With cereal prices still at a low ebb, the decision whether to crop problem areas or not is an important one for many arable farmers.

The Stowmarket Monitor Farm, which held its open day on 10 June, is no different.
Monitor Farm host Brian Barker said: “You need to know at what point you are better off putting the poorest parts of your farm into Countryside Stewardship (CSS) and maximising yields and efficiency on the rest. Does the new stewardship scheme offer a viable alternative?”

At the open day, local famers and visitors to the Monitor Farm discussed the future options for one of the fields at Lodge Farm.

Shrubbery Field is an irregularly shaped area of 13.5ha, surrounded by ditches, hedges and woodland. The bottom left corner of the field has high black-grass pressure. The field has been in winter wheat for two years, but is now growing herbage grass seed for the next three summers.

Brian describes this field as an average field over his farm: "It has a history of good consistent yields but nothing spectacular due to lower yields around the headland and in the short working corners."

In 2014/15, the crop net margin from the field varied significantly from a good profit on the higher-yielding areas to a loss on the poor parts (excluding BPS, rent and finance).

Members of the Monitor Farm group at Stowmarket were tasked with coming up with options for the field, taking into account:

• Field shape and topography
• Black-grass burden
• Yield variation
• Cost/efficiency of operation
• Impact of drainage and woods
• Opportunities provided by CSS

Options that Brian highlighted to the group included:

• Wall-to-wall crops (no CSS)
• Roll over existing HLS options into CSS, with 0.5ha existing CSS and 13ha crops
• New CSS (halfway house), 2.2ha CSS and 11.3ha crops
• New CSS (straight line farming), 3.5ha CSS and 10ha crops
• New CSS (maximum CSS income options), 4ha CSS and 9.5ha crops

The final option, which would involve farming  just a rectangle in the middle of the field that fitted in with tramline width and leaving the rest for CSS, was calculated to be the most profitable at current prices. However, if wheat climbed to above £160 then other field options with larger cropped areas proved more profitable but only just.

The group exercises completed by the attending farmers came up with very similar options to those that Brian had highlighted. The general feeling on the day was that CSS could give a stable income over some areas of the farm.

“The new CSS doesn't have to cover the whole farm and so you can cherry-pick the best areas to deliver wildlife benefit as well as streamlining farm operation efficiency. The new scheme would pay by the option, so picking the right options for your farm can be very helpful in improving your farming system,” Brian said.

"CSS cannot be ignored in the current economic climate and I would be looking for a high percentage of my farm to apply the halfway house or straight line farming options to, but would have to consider location of options close to footpaths, tracks and roads so that wildlife areas are not disturbed by people using the paths.”

Tim Isaac, East Anglia Manager for AHDB Cereals & Oilseeds, said: “With current prices and agronomic challenges, there may be some situations where it’s better to leave loss making areas uncropped and look at stewardship options instead. Missing awkward corners and compacted headlands to employ straight line farming could reduce operating costs and increase yields. It may even create the opportunity to reduce fixed costs across the whole farm.”

Farm business management consultant Edward Barker added: “Although the CSS had a number of teething problems in 2015, it is wrong to think that it should be avoided at all costs. One of its great benefits is that it is a part farm scheme: you can put in as many or as few options as you wish across your farm. This means you can leave your more productive fields out of an agreement, and place more options in a difficult or less profitable field. As a result, it is an excellent way of maximising income opportunities across a holding.”

Farm update

Brian and the farm have been on a huge learning curve with their new strip till and direct drills. As well as experiencing the wettest year in the past five years (715mm in 11 months, against the five-year average of 610mm). Off the back of the Monitor Farm winter meetings and discussions with the AHDB guest speakers at the meetings they have made some changes to their farming system and their agronomy. Some are still trials but other have been rolled out over their total acreage.  

The main changes include:

• Applied liquid fertiliser top ups to the outside 6m of all crops
• Increased micronutrients by loading them on early and then applying more specific nutrients later on if required.
• Applied sulphur with every nitrogen application to all crops.
• Reduced establishment costs by £159/ha
• Trialling cover crops and some no-till
• Fallowed some fields due to wet spring and grass rotation
• Burnt off all the worst black-grass areas early when high plant numbers were found and mowing out worst patches again as they show up (7ha removed to date)
• Drained 8ha, the farm’s first scheme since 1980s

The next round of winter meetings at the Stowmarket Monitor Farm start on 4 November 2016 (11am at Wyverstone Village Hall, IP14 4SH) and continue on the first Friday of the month through to February 2017.

For more information, contact Tim Isaac, tim.isaac@ahdb.org.uk or 07964 975 078