vegetable handling sector.

Haith and GRIMME are now developing plans to tour the partnership around the UK and

Ireland with roadshows taking place in the South West, East Midlands and Cheshire hopefully in the Autumn, ahead of a joint presence at LAMMA 2021.

The GRIMME Group, located in Damme (Germany) was founded in 1861 as a forge by the great-grandfather of the current chairman and owner Franz Grimme. Today, the company offers over 150 machines for use in potato, beet and vegetable production, including onions, carrots, leeks, chives, celery, fennel, green beans and cabbage.

Incorporated as a limited company in 1964, Tickhill Engineering, which trades as Haith, is one of the UK's leading designers and manufacturers of vegetable handling equipment.

Its range of grading, washing, bulk handling, weighing, pre-pack systems and water treatment solutions are relied upon by some of the world's largest food producers and packing companies along with farmers of all sizes in the UK and overseas.

For more information about Haith and its leading range of vegetable handling solutions, please visit www.haith.co.uk, and for the latest innovations from GRIMME please visit www.grimme.com

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| LAMMA

Andrew Symons South Molton, Devon EX36 3L T: 01769 574455

Holsworthy, Devon EX22 6HL T: 01409 254040

Crediton, Devon EX17 1FB T: 01363 720430

www.andrewsymons.co.uk

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| Machinery

High capacity stubble cultivators added to KUHN tillage range KUHN Farm Machinery has extended its range of independent disc stubble cultivators with the addition of the high capacity Optimer L. vailable in 9 and 12 metre working widths, the Optimer L is designed for high quality shallow cultivation at operating speeds of 13 to 18km/hour.

With a working depth range from 3 to 10cm, it is sufficiently versatile to fulfil a range of roles including enhanced crop residue management, stale seedbed creation and fine seedbed preparation.

Two rows of 510mm diameter discs operate with high rotation speeds and are set at 16˚ horizontal and 6˚ vertical for optimum tilth creation. Discs are available with small notches (for shallow cultivation) or large notches (for deeper soil penetration) and are mounted

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individually on support arms with each having four integral polyurethane elastomeric blocks to provide protection and depth control. Each disc has a single maintenance-free bearing on the outer side, which – along with an underframe clearance of 55cm – ensures clear flow of residues through the machine and prevents disruptions due to jamming.

Working depth on the Optimer L is hydraulically assisted, allowing simple and accurate adjustments to be made. This is maintained across the full width of the machine through hydraulically-controlled pressure on the extension cylinders (KUHN’s Steady Control system).

The Optimer L is fitted with KUHN’s Double-

U self-cleaning and anti-clogging roller, designed to provide optimum soil tamping. By turning on the roller at the headlands, the machine maintains stability and minimises any risk of soil compaction in these areas.

Machines fold into a compact (3m width, 4m height) transport position through a safe and secure four step process, activated by a mode switch on the control panel that also includes an operating depth indicator and an extension position guide.

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| Machinery

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| Machinery

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| Machinery

JCB 419S & 435S wheeled loaders gain power and torque JCB’s two market-leading agricultural wheeled loaders – the 419S and 435S – have yet more performance and productivity to offer large farms and contract silage-harvesting operators thanks to significant increases in power and torque from their new engines. he loaders continue to use a six-speed powershift transmission with extra-low first gear for exceptional pushing performance and torque lockup in every gear for mechanically-efficient direct drive to the two heavy-duty axles.

But alongside an emissions control upgrade for European Stage V compliance, the 6.7-litre Cummins engine delivers up to 6.5% more power and up to 25.5% more torque.

John Smith, Managing Director, JCB Agriculture said: “Our ‘S’ series loaders, which are built and equipped specifically for agricultural applications, have always been at the top of their game and as the output of selfpropelled forage harvesters continues to increase, we’ve responded with these new machines so that big farm and contracting operators can keep pace.”

In addition to the SCR diesel engine fluid system for controlling nitrogen oxides, the new engines have a diesel particulate filter (DPF), which is linked to JCB LiveLink telematics so that its status and any regeneration or servicing requirements can be remotely monitored alongside fuel use, operating hours and many other items of valuable fleet management information.

The engines also have a new electronic management system that provides a choice of two power and torque curves – one for site-to-

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site road travel and relatively light handling and loading operations, and one that exploits the full performance capabilities of the machines.

The default ‘standard’ power setting for the JCB 419S generates up to 107kW (144hp) at 2050rpm and 660Nm of peak torque.

But when full power is needed for maximum productivity to push-up large quantities of chopped grass or maize, the operator selects Dynamic mode to release up to 145kW (195hp) of peak power – up 6.5% from the Stage IV / Tier 4 Interim engine and supported by an increase of 5% in torque output to 881Nm. The same system on the JCB 435S provides 171kW (230hp) at 2100rpm and up to 840Nm of torque for routine work – but when the forage is coming in thick and fast, Dynamic mode shifts the power curve upwards to peak at 188kW (252hp), up 9.5% up on the current model, with 25.5% more torque at a thumping 1186Nm. Switching between the two power/torque ratings can be done with the loader stationary or on the move using the ‘DYN’ button located along with other function buttons in a cluster on the ‘B’ pillar of the spacious Command Plus cab.

The lower of the two power curves is the default setting when starting up first-thing but when Dynamic mode has been selected, this is memorised for two hours after the engine is switched off during breaks so that the machine remains primed and ready to go when work resumes.

In addition to the potential fuel-savings offered by the lower power/torque setting, fuel economy and engine servicing costs can benefit from the new Auto-Stop feature, which switches off the engine if it is left idling unnecessarily.

The operator can adjust the idling time limit using the menu dial for the functions display screen, which is mounted on the cab pillar and provides access to auxiliary hydraulic flow adjustment and other settings, including a new work light configuration.

Operators can now choose which rear work lights – on the roof or engine cover or both – come on when reverse is selected, and whether to have the front-mounted work lights illuminate when the road lights are switched from low to high beam for maximum forwards visibility on the road at night.

Another helpful aid is the forward-facing roofmounted camera designed to supplement the operator’s view ahead when using a large attachment on the loader arms, such as a high volume high-tip bucket that can restrict the view forward.

Further refinement for the operator comes with the installation of rubber cushioning pads on the front face of the rear chassis to eliminate the ‘knock’ when steering to full lock, and the engine air filter is easier to reach in its new position immediately behind the cab, where it is also further way from swirling dust and dirt.

May 2020 | Farming Monthly | 89

| Forestry

Government tree planting target worthless without grey squirrel control The Government’s target to plant 20 million broadleaf trees in lowland Britain not only underestimates its budget pledge, but will also be worthless without proper control of grey squirrels, woodland experts warn. n his March budget, Chancellor Rishi Sunak pledged that 30,000 hectares of trees would be planted within the next five years, but leading conservationists and foresters are calling for a longer term and more sustained approach to make a difference.

While it has welcomed the Government scheme, The European Squirrel Initiative (ESI) is urging for a far more progressive tree planting project to make a worthwhile difference to the broadleaved woodland sector.

It also warns of the dangers of irreparable damage to broadleaf trees caused by grey squirrels, citing the failures of previous grant aided tree planting exercises to address this problem.

“20 million trees may sound a very impressive figure, but in reality, that equates to just 12,500 hectares,” explains chartered forester, and ESI trustee Charles Dutton.

“Government should be looking at 200 million trees over the next 20 years.”

Mr Dutton states that it could need 48 million trees to cover 30,000 hectares, but warns that even this number will be worthless and come to nothing other than scrub, without proper control of grey squirrels.

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“The Government need only look to the results of the grant aided tree-planting of 198890, to replace the mighty oaks following the 1987 storms. Poor grey squirrel control has resulted in irreparable damage, leaving the trees planted mostly destroyed and those areas replaced with scrub woodland,” he adds.

With grey squirrel numbers set to increase this spring following a mild winter, this will have significant implications for the forester and seriously undermine the government’s target.

Figures released last year show that grey squirrels cost the UK economy around £40 million every year. As well as damaging trees, parks and gardens and predating on woodland birds, grey squirrels have driven native red squirrels to the verge of extinction, both through competition and as carriers of the squirrel-pox virus to which greys are immune.

Mr Dutton adds, “Given the current situation and economic implications of the coronavirus pandemic, it is imperative that trees planted with grant aid can actually be allowed to grow.”

The ESI is calling for increased culling programmes to control the growing grey squirrel populations aided by the mild-winter, and has called on forest managers to intensify controls now.

Charles Dutton showing squirrel damage to a 20 year old beech tree

Forestry England makes significant land purchase Forestry England’s North District has bought a significant area of land in Northumberland for a new woodland. ast autumn the Government unveiled proposals to create the Great Northumberland Forest.

The first stage of this ambition to increase woodland cover in Northumberland is for three new public forests covering up to 500 hectares.

Buying this land means Forestry England will create the second of these.

In Forestry England’s North District, they are reinforcing their commitment to producing high-quality, sustainable timber, providing health & wellbeing havens for people and habitats for wildlife. There is a new urgency too; we need to create new woodland to help tackle climate change by reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Forestry England has started planting Rushy Knowe, a new 145 hectare woodland on land it already managed, on the shore of Kielder Water. However, with limited suitable land for new woodlands, Forestry England needs to buy more.

Monkridge, West Woodburn offered an unmissable opportunity. The 100 hectares are

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just eight miles from North District’s office in Northumberland. Forestry England completed the purchase on 10 April 2020. They bought the land once it had been screened by Forest Services (part of the Forestry Commission) under the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) regulations; the equivalent of “planning permission” for creating a new woodland.

Forest Services (part of the Forestry Commission) worked closely with the previous owner and their agent to develop a plan for the new woodland so that it met all the requirements of the UK Forestry Standard and will provide benefits for nature, people and the economy.

Phil Wilson, Woodland Creation Officer, Forest Services said: “The planning for this new forest was funded through our Woodland Creation Planning Grant. We have all worked hard to develop a good plan for a productive and diverse forest that recognises the interesting features of the site and fits well in the landscape, taking account of the views of a range of interested parties.”

Jim Lee, Area Land Agent for Forestry England’s North England Forest District said: “This is the first significant area of land we have bought to plant trees in over 20 years and marks a symbolic return, 100 years on, to our first purpose of woodland creation.”

Mark Child, Head of Integrated Planning and Environment for North District added: “We are reviewing the approved plans and preparing to make the plan a reality. The site has historical features as well as areas of priority habitat which we will maintain and enhance where possible.

“We are planning to start preparing the ground this autumn/winter (circumstances permitting). Like Rushy Knowe, we will be applying to the Forestry Commission’s Woodland Carbon Fund to support the establishment of the new woodland.”

Forestry England are thinking beyond the short-term and during this time, are continuing their work to ensure that they play an integral role for climate change, environmental and cultural heritage and the public’s health and wellbeing.

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| Forestry

Nicholas C Coops

Richard H Waring

Joseph J Landsberg

Model for forest growth during climate change Nicholas C Coops, Joseph J Landsberg and Richard H Waring share the 2020 Marcus Wallenberg Prize. oseph J Landsberg, Richard H Waring and Nicholas C Coops share the 2020 Marcus Wallenberg Prize for a model to predict forest growth in a changing climate. Satellite imagery offers the possibility to scale up the model to show how different environmental conditions affect the world's forests.

In the 1990s, Professors Joseph J Landsberg, from Australia, and Richard H Waring, from the USA, developed a model for forest growth that was based on simple plant physiological principles such as access to light, water, and nutrients. Professor Nicholas C Coops, then working in Australia, now in Canada, added advanced satellite imagery analysis to the model. The result is a powerful tool for predicting growth and assessing the risks to the world's forests posed by climate change. Joseph J Landsberg, Richard H Waring and Nicholas C Coops are awarded the 2020 Marcus Wallenberg Prize of two million kronor for their achievements.

A simple model for difficult calculations Joseph J Landsberg and Richard H Waring became pioneers when they presented their Physiological Principles Predicting Growth, 3PG model, in 1997 to predict forest growth under changing environmental conditions. The model is also able to calculate how actions, such as thinning and fertilisation, affect forest growth and development.

Forest growth forecasts have traditionally been based on forest surveys of previous growth without the ability to include changes in silviculture or the surrounding environment. A process-based model such as 3PG can also include the effects of silviculture and environmental factors and give predictions of current and future forest production.

"Nowadays, we are extremely interested in the carbon balance of forests, how much carbon can be taken up by the forest via photosynthesis, how carbon can be stored in the forest in the short and long term, and how we can increase the forest's role in carbon binding with the aid of silviculture. 3PG serves as a bridge between traditional forest surveys and the large-scale, advanced carbon-balance calculations we need to carry out today", says Annika Nordin, Professor at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and a member of the Board of the Marcus Wallenberg Foundation.

Nicholas C Coops has added satellite

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imagery analysis to the model to enable large areas of forest to be surveyed. Hence it is possible, among other things, to predict forest growth and carbon storage on a large scale, calculate how diversity of the forest landscape can be developed over time, and assess the risk of outbreaks of insects and large forest fires in inaccessible forest areas.

Used by both researchers and forest owners From the start, Joseph J Landsberg, Richard H Waring and Nicholas C Coops have allowed researchers and forest owners open access to the model. This has contributed to its rapid dissemination and adoption.

3PG is now one of the world's most widely used models for assessing forest growth over large areas. Forest owners use it for purposes such as calculating volume, diameter and biomass development in fast-growing tree plantations. It can be applied to species as diverse as eucalyptus and pine, in monocultures and in mixed species stands, across different climates and landscape types from Australia and New Zealand to Europe and North America.

"Joseph Landsberg, Richard Waring and Nicholas Coops are awarded this year's Marcus Wallenberg Prize for providing us with a unique tool that is able to predict forest growth with great certainty in different environmental conditions in forest areas of varying sizes. The model has created a bridge between science and practice in forestry and helps us to be better equipped for the future", says Johanna Buchert, Chairperson of the Marcus Wallenberg Prize Selection Committee.

King Carl Gustaf XVI will award the 2020 Marcus Wallenberg Prize to these three scientists during a ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden.

The prize-winners Nicholas C Coops was born in Melbourne, Australia, in 1968 and received his PhD at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia in 1995. Until 2003 he was employed at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, CSIRO, Australia, where he initially worked on the 3PG model with Joseph J Landsberg and Richard H Waring. Today he is a Professor at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, where he holds a Canada Research Chair in remote sensing. His research has focused on the use of remote sensing techniques to gain an in‐depth knowledge of forest structure, health, biological

function and diversity as well as further development and application of the 3PG model globally. He has published more than 460 scientific articles in joint authorship in scientific journals.

Joseph J Landsberg was born in Harare, Zimbabwe, in 1938. He graduated from the University of Natal and spent a number of years in agricultural research before moving to Scotland, then England. He obtained his PhD from the University of Bristol, UK. His research has focused on the interactions between climate, weather and forests around the world.

He was Chief of the Division of Forest Research in the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, CSIRO, from 1981 to 1988 and has been Adjunct Professor at Charles Sturt University, Bathurst, and at the University of Queensland, Brisbane – all in Australia. He was a visiting professor at NASA between 1993 and 1994, and at the University of Helsinki, Finland, in 1998. He is an External Member of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters and was the holder of a Visiting Erskine Fellowship at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand in 2002. He has published four books concerned with the physiological ecology of forests as well as more than a hundred articles, reports and chapters in books.

Richard H Waring was born in 1935 in Chicago, Illinois, USA, and received degrees in Forest Management and Botany from the University of Minnesota. After receiving his PhD at the University of California, he was a professor at Oregon State University. He has been a visiting researcher at many universities and research institutions around the world – The Ecosystems Centre in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and NASA headquarters in Washington DC, both in the USA; the University of Western Australia in Perth, Australia; the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala, Sweden; the University of Innsbruck, Austria; the University of Edinburgh, UK; the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, CSIRO, in Canberra, Australia; and the University of Waikato, New Zealand. He is now Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Forest Science at Oregon State University, USA, and has published more than 130 articles in scientific journals, along with three editions of a textbook on Forest Ecosystems and numerous book chapters.

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Polaris

One year later: Inside the development of the Ranger Diesel

One year on, Polaris Britain look back at what went into the development of the all-new Ranger Diesel... or more than 20 years, Polaris has been building offroad side-by-side vehicles that perform better, work harder, and ride smoother.

One year ago in April 2019, Polaris launched its latest addition to the Ranger line-up with the brand-new Ranger Diesel, representing years of research and development to create the ultimate agricultural vehicle, inspired by its users.

“The Diesel design and build process primarily started with customer feedback” – said Product Manager of Polaris Off-

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Road Vehicles EMEA, Frederic Mardon. “We had been in the Diesel market for a while and had a good amount of customer insight data – when we dug into the details, it was clear that our customer use patterns were very different from country to country.

In the UK, the hours of use are much higher, and the environment tends to be tougher than that of our North American powersports customers. We saw the opportunity to develop our existing Ranger Diesel into a machine specifically adapted to these conditions.”

The Ranger Diesel features a

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new diesel engine to deliver extreme durability and enhanced power, plus an increased engine service internal to over 200 hours; delivering a lower cost of ownership – just one of the many upgrades to the vehicle that made it more suited for international markets.

“We spent a lot of time in the field with farmers and smallholding owners prior to conceptualising the Ranger Diesel.

The objectives were driven from the voice of the customer; improved reliability and durability, performance and refinement.

Customer studies began in late

2016 and the project was approved in 2017.”

With robustness and refinement being key to customer satisfaction, the Ranger Diesel features an allnew one-piece chassis design, offering a new large front bumper and a full-body skid plate for 50% more protection to the underside of the vehicle. Internally, there’s more legroom, 2.5cm of extra seat cushioning, less engine noise incab and 17% more internal storage. With customer feedback at the heart of its design, testing the new vehicle in real-life scenarios played an important role in preparing the Ranger Diesel for

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production.

Amy Cahill, Marketing Specialist at Polaris Britain, said: “Every aspect of the Ranger Diesel was developed with the customer in mind. In July 2018, we placed a number of pre-production Ranger Diesels with specific UK customers to aid with the development process. The aim was to make sure the Diesel performed in reallife situations, and the customers certainly put the machine through its paces - with fantastic results. All our customers were overly happy with the product and the decision to put the Diesel into production followed in February 2019. Since then, it’s thrived in the UK market and continues to serve our hardworking customers.�

One year on and the Ranger Diesel has become the benchmark for utility side-by-side vehicles in the industry, taking the foundations of the previous model and showcasing what a diesel model is truly capable of. With refined performance, enhanced ergonomics and class-leading capabilities, the Ranger Diesel is

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made to perform to the highest standards for years to come.

The Ranger Diesel is available across the UK, alongside the rest of the Polaris Ranger lineup; the Ranger EV, the mid-size Ranger 570 and the full-size Ranger XP 1000 EPS (also available in a CREW model).

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| Motors

Hofele-Design dials up the style, luxury and practicality o

HOFELE-Design GmbH, the Stuttgart-based automotive design and engineering business specialising in manufacturer-approved en 63, the performance flagship variant of the iconic G-Class off-roader.

OFELE-Design is an official partner of Mercedes-Benz AG for tuning Mercedes-Benz passenger cars. Base vehicles are supplied direct to HOFELE

by Mercedes-Benz AG in the correct country-specific specifications, and completed cars are covered by the full manufacturer warranty. Current Mercedes-AMG G 63 owners can also ask HOFELE-Design to apply exterior and interior styling enhancements to their existing car.

Key among the aesthetic changes for the is a re-designed front bumper, which incorporates carbon fibre and ‘dark shadow’ chrome elements. The original front grille and the

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Mercedes-Benz three-pointed star are replaced by a HOFELE-Design signature grille in chrome, carbon or body-colour finishes. Low-profile roofmounted LED projector lights, located just above the header rail at each corner, add further visual impact and increase night-time visibility for the driver.

“While this new ‘HOFELE HG Sport’ portfolio is HOFELE-Design’s most striking range of enhancements yet produced for a MercedesBenz G-Wagon, it still adheres to our core design philosophy: elegance and sophistication with a touch of sportiness,” explains Stuart Whitmore, CEO at HOFELE-Design.

The new front bumper wraps around to meet extended, multi-contoured wheel arches,

manufactured in carbon fibre. These arches house exclusive HOFELE-Design 24-inch CrossSpoke forged alloy wheels, available in a variety of polished or painted finishes.

The side of the car is distinguished by electrically deployable ‘Full-Length Side Steps’, a unique feature patented by HOFELE-Design. A key characteristic of the standard MercedesAMG G 63 design is the exhausts which exit from the sills on both sides of the car, just ahead of the rear wheels. While this adds visual and aural appeal, it also interferes with the placement of the side-steps, especially for rear passengers who would ordinarily place a foot where the exhaust tips emerge. HOFELE-Design’s novel solution is a full-length deployable step that

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of iconic Mercedes-AMG G63

nhancement of Mercedes-Benz vehicles, has launched a series of sporty yet refined aesthetic updates for the Mercedes-AMG G

incorporates the exhaust tips. The step moves in and out when the doors are opened and closed, and the exhaust finishers move with it. “This retains the car’s iconic look, without compromising the functionality of the step for either the front or rear passengers,” explains Whitmore.

At the rear, more carbon fibre trim is evident, notably to the rear bumper and adorning the eye-catching, multi-spoke-effect HOFELE-Design cover for the rear door-mounted spare wheel.

Subtle luxury and greater practicality for refined interior The entire cabin of the G 63 – seats, dashboard, centre console, door cards, pillars and headlining – are fully retrimmed by HOFELE-

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Design. Customers can choose from a selection of fine leathers and Alcantara, available in a carefully selected palette of colours. Exquisite attention to detail can be seen everywhere.

Ornate yet subtle perforation and stitching, also unique to HOFELE-Design, is made possible through use of highly precise computercontrolled technology.

To augment the practicality and versatility of the original G 63’s interior, HOFELE-Design offers a choice of the standard five-seat arrangement, the HOFELE VIP four-seat layout, or even a six-seat layout across three rows, of which the rearmost pair are easily removable when additional luggage space is required.

Running-gear unchanged, warranty preserved

The mechanical components of the original G 63, including the engine and chassis, are not modified by HOFELE-Design, preserving the integrity of manufacturer and dealer warranties.

“Our clients consider the performance available from the factory-fit 4.0-litre V8 bi-turbo powertrain more than sufficient,” adds Whitmore.

Diverse Mercedes-Benz portfolio During 2020 HOFELE-Design is launching a range of new models. The HOFELE HEQC allelectric SUV and the HE 53 Cabriolet have recently been confirmed, and three further models are due to be unveiled soon.

For more information and for details of local sales outlets, visit www.hofele.com.

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Isuzu offer Tipper Conversion on D-Max Utility Extended Cab Isuzu is truly living up to its ‘pick-up professionals’ tagline by offering tipper conversions on its award-winning D-Max pick-up. Based on the Utility Extended Cab, the conversion is a cost-effective solution for customers who require a tough and reliable tipper, with great off-road capabilities. he tipper conversion combines all the essential workhorse attributes of the D-Max Utility with the practicality of a durable and lightweight tipper body.

As it is based on the extended cab, the load bed is very accommodating measuring 1,977mm long by 1,800mm wide. The rugged ‘Tippadeck’ bed is constructed using 18mm thick interlocking alloy floor panels and loads are kept secure thanks to 300mm high sideboards and tailboard, also made from lightweight alloy, and heavy-duty underfloor tie points.

The tailboard, which opens to 180°, features

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a 2-way hinge assembly – meaning it can be opened from both the top and bottom – and rubber buffer stops to protect the body.

Meanwhile, the spring latches on the sideboards are recessed to avoid catching on objects and the corner posts are removable to provide an open platform – perfect for loading and unloading.

A wander lead control is used to activate the electro-hydraulic power pack that lifts the body.

The tipping gear and subframe have been fully galvanised to protect them from the elements and, once raised, there’s an

integral body prop and hose burst safety valve to stop the body from falling unexpectedly. For safety reasons, a dual-tone alarm is activated when the body is raised or lowered and, rubber moulded body rests have been added to prevent the tipper body clattering the frame while driving and distracting the driver.

Completing the tipper conversion, a powdercoated tubular gantry infilled with a protection panel has been fitted to shield the cab. The Utility has a heated rear screen as standard so the protection panel, complete with Isuzu logo, has been finished with a laser cut square design to ensure clear visibility when reversing.

Developed with the working professional in

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mind, the Utility features a hard-wearing black front bumper, black door handles, heated black door mirrors and 16” steel wheels, which can be equipped with BF Goodrich All-Terrain tyres as a cost option if extra grip is required when going off-road.

The interior includes a wide range of practical specification including two 12-volt sockets, remote control central locking, an easy-cleanable vinyl floor covering and under

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seat base storage. Plus, there are also a number of creature comforts like manual airconditioning, power windows and an RDS radio with Bluetooth connectivity and USB port.

It is also packed with a wide range of safety equipment as standard like driver, passenger and curtain airbags. In addition, there is Hill Start Assist, Hill Descent Control and Trailer Sway Control, which complements the 3.5t towing capacity.

Aimed at a key Isuzu customer groups such as tree surgeons, landscape architects and construction companies, Isuzu anticipate a production volume of around 200 vehicles per year and expect to satisfy customers with short lead times of approximately four weeks.

Alan Able, Head of Sales at Isuzu UK commented: “The tipper conversion is just one example of how we’re continuously innovating with new ideas and solutions. We’re always looking at how we can diversify our product portfolio and the tipper conversion demonstrates just how adaptable the D-Max can be in meeting the needs of our broad customer base”.

The tipper will be sold through the Isuzu dealer network as a used approved conversion and will therefore benefit from the same aftersales support, including a 5-year/125,000mile warranty package and 5 years’ roadside assistance in the UK & Europe.

Further information on price and availability will be supplied when dealer showrooms reopen after lockdown.

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| Motors

UK pricing and specifications announced for all-new Škoda Octavia The Octavia has been at the heart of the ŠKODA brand for more than six decades and has established itself as a key pillar of the brand’s ongoing success in the UK. 2020 marks the arrival of an all-new fourth-generation model that is set to redefine sector standards for equipment, value and technology. he all-new Octavia range launches with two body styles, two special First Edition trim levels and three engine options. Prices range from £22,390 OTR for the 1.5 TSI 150PS SE First Edition hatch model to £29,515 OTR for the 2.0 TDI 150PS DSG Estate SE L First Edition.

Additional derivatives and powertrain options will join the range later this year, including an entry level S trim, a 1.0 TSI engine available with a manual transmission, the introduction of mHEV (mild hybrid) DSG on both the 1.0 TSI and 1.5 TSI, and PHEV (plug-in hybrid) models. A sporty vRS model, available in diesel, petrol and PHEV, will also be added to the range. The Octavia vRS iV will be the first ever electrified vRS model.

Bigger, safer, and packed with more technology than ever - the fourth-generation Octavia delivers better value and raises the bar for practicality and space. A bestseller throughout its various production runs, the new version is set to continue the UK’s ongoing love affair with the ŠKODA Octavia.

UK TRIMLINES The launch range consists of three value-packed trim grades: SE First Edition, SE Technology, and SE L First Edition. To celebrate the launch of the most advanced Octavia ever, all First Edition models incorporate exceptionally high equipment levels with a host of technologies and safety systems.

The all-new model is longer and wider than its predecessor, has an even larger boot and showcases the latest evolution of ŠKODA design language. The new interior combines class-leading

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practicality with outstanding functionality and high-quality materials. Innovative connectivity features and new assistance systems further highlight the brand’s commitment to delivering the best possible value for money to owners.

Among the many highlights fitted to all models are thirdgeneration MIB infotainment systems, Virtual Cockpit digital display, LED headlights, and Wireless Smartlink for Apple CarPlay. The all-new interior features a host of high quality design features including a new two-spoke leather multifunction steering wheel, shift-by-wire DSG selector, and rear parking sensors with manoeuvre assist.

Octavia SE First Edition – from £22,390 OTR While the SE First Edition will initially be the entry-level trim grade in the new Octavia range, it has a specification list that most mid and high range models struggle to match. In terms of safety systems, the SE First Edition comes with Front assist, Lane assist and e-Call system that automatically alerts emergency services in the case of accident.

SE First Edition models also feature an infotainment system with 8.25” touchscreen display, eight loudspeakers, and full smartphone connectivity. The cabin features five USB-C ports, including one in the rear-view mirror for connecting to a dashcam. Prices for the Octavia SE First Edition range start from £22,390 OTR for the 1.5 TSI 150PS hatch model.

Octavia SE L First Edition - from £25,150 OTR Positioned at the top of the new Octavia launch range is the SE L First Edition. As customers have

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come to expect from ŠKODA, the SE L First Edition showcases a range of the brand’s most advanced features and creature comforts. SE L First Edition models ride on striking 17-inch Rotare AERO alloy wheels, while the exterior is distinguished from other models in the range by chrome window surrounds and a chrome strip in the lower front bumper.

Inside, SE L First Edition models come with microsuede upholstery, heated front seats and LED ambient lighting, along with an electrically adjustable driver’s seat with memory and lumbar support. ŠKODA’s feature-laden Columbus infotainment system is also standard, and comes with voice control, Remote Access and Infotainment online (1year). In terms of safety and assistance systems, the SE L First Edition comes with Blind spot protection, front and rear parking sensors with manoeuvre assist and Adaptive cruise control with follow to stop.

Drive mode selection and keyless entry on all four doors with start/stop are also standard fit on all SE L First Edition models.

Prices for SE L First Edition models start from £25,150 OTR for the 1.5 TSI 150PS hatch.

Octavia SE Technology – from £22,640 OTR Octavia SE Technology models have been specially created to

appeal to business users and add 16-inch Twister AERO alloy wheels, range-topping Columbus infotainment system with 10-inch touchscreen display, Remote Access, and Infotainment online (1 year). SE Technology buyers also get voice control and front and rear parking sensors with manoeuvre assist. Despite the significant specification boost over the SE First Edition, prices for the SE Technology start at just £22,640 OTR for the 1.5 TSI 150PS hatch model.

ENGINE RANGE The new Octavia range launches with three engine options with power outputs ranging from 115PS to 150PS. The petrol option is a 1.5 TSI 150PS while the entrylevel diesel offering is a 2.0 TDI unit that develops 115PS. Both drive through a six-speed manual gearbox. SE L First Edition customers have the additional option of a 2.0 TDI 150PS engine that comes with a seven-speed DSG gearbox as standard. More engine and transmission options will be added to the new Octavia range as the line-up expands throughout 2020.

The new fourth-generation Octavia will be open for order in June with cars in retailers from July.

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Kia updates the Sportage range ready for summer With the start of summer just weeks away, Kia is making a series of updates to its Sportage range, with a new streamlined four trim level line-up. The most significant change is the introduction of a new ‘3’ grade, joining ‘2’, ‘GTLine’ and ‘GT-Line S’ specifications. ll versions in the latest Sportage range are well equipped, with every iteration featuring a ‘frameless’ eight-inch touchscreen satellite navigation system with the latest UVO Connect telematics system, as well as Android AutoTM, Apple CarPlayTM and Bluetooth smartphone connectivity. DAB digital radio is standard and Kia’s Connected Services powered

by TomTom® is included, offering a wide range of driving-oriented information. Connectivity features include live traffic updates, speed camera locations and alerts, local search and weather forecasts. The Kia Connected Services system can show drivers the price of fuel at nearby filling stations, as well as the location and real-time availability of parking spaces. The touchscreen also integrates a reversing camera system, in addition to rear parking sensors.

Safety is of great importance, with six airbags, Lane Keep Assist System (LKAS), Driver Attention Warning (DAW), Speed Limit Information Function (SLIF), Hill-start Assist Control (HAC), Trailer Stability Assist (TSA) and High Beam Assist (HBA) are fitted to all versions of the latest Sportage, in addition to Blind-Sport Collision Warning (BCW) on ‘3’ and ‘GT-Line S’ models, while Forward Collision-Avoidance Assist (FCA) with pedestrian detection is included as standard on the flagship ‘GT-Line S’ models.

And the long list of equipment fitted to every Sportage also includes alloy wheels, heated front and outer rear seats, dual automatic air conditioning, privacy glass, an auto-dimming rear-view mirror, rain sensing front wipers, automatic light control, electrically folding, adjustable and heated door mirrors and cruise control with speed limiter.

The newly introduced ‘3’ specification builds on the comprehensively equipped ‘2’ grade and features a panoramic sunroof, front wiper de-icer, black leather upholstery, 10-way driver's and 8way passenger's power adjustable seat (sliding, reclining, height adjustment), a high-gloss black

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centre fascia, aluminium door scuff plates, engine start/stop button with Smart Entry system, heated steering wheel, a 4.2-inch colour supervision cluster display and Electronic Parking Brake (EPB). On the outside of the Sportage ‘3’, there’s front parking sensors, black wheel arch body mouldings and side sills with chrome insert, silver painted front and rear skid plates, LED bi-function headlights, LED rear lights and Blind-Spot Collision Warning (BCW) ‘GT-Line’ versions take grade ‘2’ specification as their basis, but with sportier styling flourishes that mark it out as a more dynamic version of the Sportage line-up. There are exclusive 19-inch alloy wheels, a high gloss ‘diamond’ mesh radiator grille with dark chrome surround, silver painted skid plates front and rear, LED rear combination lamps, front parking sensors, engine start/stop button with Smart Entry system, front wiper de-icer and paddle shifters on DCT versions. A ‘GT-Line’ exterior styling pack adds ice-cube LED front fog lights, LED Bifunction headlights with adaptive lighting system and dual exhausts. On the inside, there’s a highgloss black centre fascia, black headlining, aluminium pedals and scuff plates, a chrome boot sill guard, a 4.2-inch colour supervision cluster display and a D-shaped leather-covered sports steering wheel.

The top-of-the-range ‘GT-Line S’ models offer all of the equipment that ‘GT-Line’ features plus more luxurious touches – adaptive cruise control, a panoramic sunroof, 10-way power adjustable driver and 8-way adjustable front passenger seats, ventilated front seats, heated steering wheel, 8-speaker JBL® premium sound system with subwoofer, external amplifier and front centre speaker, Smart Power Tailgate and a wireless phone charger.

Choice of engines There are three engines available on the Kia Sportage. The 1.6-litre T-GDi (Turbocharged Gasoline Direct injection) engine produces 174bhp and 265Nm torque, with emissions from 183g/km. The naturally aspirated 130bhp 1.6-litre GDi engine offers a maximum torque output of

161Nm, CO2 emissions from 177g/km and fuel economy of up to 36.2mpg on the combined cycle. With a top speed of 113mph, acceleration to 60mph takes 11.1 seconds. Diesel variants with mild-hybrid technology are also offered.

The petrol engines are direct-injection (GDi) 1.6-litre units from Kia's Gamma family. In the Sportage, the T-GDi engine develops 174bhp at 5,500rpm, while maximum torque is 265Nm from 1,500rpm to 4,500rpm. The result is instantaneous response to throttle inputs and rapid acceleration without interruption. It was developed entirely in-house by Kia engineers at the Namyang research and development centre in Korea, with input from Kia's European technical centre in Frankfurt. It accelerates the Sportage from 0-60mph in 8.9 seconds (2WD manual) or an even faster 8.8 seconds with the AWD 7DCT. The Sportage offers a diesel engine that feature Kia’s all-new ‘EcoDynamics+’ 1.6-litre diesel mild-hybrid powertrains. The 1.6-litre diesel mild-hybrid powertrains are offered with a six-speed manual gearbox with front-wheel-drive or seven-speed Dual-Clutch Transmission (DCT) gearbox. In addition, a seven-speed Dual-Clutch Transmission with all-wheel-drive is offered.

Producing 134bhp, the manual version has CO2 emissions from 141g/km and is capable of up to 52.3mpg on the WLTP combined cycle. With a top speed of 112mph, acceleration to 60mph takes 10.8 seconds. The seven-speed DCT automatic 2WD versions also emit CO2 from 141g/km and achieve 52.3mpg, with a top speed of 112mph and acceleration to 62mph in 11.4 seconds. For extra traction, buyers have the choice of a four-wheel-drive edition with sevenspeed DCT automatic transmission, that manages CO2 emissions from 159g/km and fuel economy on the combined cycle from 46.3mpg, while accelerating to 60mph takes 11.6 seconds, with the same top speed of 112mph.

All models on the updated line-up for the Sportage are RDE2 compliant.

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