Field work nearing an end

If the weather stays favourable there may be a bit more work done before machines get parked up. Most land has been getting a reasonable opportunity to soak and there may be some winter wheat or winter beans still to go in. There may also be a bit of spraying to be tidied up on cereal or rape crops.

Planting

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December has traditionally been regarded as a dormant month, with greater risks to crops from pests. However, if ground is good enough, many of these risks will be lower.

If you can get seeds into the ground at depth and the soil flows well, this will tighten post-planting to make movement more difficult for slugs and make things more awkward for crows. But it will always help if there are a number of other fields sown locally around the same time.

Planting now should mean at least 350 seeds/m2 as crops could easily be back below 80% establishment leaving 280 plants/m2. Even if establishment hit 75%, you would have 260 plants/m2.

Uneven establishment is perhaps the biggest worry. This would be 157kg/ha (10st/ac) using 45g seed or 175kg/ha (11 st/ac) using 50g seed.

Nutrient plans

This is a good time to take stock of nutrient use in 2020 and planned nutrient requirement for 2021. Every farmer must have a record of the N and P purchased and used for each year and this must sit within legislative requirements based on the crop grown and soil test results for each field. This information is required for cross-compliance.

Nutrient plans should be more about your needs than the inspector’s. It is to guide nutrient application on to each field to help build fertility and drive productivity. Your farm entitlement is the combined allowances of each field based on the crop grown and its soil test results. A soil test cannot be more than four years old and out-of-date results default to Index 3.

The following simple example is for a four-crop farm where all straw is removed. Two fields going to spring barley are at Index 2 for P and Index 3 for K and expected to yield 8t/ha. This 27ha can receive up to 40kg P/ha plus 91kg K/ha. A further 55ha is sown to winter barley, which has tested Index 2 for both P and K. Based on a 9t/ha crop, this land can receive up to 34kg P/ha and 88kg K/ha.

A further 22ha is to be sown to spring beans. This is Index 3 ground for both P and K and a 6.5t/ha yield expectation gives an allowance of 31kg P/ha plus 65kg K/ha. The remaining 23ha of winter wheat was Index 2 ground with a yield expectation of 11t/ha. This is allowed up to 42kg P/ha and 108kg K/ha.

The total phosphorus allowance on the 127ha is (27x40) + (55x34) +(22x31) + (23x42) = 4,598kg. The potash allowance, while it is not a legal requirement, is (27x91) + (55x88) +(22x65) + (23x108) = 11,211kg. The equivalent nitrogen allowance is (27x155) + (55x180) +(22x0) + (23x220) = 19,145kg.