Economically efficient establishment system keeps rape in the rotation and helps reduce carbon emissions on-farm confirms Wiltshire farmer 

          Use of a Terracast Duo, a combined seeder and starter fertilizer application system alongside a Terracast V2 applicator for accurate, even distribution of slug pellets has enabled arable farmer David Lemon of DL Lemon Wilson Limited to continue growing oilseed rape in his rotation by establishing it directly and earlier.

David, who farms 1,417ha of combinable crops between Burbage and Hungerford near the Berkshire / Wiltshire border has always grown OSR – and, until 2019 had consistently included it in a 1 in 4 rotation alongside wheat, spring and winter barley, maize and rye despite suffering some inconsistent yields, due largely to late establishment, challenging weather and pests such as cabbage stem flea beetle (CSFB).  

                “Historically our approach to rape was to cultivate with a 7m Simba SL behind a quadtrac, follow up with a Vaderstad Carrier, drill conventionally, then roll twice. Beyond the high cost of 5 separate passes, the key problem was that with every pass we lost moisture in the soil. And the one thing you really need to establish rape well is good levels of soil moisture. In autumn 2019 we experienced an unusually long dry spell and the patchy rape crop that followed was devoured by CSFB. Over the course of 6 days, we lost 120ha of oilseed rape, over 50% of that year’s rape crop. Clearly, we’d come to a crossroad, and something had to change in order to justify keeping rape in our rotation” he explains. 

               Initially David lengthened the rotation to 1 in 5 for rape bringing in winter barley and rye which he knew he could establish earlier using a simplified 4 pass approach. A cover crop of buckwheat was sown alongside the rape to improve establishment and support the early crop. However, there were still too many passes, and the overall cost of establishing the rape remained too high when assessed against the ongoing risk of yield losses to CSFB, poor weather and other pests. 

               “Whilst doing some online research into purchasing a new Techneat applicator to apply the cover crop, I started to look at the possibility of running two Techneat applicators, a Terracast Duo and an Terracast V2, on the Simba SL to reduce passes. However, despite the positives around applying a cover crop, starter fertilizer and slug pellets simultaneously, I wasn’t convinced it would solve all our agronomic problems, given I also wanted to reduce our weed burden with a machine that could drill and cultivate with minimal surface soil disturbance. The answer was to mount both applicators on a 6m Cousins Micro-Wing Oil Drill, effectively a strip tillage machine that’s ideal for drilling rape straight in behind the combine in order to establish oilseed rape as early as possible. 

        “We bought the Cousins Micro-Wing second hand from a Ben Burgess dealer in Newmarket. Overall, it was in good condition, and the only initial maintenance required was to put a new set of tungsten tips onto the tines. Set up on the Techneat applicators was straightforward given they’re quick and easy to calibrate. We simply changed cartridges on the Terracast Duo and Terracast V2 machines to align the application rates of both the buckwheat cover crop and slug pellets to 2kg/ha with the starter fertilizer being applied at 15kg/ha. 

        “Trialing the new system for the first time proved extremely successful and we have successfully cut our rape establishment costs by 30%, reducing the number of passes from 5 to 2. The Cousins Micro-Wing, with its big row spacings, moves far less surface soil than the Simba SL, reducing our early weed burden and enabling us to cut our rape herbicide program by 2 sprays. 

          “With prices of £500/t for rape currently available, the decision to keep the crop in the rotation through investment in a new system has been one of the best decisions we have made. In terms of reducing crop emissions and our drive towards greater sustainability; the use of cover crops, reduced cultivations, a lower horsepower per ha ratio and reduced fuel use per ha are all moves in the right direction. I’m also confident that in the longer term this system will improve our soil health, given less soil is disturbed during the simplified 2 pass process” concludes David.