64 BRICKYARD FARM APR / MAY 2021 • farmers-mart . co . uk
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‘ We now direct drill the oats , beans and some of the wheat , and are slowly improving the soil quality . We put on muck at least one year in six , usually before the oats .
We started growing cover crops in 2011 , on a small area before potatoes , and have adapted the species mix and incorporation methods since then , to increase soil organic matter ( which both holds moisture and facilitates drainage ) and reduce nematodes without chemicals . We now grow them before all the spring crops we grow , unless something like over winter stubble requirements of a stewardship scheme prevents us from doing so .
They are direct drilled and usually include mustard , radish , oats , and either vetch or beans .
We started direct drilling in spring 2013 . Richard Tesseyman came and drilled us some oats after the wet winter of 2012 , and some wheat the following year , and the die was set . I bought a Kockerling tine drill to sow beans , oats and cover crops from a farmer near Whitby in 2015 . With the beans , it was as
much to enable a smoother ride across the fields with the sprayer and combine as it was to reduce costs ’
Beans and oats take preference over oilseed rape primarily because of their lower requirement for attention and inputs . The potatoes are quite demanding !
The lighter land rotation starts with potatoes followed by winter wheat , winter barley , a cover crop before going into sugar beet , seed oats , winter wheat , spring barley , back to potatoes . Occasionally an extra break of beans allows another wheat and extends the rotation .
This year ’ s cropping includes winter wheat varieties Costello , Skyscraper and Evolution , all as feed wheat , that usually average around 4 to 4.5 tonnes per acre . Like many , Andrew ’ s wheat harvest was a much lower yield last year due to establishment problems through inclement weather in autumn 2019 . The 120 acres this year is down a little on what Andrew had planned originally as it was too wet to sow wheat on heavy land after he finished combining winter beans on 20th October last year . This area has been sown with Chilham spring wheat .
Contact Peter Easterby or a member of our team Continued on page 66