A variable rate N trial has delivered a £105/ha winter wheat margin gain for a Notts estate.

Ten The Perfect Target For Notts Estate

How much better off could you be by just lifting poor field areas closer to the better parts?

That is a question Oxton Estate manager Richard Cross asked himself after FieldView yield data revealed the full extent of the yield variability at the 700ha Nottinghamshire arable enterprise, something he describes as an ‘eye opener’.

Since taking over management responsibilities in 2010 he has made a number of changes. The biggest has been the move to shallower cultivations. When he arrived four Kuhn power harrows were needed for drilling preparation – now he has a 4m Muzuri Pro-Til drill. It isn’t a pure one pass system as he does run a shallow disc through for better seed coverage, but it is pretty close.

Now the agenda is to get every wheat hectare to achieve 10 tonnes. With highly variable soils – keuper maul clay to Notts sand and gravel – it will be challenging, but not impossible. He points out there’s lots of other factors that result in variable field performance. “If I can get every hectare of wheat doing 10 tonnes then we are going to be ‘quid’s in’,” he adds.

The journey starts with a greater reliance on precision farming, and variable rate N in particular, so last season on farm trials commenced. These consisted of trials in wheat and WOSR comparing a flat strip at his usual 200 kg/N/ha and rates of plus or minus 20% based on crop biomass.

It is the first season but already it has highlighted potential benefits. In the wheat trial the variable rate delivered an extra £105.86/ha via improved yield and reduced fertiliser use – 595 kg/N/ha versus 630 kg/N/ha. Had Mr Cross achieved the same uplift across his wheat area of 339 ha he calculates it would benefit him to the tune of £35,887.00

OSR results were less clear as in both fields the reduced N area yielded exactly as his flat strip farm standard. However, a 40 kg/N/ha saving did see a slight financial gain. He stresses the aim of this study isn’t necessarily to reduce the amount of N applied but to use it more wisely – however with fertiliser prices where they are it is worth having.

This season he hopes to make the move to liquid fertiliser. He feels it is more accurate and it allows for sulphur to be included in every application – something he feels is important with the demise of the Nottinghamshire mining industry. However, a shortage of microchips means his new sprayer is still at the factory.

It's another example of Richard’s aim of continuing refinement and the need to make every hectare pay. He considers FieldView invaluable here as it allows him to run farm trials to an exceptional standard.

But the platform also has a more strategic role, as in the future the cropped area is likely to reduce. “Going forward we cannot afford unproductive field areas,” he notes.

Richard is using FieldView to build up a library of field performance across the rotation. It is too early to say how these unproductive areas will be put to use but the estate already has a keen eye for conservation and sustainability. Over the last ten years, they have planted 35,000 trees.

Richard feels farming and being countryside custodians can go ‘hand in hand’ and clearly enjoys the wildlife that benefits from his management practices.

Any reduction in footprint is welcome and the estate state is almost paperless. Even the N prescriptions were created in FieldView, something Richard describes as easy. “We just created the zones using FieldView’s Autozone feature and transferred them straight to the spreader, simples.”