Down on the Farm - Harvest
Harvest and all Autumn workings are always our busiest times of the year, but April/May is perhaps the most important time due to all the different crop management decisions that have to be taken and put into practice.
As most of you will have seen during the late Spring plant growth had really taken off. It is managing this growth and taking care of the health of the crops that will play a large part in how good the final yield and quality will be.
Wheat, when planted in the Autumn, needs constant checking for disease, pests and competition from weeds, as it grows throughout the year. This starts with making sure that we have the best seed we can either bought in or grown by ourselves. If it is home grown a sample is sent away to be tested for any disease and for a germination count. This will partly determine how much seed we put in the ground at sowing time.
The seed rate is based on the germination, the date of sowing and how heavy a thousand grains of seed are. If we start drilling at the end of September the seed rate is a lot lower than if wheat goes in after sugar beet in December. For example, wheat drilled in September will probably go in at about 80kg per hectare (a hectare = two and a half acres approximately the size of 2 1/2 football pitches) rising to 160kg+ later on in the year after beet. This is mainly due to the germination early on in the year, which will be much better than later on when the soil is much colder and days are much shorter. The seed is covered with a dressing that will protect it from some pests and some early diseases.
Once the crop is planted and is growing it has to be looked after. The first problem we have to contend with is weed control. This is done on a field by field basis walking with our agronomist, whatever the weather, and only the weeds that are there or we know from past experience will germinate later in the year will be targeted. The main targets are the broad leaf weeds such as chickweed, field pansies or speedwells. These have to be controlled as they will compete with the wheat and overwhelm the young plant if allowed to get too large. Weed grasses are also a problem, so we use a different type of spray for them.
When we spray any crop these days the amount of pesticide used is the minimum to the job required. Five main types of pesticide are used: herbicides tackle all weeds; fungicides control disease; insecticides control bugs while trace elements improve the lack of essential minerals such as manganese. The fifth group of pesticides are the adjuvants that will help dilute some of the above products to allow for more efficient use. The main supplier of adjuvants to the whole country is NewmanÕs on Quarry Lane in Swaffham Bulbeck.
All crops need continuous monitoring. As wheat is our main crop I will outline the crop management sequence for this.
Once the drilling has taken place we may, on some fields, have to do a preemergence spray to control mainly black grass. This is the biggest problem weed most farmers have to deal with. It is getting harder to control as there is a resistance to some of the herbicides we use so different methods of control are used in sequence to combat the problem. Also, in the Autumn we control most of the broad leaf weeds. At the moment this is still relatively easy as we use different products to target different weeds.
At this point a base fertiliser has been, or is just about to be, applied to the fields. This is used for the health of the plant rather than to make it grow (a bit like the human vitamin supplements we take). Soil tests are carried out every five years to determine the soil indices that will tell us the nutrient health of the soil. On all of our farms we apply manure when it is available in the form of straight farmyard manure or as a processed sludge from a local sewage works. This is beneficial in terms of both the soil structure and soil nutrients and the best bit about it is that it is free!
The crops will grow slowly or will remain dormant throughout the Winter. In the Spring nitrogen fertiliser is applied to make the crop grow and again we only put on what is needed for the type of crop. This is usually split into three applications to use the product more efficiently. The type of wheat we grow determines the amount of nitrogen fertiliser used. Milling wheat used in flour production requires more nitrogen as the miller requires a high protein level and nitrogen is the best way of achieving this. Other wheat will require less as determined by their end use.
Another important control is disease in crops and this is done by the use of fungicides. We spray at three different times at predetermined growth stages of the plant. This allows us again to use minimum amounts of spray but to maximise its use for the plant at the right time. These products will protect the plant so as not to allow any disease in and this is much more efficient that trying to control disease once it has taken hold. The control of insects is also an important factor and while most insects are beneficial to the crop there are some that are troublemakers. We are able to control these with specific products that will target the "bad boys" such as aphids but will not harm the "good guys" such as ladybirds. A good insect population will also help the wild birds, which rely on them as a food source.
The last thing we have to be aware of is a lack of trace elements such as manganese, sulphur, copper etc. We apply these by spray when needed, more on the fen land than up on the chalk, as the fen is more prone to these deficiencies.
With all this management and control, together with good sun and rain at the right times, we may get a respectable crop of wheat at harvest. All we then have to do is pray for a half decent price at point of sale.