Latest News - December 06
13.12.06 - PROJECT AIMS TO BOOST OILSEED PROFITS
A new research project aims to improve the profitability of growing oilseed rape, and could help establish it as more of a cash crop, rather than just the nation’s favourite break crop.
The project is being run by Sentry Limited, with a total of 200 acres of trial plots being established – 50 acres on each of four farms the company manages, these being in Suffolk, Kent, Bedfordshire and Northumberland.
Sentry is working with several existing partners on different aspects of the project – Simba International (cultivation and establishment); Agrovista (crop protection); J & H Bunn (crop nutrition) and Claas (harvesting).
The project was instigated after falling prices and poor profitability led to the acreage of rape being grown on Sentry farms falling significantly, as Dorset farm manager Richard Peck explains:
“On the farm I manage we stopped growing it entirely for four or five years because it simply was not making money. We switched to linseed, which did well for three years but was a disaster in the fourth, so we had to think again.
“All the good agronomic reasons for growing oilseed rape still apply – spreading the workload, early entry for the next crop and so on – but it can yield variably and when we were only getting £140/tonne for it we were not really making money at all”.
But – with prices now much healthier – they feel it can be profitable again, providing growing costs are controlled and, more importantly, more consistent yields can be achieved. Martin Cusden, who manages the Bedfordshire farm that is hosting one of the trials, explained his search for a reliable establishment system:
“We have never broadcast it into the standing crop or on the stubble, but we’ve tried pretty well everything else. You can try one particular establishment method for a few years and it always comes up beautifully, but then the next year it does not work”.
Some years ago, when they had more labour, they ploughed, power-harrowed and drilled: “Some years it worked fine; some years it disappointed”. They tried ‘scratch cultivations’ and broadcasting the seed, which was similarly variable.
Five years ago the estate moved from plough/power harrow based cultivations to reduced tillage based around a Simba Solo cultivator and Cultipress, followed by drilling and rolling, which has reduced the number of passes taken to establish crops from as many as eight to just three.
And this year they removed the drilling pass: “We mounted an Opico Variocast on the Cultipress behind the Solo and broadcast the seed onto the cultivated ground, which has worked very well:
“We might move where we put the seed. This year we blew it ahead of the Cultipress onto cultivated but unpressed land, but we may distribute it off the back onto pressed soil, so more of it remains near the surface than it does at the moment”.
That would certainly accord with the research work completed by Simba in other trials, confirms Rob Iddeson, the company’s Southern Territory Manager: “The one thing oilseed growers want is consistency. There are plenty of cheap ways to establish the crop, but they are only cheap if the crops yields well”.
As a result of this and previous work, the company advocates spreading seed onto pressed ground, as Mr Cusden intends to do:
“If you spread seed on cultivated but un-pressed land you lose control over how deep it goes, especially in dry conditions or cobbly seedbeds. That can cause an extended germination period that makes all subsequent crop management harder and potentially more expensive. We need an establishment system that is consistent year to year, despite changes in weather and conditions”.
The system used in the Sentry trials used a Solo fitted with the company’s low surface disturbance legs – one of a range of different style legs that Simba offers to suit different soil types and conditions.
“These legs cause considerable sub-surface cultivation which permanently rearranges the soil aggregates, but cause minimal surface heave so no uncultivated soil is brought to the surface from deeper in the profile. As a result the fine tilth oilseed rape needs is retained at the surface, but we do an effective restructuring deeper down to help the crop establish a root system and ensure drainage is effective”.
The company also offers a rear harrow to move a covering of soil over the seed, he said, to help achieve quick, effective germination of as high a proportion of the seed as possible.
* Further to these last two points, Philip Wright, Simba’s Technical Director, says:
“The low surface disturbance legs create surprising low draft. Thirteen legs set on a 4m machine take between 140hp and 180hp, when working at 170mm – 190mm deep, depending on soil type and working conditions, and ensure that the entire sub-soil is moved and restructured, creating the optimum conditions for the crop to flourish.
“Minimising the number of passes needed to establish the crop is essential as it removes the risk of losing the tilth that has built up over the previous year, and means the entire system is easier to use and can be operated over a wider range of soil types and conditions.
“The covering harrow ensures seed to soil contact in wetter years, when it may not be possible to Cambridge roll after drilling to achieve this and also to consolidate the seedbed to inhibit slug movement.
“The rear harrow can still be raised clear of the soil to enable the DD roller to leave the distinctive, weatherproof corrugated surface that is able to be worked soon quickly after rainfall, so farmers have a choice of finishes”.
