Maintaining gross margins for this coming season will highlight the importance of a shift away from input intensive agronomy towards knowledge based agronomy, says Association of Independent Crop Consultants (AICC)

"With market forces dictating that grain prices appear set to remain low for at least another 15 to 18 months, it becomes even more important that growers watch every single penny when it comes to producing their crops - and that the agronomist in charge of recommending plant protection products and other agronomy services to growers is focussed purely on the growers' margin, says Sean Sparling, AICC chairman.

“Every season is a tough season in agriculture I have yet to participate in that mythical "normal" year.  So now when the cost of producing a ton of wheat looks likely to outstrip the price growers get for selling that tonne, growers need to be confident in the value of the advice and the recommendations they are given. “

As European legislation impacts more and more upon the quantity and availability of crop protection products - solutions and answers are less likely to come out of a can -so sourcing agronomic advice that is focussed on optimising yields and protecting the farm gross margin has never been more important.

“What this means is that this season, perhaps more so than ever, growers need to be confident that their agronomists are recommending the best product for the job based upon exhaustive independent trials data and a thorough cost-benefit analysis, all of which is commercially unbiased.”

Independent trials on a national scale

The AICC national trials programme encompasses fungicide, herbicide, PGR and nutrition focussed protocols undertaken across the five English AICC membership regions (Central, South, East, West & North), along with Scotland. 

New and existing chemistries are comprehensively evaluated, with excellent cross industry liaison links, facilitating collaborative approaches to protocol design. Cereal and oilseed variety evaluation trials are also undertaken to identify varietal disease strengths, weaknesses and responses to inputs – for example recent verticillium wilt trials have helped identify those varieties with a greater tolerance to this new oilseed rape pathogen, says Peter Cowlrick, AICC trials representative.

“We have also highlighted in our wheat variety and fungicide interaction trials, specific varieties that are less responsive to fungicide inputs, specifically to SDHI at the T1 timing, where in the last two seasons responses have ranged from nil such as for Skyfall & Reflection and  up to 0.9t/ha for varieties such as Kielder & Cordiale, “ he says

“With trials data being readily accessible to the AICC membership, agronomic decision making is fully supported, enabling both crop output and input expenditure to be optimised.”

AICC National Conference highlights

Accessing and sharing the most  recent extensive trials information and leading research, to tackle many of this seasons challenges, was the over-riding theme  at the recent annual AICC conference.

“This access to the most leading and current technical research, alongside a platform to share the extensive AICC trials information, is of crucial value to our members. Members appreciate the non-commercial, un-biased presentations, which they are able interpret for use in the field, and this was reflected in the popularity of our annual Conference near Towcester, Northamptonshire which with 145 members, 42 exhibitors and 293 attendees in total   - our largest conference ever!“ says Sarah Cowlrick, AICC CEO.  

“The AICC Conference is firmly on the map in January in between Oxford and LAMMA and has become a highlight for AICC members and the industry in general.”

Key conference themes addressed soils, fungicides, weed and pest control, ‘Brexit’ and the relationship between agronomy and agrology when considering no till systems- and there were some strong practical messages to take away for this season.