| Arable
Driving down the cost of production
Yield is usually king when it comes to driving down cereals costs of production.
untingdon Monitor Farm host
Russell McKenzie, however,
has driven his winter feed
wheat costs of production
down by £12/t over the last
three years despite a 1.73t/ha
decrease in yield.
AHDB Monitor Farms bring together farmers
who wish to improve their businesses by
sharing performance information and best
practice around a nationwide network of over
30 host farms. Monitor Farms are part of
AHDB’s wider Farm Excellence Platform, which
works with the industry to improve performance
through knowledge exchange and
benchmarking.
At his last Monitor Farm meeting Russell
explained that his total cost of production for
first winter feed wheat was now down to £96/t.
He has achieved this decrease primarily
through changing his machinery policy.
Russell said: “We now have less machinery
and do more direct drilling so hope to use the
machinery less. This will help to make savings
in time and fuel and also to extend the life of
the machinery.
“When we changed combine, we bought a
used machine, so we also won’t have as big a
hit on depreciation.”
Teresa Meadows, AHDB Cereals & Oilseeds
Knowledge Exchange Manager, said:
H
“Machinery depreciation and repairs are often
one of the largest fixed costs when calculating
the cost of production and this has been one of
the areas of focus for Russell through
benchmarking and during his time as a monitor
farmer.”
AHDB Monitor Farm groups from harvest
2017 will be benchmarking using the new
Farmbench programme, which for the first time
allows farmers to enter whole farm costs.
You can compare costs in specific areas. We
realised that we didn’t need to be
overburdened with lots of machinery.”
Russell has also taken on more contracting
work to further spread the labour and
machinery costs.
Reflecting on the Monitor Farm programme,
Russell said: “I hope people see it as a unique
forum for discussing cutting edge, nitty gritty
sides of the business that you can’t get from
Russell’s cost of production per tonne for winter feed wheat for the last three years:
Harvest 2014 2015 2016
Yield (t/ha) 12.28 12.85 10.55
Total variable costs (£/t) 47 37 46
Total fixed costs (£/t) 62 70 51
Total costs (£/t) 108 107 96
Machinery changes between 2014 and 2017:
• Had two combines – now has one
• Had two sprayers – now has one
• Had five main working tractors – now has
three.
Russell added: “The Monitor Farm
programme made us sit back and review what
we’re doing. It made us look more closely and
analyse our business in detail.
“That’s where the benchmarking really helps.
going to any other meetings.”
Russell hopes to continue with this mindset
going forwards: “For our own farm, we hope we
can keep on improving and not stand still. We
want to stay ahead of the curve with varieties
too – trying to stay at the forefront of
innovation.”
Find out more about your local Monitor Farm
by visiting cereals.ahdb.org.uk/monitorfarms
Promising weed-control alternative to linuron
Early results from a four-year crop protection research project have identified metobromuron as having potential to fill
the gap that will be left for many vegetable growers when the herbicide linuron is withdrawn from use in June 2018.
etobromuron is being tested to
increase understanding of its
use and performance in carrot,
parsnip and celery crops as
part of AHDB Horticulture-
funded SCEPTREplus trials.
Growers invited to view the trials in the
summer also identified five further herbicide
treatments that were considered acceptable
with regard to crop safety and will now be taken
forward for further testing.
Angela Huckle, researcher at ADAS, said:
“Metobromuron has performed well as an
alternative to linuron in the SCEPTREplus trials,
and although it can check the crop when
compared to linuron, growers are perfectly
happy with this when they can gain effective
weed control, and the effect is very slight.
M
“The SCEPTREplus work allows
independent assessment of a range of
products at appropriate timings and
sequences”
“It is also encouraging to see five further
herbicide options for carrot growers also
looking promising within the trials.”
Joe Martin, crop protection senior scientist
said, “The SCEPTREplus trials are already
generating valuable data that we can now use
www.farmingmonthly.co.uk
to make applications to generate Extensions of
Authorisations of Minor Use, which are vital in
helping to keep the horticulture industry
productive in the future”
Ian Holmes, company agronomist at
Strawson Ltd. said, “Weed control has become
more challenging with the loss of various active
ingredients in the last few years, including
metoxuron, pentanachlor and prometryn. In
2018 we will lose the use of linuron which has
been a key component of both pre- and post-
emergence weed control for many years and
this will leave a big hole in the crop protection
toolbox.
“The SCEPTREplus work allows
independent assessment of a range of
products at appropriate timings and
sequences; allowing us to critically assess
which options are worth taking forward.”
Growers can follow how the trials progress at
horticulture.ahdb.org.uk/sceptreplus
September 2017 | Farming Monthly | 19