Those involved in the farm contracting of organic crops are appealing for more support from the European Union in order to improve the producing and promotion of their organic products.

At a recent conference in Italy, Copa-Cogeca put forward the pleas from European farm contractors of the need for greater investment in the organic farming sector and the concern that the agricultural contracting of organic produce is not considered of equal importance as more traditional farming techniques.

Part of the argument forwarded for the benefits of organic farming included the noticeable improvements of soil quality and water quality. Additionally, farm contractors who take up an organic approach can be assured that they are farming high quality produce with a low environmental impact.

Copa Cogeca furthered their plight of the importance of increasing the support of the farm contracting of organic crops by presenting figures that demonstrated the increasing demand for organic produce. Indeed, Europe is now the second greatest organic farmers. Furthermore, there is an ever continuing importation to the EU.

In summary, the key message was that organic farming is able to achieve the main goal of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), therefore, more investment should be put into the research of growing organic crops and the promotion of organic produce.

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Although this years harvest has produced some disappointing yields for some farm contracting teams, this is not true for one Lincolnshire farmer. David Hoyles is thought to have produced a record breaking yield on a group 3 wheat crop.  Invicta was drilled in three of their fields this year, all of which produced high yields, but none so much as 14.3t/ha on one particular field. If it is accepted then this entry will exceed the 13.99t/ha for a group 3 wheat, which was recorded in 1981.

So is there a secret recipe for success that can be shared with other farmers? Unfortunately not, the farmer owes this successful crop to good judgement and a little bit of luck.

Farm contractors in the north of the country may not be experiencing quite such a high as the lucky Mr. Hoyles. Reports from some agricultural contracting teams are that harvest is only about one third complete. Although the crops are ready to be harvested the wet weather conditions make travelling on the fields problematic, not to mention the high moisture content of the grain.

However, it is not all doom and gloom for Northern farmers. Again, some farm contractors are reporting record yields in their wheat crops. In particular, farmers which have included grass in their rotation programs have experienced a good wheat crop, which highlights how farmers can benefit both the environment and their outputs at the same time.

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The UK Cereal Pathogen Virulence Survey have confirmed that a new race of yellow rust. This new disease threatens to cause problems for the farm contracting of winter wheat.

Evidence for the emergence of a new variety of yellow rust arises from extensive tests on yellow rust samples provided by three farm contractors who had sown the variety ‘Warrior’. This variety had been considered to have the highest disease resistance rating to rust infections. However, Warrior has also recently been shown to be at risk of infection of a new brown rust, which was first identified in the variety ‘Stigg’. Indeed, tests have shown that these two varieties are able to infect each other with rust isolates.

This new information is crucial for the continuing investigations into the treatment of rust infestations and to farm contractors when selecting which varieties to drill for next years harvest.

Meanwhile agricultural contracting teams continue to make variable progress with this years harvest. Whilst in Lincolnshire progress appears to be satisfactory, with many people nearing the end of their grain harvest, in Scotland farm contractors are still attempting to harvest their winter barley.

 Reports of yields also show differentiation across the country. This variability in yields appears to be most prominent across East Anglia and the South East, with farm contractors reporting outputs from anything between 0.4t/ha to 1.6t/ha.

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The recent rainfall across many of the drought areas in Britain has brought mixed blessings to farm contractors. Although the crops were in much need of some water, there is concern that the rain will reduce the grain quality.

After the dry conditions experienced many farm contracting teams were anticipating an early harvest, however, the June and July moisture has resulted in crops being slower to loose their greenness than what was predicted.

Additionally, the wetter conditions have encouraged weed growth in the previously drought-stricken crops, thriving upon the increased availability of the nitrogen in the soil. Farm contractors are also observing that their fields are not ripening evenly, with noticeable differences in greenness from one end of the field to another.

Agronomists are advising agricultural contracting teams to implement effective harvest management by using well-timed applications of glyphosphate. Applying this substance will have numerous benefits to crop health, including, removing weed-growth and secondary tillers as well as reducing greenness in the crops.

In particular agronomists are suggesting that pre-harvest round up may be a particularly valuable product to farm contractors this season. Round up can be used on malting barleys and on milling wheats. However, it is essential that the seven-day gap between treatment and harvest is adhered to.

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Farm contractors of potatoes are being warned to take a careful look at their carbon footprint. Out of all the field-based crops potatoes produce the highest carbon output.

An expert speaking for Scottish Agronomy advised that those involved in the farm contracting of potatoes could substantially cut their output costs if they improved their carbon efficiency. For example, two of the key contributors to the footprint are diesel used in the machinery and water usage on the crops; these are also two of the most expensive outputs for agricultural contracting teams. Indeed, these items together often cost more than fertilisers and pesticides, yet are often over looked by farm contractors.

By taking more time to consider the soil structure contractors could reduce their machinery operations, thereby reducing their carbon footprint. For instance, deep ploughing, particularly with wet soil can damage the soil structure resulting in the need for extra machinery work and irrigation.

Additionally, farm contractors should pay attention to the type of tractor they use. Tractors with higher horsepower have greater speed and revs, which often make them more fuel efficient. Keeping older, slower tractor may be false economy, as these may drain the fuel quicker than new faster models.

Therefore, potato growers could stand to reap double benefits if they improve their carbon footprint, by improving their carbon efficiency and by reducing output costs.

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Recent research has identified the genetic code of septoria tritici. This disease is one of the most widespread and problematic disease to those involved in the farm contracting of wheat.

Farm contractors have observed that current varieties of wheat are not able to fight this disease efficiently. The professor in charge of the research claims that this is because when the plant initially becomes infected it does not recognise the infestation so it does not fight it. There is typically a period of 1 week until the tell tale blotches appear on the leaves, which alert farm contractors to the infection. By this time it is often too late to save damage to the crops. Indeed, agricultural contracting teams usually report yield losses of up to 50% from septoria.

Now that researchers have identified the genome sequence of which septoria is composed of they are beginning to work on its weaknesses so that an efficient solution can be developed to combat this disease. Although the research is still at very early stages it is promising news for all farm contractors out there.

 In other news, many farm contractors will be heading to Lincolnshire on Wednesday and Thursday this week to visit Cereals 2011. This is the leading technical event for the Arable industry across Europe. Part of the many exhibits that will be there include news on the latest agronomy, new cereal varieties and discussions on grain trading and the future of British farming.

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Many farm contractors will tell you Hybrid wheat’s are not considered in high regard, being both expensive to buy, grow, and resulting in little difference in yields. However, a second generation of hybrid wheat is set to be available to farm contracting teams as of next season. “Hystar” will be available though the East Anglian seed merchants, CropCo.

CropCo advocate that only farmers and those who are involved in the agricultural contracting of low fertile land (such as light land) should invest in this seed, in order for the expensive seed cost to be justifiable. Indeed, Cropco are keen to talk to progressive farmers and farm contractors in order to establish which land they find it most difficult to grow wheat in.

Despite the bad press given to hybrid wheat’s, they typically cope better to stress and have better growth rates. Furthermore, Hystar has shown good resistance to rust and disease. Recent trails in France have indicated that farm contractors could see a 46% increase in shoot biomass and 60% increase in root biomass then that observed in the first generation of hybrid. This increase in biomass may mean that farm contractors can be more conservative in their application of nitrogen early on in the year. By delaying this nitrogen application, it is thought that the grain filling period will be longer and more rapid. Early trails demonstrate that farm contractors could see an improvement of as much as 0.9t/ha in their yields.

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Those involved in the farm contracting of potatoes are being advised to apply methiocarb slug pellets to prevent damage from slugs reducing yields.

An expert cautions that farm contractors should not believe that the remarkably cold winter and dry spring experienced means that slugs will be less of a problem than in previous years.

Research shows that it is vital that agricultural contracting teams deliver slug pellets at two critical stages, firstly, at 75% canopy and secondly, in September when tubers are large enough to be chewed. An expert from Bayer CropScience strongly advocates methiocarb at these crucial timings to effectively control slug populations and to maximise yield potentials. In cases of strong infestations an intermediate treatment should be considered, such as ferric phosphate.

Turning now to oil seed rape and farm contractors are reporting higher than average observations of seed weevils. Infestations of seed weevils appear to be most prominent over central and eastern England. It is thought that the dry weather is a key contributor to the rise in this problem, which has not been reported for a number of years prior.

Agricultural contracting teams are advised to use pyrethroid-based sprays. However, caution should be taken when applying such chemicals, as these are particularly harmful to beneficial insects such as bees.

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